ECE 1234 - 567

Written Reports for Project Lab at Texas Tech University

Mark Storrs, Ph.D., P.E., IEEE # 41334167

Brian Nutter, Ph.D., P.E., IEEE # 02370518

Texas Tech University

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

May 2023

i
 Abstract

This paper describes the requirements for written reports in Project Lab courses at

Texas Tech University. The general format for the written reports is described, as well as

instructions for specific parts of the paper.

ii
 Table of Contents

List of Figures......................................................................................................................v

List of Tables......................................................................................................................vi

1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................1

2. Audience.........................................................................................................................1

3. General Format...............................................................................................................2

4. Organization...................................................................................................................2

4.1 Title Page...................................................................................................................3

4.2 Abstract......................................................................................................................3

4.3 Acknowledgement.....................................................................................................3

4.4 Table of Contents.......................................................................................................4

4.5 Introduction................................................................................................................4

4.6 Body of a Technical Report.......................................................................................4

4.7 Engineering Standards, Specifications, and Intellectual Property Considerations....7

4.8 Safety, Public Health, and Welfare Considerations...................................................7

4.9 Global, Cultural, Social, Environmental, and Economic Factor Considerations......7

4.10 Conclusion...............................................................................................................8

4.11 References................................................................................................................8

4.12 Appendices..............................................................................................................8

5. Tables and Figures..........................................................................................................9

6. Equations......................................................................................................................15

7. Plagiarism and Intellectual Honesty.............................................................................15

8. Evaluation.....................................................................................................................16

iii
9. Uploading Papers..........................................................................................................16

References..........................................................................................................................17

Appendix A........................................................................................................................18

Appendix B........................................................................................................................20

Appendix C........................................................................................................................21

iv
 List of Figures

Figure 1: Example Oscilloscope Trace...............................................................................9

Figure 2: Example Chart.....................................................................................................9

Figure 3: Example of a Figure Taken from Another Source [2]......................................10

Figure 4: Example Drawing Generated by the Word Drawing Tool................................10

Figure 5: Example Schematic...........................................................................................11

Figure 6: Large Rotated Figure.........................................................................................12

v
 List of Tables

Table I: Example Table......................................................................................................8

vi
 1. Introduction

The technical written report is an essential element in each Project Laboratory

course. It should not be an afterthought, hastily prepared at the last moment. Each action

the student takes in researching, designing, building and testing the system should be

performed with the final documentation of the system in mind.

Each student is required to write an individual report describing the entire system.

It is understandable that an individual student will emphasize his or her own technical

contributions; however, each paper is expected to describe the entire system. All students

should clearly indicate the work for which they wish to receive credit.

The written report is not intended to describe the lab project. The written report is

to be a technical description of the system that was designed, built and tested. Do not

repeat the project description. Report the technical characteristics and capabilities of the

system as it was designed, built and tested. The technical report is not to serve as a

journal or as a diary of the design process. Do not report the deliberations of the design

group. Do not report the failed attempts and discarded ideas, unless the reader must

understand the discarded ideas to understand the system as it was designed, built and

tested.

2. Audience

The instructions for written reports specify that formal technical papers must

comply with the criteria for the IEEE Student Paper Contest [1]. Authors of written

reports should consider the audience for their papers to be the managing editor and

reviewers of an IEEE journal. In addition, the authors should write in a manner so that
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other students in Project Laboratory classes can clearly understand the technical material

reported in the paper. The authors can assume the readers have a general knowledge of

the technical field reported in the paper. Any specialized techniques or vocabulary

should be clearly explained in the paper.

3. General Format

All papers must be submitted in electronic form using Microsoft Word or PDF.

The document shall be double spaced and formatted for standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper.

The left and right margins shall be 1.25 inches and the top and bottom margins shall be 1

inch. The recommended font is Times New Roman. Use a 12-point type size throughout

the document. The pages must be numbered consecutively, starting with the Abstract as

page number 1. Locate the page numbers in the bottom margin in the center of the page.

The main portion of the paper (Introduction through Body and Conclusion, plus Tables

and Figures) should not exceed 16 pages. The entire paper (Title page through

Appendices) should not exceed 28 pages.

4. Organization

All papers shall include the following components, in the order listed.

Appendices are optional and should be included as required to meets the needs of each

individual paper.

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4.1 Title Page

The title page lists the title of the paper, the name(s) of the author(s), the IEEE

membership number of the principal author, the name of the institution, and the

approximate date (month and year) when the paper was written. The paper title should

consist of the minimum number of key words necessary to portray accurately the contents

of the paper. [1] Each paper shall list the names of all group members.

4.2 Abstract

An Abstract is a brief description of the contents of the paper. The purpose of the

Abstract is to help the potential reader decide if he or she wants to read the entire paper.

An Abstract should highlight features that make the paper interesting. Because the

Abstract is often published separately from the paper, it must appear by itself on a

separate sheet of paper. The Abstract should give a brief statement of the technical

problem addressed in the paper and a concise summary of the results or conclusion. The

abstract should also state the methods and techniques employed in achieving the technical

results. The Abstract should be no longer than 100 words.

4.3 Acknowledgement

An Acknowledgement is a brief listing of the people and institutions that

contributed time, data, or other resources that helped you with this project. Financial

sponsors, outside advisors, tutors, editors, previous lab reports, and other lab students

should be listed. Each acknowledged source should typically be tied to one of your

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references. The Acknowledgement and appropriate citations will reduce incidents of

plagiarism.

You should positively affirm that the work discussed in this report was done for

this class and has not been and will not be submitted for credit in another class.

4.4 Table of Contents

The paper should be written with numbered sections as shown in this example.

These section numbers must be compiled in The Table of Contents. The Table of

Contents must list the sections in the order that they occur. Also include a Table of

Figures that lists the Figure Captions and the page numbers where the figures appear and

a List of Tables that lists the Table Titles and the page where the Table appears.

4.5 Introduction

The Introduction to the paper should lead to the development of the subject so that

the reader may obtain a clear understanding of the significance of the paper. This can

often be done by briefly giving the state-of-the-art as background and then by bringing

out the added advantages of the method of approach and emphasizing the importance of

the results or conclusions. [1]

4.6 Body of a Technical Report

The main argument of the paper is carried out in the Body of the paper, complete

with supporting data. The argument should proceed in a logical sequence according to a

prepared outline. [1] The paper should be written in the third person. All action in the

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paper should be ascribed to the system being designed. Do not write in the first or second

person. Do not ascribe actions to an individual. Do not use first or second person

pronouns. If an action taken by the group must be described, use the passive voice. For

example, instead of writing “We measured the voltage at the output,” write, “A

measurement of the output voltage was taken.” The paper is describing objects that exist,

so write in the past or present tense. Do not write in the future tense unless describing

concrete plans for future activity, which would only apply to a preliminary report. For

example do not write, “The system will work when completed.” It is more acceptable to

write, “Spectral analysis will be performed to verify the output of the amplifier.”

While “4.6 Body” is an appropriate section heading for a report on reports in

discussing the body of a report, section headings in the body should reflect the project

itself. The narrative should not assume that the reader is drawing information such as the

clarification of abbreviations from a section heading.

Show the basic engineering process as part of your technical discussion. For a

hardware project, describe your work within a process along the lines of: sketch-

simulate-build-test-iterate until requirements met. For a software project, describe your

work within a process along the lines of: flowchart-code snippets-test bench/simulate-

test-iterate until requirements met).

The body of the paper should include an overall description of the system using

an appropriate block diagram. Each of the components of the system should be described

using an appropriate system diagram, circuit schematic or flow chart. Each component of

the system should be accompanied by a theoretical, mathematical description or a

technical explanation of how the system operates.

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 Computer code should be included in the body of the paper when it is central to

the discussion. Code snippets that demonstrate a specific relevant sequence such as

initialization of a peripheral in C or the control of a state machine in Verilog can be very

constructive. Large sections of code should be listed in an appendix. Include line

numbers with the code samples, and clean up whitespace to improve readability.

Evidence is central to the technical written report. Measurements, timing

diagrams, testbench results, oscilloscope screen shots, schematics, board layouts, bills of

materials, and photographs provide such evidence. The experimental setup of each

experiment should be described using an appropriate block diagram, and the instruments

used in the experiments should be listed. Raw data and the statistical analysis of that data

should be included in an appendix. Graphic presentation (charts and graphs) or tables of

the analyzed data should be included in the body of the paper. The measured results

should be compared to the mathematical model.

Units should be properly abbreviated and separated from the number by a space.

Thus, a typical current would be “1 mA”, and a typical voltage would be “17 kV”. A

typical time would be “3 s”. A list of technical abbreviations is included in the file

“Technical Abbreviations.PDF”. Additional advice to strengthen your lab reports is given

in the file “An Engineer’s Guide to Technical Writing.PDF”.

Computer processes must also be tested experimentally. Describe the test

procedure as well as the input data and the output. Compare the output with the expected

results.

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 If future testing is required mid-project, describe the planned experiments in detail

and describe those experiments with an appropriate block diagram, instrumentation

diagram or flowchart.

4.7 Engineering Standards, Specifications, and Intellectual Property Considerations

Discuss the standards and specifications relevant to your project. Communication

protocols and manufacturing standards are good examples. Explicitly discuss standards

that you used in programming and debugging, such as USB, SPI, UART, and JTAG. If

you used programming and debugging products from a company like Xilinx or Texas

Instruments such as Vivado or Code Composer Studio, include them in your discussion;

include version information. Explicitly discuss compatibility with existing products.

Discuss the intellectual property considerations relevant to your project. Patents,

trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets are good examples.

4.8 Safety, Public Health, and Welfare Considerations

Discuss the safety, health, and welfare considerations relevant to your project.

Lab safety rules, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), soldering, clipping and stripping

wires, and manufacturing byproducts are good examples. Be explicit in describing your

safety procedures.

4.9 Global, Cultural, Social, Environmental, and Economic Factor Considerations

Discuss the societal impacts relevant to your project. Power efficiency, battery re-

use, heat generation, product life expectancy, recycling, physical labor, automation, and

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overseas manufacturing are good examples. Be explicit in discussing your expenses, unit

cost, and product price.

4.10 Conclusion

The Conclusion is often considered the most important part of a paper. It should

be stated concisely in a separate section at the end of the paper. If there are three or more

conclusions, better emphasis can be obtained by numbering each conclusion and setting it

off in a separate paragraph. [1]

4.11 References

To enable the reader to consult important works used by the author in the

preparation of his manuscript and other related literature, a suitable reference list should

be appended. References should be numbered consecutively and should follow the form

shown in Appendix A. [1] Each item in the list of references must be cited in the text of

the paper. The List of References is not a bibliography.

4.12 Appendices

Detailed mathematical proofs, development of equations and examples, which are

subordinate to the main argument in the body of the paper but not essential to following

the argument, should be treated in appendices. References should be made in the text to

details in the appendices. The equations, figures, and tables in the Appendices should be

numbered consecutively following the numbers used for the equations, figures and tables

8
in the text (such as, If Table IV were last in the text, Table V would be first in the

Appendices). [1]

Each appendix should include a written narrative describing the contents of the

appendix and the significance of the appendix.

Raw experimental data shall be listed in an appendix along with the statistical

analysis of that data.

Provide an appendix discussing the safety hazards encountered in designing,

building and testing the system. Also discuss the precautions taken to address those

hazards. Make note of the maximum voltages encountered in the system and the tools

used to build and test the system.

The Project Budget and Gantt Chart should appear as separate appendices.

5. Tables and Figures

Support data and results can be presented most effectively as curves, charts, or

tables. Include tables in the main body of the text. Each table should be numbered

consecutively using Roman numerals: Table I, Table II, etc. Small tabulations or listings

may be made in the text where necessary for continuity. Each table should be titled by

giving a brief description as a heading following the table number at the top. Table tiles

are to be located at the top of the table. Within the table, ditto identical information that

appears on several lines. [1] An example table appears below as Table I. The Table

Number and Table Title appear at the top of the table. Tables such as these may be

generated using the Table function built into Word, or may be generated using Excel and

inserted into the Word document.

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 Table I: Example Table.
Speed Step Data Bits (3-0)
Stop 0000
Estop 0001
Step 1 0010
Step 2 0011
Step 3 0100
Step 4 0101
Step 5 0110
Step 6 0111
Step 7 1000
Step 8 1001
Step 9 1010
Step 10 1011
Step 11 1100
Step 12 1101
Step 13 1110
Step 14 1111

Figures should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals: Figure 1;

Figure 2, etc. Each figure must include a caption which fully identifies what is being

illustrated, but reading material on an illustration itself should be kept to a minimum.

Portions of illustrations may be identified by letters and explained in the captions.

Whenever feasible, several curves should be combined on the same coordinates. Their

identifying letters or numbers should be in clear spaces between cross lines. [1] Include

figures in the body of the text. Each table and figure shall be introduced in the text

before it appears in the paper. Provide a narrative describing the significance of each

figure. The figures may appear as they are introduced in the text. There is no need for

figures to appear only at the top of a page. A figure number and caption must follow

each figure. Do not split the page between the figure and the caption. Do not split a

paragraph for a figure or table. Center the figure in the page and break the text above the

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figure. Resume the text below the figure. Do not wrap the text around the figure. Do not

use “floating graphics.” A proper example figure appears below.

Figure 1: Example Oscilloscope Trace.

Charts may also be generated from tabular data using Excel and inserted into the

document. Figure 2, shown below, presents an example of such a chart.

Model Railroad Power Supply

20
Peak Voltage
16

12
Volts

4
Average Voltage
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Throttle Setting %
Figure 2: Example Chart.

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 If a figure is taken from another source, the source should be referenced in the

Figure caption. This is illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Example of a Figure Taken from Another Source [2].

Drawings may be generated using the drawing tool built into Word, taking care to

avoid floating graphics. An example of such a drawing is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Example Drawing Generated by the Word Drawing Tool.

Schematic diagrams may be generated using PSpice, EagleCAD, LTSpice, etc

and inserted into the document. Please convert the graphics from bitmap to jpg or some

other compressed graphics format to minimize the file size. An example of a schematic

generated in PSpice is shown in Figure 5.

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 Figure 5: Example Schematic.

Figures and tables must stay within the margins of the page as previously defined.

Large figures can be rotated 90 degrees to face the outside of the page, if they better fit

within the page margins in that orientation. If a document is printed single-sided, the

figure would be rotated counter-clockwise so that it can be read from the right as seen in

Figure 6. If the document is printed double-sided and bound, the figures should be rotated

for viewing away from the spine of the book.

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Figure 6: Large Rotated Figure [3].

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 6. Equations

Equations should be numbered consecutively, with the equation number at the

right margin. Mathematical equations shall be displayed using the “Equation Editor” in

Microsoft Word. Mathematical equations shall be formatted using italics for variables

and normal typeface for functions. Use the “Symbol” font for Greek letters. Equations

should be set off from the text of the paper by a space. The equations should be read and

punctuated as a part of the sentence. For example, the definition of the Fourier transform

is

. (1)

7. Plagiarism and Intellectual Honesty

Each student is to write an individual report. Each report is to reflect the

understanding of its author. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Five or more identical

consecutive words in two reports is considered prima facie evidence of plagiarism and

will result in, at the very least, a grade of zero for both papers. Plagiarism is grounds for

failure of the course and dismissal from the Texas Tech University. Each student must

take care to use material provided by a teammate properly in order to guard the reputation

of his or her teammate. Take care to reference tables and figures taken from other

sources properly. Only one of you took that photograph or made that schematic. The

other team members use that material only with attribution.

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 8. Evaluation

The form used for evaluating the written reports is shown in Appendix B. Pay

special attention to the results presented in the paper and the measurements reported in

the paper.

9. Uploading Papers

Submit the paper electronically to Blackboard. Use a filename

YourName_Preliminary_Report.docx or YourName_Final_Report.docx. The papers will

be downloaded for review. A copy of the preliminary report, with comments, will be

returned to the students. Each author will consider the comments and incorporate them in

a manner appropriate to the comment for the final report.

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 References

1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas Tech University.

“Electrical Engineering Written Report Formats,”
http://129.118.19.6/lab/REPORTS.html, September 25, 2001.

2. Brandt, Michael. “The DCC – MB Homepage”, 1996,

http://web.syr.edu/~mobrandt/dcc-mb/dccmbhom.htm, September 26, 2001.

3. Nutter, Brian. “Ducks Flying near Austin, Texas”, November 27, 2008.

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 Appendix A

Reference Forms

Use the following forms for citing references:

For a periodical:

1. R.M. Hall, "Power Rectifiers and Transformers," Proc. IRE, Vol. 40 pp, 1512-1518,
November 1952.

For a book:

2. W.A. Edson, Vacuum Tube Oscillators, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, New
York, pp. 170-171, 1948.

For an article:

3. B. Lawrence, B.H. Well, and M.H. Graham, "Making on-line search available in an
industrial research environment," Journal of the American Society for Information
Science, pp. 364-369, Nov. - Dec. 1974.

For a website:

4. Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of the web site,” Date Month Year of
Publication <URL> (Date accessed).

Example:

5. Smith, John. “Electronic Circuits for Everyone,” 15 March 2000,

www.myfavoritecircuits.com (1 May 2001)

For an unpublished lab paper:

6. Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of the paper.” Lab Report, Educational
Institution, Date Month Year

Example:

7. Smith John. “Magnetic Levitation,” Lab Report, Texas Tech University, 15 March
2001.

For information provided by a teammate:

8. Last Name, First Name. Form of communication, Date Month year.

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Examples:

9. Smith, John. Laboratory Notes, 15 March 2001.

10. Smith, John. E-mail to author, 15 March 2001.

11. Smith, John. Personal interview, 15 March 2001.

For information from a lecture course:

12. Last Name, First Name. “Title of Course.” Educational Institution. Semester Date.

Example:

13. Smith, John. “Digital Design Using Microcontrollers.” Texas Tech University. Fall
2000.

For information from an advisor meeting:

14. Last Name, First Name. Form of communication, Date Month Year.

Example:

15. Smith, John Ph.D. Personal Interview, 15 March 2001.

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 Appendix B

WRITTEN LAB REPORT EVALUATION FORM

Student Name:

Course Number:

Instructor:

Please score the student by circling one of the responses following each of the statements.

1) The student's writing style (clarity, directness, grammar, spelling, style, format, etc)

A B C D F Zero

2) The quality and level of technical content of the student's report

A B C D F Zero

3) The quality of results and conclusions

A B C D F Zero

4) Quality of measurements planned / taken

A B C D F Zero

5) Appropriate engineering standards employed

A B C D F Zero

6) Multiple realistic constraints considered

A B C D F Zero

7) Properly utilized knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work

A B C D F Zero

Grade:

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 Appendix C

ORAL PRESENTATION EVALUATION FORM

Student Name:

Course Number:

Instructor:

Date:

Please score the student by circling one of the responses following each of the statements.

1) The student's apparent theoretical preparation

A B C D F

2) Quality of the student's specific design

A B C D F

3) The quality of the student's presentation

A B C D F

4) The student's ability to answer questions

A B C D F

5) The student's attitude toward the lab (initiative, ability to self-direct, team work, etc.)

A B C D F

Grade:

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