At the beginning of each lab, I will make some brief comments and suggestions regarding the laboratory activities for the day.  During the lab, I will walk around and check everyone’s progress.  Each person will need to be knowledgeable about all aspects of the lab - equipment operation, graphing, and data analysis.  If you encounter a problem, follow this procedure to solve it:

1.     First of all, take time to think about it.  Can anything that you learned in lecture or discussion help.
2.     Consult with your lab partner.
3.     If you are still having difficulty, get my attention and I will help out.

Get to the lab period on time.  By being tardy, you may miss some important instructions at the beginning of lab and you are being unfair to your lab partner.  Tardiness may cause you to perform the activity alone.  If you missed a laboratory due to extenuating circumstances (documentation of excuse may be requested), you are responsible for contacting me to find out what you need to do.

Laboratory Requirements:

    The laboratory work that is evaluated for credit will be in the form of a typed (or written) report.  Each laboratory report is due before the end of the lab period the following week.  If you need to take time during a lab period to print it out or make final adjustments to last week's lab report, it must be done after you have gathered all the necessary data for the current week's lab.  No late laboratory reports will be accepted for credit.  Only in extenuating circumstances will exceptions be made (documentation of excuse may be required).  The lab reports should be typed but can be legibly written out.  It is recommended to write out the section containing example calculations.  It is difficult to type out math calculations in Microsoft Excel.

    Each laboratory group of two students will need to submit one report for each activity.  An example laboratory report is included with this syllabus.  You can follow this template or use a design of your own.  Whatever the design, I will be looking for the content outlined below to evaluate the report.  A sheet describing experimental error analysis is described in an appendix within your laboratory manual.  Information on this handout supercedes any discussion of the structure of laboratory reports in your laboratory manual.

Laboratory Grading

Reports will be graded based upon the following point system:

Names, date, laboratory title

Purpose  (1 point)

Should be a brief (< 3 sentences) statement of why you are performing this experiment or what you hope to measure.

Tables/Graphs/Calculations  (5 points)

    The report should include tables and graphs where requested or useful.  Tables should contain: a title, row description, and column description with units.  Graphs should contain: a title, clearly marked data points, axis titles with units, and - where needed - a triangle for calculating a slope of a line.  (Or indicate that the computer has determined a trend line.)       

    The mathematical procedure you followed to enter data into the first row of a data table should be shown.  Such that, if in column one you entered the measured height of a cylinder and in the second column you’ve entered the diameter, then if the third columns asks for the volume, you need to show the algebra used for finding the value of the volume.

Conclusions  (4 points)

    In your own words, discuss the difficulties encountered, percent error when applicable, experimental error, and the accuracy of results.  What did you accomplish?  You must include a numerical estimate of the accuracy of the results along with a discussion of sources of inaccuracy.  Work together with your laboratory partner to develop the best conclusions. 
    There may be additional exercises required as part of the laboratory exercise.  These will count toward the points in the conclusion.