Lab reports will be submitted individually, with one github repository per student per lab. The overall structure of the lab reports is left to the individual students: you may organize your work however you please.
Lab reports will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
Successful Build (10%)
The lab report is successfully generated from the source. The largest consideration for this portion of the evaluation is whether the provided code produces the expected results from the given data. Compatibility issues are expected: students will not be penalized if the attempted compilation of the report does not work perfectly on the first try. As long as the student is responsive and prompt in resolving any reported issues, points will not be subtracted for failed compilations.
Code Testing (10%)
Ten percent of the lab report grade will go towards an evaluation of the tests provided with the data analysis code. Code testing is not the focus of these labs, so the test suite is not expected to exhaustively cover every piece of code written by the students. The goal here is more to get students used to the habit of writing tests for their data analysis code. One effective way of generating relevant tests is to implement "thought experiments". For example, if you have designed a trapezoidal pulse shaping filter, how do you expect it to perform on a pulse with negative input polarity? Evaluating this experiment, and then implementing it in the form of a test is an example of an effective unit test. Another source of unit test cases is to write a test any time you encounter a bug or unexpected behavior in your code. There is no explicit requirement on coverage (i.e. you don't have to have at least one test for each function/method you write), but some degree of testing should be undertaken. Two or three well thought-out tests >>> 20 trivial tests.
Introduction / Motivation / Background / Theory (15%)
All lab reports should have an introduction that provides an overview of what is being studied in the lab, and a motivation for why the particular study is being undertaken. Any theoretical concepts underlying the study should be elaborated upon as well. Make sure to clearly state the specific goals of the lab report.
Experimental methods (15%)
This section should elaborate on the experimental methods that will be used to achieve the goals laid out in the introduction. The methods section should be written with the aim that another student (with suitable background knowledge) could follow the procedures as they've been laid out to replicate your experiment.
Results / Discussion (40%)
The results of your experimental procedures and subsequent data analyses should be presented here, along with relevant discussion communicating the context and signficance of the results. The "required" portions of the lab writeups (if applicable) should be specifically addressed here. If your experimental results deviated from expectation according to the underlying theory, this should be addressed in your discussion. Points of emphasis for presented graphical/numerical results include:
- Well-labeled figures, graphs, tables, and images
- Correct reporting of precision of measurements (sig figs)
- Correct reporting of uncertainties for all measured and derived quantities
Conclusion (10%)
A very brief summary of your presented results placed within the context of the original goals of the study. Other topics that are relevant for the conclusion:
- Potential changes to the experimental procedure to improve on the lab if you were to do it again.
- Potential directions for future work & studies with expanded scope