Lab Reports

Laboratory reports and assignments are due by 12 noon on Friday the week after the laboratory exercise. Late laboratory reports will be accepted but will be docked 10%/day. Check your report before handing it in.

All assignments must be submitted using Canvas.

• The file name shall be teamnumber_labtitle (Example 4_acidrain.ipynb)
• Only submit ONE file. That file must contain url links to data that is available online.
• Use markdown formatting for everything except equations.
• Include all python data analysis in an Appendix at the bottom of the report.
• Do not use html formatting.
• Start with a title! # my awesome title for this report
• List the authors of the report and the number of hours each author spent creating the report.
• Each team member writes one thing they did well and one thing they could improve as a reflection at the beginning of the report.
• Use code provide in the aguaclara repository. Don't copy code! Instead use the code by using an import statement such as import aguaclara as ac. Then you can use use code by calling it ac.ANC_open(3).
• All calculations go in the report. The inputs for the report should be the measurements that you made in the lab. Thus measured flow rates and measured volumes are used to calculate the hydraulic residence time. Don't use a calculator to calculate values that you then enter into the python code!
• Use past tense for reports! You did this experiment in the past and now you are documenting what you did.

Colab notebooks will be used to analyze and document all experiment except the fundamentals lab.

Laboratory reports come in 3 flavors:

Full lab reports (+)

Write the laboratory report as if the experiment were your idea. Imagine that you are working for a consulting firm or in a research laboratory and that you needed to do laboratory research to investigate options for areal world project. You can use the Lab Manual as an example of a well formatted document. The Atom reports should have similar formatting with the required python code. Full laboratory reports should include the following sections:

Introduction and Objectives

Write a paragraph on the goals of the experiment. Why did you decide to do this experiment? Introduce your approach by explaining what needs to be done to meet your goal for your real world project. Explain what you hoped to learn through this research. How did you expect this experiment to guide your decisions about the real world project that you are working on?

This is the section where you can present the equations that you will be using. Format the equations using Latex to create a beautiful report.

Procedures

Provide an overview of the methods that you used in your investigation. The best procedures give an overview of the method with an explanation of why you used those methods. There is no need to restate the step-by-step procedures as outlined in the lab manual: it is sufficient to cite the lab manual (use a link to the url) and include information on any deviations from the manual procedures. When method development is part of the laboratory exercise, a detailed description of the methods should be included. Methods and procedures need to be detailed enough so that one of your classmates could duplicate your work.

Include the actual values that you measured for volumes, masses, flow rates, etc. For example, if the lab manual suggested 267 mL/min for the flow rate and you measured 310 mL/min, then you report the 310 mL/min in procedures.

Results and Discussion

Present results in a clearly labeled format. Data analysis methods, equations, graphs, and tables should be presented in this section. The report text should refer to each equation, figure, and table. Include a table of relevant experimental parameters (e.g., measured flow rates, sample sizes, concentrations of reagents, etc.).

Compare theoretical expectations with your results and discuss reasons for any observed deviations. If the results weren't as expected, suggest reasons why the laboratory results may have differed from theory and suggest improved techniques to obtain more accurate results or modifications to the theory to better describe the experimental conditions.

Make sure that responses to specific questions and data analysis requested in the lab manual are included in this section. But don't answer the questions in a list format. Instead, include your answers as part of the narrative that is designed to meet your objectives.

See below for conclusions, suggestions, and appendix

Data analysis only (-)

Data analysis laboratory reports must include answers to all of the questions from the lab manual as well as the mandatory elements of conclusions, suggestions/comments, and good graphs. The report and graphs should be in a single well formatted Colab notebook document where you also use python for all required data analysis. For this report a "storyline" is not necessary. The answers to the questions can be in a list format.

Appendix

Put all of the python code in the Appendix at the bottom of the report. Include comments.

You can use the Lab Manual as an example of a well formatted document. The reports should have similar formatting with the required python code.

Spreadsheet and Colab notebook Data analysis

• Used for the Fundamentals lab.
• Submit both the data sheet and the Colab notebook data analysis file
• Use units on all numbers to help improve self documentation.
• Do all calculations with units in the Colab notebook in an appendix at the bottom of the report.
• Designate an area in the python code where all the constants are entered. Name the constants.
• Use equations to logically show dependency. Don't type in numbers that should be calculated values.

All laboratory reports (all 3 flavors!) must include conclusions, suggestions/comments, appendix, and well formatted graphs!

Conclusions

The conclusions section should not include any new observation. It is the place to summarize the results in a few sentences. Make sure you connect your conclusions to your objectives for doing the research.

Suggestions/comments

I value your thoughts on where changes are needed as well as what is working well. Please provide very clear ideas that I can add to the lab manual or change in how we run the lab. Include ideas for:

• improving the data acquisition software
• modifying the experimental apparatus (Explain what you would like to change and why)
• making the experiment easier to understand (provide proposed change to the lab manual)
• modifying the experiment to include some new experimental aspect related to the main topic
• alternate ways to analyze the data (As we build better tools we can do cooler analysis!)

Editing checklist

                                wrong    right

Use symbol font for symbols ug mg One space between numbers and units 5mg 5 mg No leading decimals .3 g 0.3 g Graph captions Graph 1. Figure 1. Figure captions above figure below figure Table captions below table above table

• A common mistake of technical writers is to not include enough graphs, pictures, and drawings in their documents. These images are each worth many words. Use figures that are well labeled to provide information that would be hard to understand if only presented as text.
• Learn to use Markdown to create simple formatting. Minimize special formatting of text.
• Make sure every sentence contributes to your report. Watch out for meaningless fluff! Practice the skill of making each sentence as concise as possible.
• Enter equations using Latex. Online equation editors can help create the Latex code.
• Make sure the figures have captions and that you refer to each figure in the text. Don't refer to them as graphs! Refer to them as Figures!
• Place table captions above the table.
• Make sure your graphs meet the guidelines (see below)!
• Don't forget conclusions and suggestions!

Graphs

Presenting data in an understandable format requires thought and attention to detail. Follow these guidelines when preparing lab reports and oral reports.

• Label all axes and include units where appropriate.
• Eliminate parts of the range in both x and y axis that aren't used or that aren't meaningful. For example, the pH range 0-3 isn't used in the acid lake experiment.
• Place a caption with a brief description below the graph. (no title!)
• Use data symbols to show data points unless there is so much data that the symbols overlap. If the data symbols overlap it is better to connect the data points with a line and not show the data symbols.
• When presenting multiple plots on a single graph make sure that it is easy to distinguish the plots using the legend.
• If curve fitting is used explain why and include the equation (either on the graph or elsewhere in the report).
• If a model or theoretical curve is presented it should be a smooth curve without data points.
• Insert the graph in your report after the first reference to it in the text.
• Scale the size of the graph so it is large enough to see the data and read the text.