UniversityCollegeofSoutheastNorway
HowToWriteaTechnicalLabReport
–withPracticalExamples
2016.02.29–Hans-PetterHalvorsen
http://home.hit.no/~hansha
2/25
TipsandTricks
Thisdocumentdescribestipsandtricksforcreatingawell-writtentechnicalLab
WorkReport.Suchareportshouldatleastinclude:Titlepage(Title,Name,
StudentNumber),TableofContents,Introduction,ProblemDescription,
Results,DiscussionsandaConclusion(+Appendicesifnecessary).
Whenyouareworkingwithlabwork,youhaveallresourcesavailable,books,
tutorials,otherstudents,examplecode,theteacher,etc.Sobeabletodoall
thetasksandgetthe“correct”answersistobe“expected”.Thenyoucannot
expecttogetagradebetterthanC.ButCisactuallyagoodgrade,somany
shouldbesatisfiedwiththat.ThegradeCistheaveragegradethatmost
studentsget.
Tomakethelittleextratostandoutisimportant.Sohowdoyoudothat?You
mustmakeanextraeffortwhenyouareworkingwiththereport.Inaddition
yourapplication/sourcecode(ifthat’spartofthelabwork)shouldhaveagood
structureand“dothelittleextra”thatmakesitoutstanding.TheUser
Interface/HMIshouldofcoursebeclearandintuitive.Abadwrittenprogramis
likeareportwithlotsofspellingmistakes,i.e.,itdoesnotlookgood!Neither
doesittakelongertimetostructureyourcodeproperly,probablyyouwillsave
timebecauseitwillleadtofewererrors,easiertomaintain,findbugs,etc.
WritingaTechnicalLabReportislikewritingajobapplication!Itshouldbe
interestingandappealtothereader.Inadditionthetechnicalcontentsinthe
reportshouldbeofhighqualityofcourse.Itisthesamehere,evenifyouhave
thetechnicalqualitiestogetthejob,itdoesnothelpifyoudon’tgettothejob
interviewbecauseofabadjobapplication.
Grades
Hereisashortdescriptionofthedifferentgradesused.
Symbol
A
Description
Excellent
General,qualitativedescriptionofvaluationcriteria
Anexcellentperformance,clearlyoutstanding.Thecandidatedemonstratesexcellent
judgmentandahighdegreeofindependentthinking.
Averygoodperformance.Thecandidatedemonstratessoundjudgmentandaverygood
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B
C
D
E
F
Verygood
Good
Satisfactory
Sufficient
Fail
degreeofindependentthinking.
Agoodperformanceinmostareas.Thecandidatedemonstratesareasonabledegreeof
judgmentandindependentthinkinginthemostimportantareas.
Asatisfactoryperformance,butwithsignificantshortcomings.Thecandidate
demonstratesalimiteddegreeofjudgmentandindependentthinking.
Aperformancethatmeetstheminimumcriteria,butnomore.Thecandidate
demonstratesaverylimiteddegreeofjudgmentandindependentthinking.
Aperformancethatdoesnotmeettheminimumacademiccriteria.Thecandidate
demonstratesanabsenceofbothjudgmentandindependentthinking.
Thewholescaleisused(A-F).ThegradeCisgivenforanaveragestudent
performance.ThismeansCisagoodgrade!Thiswillbetheguidelineforusing
thescale.ThegradeAshouldbeanexcellentperformancethatisclearly
outstanding.ThegradeAisusedtoseparatetheperformancesthatstandsout,
anditwillweusedrelativelyseldom.
Checklist
HereisashortchecklistyoucanusewhenwritingaTechnicalLabReport:
• Thereportisclearlyandlogicallystructuredandorganized
• Introduction–describestheaimsoftheworktogetherwithlimitations
andassumptions.
• Results-TheResultsarediscussed
• Conclusion-TheConclusionsarewellgrounded
• LiteratureReferencesarecitiedinthereport+correctsyntax(2different
standards;HarvardorVancouver,selectoneandsticktoit!)+Reference
List
• Fewspellingmistakes
• AllFiguresandTablesarenumberedandhavedescriptivecaptions.It’s
alsolooksnicerifyoucentertheFigures
• Youneedtorefertosourceswhentakingfigures/picturesfromother
sources(Referencing)
• UseUnitswhendealingwithnumbersandcalculations.Unitsshouldalso
beshowninplots,etc.
• Figurenumbering:BelowFigure,Tablenumbering:AboveTable!
• EquationNumbering.Allequationsneedanequationnumber.Equation
numbersshallberightaligned.
• AllFiguresandTablesarereferencedinthetext
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• Allcurves(lines)ofplots(diagrams)arelabeledandaxisandscalingare
shown
• Screenshotsshouldbegood.Totakeascreenshotofaspecificregionis
oftenbetterthatalargeimagewithlotsofunnecessaryinformation.
Usingagoodtoolforscreencaptureisimportant(e.g.SnagIt,etc.)!
• SourceCode:Justshowingsmallpartsofthecode(whichyouexplainin
thetext)areoftenbetterthanalongcodelist.Cut-outwhatisimportant
–youdon’talwaysneedtoshowthewholeprogramwithasmallcode
partinside
• Figures/Plotsshouldbeclearandeasy
• Software/SourceCodeiswelldocumented,well-structuredandlook
nice.Usestraightlines,etc.
• HardwareandEquipmentthatareusedintheLabWorkiswell
documented
• Print-out–Thereportshouldalsobereadableinblackandwhiteprintout,i.e.,don’trefertoyellow,purple,etc.inthereport.Makesureyou
readthroughthereportafteryouprintit!Generatedtextlike“Reference
ismissing”doesnotlookgood!
• Thereportisdeliveredwithinthedeadline
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LiteratureReferences
Whyshouldyounameyoursources?
• Givecredittotheoriginalauthor
• Allowotherstoreadwhatyouhaveread
– Followup–thereadercangetmoreinformation
– Qualitycontrol–haveyouusedtheinformationcorrectly?
• Placeyourworkinawidercontext
• Plagiarism-Publishingotherpeople’sworkasyourownis
illegal/cheatingandyoudon’tlearnanything!
Quotations
Quotationsaredoneasfollows:
• Shortquotes(upto3lines):usequotationmarks””
• Longerquotes(morethan3lines):newparagraph,indented
HowtoCiteSources
HerearesomeExamples:
• Refertotheminthetext
• CreateaReferencelist(literaturelist)attheendofyourdocument
Examples:
• AccordingtoMurray(2002)…
• Otherstudieshavefoundsimilarresults(SmithandJones,2000,Lieetal.,
2003)
2differentstandards;HarvardorVancouver,selectoneandsticktoit!
Harvard
• Authorandyearofpublicationinthetext
Example:
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AccordingtoMurray(2002)
Alphabeticalreferencelist
• Alphabeticalbyauthor(orbytitleifnoauthor)
Example:
Murray,R.(2002)HowtoWriteaThesis.Maidenhead:OpenUniversityPress.
Vancouver
• Referencesnumberedinthetext
Example:
Noteverythesishasaliteraturereview[1]
• Numericalreferencelistinthesameorderasinthetext
Example:
[1]MurrayR.Howtowriteathesis.Maidenhead:OpenUniversityPress,2002;
p.101.
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ScreenShots
Screenshotsshouldbegood.Totakeascreenshotofaspecificregionisoften
betterthatalargeimagewithlotsofunnecessaryinformation.
Usingagoodtoolforscreencaptureisalsoveryimportant(e.g.SnagIt,etc.)!
Don’tusethebuiltin“PrintScreen”functionalityinwindows.Therearelotsof
freeware/shareware/opensourcetoolsavailableforthispurpose.
Examples:
Inthisexampleyoushallexplainwhereyoufindacertaintool:
Probablythisisabetterway:
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Orthisway?
IfyouuseaScreenShoottooltheyhavefunctionalityforcreatingcircles,etc.
onyourscreenshots.
BadeExample:
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Better:
Evenbetter?
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Sometimesitisbesttocut-offjustyourcode-orpartofyourcode.
SourceCode
Justshowingsmallpartsofthecode(whichyouexplaininthetext)areoften
betterthanalongcodelisting.Cutoutwhatisimportant–youdon’talways
needtoshowthewholeprogramwithasmallcodepartinside.Youcanput
sourcecodeinyourreport,butnottoomuch.
Software/SourceCodeshouldbewelldocumented,wellstructuredandlook
nice.Usestraightlines,indents,etc.
Examples:
Thisexampleisprobablynotsogoodifthepurposeistoshowyourcode:
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ThisExampleisprobablybetterifyouwanttoshowyourcode:
Thisexamplekeepsthefocusonthecodeandnotalltheotherinformation.In
thiscaseitiseasytoexplainandreferthecodeinthetextusingtheline
numbers.Thetextalsohascolorcodeswhichmakeiteasiertoread.
Another(good)example:
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% This is my code
…
K = 1, T = 3;
H = sys_order(K,T)
Figure(1)
bode(H)
…
Thecodeiswritteninsidea“box”withadifferentbackgroundcolorandFont.
“CourierNew”isagoodfonttouseincodelisting.
Rememberwhat’smaylookgoodonacomputerscreen,maynotlookgoodon
apieceofpaper.
Clean-upyourCode
Makesureyouclean-upandstructureyourcode.Makestraightlines,indents,
etc.
BadExample:
Better:
Itdoesnottakemuchtimetoclean-upandstructureyourcodeanditlooks
muchbetter,itiseasiertoreadandunderstand.InLabVIEWthecodeshould
flowfromlefttoright.
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Spelling
Makesureyourreporthasfewspellingmistakes.Usethebuilt-incapabilitiesin
yourWordProcessor.
Makesureyouspellrightwhenwritingcompanynames,Softwarenames,etc.
Example:
TheLabVIEWsoftwareisspelledLabVIEW–notlabview,Labview,LABview,
LabView,etc.
Submission
Ifyouhand-inthereportelectronically,youshouldalwayscreateaPDFfile!If
youhand-inaPDFfileyoucanbesureeverybodycanopenandreadit.The
formatting,layout,etc.inthedocumentwillalsobeexactlythesame.There
arelotsoffreetoolsthatcancreatePDFfilesandMSWordhavebuilt-in
functionalityforcreatingPDFfiles.
Pitfalls
Sometasksaremoreimportantthanothersintheassignment.Thetasksinthe
beginningareusuallyintroductiontasktomakeyougettingstarted.Normally
youwillindirectlyusetheresultsfromthesetasksinlatertasks.Themost
importanttasksareusuallyintheend.
Usetheadvantagethatyouworkinagroupinagoodway,onecodingandtwo
watchingoneachsideisnotagoodlearningprocess.Everybodyshoulddo
somecodingtogetitintoyourfingertips!Youallneedmorepracticein
programming.
Everybodyneedstoinstallthenecessarysoftwareontheirownpersonal
computers!
BelowIwillusedifferentexamplesfrompreviousstudentreportsasexamples
inordertoexplainwhatyoushoulddoornot.
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Report
Hereisalistwithpitfallsanaveragestudentdoeswhenwritingastandard
technicallabreport.
→Thereportshouldbeappealingtothereader!Goodstructureandlayout.
Correctuseoffonts,Nospellingmistakes,etc.Makeyourreportspecialand
interestingtoread–remembertheteachershallperhapsreadthrough20-30
reports!(Itisthesamewhenyouaregoingtoapplyforjobs!)
→MakesuretoaddyourstudentnumberontheFrontpage/titlepage
(togetherwithyournameofcourse)
→Makesureyoureadthroughthereportafteryouprintit!Generatedtextlike
“Referenceismissing”or“Error!Bookmarknotdefined”doesnotlookgood!
→Spelling!Howdowetype“LabVIEW”?“LabView”,“LABVIEW”,“LabVIEW”,
“..”?–Atleasttypeitinthesamewayintheentirereport!
→Youcannotjustshowafigureoranequationwithoutsometextexplaining
it!
→Itisnotnormaltouseadotattheendofasentenceinheaders
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Andwhyhastheheader1.1moreindentingthan1.1.1?
→Equations.Equationsshouldbecentered.Ifyoudecidetouseequation
numbering,useitproperly!MakealsosurethattheFontlooknice.
Theformulasshouldbecentered.Ifyoudecidetouseequationnumbering,it
shouldbeintherightmargin(andnodots…).
→Formulas.Makesuretheylooknice!Formulasusuallyhaveaspecialfont.
UsetheEquationEditorinWord,etc.Formulas/Equationsshouldbecentered
BadExample(Matricesshouldbeinsquarebrackets,notnormaltouse*,etc.
inequations…):
BadExample2(whatkindoffonthavebeenusedhere???):
AndusethesameFont,fontsize,etc.foralloftheformulasinthereport!
Anotherbadexample:
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Thisdoesn’tlooknice!DifferentkindsofFontshavebeenused.Theequation
shouldalsohavebeenonanewline(centered).Andinaddition,makesurethe
spellingiscorrect(“watertank”not“watertang”).
AnotherexampleBadexample:
Whatkindsoftoolshavebeenusedtocreatethis?IfyouuseMSWord,ithas
builtintoolsforcreatingsuchequations.
→Keepgoodstructureandacleanlayoutinthereport.Thisisabadexample:
→Makesureheadersandfootersarecorrectaccordingtowhichchapteryou
arein
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→AConclusionisalwaysneededinaTechnicalReport.Hereyoushall
summarizeyourresultsanddrawconclusions–nothowmuchyouhave
learned,etc.Badexamples:
“Ihavelearnedmuchdoingthisassignment”
“Thiswasveryuseful,andIwillneedthiswhenIgetajob”
Anotherbadexample:
“FromthisLab,weunderstandtheKalmanFiltermuchmoreandhowto
implementitinLabVIEWwhichalsomakeusmuchbettertouseLabVIEW.We
alsolearnedhowtodesignafeedforwardcontrollertocombinewitha
traditionalPIDcontrollerandbycomparison,wehavebetterunderstanding
thattheusageofKalmanFilterandfeedforwardcontroller.”
→Focusonyourresults,notjustlistupwhatyouhavedoneorhowmuchyou
havelearnedbydoingthis,etc.-becausethisisnotrelevant!!
→TableText:Figuretextshouldbebelowthefigure,buttabletextshallbe
abovethetable!!
Thisshouldbeknown!Itdoesnotlookgoodwhendoingthesebasicmistakes!
MakealsosurethatthewholereportisshowninthePDFversion:
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Thecolumntotherightisnotshowncorrectly.
→Figures.Makesurethefiguresareclear.
Thisishardtoread:
Makethefigurelarger!Orfocusonlyonaspecialpartofit.Totakea
screenshotofaspecificregionisoftenbetterthatalargeimagewithlotsof
unnecessaryinformation.Makealsosuretouseapropertoolforthejob!Alots
ofgoodscreencapturetoolsexists!
→ListofFigureshasnointerest–shouldbeomitted(especiallyforashort
report).
→Fontsize-usethesamefontsize(forthebodytext)intheentirelyreport
→Referencingshouldbedoneproperly.
→“Apicturesaysmorethanathousandword”theysay–stillyoucanjust
showapicturewithoutnotext,explanations,discussion,etc.!!
→CreategoodFigures.
BadExample:Thisfigureissupposedtoshowtheresultsfromsome
simulations:
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Itisalmostimpossibletogetinformationaboutthesimulationresultsinthis
figure.Itisindistinct,andyoucanhardlyseethetextintheplots,etc.Itisalso
inblack&white.Thefigurealsotriestogivetoomuchinformationinone
figure.Focusonwhat’simportant,andshowonlythat.
→Colorsvs.Black&WhiteinFigures,Plots,etc.Plotscanlookgreatonthe
screeninbeautifulcolors,butifyouprintitoutinblack&white,itmightnot
looksogood!Itishardtoseethedifferencebetweentwolinesinablack&
whitefigureifyouusethesamelinewidthandsametypeofline(theonly
differenceisthecolor).
AnotherBadexample:
Thispictureisonlyblack&white(ontheprintedcopy)–itishardtoseewhatit
is.Theplotisalsoindistinct,youcannotreadthetext!Thescalingshouldalso
bechanged,tomakeitmoreeasiertoseewhat’simportant.
→Showfiguresofwhat’simportant
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BadExample:
Isthisfigureimportanttohaveinthereport?Itgivesmenothing!Inaddition
youcan’tseethetext,etc.
→MakesuretouseaproperScreenCapturetool!!Thefigures/plotsshouldbe
clearandreadable!!Focusonwhat’simportantinthefigure!
SourceCode
Hereisalistwithpitfallsanaveragestudentdoeswhencreatingthe
applicationsandhand-inthesourcecode.
→Youdon’tlearnprogrammingbywatchingothersdoit!Youneedtodoit
yourselfinordertogetitintothefingertips!Lotsofpracticeisthebestwayto
learn!
→Goodstructureofthefilesisimportant!Itshouldbeeasyformetofindthe
properfile
→Goodstructureinthecodeisimportant.
Badexample(“Spaghetti”code):
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Itdoesnottakelongtimetokeepthecodecleanandneat!Thismakesitmuch
easiertounderstandanditlooksmuchbettertoo!Note!InLabVIEWtheflow
shouldalwaysbefromlefttoright.
Hereisanotherbadexample(“Spaghetti”code):
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Isiteasytounderstandthispieceofcode??(Wiresinalldirections,SubVI
withoutlabeloricons,notusingSubVIs,variablesandconstantswithout
names,etc.)Debuggingthispieceofcodeisalsoalmostimpossible!
ASubVIhasbeenmade.That’sgreat!–butwhatdoes
thissubVIreallydo??Ithasnonamenoranyicon,etc.
→Itisallowedtouse/createSubVIs(functions)!!Thismakesyourcodemore
structured,easiertomaintainandreuse.Itisalsoeasiertodebugthecode.
→Alwaysnameyourvariables
BadExample:
Usealsogooddescriptivenameforyourvariables,andalwaysuseEnglish!
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→Makesurethattheteachercanopenthesourcecode!
Example:
HereItrytoopenaVIthatuseaSubVIcalled“LowPassFilter”–butthefile
doesnotexists!!
→Keepgoodstructureinthecodefiles.Goodandreasonablenamesofthe
Filesarealsoimportant!
HerearesomeBadexamples:
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WritingaTechnicalLabReport
Hans-PetterHalvorsen,M.Sc.
E-mail:hans.p.halvorsen@hit.no
Blog:http://home.hit.no/~hansha/
UniversityCollegeofSoutheastNorway
www.usn.no