EE 497 J. Reising

SYLLABUS Fall 2001

Office: KC 247 Telephone: 479-2358 FAX: 479-2780 email: reising@evansville.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION: EE 497 is the last part of the engineering design project course sequence. Students complete the final design, construction, and testing of the project during this phase and submit a formal final report. They also present an oral review summarizing and demonstrating the results to an audience composed of students, faculty, and industrial judges. An “Outstanding Project” award and Certificates of Special Merit will be given for selected projects based on the final presentations. The date of the Senior Project Presentations for this semester will be determined later, but will be sometime in the last three weeks of classes.

REQUIREMENTS AND SCHEDULE: Since all the work for this phase of the project is to be performed under the guidance of the project faculty advisor, each student should contact his or her advisor as soon as possible. The faculty advisor may require periodic written progress reports and at any rate should be given a draft copy of the final report no later than November 16 for approval and possible revision. An outline of a final report is given below. A schedule of the major course requirements is as follows:

No later than September 21, 2001, a concept technical design review should be held with the faculty project advisor (and industrial sponsor as appropriate) to report on work completed, plans for remaining work, and updated final project goals. A grade will be given for the quality of planning and work done and be made part of the final grade for the course.

On or before November 2, 2001, a “dry run” presentation must be scheduled with the faculty project advisor. Participation will be required of all seniors in the program. Faculty advisors will assign grades for the “dry run” presentation that will be part of the final grade for the course.

The final presentations will be given at a time to be determined later. Attached is a copy of the scorecard the judges will use in rating senior design presentations.

All final documentation will be due not later than November 30, 2001.

GRADING: The grade will be determined by the faculty advisor based on status reports, the concept technical design review, the “dry run” presentation, the final presentation, the final report, and overall project quality.

A NOTE ON FINAL REPORT COVERS: Please either use a report cover with a window or transparent cover or attach a label to the cover with the following format:

FINAL REPORT

(PROJECT NAME)

Industrial Sponsor: __________________

Industrial Advisor: __________________

Faculty Advisor: __________________

Project Engineer: __________________

Date: __________________

If you use a cover with a window, be sure the above information shows through the window. The report will be much easier to identify if this system is followed. Also, use a cover that will not allow the pages to fall out, such as a cover with fasteners that pass through holes in each page.

SENIOR PROJECT SCORECARD

Industrial Judges

PROJECT NAME _____________________________________________________

TEAM MEMBERS _____________________________________________________

Rate each item on a scale of 0-10 (10 is best) for the oral presentation of the project. Note aspects of special merit.

1. Demonstrated ability to formulate problems and identify creative solutions

(None) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Excellent) NA (not applicable)

2. Demonstrated ability to complete an "open-ended" design from specifications

(None) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Excellent) NA

3. Demonstrated ability to design an experiment

(None) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Excellent) NA

4. Demonstrated ability to take measurements

(None) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Excellent) NA

5. Effectiveness of audio/visual presentation

(None) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Excellent) NA

6. Quality of oral presentation

(None) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Excellent) NA

7. Rationale for design choice

(Consideration of alternative designs, technical risks, economic and schedule factors, other sponsor constraints.)

(None) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Excellent) NA

8. Project execution quality

(Planning, teamwork, workmanship, on-schedule?)

(None) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Excellent) NA

9. Real value to industrial sponsor of the work done

(None) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Excellent) NA

10. Results vs. Objectives

(Comparison of project results with project goals for performance, cost, etc.)

(None) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Excellent) NA

UNIVERSITY OF EVANSVILLE

SENIOR DESIGN PROJECT SERIES

A FINAL REPORT OUTLINE

The final report is a formal communication that both fulfills a contract obligation and tells a story. Since the final report is, in many cases, the “product” of the project effort, and in all cases the official record of that effort, it should be prepared carefully. It must be complete enough to account for all of the essential information pertaining to your project, so that you or anyone else could reconstruct and understand what has been done. Mistakes or failures can be explained, but not covered up. Tell it like it was.

Report content will vary as widely as do types of project activities; some will be mostly data, others will be mostly words. You may have many tables and graphs, or you may have none. Do whatever you need to do to tell a story that is understandable, complete, and accurate. A common report format appears below:

a. Title Page: In a format suitable for the type of binding you will use (i.e., some have “windows” to show the title), indicate the names of the project, the sponsor, the University, the team members (specifying who was the project leader), and the advisor. Also, give the date and place (Evansville, Indiana).

b. Acknowledgement: Give credit for any help you received, including significant advice, data, equipment, labor, and so forth. This is not a book or dissertation, so do not thank your spouse or special friend for his or her great patience, tolerance, and understanding. Dedications are similarly out of place.

c. Table of Contents: Tell what is on which page in the main body, appendices, and whatever else follows the table of contents. (If there is a preface, include it also.) It should be obvious that you can complete this index (and the two lists described below) only after you have completed the rest of the report.

d. List of Figures: Give the title and number of each figure (anything drawn or reproduced from photographs) together with its page number. Use the same title on the figure itself, written under the figure. Insert a figure into the text at the first available space occurring after you mention it.

e. List of Tables: Give the title and number of each table together with its page number. (A table is usually composed of words and numbers.) Use the same title on the table itself, written above the table. Insert tables into the text at the first available space following the first reference to them in the body of the text.

NOTE: Number every page up to this point with lower case Roman numerals, but do not print the number on title or half-title pages. (E.G., the title page is i, but the i is understood, not printed.) Number every page in the sections described below in Arabic numerals. Print the page numbers at the top or bottom center, or the top-outside corner. However, if either top position is used, an exception is made for each page beginning a chapter (or whatever you call your major divisions); the number is shifted to the corresponding bottom location (center or outside corner).

f. Introduction (or summary): Present a quick rundown of the entire design process: need, problem definition, approach, and results. By giving the reader a good over-all “big picture”, you will vastly simplify his task of reading and understanding all that follows.

g. Statement of the Problem (or background): Give a more detailed statement of the problem as it was presented and as it has evolved to the state considered in the engineering design process. Include technical discussions that help bring the problem into focus.

h. Design Approach: Tell how you decided to attack the problem. Include the methods, procedures, etc., used in the various components of the overall task. Relevant technical discussions should be inserted as needed, but if they are too bulky or do not continue the flow of the discussion, place them in appendices.

i. Results: Tell what came of it all. Give the punch lines first and then the details. It is a good idea to present the results of component tasks in the same order used to discuss those tasks in the design. Again, use the appendices for lengthy lists of data or ancillary materials. Use visual aids wherever appropriate; they can help to clarify an otherwise obscure discussion.

j. Conclusion: The reader may wonder “so what?”; tell him. If you have recommendations to make, you can add another section with that title or include them here and change the name to “Conclusions and Recommendations”. Ordinarily, implications would be included in your conclusions, but if you have an extensive pitch to make, you might want to feature it as a separate section entitled “Implications for Future Work”.

It might be noted that ideas you have for how to do the follow-on work are ordinarily reserved for another proposal. If additional work seems appropriate, suggest it to the sponsor. Remember, your final report becomes the property of the client and will be made available to others, including your competitors.

k. Reference: Provide a complete list of all references cited in the report. Check any technical publication for a suitable style and format.

l. Appendices: Package extensive side discussions, lists of data, etc., are by topics in separate appendices. The order of presentation should follow the order in which they were mentioned in the main body of the report.

A NOTE ON PREPARATION: A good outline is indispensable in turning out a coherent report; it will keep you from omitting things or meeting yourself going around chapter corners. A detailed outline is especially valuable if you parcel out sections of the report to be written by different team members. (If you do opt for this multi-author procedure, face the fact that one person will have to rewrite the entire report to make the style and vocabulary consistent.) When you have “completed” the report, put it aside for a few days and then read it in its entirety. Not only will you catch errors that were overlooked in proofing, but you may also become aware of omissions, redundancies, and obscurities. An “outside” reader – someone unfamiliar with the project – can provide another good check on clarity. Your next “completed copy” should be good.