Short Report Format Unless otherwise instructed not to do so, we will use a short report format for this

class. The report has four sections: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion of Results. This format is often called an extended abstract. Done properly this format often yields no more than two pages of text, figures and tables (usually in a 2 column format). As with all technical writing the purpose is to accomplish three goals: 1. Discuss what you have done, 2. Discuss what you have found, and, 3. Discuss what the results mean. The last goal is often neglected in reports by students. Yet it is the most important and the one that receives most points in my grading scale. As with all technical writing quantity is not necessarily the goal, rather quality is the goal. Introduction Use this section to introduce the reader to the experiment and your work. Discuss the physics of the engineering problem. This is will help the reader understand why the test was performed in the way it was. Feel free to give any pertinent equations, especially if the discussion of these equations helps to convey the physical nature of the engineering problem. Give the motivation for the experiment. A well-written introduction places the reader in the right frame of mind to consider the results of your experiment. But, be aware that many readers do not read a report start to finish. Often, they read the results section and then the introduction. Methods Give a brief description (usually one paragraph is enough) detailing what was done. Do not give a step-by-step recipe like description of the procedure. Below is an example procedure that was used to obtain the yield stress of structural steel. The yield stress of structural steel was obtained by using a tension test. The equipment for the tests performed is shown in Figure 1. A total of 3124 specimens were sequentially loaded to failure. Each specimen had a diameter of 0.505 in and a gage length of 2.0 in. The load deflection data was obtained by the computer controller and stored on a floppy disk.

Load cell Specimen

Controller MTS Tension Test Figure 1. Tension test equipment. Note in the above text that the figure was referenced by number before the figure was inserted in the text. Results In this section, tabulate your experimentally obtained values as well as any that are calculated. All figures and tables should be properly formatted and referred to in the text. Do not just put in table after table or figure after figure. Write a short description introducing the table and/or figure and its relevance. Give a sample calculation for each type of analysis performed only if it is beyond an obvious or elementary calculation. If you do give a sample calculation here is an example of how it should be given: 3) The strain, , for any given value of load is obtained from

L L0

(20)

where L is the change in length and L0 is the original length. From Table 5, for the first increment we have

0.0002 =.0001 strain = 100 strain 2.0

Discussion of Results Discuss the results within the context of the science, especially the science discussed in the introduction. Refer to the data in the Results section directly to support your discussion. Refer to the data by using figure numbers and table numbers. You may wish to directly reference a particular row in a table or data point in a figure. Discuss the relevancy of your result(s). That is, discuss how the results fit in with the established theory. Usually a one-paragraph statement discussing the results with respect to theory, the motivation of the experiment, and expected outcomes is sufficient. Discuss what role error plays on your results. Be very specific about this and avoid statements referring to human error. This tends to discredit your work.