Digital Circuits Laboratory Schedule
| Week | Title | Report |
| 1 | Equipment Familiarization and Binary Numbers | Summary |
| 2 | Digital Integrated Circuits | Summary |
| 3 | 555 Clock Pulse Generator and Using the Oscilloscope | Memorandum |
| 4 | Digital Logic Gates | Summary |
| 5 | Combinational Circuits & K-mapping | Formal |
| 6 | Parity Generator and LogicWorks | Summary |
| 7 | Code Converters | Summary |
| 8 | Adder and Subtractor | Memorandum |
| 9 | SR and D Latches | Memorandum |
| 10 | Flip-Flops | Memorandum |
| 11 | Up/Down Counter | Formal |
| 12 | Shift Registers | Summary |
| 13 | Counters | Summary |
Purpose of Reports
The purpose of technical reports is to present results and conclusions. To convey this information the report must be written in proper English. The result of a lab exercise is not that a circuit was constructed as specified in the exercise. The results are how that circuit functioned, what output was measured for given inputs.
In the report specify what is done not what is supposed to be done, it is a report on work performed. Re-writing the instructions in the laboratory exercise does not provide information about the work. To that end, any report that has text copied from the laboratory exercise will be given a zero. The report should not be a play-by-play chronology of what you did in the lab. If a circuit was built, say that. If there were note-worthy events during the construction those may be reported but do not tell me that you connected a wire to pin 2 and then the other end to pin 8 and then I got another wire…
General Rules for Reports
In technical writing people are generally unimportant so write in third person. Unless it makes a difference to the results which person performed the work it is merely reported that the work was done not who did it.
The circuit was constructed.
not: I constructed the circuit.
Figures and tables are very important in reports. All tables and figures must be labeled with a number for reference and a short description. Tables are labeled at the top, figures at the bottom. All figures and tables must be reference from the text, if it is not the figure should not be there.
Do not use photographs of a computer screen in your reports.
Make sure it is clear whether results given are experimental of theoretical. Include experimental results in your report.
Picky Grammar That Will Be Checked
Prepositions require an object. If there is no object of the preposition, the preposition is not needed. If you have two prepositions in a row it is likely incorrect and if you have a preposition at the end of a sentence it is either superfluous or the sentence has bad structure,
Input and output are nouns not verbs, e.g. you enter data you do not input data.
There is a difference between dimensions and units. Adding –age on the end of a unit does not make it a dimension.
| Dimension | Unit | Incorrect Dimension |
| Current | ampere | amperage |
| Power | watt | wattage |
Do not use informal language such as verbal constructs, connected rather than hooked up, determine rather than find out, reference rather than refer to, etc.
Use, utilize, and usage have different meanings, 99.5% of the time ‘use’ is the correct word to use, so use it.
Function and functionality are different word. The function of an item is what that item does. The functionality of an item is its usefulness.
Contractions have no place in formal writing, do not use them.
Summary Report
This is a brief report, a couple of paragraphs or so, that explains the results of the exercise and what you conclude, or learned, from the exercise. As always, proper grammar is required.
Memorandum Laboratory Report Guidelines
A memorandum is a short correspondence that conveys all necessary information but no more. They can be used to document engineering work without going into extreme detail. Memoranda are generally around a page in length and very rarely extend more than two pages. Figures and tables may be included; this may reduce the need to use more words. The point of a memorandum is to convey the results of your work and make conclusions or recommendations.
Memoranda have a header section that indicates the recipient of the memorandum, the author, the subject, and the date. For example:
To: Russell J. Clark, Ph.D.
From: A. Student
Subject: Review of Flip-Flop Project
Date: March 19, 2015
The first paragraph of the memorandum should summarize the purpose of the memorandum. It should also indicate any previous contacts that lead to this memorandum being written. Supporting information is contained in the following paragraphs. The final paragraph should summarize the main points issued in the memorandum.
Most often memoranda are for internal company business so pleasantries and flowing prose are not necessary. It may be terse but always polite. Proper grammar is always necessary because it is difficult to understand writing if it does not follow the rules of the language.
Formal Laboratory Report Guidelines
Writing laboratory reports helps develop the skills required for the preparation of engineering reports and documents. Reporting the results of your work will be as important a part of your job as performing designs and analyses. The information from the laboratory experiment should be organized in the following sections.
- Title. Include title of report, author, names of lab partners, course name and number, and date. This does not need to be on a separate page.
- Abstract. This is a short summary of the entire report. It appears first in the report but should be the last part written. Be concise but include all the important background, results, and conclusions.
- Introduction. The introduction should state the subject, purpose, and scope of the report. For a lab report, this section should be an overview of the exercise performed, but it should not be a rewrite of the instructions for the exercise. Use your own words and reference the handout. In no circumstance should the sentence “The purpose of this experiment was …” be used in the report.
- Procedure. This section explains what methods and equipment you used to obtain your results. You should provide enough information so that the reader can duplicate the experiment or procedure without any additional references. Include necessary drawings and flowcharts. Assume that the reader is completely unfamiliar with the project.
- Do not list the equipment and steps of the procedure like a set of instructions for the reader. Write a narrative, explaining what was done and why. Write in the third person..
Incorrect: “First, you calibrate the test equipment, and then you run three tests on each sample.”
Correct: “The test equipment was calibrated, and three tests were run on each sample.”
- Do not describe all the detailed pin and wiring connections. Refer to a schematic (wiring diagram) instead. You may copy these from the lab instructions, but include a reference.
- Do not include the results of your experiment in this section. Results should be in the Results section.
- Results: Results should be given in tabular or graphical form when possible. A narrative should accompany the data so the reader will understand the significance. This is the most important part of the report. It presents the data generated by your work. It is the basis for your conclusions.
- Discussion/Conclusions. State your conclusions based on the tests or experiments performed. Your conclusions must be a direct consequence of the data presented in the results section. Usually your results are to be compared with other data or theoretical results. If your results differ from those expected, you should attempt to explain the differences. However, do not make wild guesses or vague statements about experimental error. If you do not know why things did not work, admit it.
- References. List all references used including the lab instructions.
