PHY4802L - LABORATORY ELECTRONICS - Spring 2009

Grading

  • Lab Reports: 40%
  • Weekly In-Class quiz: 20%
  • Weekly Homework: 20%
  • Final Project: 15%
  • Class Participation: 5%
Your final grade will be determined on an absolute scale:
    A: 87.5-100%
B+: 80-87.5% B: 72.5-80%
C+: 65-72.5% C: 57.5-65%
D+: 50-57.5% D: 45-50% Failure: Below 45%

On the day of the final, once all presentations are complete, you must clean up your project and bench area. Anyone not doing so will receive an Incomplete in this course.

Weekly Quizzes

In-class quizzes will be given every Thursday, in the first 15 minutes of class. The quiz starts promptly at 8:30 am. These are closed book quizzes. No make-up in-class quizzes will be offered. The quizzes cover the reading material assigned for that week, the material covered in lecture/that week's lab, and the homework assignment handed out the previous Thursday.

Homework Assignments

Homework assignments are handed out on Thursday via email, and are due at the start of class on the following Tuesday. Students should submit a hard-copy of the homework in person. No late homework will be accepted.

Lab Reports

Lab reports are due by the start of class on Thursday. Late lab reports will incur a severe penalty of 15% off per day late. After 4 days late the maximum grade for the assignment (assuming perfect work) will be 40%. The first late penalty is applied at 8:30 am on Friday following the due date.

Assignment due dates will be strictly followed. However, each student will be allowed 1 one-week extension without penalty for lab reports. This does not apply to Lab 1.

A lab report is not a creative writing project. It is a scientific document of your work. Its purpose is to clearly and plainly state exactly what your experiment was, and the results you've observed. It should be written as a stand-alone document. Someone who has never had this course before should be able to pick up your report, understand the scientific principles behind the lab, understand how to perform the measurement, and understand how conclusions were drawn from data collected. Please keep your sentences short, and clear. A hard-copy of the lab reports is due by 8:30 am on Thursdays in person, on the dates shown on the Class Schedule. I will not accept electronic versions. Late labs will only be accepted if they are submitted in my office/slipped under my door. Labs submitted to my mailbox will not be accepted. While you will work in teams of 2 for building the circuits and recording data, the lab reports are to be individual efforts. Discussion with and help from your peers is encouraged, but copying of work is not. Both of the members in a group should participate in taking data and analyses. Exclusively sharing the duty of lab work is not allowed. Lab partners will be rotated for every lab.


Final Project

The final project will consist of a circuit devised, or selected from the literature, by each team of two students, that will be built and demonstrated for the class (including a description of its operation). It will be judged on a combination of complexity, execution, and comprehension. Students are responsible for ordering and purchasing any parts needed for their project that are not already in the lab. Students wishing to keep their final project are required to purchase their own breadboard. Students will choose their own partner for the final project.

Laboratory Access

If you wish to put in more time, the laboratory (Room 1249) is accessible during off-hours. A combination locked box on the door contains the key to the room. You will be given the combination in class. Be sure that the box with the key and the room are locked when you leave. This access is intended for make-up and for when simply more time is needed. For safety reasons, no student should be working in the lab alone at any time. If you are found working alone in the lab you will be given an automatic failure for that week's lab. This does not mean you with a friend. You should always be evenly splitting the lab work with your partner. Any after hours work should be done with your partner.