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-- JorgeRodriguez - 2012-01-09
Lab Report (Paper) should include the following sections: |
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- Abstract: The abstract is not an introduction it is a one paragraph statement with a short description of what was done and what were the objectives of the experiment. It should also include how the experiment was conducted, very breifly, and a succint summary of the main results. If a set of numerical results were obtained then the value with all errors should be clearly quoted in the abstract. Finally, any important implication or conclusions should also be stated. Basically , the idea is to provide the reader with enough information for he or she to determine if it is a worthwhile read.
- Introduction: Here you will introduce the paper, described what is being measured in detail and why it is interesting. Background information should be included in this section and any theoretical motivation for the work. This section will likely be the most heavily referenced so make sure you keep track of what you read when you are learning about the experiment and then cite your sources careful in the reference section.
- Experimental Procedure: Describe the experimental setup in detail and the function of the equipment used. Here you will also describe the procedure used to take the measurements. Include figures, drawing or refer to manuals if available or used. Also summarize any difficulties experienced and important observation made while taking measurements. You should discuss in this section any possible sources of uncertainties and steps taken to minimize them should be detailed. Especially those that reduce your systematic or statistical errors.
- Results: Describe completely the result obtained from the measurements. Include a summary of important final calculations. Use tables, figures, plots and include any statistical analysis, parameter estimates that result, goodness of fits and any other relevant statistical information. A summary of the uncertainties described earlier and how they are included or affect your measurement should also be detailed in this section.
- Conclusion and Discussion: Here you state the meaning of your results and relate them to theoretical predictions or other existant measurements. You should also discuss possible improvements to the experimental procedure especially if your results are inconsistent with other results or have poor precision, ie., large uncertainties. If the latter go ahead and provide your thoughts on how one could improve the measrurement.
- References: See sample paper for format. You may use websites but please keep these to a minimum.
- Appendix: This is where you would include detailed calculations or programs.
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- Abstract: Usually a single paragraph, only in extreme situations should there be more (not in this class) or statement with a short description (one or two sentences) of what you did, how you did it, again one or two sentences, and what you discovered or measured. You need absolutely a numerical results with its error with the proper number of significant figures. If you have any conclusions that are important enough that you feel the author needs to know please include it, but one or two sentences at most. And make sure your abstract doesn't read like an introduction, leave that to the introduction. Basically the idea is to provide the reader with enough information to make him/her want to read the paper and to determine whether it is worthwhile to do so. Make sure the tense is past. You've already completed the experiment right.
- Introduction: Here you will introduce the paper, described what is being measured in detail and why it is interesting. Background information should be included in this section and any theoretical motivation for the work. This section will likely be the most heavily referenced so make sure you cite your sources.
- Experimental Procedure: Describe the experimental setup in detail and, the function of the equipment used and the procedure used to make the measurements. Include figures, drawing or refer to manuals if used. Also summarize any difficulties experienced during the process of performing the measurements. In this section you can describe the steps taken to minimize experimental uncertainties.
- Results: Describe completely the result obtained from the measurements. Included a summary of important final calculations, include tables, plots and and statistical analysis including parameter estimates, goodness of fits and other relevant statistical information. A description of your uncertainties; ie., the source of the uncertainty and how they were estimated or computed can be summarized in this section.
- Conclusion and Discussion: Here you state the meaning of your results and relate them to theoretical predictions or other accepted measurements. You should also discuss possible improvements to the experimental procedure especially if your results are inconsistent or are significantly different than expected. Also you can discuss the precision of your result particularly if its poor, that is the uncertainty your estimated is large.
- References: Citations should also be done properly and according to a style consistent with physics papers. I prefer using square brackets such as [1] and then a proper bibliography again check the papers linked below. If you use the style templates below they provide you with the proper formatting for your citations automatically. But you need to know how to use it. It pays to learn this sooner rather than later. You can use online sources but only if you cite them properly. In principle, wikipedia sources should be avoided but since this is class and you are not really writing a paper I guess its okay but please keep them them to a minimum. Not everything you read on the web is true...
- Appendix: You can include one of these if you need to but its not necessary.
- Fortmatting -Not a really a section : Your best bet is to look through the sample paper linked below to see how to properly format a physics paper. Use or PRL or PRD style is preferred. I've provide you below with a latex and word template. Use them as I am quite picky about these things as are journal referees.
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| | Guidlines from the American Institute of Physics are available if you want the authoritative guidelines on how to write a physics paper. These are available here .
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