Lab Number and Title

AerE 321L: Aerospace Structures Lab

Elizabeth Gregory
Introduction
This is a template for a lab report. As you are writing your lab you may find that you do not
need all the sections in the template, that you need to rename a section, or that you need to
reorder sections. That is fine. What is important is that you present the report information
in the most straight-forward and complete way possible and that your report looks
professional. Feel free to change this template to fit your needs; variety is the spice of life.
A.
Background Information and Research
What prompted this work? Is this work based on another persons work? This section will
almost always contain references.
B.
Objective
Why are you doing this work?
C.
Hypothesis
A Hypothesis is a prediction. Based on what you know before the experiment, predict and
outcome.
D.
Variables
Remember, know one knows what you mean by x unless you tell them. You do not have to tell
them in a section like this but you do have to tell them somewhere.
1.

Independent:

2.

Dependent:

E.
Evaluation of Pre-labs of Each Team Member
This section should consist of individual evaluations of their pre-lab work. So if you have three
people in your group this section should at least three paragraphs. Make sure you identify the
member that the paragraph is about, do not just say My pre-lab was right but., instead say
Elizabeth Gregorys pre-lab was mostly correct but she made an error...
Materials and Apparatus
We used the mark-1 eyeball to evaluate cuteness and fuzziness of kittens. Kitten #1 is shown in
figure 1.
Figures should be numbered and inserted at an appropriate point (after first reference in the text)
at the top or bottom of a page. All figures should have a caption below.

AerE 321L: Aerospace Structures Lab

Section [your section number]

Figure 1 Kitten 1

You should include all the information on your Test Setup and your specimen (material,
geometry, conditioning etc.)
You should always include a figure illustrating the geometry of a test specimen. This figure
should be computer generated. Hand drawn stuff was for engineers before 1980 or art students.
Procedures
If you typed your pre-lab you might be able to just cut and past unless you changed the
procedure in some way. The reader should be able to recreate the experiment from these
instructions so be specific. This section should be what you actually did, not what you intended
to do.
Data and Observations
Present the Data and make any observations about the test that are pertinent to the outcome.
Table 1 shows observed cuteness and fuzziness of kittens 1 and 2.
Tables should be captioned above.

Table 1: Cuteness and fuzziness by kitten

Kitten
1
2

Cuteness
5
2

AerE 321L: Aerospace Structures Lab

Section [your section number]

Fuzziness
10
100

Calculations
Calculations must be typed and important equations should be labeled and referred to by number.
Equations should generally be read as part of the text. The quadratic formula,
Equation 1

Do not just list equations, walk the reader through the calculations process.
Analysis
In this section you should compare the data with the calculations and discuss any discrepancies.
Explain what happened and why. Explain if your predictions were wrong and why.
Sources of Error
This is an example of a section you might choose to omit. In some cases this may need to be its
own section but it might often fit nicely into the analysis section above.
Even if this is not its own section you do need to include sources or error discussion. Give
concrete analysis to backup your sources of error. Show how and error affects the data.
Conclusion
Summarize the results and their meaning.
References
Referenced should be in a standard format (AIAA, MLA, IEEE) and numbered in the order in
which they are referred to in the text of the report. You must refer to each reference specifically.
ALL OUTSIDE SOURCES of quoted text, pictures, diagrams, etc. MUST BE PROPERLY
CREDITED. ALL FAILURE TO DO SO IS ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT AND CAUSE
FOR EXPULSION.
Appendices
This is where you put extra data or calculations that are separate from your report but referenced
in the report.
EXTRA NOTES:
PAGE NUMBERS: If you have a title page, do not number that page but do number the
first page if it is not a title page (like this report).
TEAM MEMBERS: Each report should have each team member named on it.
CROSS REFERENCES: These are great because they automatically keep track if the
number changes. But make sure that you update them before you submit. The reader
does not want to read an error message.
AerE 321L: Aerospace Structures Lab
Section [your section number]

AerE 321L: Aerospace Structures Lab

Section [your section number]