General Lab Information

Use full pages for graphs even if you are using a spreadsheet or other program. This is especially important if you are finding slopes or areas under curves. Use graph paper if doing by hand and label axes and supply values for each axis.

Use best fit lines. Do not connect the data points with straight lines. Best fit lines do not have to go through every point and are not necessarily straight lines, for example position graphs for motions with acceleration should be parabola (but don't fake it if your data doesn't justify it.)

If you use a spreadsheet most spread sheet programs have a slope or trend line feature. Pick the one that makes the most sense ( say linear for velocity or 2nd power for position when a = constant)

Calculations such as those for slopes or area must be shown in your reports.

Conclusions should relate back to your purpose ( or your purpose should connect with your conclusion). Conclusions should be pretty objective such as "gee acceleration did = force/mass" rather than "boy I learned a lot."Make sure you answer all the questions, even if the answer is my data didn't give a clear answer.

Use lower case v for velocity. Upper Case V is volume or Volts