Outline for Experimental Protocol Report

EMA 4913/14

Summary : Brief description of project objectives, approach and expected outcomes.

Objective : This should be a brief, specific statement of the objective (s) of the project.

Introduction / Background: This section should answer the question- “Why are you doing this work?” Who or what will benefit? Is there anything new? What has been done before that has prompted the research or what needs to be done because of a lack of data or knowledge in the field?

Technical Approach : This section should contain the methodology and underlying assumptions for your project. This section should also contain the specific experiments to be performed and the reason for performing them. The equipment to be used should be listed. The important parameters and variables should be discussed.

Tasks : This section should be a numerical listing of the tasks to be performed. Be as specific as possible. For example:

(1) Measure the strength of 20 Pyroceram 9606 glass ceramic disks loaded in biaxial tension.

(2) Determine the microstructure of Pyroceram using quantitative microscopy techniques.

(3) Measure the fracture surface features on fractured disks from (1).

Project Planning Table : This should list the tasks to be performed serving as an overall guide to your project. Thus, you should have a general schedule including the date you expect to finish. Be as specific as possible. Include the writing of the thesis as one of the tasks. The estimate on the length of time for each task should be listed.

Project Planning Chart : This should be a time-line including the dates when tasks are to be completed.

Expected Results and/or Implications of (your) Research : This should explain what you hope to achieve. The most important aspect is that you should plan to have a “good” result no matter the data, i.e., you should plan your research such that a positive or negative result will supply you with important information. This latter approach is accomplished by careful formulation of your posed research question.

This report should be about two to five pages not including table, chart and figures, if any.