A laboratory is a practical experience requiring proper equipment and involving teamwork. Therefore attendance at all laboratory sessions is required. Students who miss a laboratory session must make up for it at the first opportunity and arrange it with the instructor. It is easiest to arrange a make-up session during regular meetings of other laboratory sections. A student absent at a regular lab session has to make his or her measurements and not use the data obtained by the group partner.

Preparation for laboratory work

You have to be prepared for each laboratory session. It is not only required, it is common sense. Time is a precious commodity in the laboratory; it will be wasted if you are poorly prepared. Besides completing the Prelab assignment, go over the text of the Laboratory Manual carefully to be sure that you know what to do. Resolve any questions or uncertainties with your instructor at the beginning of the lab session. This will save you unnecessary make-ups.

Deliverables

Each set of experiments is preceded by a pre-laboratory assignment, which prepares you for work in the laboratory. Prelabs are completed at home by each student individually and are to be handed to the instructor prior to doing the experimental work. Laboratory Reports are prepared by each group of students who have worked together on experiments, after all measurements are completed.

Reports should be typed and have the standard properly filled cover page. All report pages must be numbered. All graphs must be on proper graph paper (e.g. log-log graph paper) or, better yet, they should be generated on a computer. The axes of the graphs must be labeled and the units indicated. Schematics of all circuits should be included and the conditions under which data were obtained (such as input voltage, frequency, etc.) must be clearly indicated. The material indicated in bold print on the pages of the manual should be discussed in the report and the questions in the text answered. See next chapter for more details on preparation of reports.

Notes

Each group is required to have a Laboratory Notebook, which should have a current record of laboratory procedures, schematics, and data. The Laboratory Notebook provides documentation of your experimental work and may be reviewed by the instructor and used for evaluating your performance.

Write as many details as you can; draw circuits that worked and did not work. Do not erase errors; they are real stepping-stones to knowledge! If you do not make a note of them you will repeat them later. Good notes save your time and make easier writing reports. Do not believe that you will remember the details later. Information, which at first seems obvious or unimportant, may save you repeating measurements.

You should compare experimental data with results expected from theory while the circuit is operating on the laboratory bench. If there are large discrepancies, which can not be explained by errors in measurements or approximations in the theory, they should be tract down and cleared up. They may be due to errors in wiring, damaged components, etc. and the time to find them is in the laboratory. You will never find that there was a broken lead in your set-up while writing the report at home.

GOOD LUCK!

Note:

The instructor may modify these requirements as he or she sees fit.

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