Lab Reports
You will work with your lab partner in collecting data during an experiment. You may not, however, submit the same lab report. Your lab report must be in your own words. You may not submit tables, graphs, figures, or any other parts of a report that are duplicates of someone else's work. You are not allowed to photocopy material from any source for inclusion into a lab report. Lab reports will be graded on originality as well as completeness and correctness. This is a participation class; if you are absent, you may not obtain experimental data from other members of your class.
If you need to drop off a lab report to your lab instructor, at a time other than during lab, then you should place it in the “Lab Reports” box on the front desk in the Physics Department Office (D.311). The report will be put in your lab instructor's mailbox. You are not to go past the front desk and into the mailroom. The date that the report is received will be recorded on the front of your lab report. Lab reports left in that box after 4 pm will be sorted and dated the following day. Lab reports that do not have your TA's name on the front page will have 5 points automatically deducted.
Labs reports will be scored by basing eighty-five percent (85%) of your grade on your written report and fifteen percent (15%) on your pre-lab assignment/quiz.
Grading Rubric: Most of the rubric is easy to understand. In order to keep the rubric reasonably compact, the “Achievements and Flaws in Discussion” section is abbreviated. Below is a chart with more details on how that section is used to score your reports.
| Readability | Points in Discussion | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Very easy to read, logical, flows well | 80% or greater | +5 |
| Okay to read, minor flaws that are not too distracting | 80% or greater | 0 |
| Difficult to read, major flaws that are distracting+ | 80% or greater | -5 to -15 |
| Very easy to read* | 80% to 50% | 0 |
| Okay to read* | 80% to 50% | 0 |
| Difficult to read+ | 80% to 50% | -5 to -15 |
| All cases* | Less than 50% | 0 to -15 |
+ The amount of points deducted depends on the number of flaws. Five points will be deducted for not being written well. But if the discussion section includes the term “human error” and does not use units with a number in the discussion, and was poorly written, then 15 points will be deducted.
* An incorrect but readable discussion is not an achievement!
The Baylor University Honor Code will be strictly adhered to.