Each student is required to maintain a laboratory notebook which should contain all answers to preparation questions, data, circuit analyses, calculations, graphs, etc. It needs the be well organized, and the material clearly and neatly presented. Here are instructions on keeping a good notebook. Grading will be done in accordance with these instructions.
1. Write name and course title and number on the front page. Include your phone number and email in case your notebook gets misplaced.
2. Place a Table of Contents in the front of the notebook with the following format, neatly printed:
(2). experiment or mini-project number and title;
(3). student's name;
(4). the name of his or her partner(s).
4. Use all pages consecutively. Leave no blank pages.
5. Do not have any loose pages in the notebook.
6. Each page should be numbered.
7. A typical entry for each lab experiment consists of the following :
B. Pre-lab:
The pre-lab portion should be done before coming to the laboratory and
recorded in the notebook. Make sure you fully understand the concepts and
if necessary review the material in the EE215 textbook. You can use Spice
or Electronics Workbench to verify your calculations and also to determine
the effect of changing component values. However, SPice or EWB is never
a substitute for calculations!
After finishing the Prelab and entering it in the Lab notebook, each
student is required to take the Prelab Quiz. This
has to be done before midnight, the day before the lab session. It is taken
and submitted on line by clicking on the link "Take the Prelab Quiz"
at the end of the Prelab section. After the submission, it is automattically
graded and the feedback is given to the student. This quiz counts for 10
points towards thetotal of each lab grade.
C. Experimental procedure:
Show the measurement set-up (schematics); record the data, sketches and observations. When recording data always mention the instruments used (ex. Digital Oscilloscope HP 54600B or multimeter HP 34401A). Also label the recorded data including the units. It is recommended that you make some quick, but neat sketches of the data to ensure they make sense before leaving the lab. The data must always be entered manually in your notebook while doing the experiments.
9. Record all the observation directly in your notebook while you are doing the experiments. Keep good records which would enable you or someone else to repeat the experiment and obtain the same results. Do not erase material. If a mistake is made, cross it out neatly. You should still be able to read the incorrect data after you draw a line through it.
10. Label graphs clearly including a title, labeled axes and units. Measured data points should be clearly visible even if a line has been interpolated through the data points. Graphs used to record data taken in the lab are to be plotted directly into the lab notebook and ARE NOT to be plotted on separate graph paper and attached to the lab notebook.
11. Tables must have column headings and units.
12. You and the lab partner must sign and date the notebook at the end
of the lab session.
Jan Van der Spiegel jan@ee.upenn.edu
Created: January 11, 1997; Updated: January 12, 1997