ELEC 332
How are They Graded?
For each exercise you will prepare a written document describing
the work that you did,
the results of that work,
answers to specific questions,
etc.
The document will be composed of a number of sections taken from the
following list.
Each section will be evaluated
individually and
your grade for the exercise will be a weighted average of these
evaluations.
The specific work to be turned in will be described in the instructions for each exercise
(in the section entitled "What to Turn in").
Your document may be word processed or handwritten, whichever you prefer,
as long as it's legible,
and gramatically correct.
Note that although this is an Engineering, rather than an English, course,
you will be expected to provide at least a basic narative structure to your answers.
I.e. there should be sentences and the occasional paragraph interspersed among
the equations, numbers, and drawings.
- Preparation
-
For many exercises, there will be work to do before going
to the lab to start building stuff.
In the case where this involves formal research,
calculation,
etc.,
you will be asked to describe that work and discuss the results.
- Work in the Lab
-
This should not be a 241 style
checklist
(i.e. "We did A and observed B, then did C and observed D."),
but rather a summary and discussion of important things that happened.
In particular, if you are following the instructions and everything goes smoothly,
you don't need to copy the instructions, simply say: "We followed the instructions
and everything went smoothly."
On the other hand, if you follow the instructions and things don't go smoothly,
describe what went wrong and why.
If you decide to improvise rather than follow the instructions,
describe what you did
and talk about why you think your way is better.
- Results from the Lab
-
One thing which should carry over from your 241 days: if you make measurements that
are relevant to your goals in the lab, then the resulting data should appear in your
document in an appropriate form and place.
- Design Discussion
-
Most exercises will involve one or more circuits
which form the focus of the week's work.
In some cases the design of this circuit will be given in the exercise,
while in other cases
it will be
your responsibility.
Whatever the source,
describe how the circuit works,
the purpose and function of each component,
and why it has the value it has.
For your own designs, do all of the above, and in addition
describe the
reasoning behind
your choices.
- Component Challenge
-
For a specified component in a design, investigate the alternative choices.
Discuss their pros and cons, including cost, performance, ease of use, etc.
Identify the best component
(either the original or one which you have found)
and explain why it is the best choice.
- Design Challenge
-
In some cases
a circuit will be provided as part of the exercise,
but you will be asked to produce an alternative design of your own.
Discuss the reasoning behind your design
and explain the ways in which it is better than,
or not as good as,
the original design.
- Homework Style Questions
-
Or, if you don't like the idea of homework, think of these
as the numbered questions of 241 lab.
In any event, they will be specific questions involving some
aspect of the week's work.
- Quality of Design and Construction
-
This isn't really a section of the document
but rather the actual product of your work.
Since the goal of this course is to learn to build high quality
stuff, it's appropriate that the quality of the stuff that you build
should contribute a portion of your grade.