Crafting Comprehensive Lab Reports: Techniques for Improved Technical Writing and Data Interpretation Skills

Albertus Retnanto; Mohamed Fadlelmula; ROMMEL DUAVE YRAC

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Publication Date: June 22, 2025
Start Date: June 22, 2025
End Date: August 15, 2025
Conference Session: Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering Division (TELPhE) Technical Session 4
Tagged Division: Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering Division (TELPhE)
Page Count: 17
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--56158
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/56158
Download Count: 1

Paper Authors

biography

Albertus Retnanto Texas A&M University at Qatar orcid.org/0000-0003-2015-1634

visit author page

Dr. Albertus Retnanto is a Program Chair and Professor of the Practice of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University at Qatar and has been in the Petroleum Engineering program since 2009. He received his Ph.D. degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University. He held a Principal position with Schlumberger and has more than 18 years of experience worldwide in technical and management positions in well testing, field development, and production enhancement. He served as SPE Drilling & Completion journal review chairman, SPE Cedric K. Ferguson Medal Award committee member, SPE Drilling, and Completion Advisory committee, and SPE advanced technology workshops. He received the A Peer Apart SPE Award, which is dedicated to the technical excellence of authors to the industry. He received the Associate of Former Student of Texas A&M University College-level Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching and Distinguished Achievement for Petroleum Engineering Faculty, Society of Petroleum Engineers-Middle East & North Africa Region. Dr. Retnanto is an active Program Evaluator (PEV) with the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET.

visit author page

biography

Mohamed Fadlelmula Texas A&M University at Qatar

visit author page

Dr. Mohamed Fadlelmula is an Instructional Associate Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ). Fadlelmula is dedicated to teaching excellence, therefore, he has participated in several projects to improve students’ learning experience, motivation and engagement. He has received different teaching awards such as the TAMUQ Teaching Excellence Award 2022, and the College Level Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching from the Association of Former Students at Texas A&M University in 2020. Fadlelmula also serves as the ABET coordinator of the Petroleum Engineering Program since 2018.

visit author page

author page

ROMMEL DUAVE YRAC

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

Teaching labs are a vital component of engineering education. They allow students to participate in all stages of experiential learning, beginning with conceptualization and exploration and progressing to reflection, analysis, and data interpretation. Laboratories promote a variety of abilities, including communication, knowledge, teamwork, ethics, and information acquisition, and they supplement lecture learning by improving students' understanding of theoretical topics. In addition, the importance of laboratories in engineering education is evident from two of the student learning outcomes required by ABET for program accreditation. The outcomes state that students must be able to conduct experiments, analyze and interpret data, and communicate effectively for those outcomes to be attained.

To achieve these objectives in in our engineering program, detailed lab report guidelines are provided for both students and laboratory instructors in all courses having a lab component. To complete their lab reports successfully, students need to correctly establish the scientific concept of the lab, effectively present the objectives and purpose of the lab, clearly explain how they perform their experiments, list and discuss the outcomes of the experiments, and finally draw logical conclusions out of these outcomes. In addition, students must present the findings clearly and with sufficient support and successfully integrate written and visual representations. In the conclusion section, students need to provide the main findings and state whether the results support or contradict the hypothesis being tested.

In this paper, we will demonstrate the program's experience with lab reports writing and rubric development over the last ten years, which includes three different phases. The first is when there was no standard lab report rubric with guidelines (before 2018), the second is when the first generation of standard lab report rubric and guidelines was introduced (2018-2022), and the third one is when an augmented versions of the standard lab report rubric were used (2023-2024). This paper will also include a comparison of the assessment results from various courses in the program, which shows the effect of rubrics in the improvement of students' technical writing and data interpretation skills through the three phases.

Citation
Format

Retnanto, A., & Fadlelmula, M., & YRAC, R. D. (2025, June), Crafting Comprehensive Lab Reports: Techniques for Improved Technical Writing and Data Interpretation Skills Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . 10.18260/1-2--56158

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Teaching labs are a vital component of engineering education. They allow students to participate in all stages of experiential learning, beginning with conceptualization and exploration and progressing to reflection, analysis, and data interpretation. Laboratories promote a variety of abilities, including communication, knowledge, teamwork, ethics, and information acquisition, and they supplement lecture learning by improving students&#39; understanding of theoretical topics. In addition, the importance of laboratories in engineering education is evident from two of the student learning outcomes required by ABET for program accreditation. The outcomes state that students must be able to conduct experiments, analyze and interpret data, and communicate effectively for those outcomes to be attained. 

To achieve these objectives in in our engineering program, detailed lab report guidelines are provided for both students and laboratory instructors in all courses having a lab component. To complete their lab reports successfully, students need to correctly establish the scientific concept of the lab, effectively present the objectives and purpose of the lab, clearly explain how they perform their experiments, list and discuss the outcomes of the experiments, and finally draw logical conclusions out of these outcomes. In addition, students must present the findings clearly and with sufficient support and successfully integrate written and visual representations. In the conclusion section, students need to provide the main findings and state whether the results support or contradict the hypothesis being tested.

In this paper, we will demonstrate the program&#39;s experience with lab reports writing and rubric development over the last ten years, which includes three different phases. The first is when there was no standard lab report rubric with guidelines (before 2018), the second is when the first generation of standard lab report rubric and guidelines was introduced (2018-2022), and the third one is when an augmented versions of the standard lab report rubric were used (2023-2024). This paper will also include a comparison of the assessment results from various courses in the program, which shows the effect of rubrics in the improvement of students&#39; technical writing and data interpretation skills through the three phases.

AU  - Albertus Retnanto
AU  - Mohamed Fadlelmula
AU  - ROMMEL DUAVE YRAC
CY  - Montreal, Quebec, Canada 
DA  - 2025/06/22
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Crafting Comprehensive Lab Reports: Techniques for Improved Technical Writing and Data Interpretation Skills
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/56158
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--56158
ER  -