Engineering Reports

1. Engineering Reports • Report organization • Writing style • Professional tone • Figures and tables

2. Engineering Report Organization 1) Title / cover page 2) abstract or executive summary 3) front matter (TOC, LOA, LOF, ACK) 4) introduction 5) technical sections 6) conclusions 7) references 8) appendices Items in red are pertinent for your design reports in this course.

3. Title Page • Title (unique, but not too long) • Names • Section and Team Number • Name of class/instructor • Term (Fall 2012) • Date • Auburn University

4. Executive Summary or Abstract • Abstract – typically 100-200 words • summarize main conclusions of report • In a longer engineering report, an abstract or executive summary can be up to one page long but never longer. • Audience: your manager, so he/she can read it in 5 min. on the way to board meeting.

5. Front Matter • Table of contents • Lists of figures, list of tables figures, acronyms • Nomenclature (symbols & abbreviations) • Acknowledgements (for funding, editorial help, encouragement, etc.) • Usually use lowercase roman numerals for page numbers

6. Introduction • Problem statement • Background (history, relevant information) • Summarize approach • Outline remainder of report

7. Technical Sections • Choice of present design • discuss each tradeoff– six minimum as shown on next slide. • What alternatives were considered? • Give data supporting your choice • Use Pugh charts–clearly indicate best choice • Explain choice in words

8. Lego Car Design Tradeoffs • Output voltage • Higher output voltage increases speed • Penalties apply above 10V • Power supply (batteries) • One 9V battery (light, but less than 10V) • Two 9V batteries (≥10V, but heavy) • Watch batteries (very light, but drain quickly) • Wheel size and gears • Torque vs. speed tradeoff • Drive strategy • Front / rear wheel drive – controllability vs. stability • Course path • Passing through all gates vs. missing gates (time penalty) • Pushing block vs. not pushing block (time penalty) • Body • Light vs. heavy – speed vs. ability to push block

9. Technical Sections • Include figures and tables near relevant body text. • Long lists or tables should be referred to an appendix. • Figures & tables must have captions and be referenced in the body text. • Specifications/drawings/parts/cost

10. Technical Sections • Performance (Final Design Report Only) • Predicted • Actual • Explain any differences

11. Conclusions • What was accomplished & learned • technical information obtained • NOT information learned about life, school, etc. (Keep it technical.) • Resist the urge to proclaim what a wonderful class / teacher this was 

12. Appendices • Use for material that few people would read in its entirety • long tables • long calculations • detailed specifications

13. Engineering Reports • Report organization • Writing style • Professional tone • Figures and tables

14. Writing Style • Short paragraphs • Introduce your point (Topic position) • Support your point • Drive your point home (Stress position) • Write like a journalist • Newspapers • Magazines

15. Writing Style • Use short sentences. • Poor style: “In lab, we found that a bridge rectifier generated a slightly faster completion time than a half-wave rectifier, but, taking into consideration the penalty for use of extra parts, we decided to use a half-wave rectifier.”

16. Writing Style • Better style: “In lab experiments, a bridge rectifier generated a slightly faster completion time than a half-wave rectifier. A half-wave rectifier, however, actually yielded a faster time once the penalty for extra parts was considered.”

17. Paragraph Too Long When the force of sound waves implode tiny bubbles within a liquid at room temperature, the surface of the bubble can reach temperatures at least 25,000 degrees Fahrenheit, more than twice as hot as the surface of the sun, scientists reported this month. The center of such a bubble may be even more astonishingly hot. The scientists, at the University of Illinois, did not speculate just how hot the bubble became, but said they had managed to create a state of matter called plasma inside the bubble. In it, some of the electrons have been stripped off the atoms. "This is the first definitive proof of the existence of a plasma" during this kind of bubble implosion,” said one of the scientists, Dr. Kenneth S. Suslick, a professor of chemistry at Illinois.

18. Short Paragraphs When the force of sound waves implode tiny bubbles within a liquid at room temperature, the surface of the bubble can reach temperatures at least 25,000 degrees Fahrenheit, more than twice as hot as the surface of the sun, scientists reported this month. The center of such a bubble may be even more astonishingly hot. The scientists, at the University of Illinois, did not speculate just how hot the bubble became, but said they had managed to create a state of matter called plasma inside the bubble. In it, some of the electrons have been stripped off the atoms. "This is the first definitive proof of the existence of a plasma" during this kind of bubble implosion, said one of the scientists, Dr. Kenneth S. Suslick, a professor of chemistry at Illinois.

19. Formatting Tips Bad Example Try to use lists, bullets, and headers as much as you can. Text that runs together in long, drawn-out paragraphs can be hard to follow. It is also hard to see the main points. Furthermore, it makes it difficult to scan quickly for specific points of interest.

20. Formatting Tips -- Better Example • Exploit lists, bullets, and headers • Paragraph format: • can be hard to follow. • hard to see the main points. • difficult to scan for specific points of interest.

21. Engineering Reports • Report organization • Writing style • Professional tone • Figures and tables

22. Professional Tone • Don’t make vague assertions. “We decided to use 12 gauge wire. The 12 gauge wire is efficient for its size. It will conduct enough electricity and not add too much weight to the car. It also offers a low amount of resistance.”

23. Professional Tone • Less vague: “We decided to use 12-gauge wire. As seen in Table 3, electrical resistance is proportional to wire gauge. Weight is inversely proportional to wire gauge. 12-gauge wire provided the best tradeoff between weight and electrical resistance.”

24. Professional Tone • A report isn’t a diary or a blog. NO: “We tried a half-wave rectifier at first, but then we put a capacitor in parallel with the circuit and found that the average speed increased.” YES: “A capacitor in parallel with a half-wave rectifier gave the highest average speed.”

25. Professional Tone • The report should have a consistent, professional-looking format throughout. The design project is to build a small vehicle from Legos parts powered by the output of a PC sound card. You will select a waveform to play through the sound card, which will then be amplified by an audio amplifier and delivered to the vehicle. Separate left and right channels will be available so that steering can be accomplished through the balance control on the PC volume control user interface. Circuits will be designed to convert the audio signals to signals that drive the car motors. The goal is to build a vehicle that can complete a race course in the shortest time possible.

26. Professional Tone • No handwritten marks anywhere!* • No hand-drawn figures, unless of exceptionally high quality. • Addressed as one professional to another, not student to instructor. • Avoid contractions (don’t, can’t, …). *Exceptions may apply.

27. Professional Tone • Avoid expression of feelings. Just state facts. NO: “We feel that an 18-gauge wire provides the best tradeoff…” YES: “Our simulations showed that an 18-gauge wire provides the best tradeoff…”

28. Professional Tone • Support all assertions with data if it is available. • Types of data • Simulation results • Experimental measurements

29. Example “A capacitor in parallel with a half-wave rectifier gave the highest average speed.”

30. Better “Table 2 shows the average speed around a 10 m track for several rectifiers. A capacitor in parallel with a half-wave rectifier gave the highest average speed.”

31. Engineering Reports • Report organization • Writing style • Professional tone • Figures and tables

32. Figures and Tables • Number each figure or table • Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. • Table I, Table II, etc. • Give each figure/table a caption • Give basic information about the figure/table • Figure captions go below a figure • Table captions go above a table

33. Figures and Tables • Refer to the figure/table in the text • Do not make the reader find the figure/table on his/her own! • In the text: • Describe what the figure/table means or represents. • Describe how the numbers in the figure/table were generated. • Describe any conclusions you draw from the figure/table.

34. Bad Example SAMPLE

35. Good Example SAMPLE Figure 1. Simulated course completion times versus wire gauge. The effect of wire gauge on the course completion time was studied by simulating the circuit in Appendix A using PSpice. Figure 1 shows the simulated course completion times for wire gauges 10-30. It is concluded that 20 gauge wire results in the fastest completion time because it is the best tradeoff between wire resistance and wire weight.