Instructor:
Daniel W. Koon
Office: 221 Bewkes,
Phone: 229-5494 Office Hours: Mon. - Thu., 11:00-12:00
Text: There is not a required text for the lab. However, there are a number of texts that you may find useful in the Reklis collection or the library.
Course overview:
The primary purpose of this lab is to introduce you to analog electronics, and to foster a spirit of independence in the lab.
Course requirements:
The general format of the lab will be a lecture followed by a lab exercise. Typically the lab exercise will involve building a circuit and analyzing certain aspects of its behavior. You will be required to keep a detailed lab notebook that will be discussed below. This notebook will be a major component of your grade. There will be one exam in the middle of the semester where you will be tested on the lab material covered up to that point. You may be given brief reading or homework assignments on topics covered in the lab. In the second part of the semester each of you will complete an independent project which is also discussed below. There will be a lab practical during the final exam period for the course.
Lab Notebooks:
You will be required to keep an accurate and complete lab notebook. For example, if you are testing a circuit, your notebook should include a labeled circuit diagram, a description of what you expect the circuit to do, and any data that you may take. The data should include drawings and descriptions of how waveforms may vary when parameters are adjusted. Note any discrepancies between what you expect your circuit to do and its actual behavior. Your notebook should include all calculations. Answers to questions asked in the lab handout should be thorough and should also be included in your notebook. You should also keep your notes from the prelab in your notebook. Your notebook will be turned in approximately every other week for a grade.
Assignments:
There will be homework exercises assigned in lab. They will be due the following lab period.
Exam: There will be one exam given in class covering the material completed before the exam. Questions on the exams will deal with the circuits that you have studied in class, and with any electronics guidelines that you have learned.
Project:
Toward the end of the semester, you will have an extended independent project of constructing, testing and analyzing an amplifier-based circuit. You will write a formal lab report explaining how the circuit works and some of the design considerations.
The introduction should include general information about amplifiers, audio amplifiers in particular. The theory section should include circuit diagrams and derivations of the ideal theoretical response for your amplifier. How do you expect the circuit to behave and why you expect it to behave that way? Your procedure section will explain how you constructed your circuit. It will explain any design choices that you made, and it will explain how you obtained your data. Your data should be presented in the form of graphs (both theory and data). Your analysis should include a comparison of the theory and the data. A draft of your report will be due on Thursday, April 30 at 4:30 pm. One letter grade will be deducted from your final report if your draft is missing or inadequate. I will return the reports the following Monday. The final draft of your report is due on Friday May 8 at 4:30 pm. Late reports will not be accepted.
Lab Practical:
During the last lab period there will be a lab practical. You will be given a box with a circuit inside, and you will have to determine what the circuit is and document your reasoning. You will be allowed to use your lab notebook.
Grading:
|
Midterm Exam |
25% |
|
Lab notebook |
30% |
|
Assignments |
10%
|
|
Filter Project |
20%
|
|
Lab Practical | 15% |
Tentative schedule of topics:
ACADEMIC HONESTY:
SELECTIONS FROM THE SLU STUDENT
HANDBOOK
All students at St. Lawrence University are bound by
honor to maintain the highest level of academic integrity. By virtue of
membership in the St. Lawrence community, every student accepts the responsibility
to know the rules of academic honesty, to abide by them at all times, and to
encourage all others to do the same.
Responsibility for avoiding behavior or situations
from which academic dishonesty may be inferred rests entirely with the students.
Claims of ignorance, unintentional error, and academic or personal pressure are
not excuses for academic dishonesty. Students should be sure to learn from
faculty what is expected as their own work and how the work of other people
should be acknowledged. Instructors are expected to maintain conditions which
promote academic honesty.
Instructors have the duty to investigate any instance
involving possible academic dishonesty and must present evidence of academic
dishonesty to the Academic Honor Council rather than make private arrangements
with the student involved. Violations of the St. Lawrence University Code of
Academic Honor are administered under the constitution of the Academic Honor
Council [See Student Handbook for the Constitution].
The primary objective of the University is the
promotion of knowledge. This objective can be furthered only if there is strict
adherence to scrupulous standards of honesty. At St. Lawrence, all members of
the University community have a responsibility to see that standards of honesty
and integrity are maintained.
Students who respect academic honesty and who are
orderly and meticulous in their treatment of both their own work and the work
of others should anticipate no difficulty with cheating, plagiarism, or other
forms of academic dishonesty. Borrowing ideas or language from others is
acceptable scholarly practice and in many instances actively to be encouraged.
Academic dishonesty generally arises from one of two
sources: either a student has knowingly cheated or plagiarized or he/she has
been careless or slipshod in discriminating between his/her own work and that
of others or in acknowledging sources accurately. These latter difficulties are
easily circumvented. Any standard handbook on English usage or term paper
writing manual will furnish a methodology as well as appropriate internal
reference, endnote, or bibliographical forms (cf., for example, the
Harbrace Handbook, A
Guide to MLA Documentation, or
Writers Inc.).
A major objective of the University
is the pursuit of knowledge which can be achieved only by strict adherence to
standards of honesty. At St. Lawrence, all members of the community have a
responsibility to see that these standards are maintained.
Academic Dishonesty
- It is
assumed that all work submitted for credit is done by the student unless the
instructor gives specific permission for collaboration.
- Cheating on examinations and tests consists of knowingly
giving or using or attempting to use unauthorized assistance during
examinations or tests.
-
Dishonesty in work outside of examinations and tests consists of handing in for
credit as original work that which is not original, where originality is
required.
The following constitute examples of academic dishonesty:
- Plagiarism: Presenting as one's own work the work of another person - words, ideas, data, evidence, thoughts,
information, organizing principles, or style of presentation-without proper
attribution. Plagiarism includes paraphrasing or summarizing without
acknowledgment by quotation marks, footnotes, endnotes, or other indices of
reference (cf. Joseph F. Trimmer,
- Handing in false reports on any experiment.
- Handing in a book report on a book one has not read.
- Falsification of attendance records of a laboratory or other class meeting.
- Supplying information to another student knowing that such information will be used in a
dishonest way.
- Submission of work (papers, journal abstracts, etc.) which has received credit in a
previous course to satisfy the requirement(s) of a second course without the
knowledge and permission of the instructor of the second course.
Claims of ignorance and academic or personal pressure are unacceptable as excuses for
academic dishonesty. Students must learn what constitutes one's own work and
how the work of others must be acknowledged.
St. Lawrence students are required to sign the following statement prior to
registration for classes:
I hereby acknowledge that I have
read the above document and I understand my responsibility in maintaining the
standards of academic honesty at St. Lawrence University.
Return to Koon's homepage