LAB INTRODUCTION
Attendance: As stated in the course syllabus, lab attendance is
absolutely mandatory; that means no unexcused absences are allowed or
you may be dropped from the entire course. A maximum of two excused
labs may be allowed due to illness (please provide a written excuse).
If you miss three labs, excused or not, you are automatically dropped
from the course regardless of the circumstances.
What you must bring to every lab class: Lab book (kept in class after
the first meeting), ruler, pen, scientific calculator.
Lab book policy: A quadrille ruled, non-spiral bound standard lab
book is required. Put your name and section number on the outside front
cover. Lab books will be kept in class and not taken home, so your work
must be completed in class. Books will be checked by the instructor at
the end of lab and spot-checked during lab. Save the first two pages
for a table of contents. Number the rest of the pages of the lab book
(one side only) in the top right corner for your table of contents; do
this as soon as you buy your book, not as the lab progresses through
the quarter. Then complete your table of contents as the lab progresses.
You must write in your lab book with pen only - no
pencil. The reason the lab book is kept in pen is because it eliminates
the temptation of erasing what you wrote because you think you made a
mistake. Do not erase anything you have written in your lab book. If
you think you've made a mistake, then cross out what you wrote (so you
can still read it!) and re-write the correct version near it. The
reason you don't want to erase anything in your book and that mistakes
should be crossed out so you can still read them is that occasionally
what you thought was a mistake may turn out to be correct, and you
don't want to loose the original information. Some people objection to
this procedure in that it makes the lab book messy. A "messy" lab book
is not a bad lab book. Of course, you must be able to read and locate
data in your book, but a pristine lab book is usually contrived and
artificial. Real lab books are not perfect and beautiful records of
work. They are written logs of what you have done while you are doing
it! As such they may not always be beautiful looking. Do not
interpret these remarks to mean a sloppy and ill kept book is
desirable. Your book must be a clear access to the work you performed
in lab. Consider the lab book a running "diary" of what you have done
in the lab.
No scratch paper is to be kept outside of your lab
book. That includes having no loose paper in your lab book. Any loose
paper or scratch paper of any kind will be thrown away by your
instructor as soon as they are spotted, and any work done on these
papers will be lost. This rule will be strictly enforced! The reason
for this is of prime importance; you must never lose the original data
you have taken during an experiment. The mentality that you record your
original data on a piece of scrap paper and later transfer it to your
lab book so it will look neat is wrong since it allows for mistakes to
be made during data transfer.
When a graph is required, it should be drawn while
the data is taken. This enables you to spot trends and even mistakes as
soon as possible so that you can correct them. This may mean that your
graph is not as good as if you had more time to work on it -- that's
okay! Quality graphs are a different matter and for the most part
a quality graph is best drawn by a computer. Hopefully some computer
analysis will be done in class, but the emphasis will not be on using
computers in this course. All graphs are to be at least half a page or
one full page in size in your lab book.
At the beginning of lab, an open lab book quiz will
be given on the lab material from the week before. No make up lab
quizzes will be given unless you have an excused absence.
Fifty percent of your lab grade will be based on the
final lab exam taken in lab during the last week of class. The final
will be open lab book. If you keep a good lab book, you should do well
on the lab final.
Special Write-ups: At least one special lab write-up will be handed in
approximately at mid-quarter. This will be a classic-style lab report
and will be discussed in more detail later in the class.
Lab Grading Policy: lab quizzes :50%
lab final
exam:50%
Note that your attendance is not directly part of the grading but is
none the less mandatory.