CMPE401 - Report Marking Guidelines
General Information
Students are required to submit five reports to complete the requirements
for the lab portion of CMPE401. Each report should follow the form outlined below.
In addition, each lab contains a section outlining specific requirements for each lab as
a part of the lab handout. Each lab contains a marking breakdown that outlines
the marks assigned for the prelab, demo and report portion of the lab. Please consult it to ensure that you have
completed all the requirements for the lab.
Report Format
All reports should contain the following:
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A cover page that contains the course number, lab section number,
lab number, due date, and student names. ID numbers are not necessary
due to privacy issues.
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Including a table of contents is optional. If your report is long
(greater than ten pages), you should probably include one. But, again,
the table of contents is optional.
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Include an abstract that contains a one paragraph summary of the lab.
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Include a discussion of your design of the solutions to the lab.
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The test cases used to test the solutions. State the case
tested (ie.data input, output, condition tested or observed), the reason why this case was tested, the expected results
of the test, and the actual results of the test. The success or failure
of the test is not important. The selection and discussion of the test
cases are the important aspects of the testing section. Do not provide
debugging detail.
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Include any results required as a part of the lab handout, ie. tables,
comparisons etc. Answer any questions included in the lab handout.
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If your solution was incomplete, or failed, include a discussion of the
possible reasons why.
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Include a conclusion of the lab. It should be one or two paragraphs in length.
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Include all source code that you modified as a part
of your solution. Do not include provided code unless you
modified the provided code. Include your source code
in an appendix at the end of the report.
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Feel free to include any other information that you feel is relevant.
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Remember to write for the reader. In this case, the reader is the lab instructor or teaching assistant.
The lab instructor or teaching assistant is familiar with the coding environment, and hardware setup.
Keep that in mind when writing your report. You can use a fair amount of shorthand
to describe your solution design and implementation.
Grammar and Spelling
Check the grammar and spelling of your report. Penalties for poor spelling and
grammar will be in place.
Report Appearance
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Do not submit a handwritten report. The marker will not mark it.
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Submit your report in a font face and font size that is pleasing to the eye.
Please don't submit anything in a font size less than 10 point.
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Diagrams may be hand drawn, but use a straight edge to make them neat and clean.
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Format your source code so that the comments are not broken between lines. Please
make it easy for the marker to read your code. Remember the cardinal rule of
technical writing: don't annoy the reader.
Report Length
The report is not required to have a specific length. An ideal report should contain exactly the information
asked for and nothing more. Unneccessarily lengthy or incomplete reports will be penalized, and
exceptionally concise and complete reports will be rewarded.