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Durham Physics:Report Writing Guidelines

G. H. Cross and C. S. AdamsDepartment of Physics, Durham University, Rochester Building, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, England

(Dated: November 11, 2009)

I. INTRODUCTION

This document outlines general guidelines

on preparing reports for laboratory and

computer projects at Levels 1 to 3.

Supplementary information particular to certain

activities may be given by the laboratory

leader.

II. LENGTH

All reports have a STRICT page limit, see

Table I. One page equals one side of A4, e.g. a

Level1 (L1) report is limited to 2 pages of A4for the main report plus a 1-page Appendix

containing the error analysis. The page limit is

based on a minimum font size of 10 point (9

point for figure captions and table text) and

minimum margin width of 2 cm. Style files are

provided, see Section V.

ActivityMain reportAppendices

L1 Experiments 2 1

L2 Skills 2 1

L2 Electronics 4 1

L2 Long experiment 4 1

L3 Computing 4 Unlimited

L3 Laboratory Project 16 Unlimited

TABLE I: Page limits for all laboratory basedactivities.

III. PLAGIARISM

In general ALL material, i.e., all text, all

figures and all diagrams, should be original.

Figures or diagrams from other sources should

NOT be cut and pasted into the report, unless

they are essential, for example, astro-nomicalimages, maps, etc. In this case the item should

be clearly referenced in the caption to the

source.

IV. STRUCTURE

A typcial report contains the followingsections. Note that some activities mayrequire additional instructions as specifiedby the laboratory leader:

Abstract: State the objectives and main

findings (only text; no References or

diagrams). A summary of what wasinvestigated, how it was investigated, what

the outcome was and

what the main

conclusions were.Include numerical

results and compare

with literature data if

appropriate. Up to

200 words.

1. Introduction: A few

paragraphs on the

background andmotivation to the

investigation. Set thescene for the reader

and put the work incontext using ev-idence of past

studies withreferences to

previous work. Oneor two paragraphs

on the specificobjec-tives of yourinvestigation; say

what you set out todo, what you

achieved and why it

is important.

2.Methods: Thissection includes both

relevant the-ory and

experimental

details. Separate

subsec-tions, e.g. 2.1

Theory, 2.2

Experiment, may be

in-cluded depending

on the nature of the

project. Under the

theory heading do not

reproduce large

chunks of text andequations that can be

found in other

sources and

referenced. For all

projects, a brief

description of the

methodology should

be given. For

experimental projects

this may include a

set-up diagram if

appro-priate.

Describe the essentialfeatures of how the

mea-surements were

made and what was

measured. Dont

include a photograph

of the apparatus

unless it re-ally shows

something that cannot

be communicated

with a line diagram.

Dont give lists of

instructions. Dont

write chronologicallyunless that really is

the most logical way

to present the

methodology. Write in

the past tense.

3.Results and

discussion: Results:

The main sec-tion of

the report presenting

data obtained in an

ap-propriate form.

Use the present

tense, e.g., Fig. 1

shows a graph of . . ..


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Figures should have labelled axes with

units. Data should be presented with error

bars. Discussion: For short reports, a brief

discus-sion of the interpretation of results

can be included together with each result.

Compare results to liter-ature values where

appropriate. Say whether the re-sults fit the

theory and give a reasoned argument to

explain your observations. For longerreports a sepa-rate subsection discussing

the interpretation of results and possibilities

for future work may be appropriate. For

computing reports an innovation subsection

dis-cussing extensions to the project is

expected.

4.Conclusions: Brief (1 or 2 paragraphs)summing upof the main results andimplications of the work. References:Use a consistent referencing style (ei-thernumeric, see the Emulation of Styledocument on DUO, or alphabetic). Titles

may be included butagain be consistent,either no titles or alltitles. For numericstyle, referencesshould be numberedin the order that theyappear in the text.

Check that eachreference containsfull bibliographicdetails of the source(authors names,journal, volume,page num-ber, year).Appendices: The

appendix should

include the error

analysis (which will be

assessed) and other

supporting

information, e.g.

computer code (not

reformatted),

derivation of an

equation, etc. It

should NOT be nec-

essary to have to

refer to the Appendix

while reading themain report. All the

key results, plots etc.

should be included in

the main report.

For longer reports, e.g.

at levels 3 and 4, where

more than one distinct

experiment or project has

been per-formed, the

report may be better

structured as follows:


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2

Abstract

1. Introduction.

2. Title of Experiment/Project A.

2.1 Methods. 2.2 Results/discussion.

3. Title of Experiment/Project B.

3.1 Methods. 3.2 Results/discussion.

4. Title Experiment/Project C. etc. . . .

Conclusions.References.The report should be easy to follow with the material

presented in a logical order. The reader should not have

to constantly page flip between the Methods and Results

or Results and Appendices. In the longer report style the

aim is to keep the discussion of a particular investigation

and corresponding results together so that the reader can

follow easily without section hopping.

V. FORMATTING AND GENERAL STYLEPOINTS

Format: Reports can be prepared in Word, Latex [1]or any other word processing package. Style:1 In scientific writing it is acceptable to use we rather

than I even if you worked on your own.2 All figures should be referenced in the text, and should

be numbered in the order they appear in the text.

13 All text in figures e.g. axis labels etc. should

not be smaller than the main text font size.

4All figures should have a caption but no title.Figures

6 Note that all parameters are in italic font, e.g., the

momentum, p.

should be generally understandabl e fromtheir caption

7 Labels in equations (e.g. sin, cos, ln, e, etc.) and label

subscripts should be in normal font, .g. sin t, et

,

alone, e.g., Experiment isand notthecriticalacceptable,momentumpc. Optical

8 Exponents (whether text or on graphs) should be

written as 108 not 1e-8.

Layout used to measure the fringe spacing in adouble

Equations appear as if they are part of a sentence

the text before them ends with a comma, and the equa-

slit experiment is better.tion ends with full stop (or comma), e.g. the force,F,

on the particle can be written as,

5Graphs should not have a shaded background or hor-

F =dp

, (1)

izontal lines (Fig. 1 is poor, Fig. 2 is bdetter).where p is the momentum and t istime.

Insert a

space ( in Latex) between the equation and full

stop/comma. Inline equations should be written on one

line so Eq. (1) becomes, F = dp/dt, not F = ddpt . In-

sert a space between a value and the unit. Units should

in normal font, e.g. the momentum of the particle is

p = 31016 kg m s1.

FIG. 2: Plot of the frequency shift of the atomicresonanceas a function of the electric field modulation frequency.The


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data () correspond to an average of 10measurements withthe standard error indicated bythe error bar. Thesolid lineisa fit to three Lorenztian resonances.

Acknowledgements:

The authors wouldlike to

thank M. G. Bason, R. G. Bower, A. C.Edge, I. G.

FIG. 1: This graph has the following faults: (i) Grey back-

Hughes, G. D. Love, J. R. Lucey, N. Metcalfe, A.Skelton,and I. Terry for stimulating discussions.

ground; (ii) Horizontal lines; (iii) Box; (iv) Poor choice of y

axis scale making detail of the plot compressed; (v) No errorbars; (vi) Axes font lables too small; and (vii) Legend should

be given in caption.[1] Aword or Latex templateis availableonthe DUO module(login to say altair and type latex myfile.tex)or for a

p ag es . T he L a te x p ac ka ge i s a va il ab le o n t he I T S, s e e f re e P C v ersi on go to Mi kTe X h tt p : // mi kt ex .o rg /.http : //www.dur.ac.uk/its/software/tex/texresources/


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