EE 201 : Lab

Labs
(Click the links to expand/collapse listings.)

Basic DC measurements (Feb 1 - Feb 12)
AC measurements (Feb 15 - Feb 26)
Circuit analysis (Mar 1 - Mar 12)
Thevenin equivalents (Mar 15 - Mar 26)
Op amps (Mar 29 - Apr 9) | Op-amp lab hints | LM324 data sheet
Capacitors & inductors (Apr 12 - Apr 23)

DC simulations

Everyone is required to write a report summarizing their work of each of the six labs. Everyone must write their own individual reports. An example report for the first lab is provided (links below), and it can used as a template for the first report and as guide for all subsequent reports.

A report is more than a listing of collected data. A good report tells a story about what you did in lab, and as such, the various bits of data need to be tied together with words. While labs are important for learning about building, analyzing, and measuring circuits, they are also important practice for written communication. An under-appreciated (and often scoffed) engineering skill is effective writing. In your future jobs, you will need to be explain your engineering work in clear and concise terms to other people (bosses, customers, colleagues). The better you are at writing, the more successful you will be in your careers. All of our class activities are opportunities to improve our skills — at understanding circuits, at doing math, at programming, in measurement real circuits. Likewise, writing lab reports is an opportunity to practice and improve a vital engineering skill.

Report due dates are listed along with all due dates on the schedule page. Make sure you are aware of those. Try not to be late. Lab has always been a way for students to bolster their 201 grades. EE 201 labs are not difficult and there is plenty of time to do a good job so that you can get most or all of the points. Reports should be submitted using Canvas.

According to an old saying, a report or presentation should "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them." To be bit more specific, a good lab report should:

Have an opening introduction or abstract that gives a preview of what will be described in the main body of the report. The introduction doesn't need to be long (one or two paragraphs), but it should tell the reader about what expect in the report.
Be broken into sections that make reading the report manageable. Since 201 labs usually consist of a sequence of somewhat related exercises, it probably makes sense to structure the report in a similar manner.
Have written descriptions of each of piece of work, including calculations, measurement methods, results, and discussion of those results. If the work involves a comparison of calculated expectations and measured results, the discussion should show how well they matched. If measurements and calculations did not match well, you should attempt to offer plausible reasons for the discrepancies. (But you should always be honest. If you don't know why things aren't matching up, just say so.)
Conclude with a short summary of the work and the results, along with any overall conclusions.
Have graphs and figures that are legible and easy to understand. Every graph or figure should be labeled and have a caption. Use good graphing techniques — scale it so that it is legible, label the axes, include units on physical quantities. (Look here for more advice.)

An old manager trick for saving time when reading reports is to read the introduction and then jump straight to the conclusion. If these are written well, it may not be necessary to read the intervening details in order to get a feel for "big picture". If you are able to write reports in way that saves time for your boss, they like you very much. Of course, the rest of the report should be written well, too, because your colleagues who need to know the details of your project will be reading the middle parts.

Other things to consider when working on a lab and writing reports.

If possible, start writing the report before you get to lab.
Reports should not be hand-written. You are training to be professionals — hand written lab reports stopped being professional about 20 years ago.
For 201, the exception to the "no handwriting rule" is math equations. Those can be hand written, as long as they are neat and legible. (Although you might consider learning to typeset equations in your favorite word-processor — it's not hard and may come in handy in future classes or jobs.)
A long math derivation in the body of a report is boring. Consider putting all the math details into an appendix at the end of the report, and include just the final result in the main body.
Learn to use Excel (or Numbers on a Mac or Google Charts or MatLab) for making graphs.
Include photographs of your circuits and measurement setups. "A picture is worth a thousand words." We all carry high power cameras in our pockets and should not be afraid use them in lab. (Even an occasional selfie might be OK, but don't overdo it.)

Example Lab 1 report: pdf | MS Word | Pages. (Note: these are big files, mainly due to the photographs)

Missing lab or needing extra lab time

Tutorials