\documentstyle[12pt]{article}     
\setlength{\textwidth}{6.5in}
\setlength{\topmargin}{0in}
\setlength{\textheight}{9.5in}
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0in}
\setlength{\evensidemargin}{0in}
\parskip 15pt
\parindent 0cm
\pagestyle{plain}
% percent signs indicate comments such as these.
% you define your own macros as follows $ signs indicate math mode.
\newcommand{\muplus}{$\mu^+$}
% begin the  document here
\begin{document}
\title{Title of Your Formal Report: e.g. Angular Dependence of the
Cosmic Muon Flux}

\author{R.F. Kiefl\\
        Physics 209\\
        Department of Physics and Astronomy}
\date{March 9, 2000}

\maketitle

\begin{abstract}

The abstract describes concisely what is contained in the report.
It should outline   what has been measured or investigated, how the 
measurement was done and the results.
It is typically a single paragraph  about five sentences long. 
For example it could begin
with ``Planck's constant has been determined from the 
the black body radiation emitted  from a steel tube  
heated to a temperature in the range 800 to 1100 degrees C."  

\end{abstract}

\newpage

\section{Introduction}

In this section you  introduce the subject of the report
and provide  relevant background or historical information.
Scientific motivation is a key element to a good introduction.
For example why is this quantity (phonomenon ) important (interesting) 
in physics, other
areas of science and/or applications. Give a few specific examples.

You should summarize in your own words any  background 
information in the lab manual
and supplement it  with additional facts  you  find in other references. 
Find  at least 3 references on the subject from text books or journal
articles. Items in the bibliography can be referenced as follows.
\cite{garwin57}, \cite{secondref}. The letters inside the curly brackets are
used to label the reference. Numbers appear automatically in the compiled
text.


You should be able to write a good  introduction in 
less than two typed pages. It should be concise, interesting and informative. 
Quality is more important than quantity. You should plan  on rewriting the 
paper several times.
A good opening sentence for  might be:

``The surface of the earth is constantly being bombarded by  a 
stream  of subatomic particles known as cosmic ray muons...."

or
``Thermal expansion is an important physical property of materials which 
arises microsopically from the anharmonic lattice vibrations.
..."

or
``Fourier transforms are an important mathematical tool used to 
solve many problems in physics..."


An essential element of the introduction is the last  paragraph which
connects the more general subject matter presented in  the first part of the 
introduction to 
the specific experiment being reported. The first part of the 
introduction gives you background information and leads up to the 
last paragraph which explains the experiment.  
Don't worry about repeating things already said in the abstract.
The report should be self contained apart from the 
abstract. Of course  don't simply repeat the abstract word for word. You can give a
more detailed description here of what follows in the next sections. 


\section {Theory}

In this section provide details on the theory 
used toeither  clarify the physics  in the 
report or   to fit the data.
Typically most  of your  equations would lie in this
section. As an example you could read up on thermal expansion and  describe
the miroscopic origin of the effect. You could decribe mathematically
what a forurier transform is  and what the important properties are with a few
simple examples.
 
Equations are contained in special environments designated
by the command lines   begin{equation} and  end{equation}. Such equations 
 are automatically
numbered. LATEX 
has expressions for most mathematical symbols. Any math symbols or equations
used outside
the equation environment must be bounded by dollar signs. For example the
Greek letter $\beta$.

\begin{equation}
E=\gamma m_0c^2  \label{energy}
\end{equation}


If the equation is given a label such as ``energy" in the  above example 
then you can 
refer to this  label in the text and  the numbering will  
automatically be referenced. For example
Equation \ref{energy} has a number even though I referred to it as 
Equation ``energy".



\section {Experiment}

In this section you should describe the apparatus used in the 
experiment. Use figures  wherever possible to describe 
the setup, electronics etc. There are some simple rules
to follow for figures: 

\begin{enumerate}
\item Figures must be numbered.
\item Make them large and easy to read. {\bf The text in a figure should  be 
large enough  so that if the figure were reduced to a single
column the text would be the size of the regular text in the document.} 
\item Figures must have a caption which explains 
what is in the figure. {\bf There should
be enough detail in the caption to understand the figure without
reading the text}. 
\item Every figure must be referred to in the text.
\end{enumerate}

When describing equipment  
give model numbers and any relevant specifications that seem appropriate.
e.g. wavelength of the laser or precision of the DVM
etc.

Figures can be inserted from files sources  but for a first 
use of LATEX I suggest  
you just leave a space to paste them in.  
\begin{figure}
\vspace{10cm}
\caption[dummy string]{Schematic of the apparatus used to measure the angular dependence
of the cosmic muon flux. Coincidences between the two plastic scintillation
detectors indicate the passage of a cosmic ray muon.}
\end{figure}

\section{Results and Analysis}
Present the data in tables and figures as much
as possible. Tables should be numbered, 
have captions and referred to in the text. 
You can make a simple table as follows:

\begin{table}[h] \centering
\caption
[dummy string]
{Cosmic Ray Muon Flux  x as a Function of  y and z}
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|l|}  
\hline
x1 & y1 & z1\\ \hline  
x2 & y2 & z2\\  \hline
x3 & y3 & z3 \\ 
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

All your data should have errors of some type which you should
discuss. The procedure for the analysis should also be given in some detail.


\section{Discussion} 


What did you find out?

If  parts of the experiment not work out can you say why?

If the data does not fit the theory or tabulated values (e.g. thermal expansion
coefficent) can you give some reasons?

What were the main sources of error?

How would you redesign the experiment to make it faster or
more accurate?

\section{Conclusions}

You should restate or summarize 
what has been
measured or investigated, and give the  main results. 
There is an old adage for writing good papers. ``First you tell them what you are going to
tell them, then you tell them and then finally you tell them what you told
them."

What are the implications? e.g. Radiation dose from cosmic muons, background
levels in radiation detectors. 


The bibliography is generated as follows. Note the items refer to the 
reference names in the text e.g. garwin57
as sepcified in the text. Good luck! 

\begin{thebibliography}{9}

\bibitem{garwin57} R.L. Garwin, L.M. Lederman, M. Weinrich, Phys. Rev. 105,
(1957) 1415.
\bibitem{secondref} {\it Muon Science} edited by S.L. Lee, S.H. Kilcoyne, and R.
Cywwinski, published by SUSSP publications and the Institute of Physics U.K.
(1999). 
\end{thebibliography}

\end{document}