| | Course Twiki for Advanced Physics Lab, PHY 4821L
Introduction: |
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After you complete taking data on a given project you will have about one week to complete the report for the lab. The reports should resemble a journal paper. Each report should have an introduction, a description of the procedures and equipment used, a description of analysis procedures, tables and/or graphs of the data collected, and a discussion of the results. Proper use of significant figures and statistical analysis is expected. All graphs and tables should be well labeled and properly displayed. You should cite all references used in a bibliography. I've attached below a couple of recent paper examples from Journals: A Physical Review Letters (PRL) paper on yet another discrepancy between the recent faster than light neutrino results and known physics PhysRevLett.107.251801.pdf and a recent paper on Upsilon resonance production at the LHC by the CMS collaboration PhysRevD.83.112004.pdf. Look to these as samples of what I expect. In addition, the arxiv.org website also has many tex templates most of which I will accept. You may also search the APS site for word templates if you so desire or create your own based on the sample paper attached below. I will add templates as I find them to this twiki. There is some freedom in how you layout your paper but please consult the Physical Review journals PRL, PRB... guidelines for proper formatting and rules regarding the layout. Your report should include these sections: |
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- Abstract: Usually a single paragraph, only in rare situations should there be more (not in this class). The statements should be concise and short (one or two sentences each) on what was done, how it was done, the major results and any conclusion drawn. If a numerical result(s) is obtained you should include that in the abstract. You can summarize intermediate results or just quote the main result, leaving the rest for the main body of the paper. Always include uncertainties, and make sure that values have the proper number of significant figures and units. The conclusion(s) can be summarized after the results are quoted. Again limit each of these statements to one or two sentences. Also, remember that an abstract is not an introduction so it shouldn't read like one. In principle a general rule of thumb to consider is that an good abstract is one that provides the reader enough information to decide whether it is worthwhile to read the paper that follows. Regarding tense and use of pronouns. Use past and present tense, since the experiment has already been done use past tense when you describe things already accomplished. Use present tense where appropriate for example to state general facts. So "We measured the magnetic moment of a small... " is OK as is "The magnetic moment of a small magnetic disk was determined... " The later is the usual one encountered in physics papers.
- 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 and drawings and refer to the manuals if that is used significantly. 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 or if you prefer leave that discussion to its own separate section.
- Results: describe the result obtained. Included a summary of important final calculations, use tables, plots, figures to describe the results but DO NOT exclude a narrative along with your tables, plots and figures. Also include statistical analysis and their results such as: parameter estimates, goodness of fits values, t-value and/or any other relevant statistical information. A description of your uncertainties; ie., the source of the uncertainty and how they were estimated and computed can be included in this section or if you prefer in its own section later in the paper.
- Conclusion and Discussion: In this section you give context to your results; what they mean and how to interpret them. Discuss how are they related to theoretical predictions, other measurements or previously accepted determinations. You should also discuss possible improvements to the experimental procedure especially if your results are inconsistent with expectations and/or are sigificantly different. You may also want to discuss the precision of your results particularly if these are poor and if there are ways in which they can be improved. For example with a longer experimental run, measure input parameters with different equipment, or use of improved techniques.
- References: Citations should also be done properly formatted and should be consistent with that used in physics journals, such as PRL or PRD. I prefer using square brackets such as [1] and then a proper bibliography started on its own page. Check the sample papers linked below. If you use the style templates below they provide you with 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 will in general allow wikipedia citations, better yet look at the citations in the wikipedia article, read those and use them instead. If you do cite an only resource make sure you do it properly see the AIP style. m to a minimum. Not everything you read on the web is true...
- Appendix: You can include one of these if you need to but it is not necessary.
- Formatting -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 provided you below with a latex and word template.
- Writing Guide: Check the AIP style guide 4th edition linked below
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- (5pts) Abstract: A single paragraph, only in rare situations, and never in this class, would there be a need for additional paragraphs. Each element of your abstract should be concise and short (one or two sentences) and consist of the following: what was done, how it was done, your primary result or results and finally any major conclusion drawn. If numerical results are obtained you should quote those prominently in your abstract, particularly those that are most important. If you think it relevant you may summarize important intermediate results but usually this is not necessary in an abstract. The rest of the paper is better suited to this sort of information. Always make sure to include uncertainties, and that all values have their proper number of significant figures. And of course the units of any numerical result should be quoted. Your conclusion(s) can be summarized in the last sentence or two. Remember your abstract is not your introduction so it shouldn't read like one. A general rule of thumb is that a good abstract is one that provides a reader with enough information as to allow him/her to decide whether it is worthwhile to read the paper that follows. Regarding tense and use of pronouns. Use past and present tense where appropriate. For example, as the experiment was already completed use past tense when describing things that were done and use present tense to describe general ideas or conclusion or when appropriate. As an example your abstract could begin something like this "We determined the magnetic moment of a small disk.. ". While this is okay usually in scientific papers a more formal and less personal tone is taken, for example: "The magnetic moment of a small magnetic disk was determined... "
- (10pts) 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 cited so make sure you cite your sources and include references in the "References" section. Properly formatted, check sample papers or use the AIP style guide linked below.
- (10pts) Experimental Procedure: Describe the experimental setup in detail in this section. This is where you would describe the equipment used and its function, with as much detail as you think relevant. Assume here that the reader is not familiar with the equipment. Long and complex equipment can be cited to a manual, as there is no need to re-write what is already available. If you cite webpages make sure these conform to proper formatting guidelines. Make sure you include relevant figures and photos if needed. Also describe in detail how the measurements where performed, procedures, assumptions made, particularly describe difficulties encountered and how you estimated uncertainties that result from any and all measurements. This is also where you can detail the experimental uncertainties and any steps taken to reduce them. Many experimentalist move a complete discussion on experimental uncertainties to a separate section as this is as if not more important the main result of your work. Remember the idea here is to provide as complete a description as you can so that others can reproduce your work, this is usually the approach taken in a never before done experiment. In this class I will take into account that what we are doing is practice.
- (10pts) Results and Conclusions: ( Results ) As per title of this section here you describe the result(s) obtained. Included a summary of important final calculations. Do not just include numbers in loose itemized lists instead use properly formatted tables, plots and or figures to describe the results. Never have a section that only has data tables and plots WITHOUT a narrative describing what is being presented. This can not be leave interpretation of data completely up to the reader, no matter how expert you believe they are. Here is where you would include any statistical analysis conducted to obtain your results, models used to fit to data, statistical inferences, discussion of goodness of fit parameters, confidence levels in the agreement between your data and your model assumptions, t-values, and/or any other relevant statistical analysis performed. A full summary and description of your uncertainties; both statistical and systematic should be included here unless it was moved to its own section, somewhere else in the paper. (Conclusions) For the conclusions part of this section you should give context to your results what they mean and how to interpret them. Discuss how they relate to theoretical predictions or known values you are comparing your results with, other measurements or previously accepted determinations. You could also discuss possible improvements to the experimental procedure especially if your results are inconsistent with expectations. However do not freely speculate and try to your best to quantify your statements, for example by changing this I can improve the uncertainty in that by how much. If you can not easily quantify these statement they are better left unsaid. You may also want to discuss the precision of your result particularly if these are poor and if there are ways in which that can be improved. For example with a longer experimental run, measurement of input parameters with different equipment or the use of improved techniques.
- (5pts) References: Citations should be included in your paper and be properly formatted, consistent with standard practices in physics journals, such as PRL or PRD (use the AIP style guide linked below. If you don't want to read that style guide just copy the sample papers linked below). I prefer the use of square brackets, [1] to cite a reference and require you to use seperate reference bibliography started on its own page. If you use the style templates below they provide you with 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. If you cite a webpage, which I allow, make sure you reference it properly in the bibliography. I also allow Wikipedia sources but you should avoid the use of these as much as possible as they are usually not allowed in real papers. It probably a good practice to check the reference in the wikipage article and read through that as an original source. This warning in place, I will not penalize you for using a wikipedia citations. But make sure you reference it properly. Remember anyone can post to a wikipedia page, so it may not be true. I know pages are usually monitored closely by experts, but they may have been away when someone posted...
- (5pts) Formatting -Not a really a section: Your best bet is to look through the sample paper linked below to see how to properly format figures, captions, tables margins ect. I am expecting a publication quality paper from you an if it doesn't look right its actually a lot harder to read comfortably, why we have strict style guides. Below you will find a latex and word template. Try to avoid using other word processors as they tend not to be universally supported. The best is latex but there is a rather larger and steep learning curve so MS Word is good enough. By the way, the AIP style guide, 4th edition, linked below doesn't just adress formatting issues it is a general guide that helps you improve your technical writing but within the AIP style.
- (0pts) Appendix: You can include one of these if you need to but it is not necessary.
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| | A grading rubric GradingRubric will be applied to each lab using the criteria above to assess your performance. Your lab reports (papers) grade will constitute 80% of your final grade for the course. Reports will generally be due one week after you have completed the experiment. Reports that are late will have their grade reduced by approximately one letter grade if not turned in by the due date shown in the google calendar. After two weeks late the lab report will not be accepted and a zero will be assigned. Typically no grades for one lab report will significantly impact your course grade as there are only five lab report grades and one presentation grade in this course. If you miss more than one lab report your chances are pretty good of earning a C- or worse. That would mean you would have to take the class again before you graduate with a degree in Physics.
You can use the Journal of Physics: Conference Series guidelines to format your paper in. But if you prefer to use some other physics journal guidelines you are more than welcomed to do that instead. We provide below zip files with the guideline/templates from the JPC for your convenience. |
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