Writing the paper
Every project ends in one paper. In Phys 491 and 492 you do 2–4 projects a semester, so you write 2–4 papers. On each project's map, steps say which section of the paper their work goes into.
What goes in each section
Introduction
What the phenomenon is, why it is interesting, and what earlier work has shown.
Theory
The physics the project rests on, derived carefully enough that a classmate could follow it.
Methods
How you simulated and measured, with the equipment, settings and checks that make the results trustworthy.
Results
What you found, with uncertainties, in figures a reader can understand from the captions alone.
Discussion
How the results compare with theory and simulation, what disagrees and why, and what you would do next.
What each project's paper should show
- Directional speaker
Predict the audible sound from a parametric speaker with a KZK simulation and compare it with measurements of the department's directional speaker.