Mini Project Report Writing Workshop

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Mini Project Report Writing Workshop
Supplementary Material
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SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL OUTLINE

• Structure of sections before and after the main
  body of the dissertation
• Technical writing reference information
• Checklists

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PART 1 Dissertation Sections - Before and After
the Main Body
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SECTIONS BEFORE THE MAIN BODY OF THE REPORT

• Title
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• Lists of Figures, Tables, Formulae and Acronyms
• Glossary
• NB You may be required to insert a declaration
  after the title page

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TITLE (I)

• This needs to explain the scope of the work
• be
• self explanatory
• very concise-
• attract the reader, encouraging them to
  read further

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TITLE (II)

• Unless you are told otherwise, it should contain
• Your project title
• Your degree title, e.g. Communication Computer
  Systems
• Your name
• The Date e.g. June 2006

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TITLE (III)
The title page of your dissertation should look
like the title page of a technical document
i.e. no clip art or pretty pictures
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LIST OF ACRONYMS

• If you use an acronym in your dissertation, the
  first time you use it you should give the full
  expansion and the acronym e.g. General Packet
  Radio Service, GPRS
• You should also compile a list of acronyms as a
  reference for your reader

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THE GLOSSARY

• If you are introducing many new specialist terms,
  you may need a glossary to explain them
• It acts as a kind of mini-dictionary that helps
  the reader to understand this specialist language

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SECTIONS AFTER THE MAIN BODY OF THE REPORT

• Acknowledgements
• References
• Appendices

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• Acknowledge
• financial support If any, equipment loaned etc
• Technical academic help from others
• Acknowledgements are often not required in short
  reports, except where special help is given
• Often less formal in style

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PART 2 Technical Writing Reference Information
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TECHNICAL STYLE THE PASSIVE

• Using the passive is a way of removing the
  subject I, Andrew, the BSc students and
  prioritising the object e.g.
• Several samples (object) were (verb- to be)
  selected (past participle). by me (object
  deleted)
• This avoids the informal and subjective I
  (subject) selected (verb) several samples
  (object)
• Disadvantage it can remove agency, making it
  unclear who performed a particular action.

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TECHNICAL STYLE THE PASSIVE

• X is demonstrated by
• Z are based on
• X is provided by
• X is used
• X was evaluated
• It is expected that ..
• It was found that
• It was concluded that
• It is widely held
• To determine the effects of x,a series of
  measurements was taken.
• An increase in the range of 60 is anticipated
  as a result of y

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TECHNICAL STYLE MODAL PASSIVES

• Modals can, could, may might, will, would have
  an important effect on varying the strength of a
  claim you are making about your data
• It can/could be seen/observed/concluded that
• It can be suggested that
• It can be tentatively accepted that
• x can be characterised
• This can be done by/carried out by
• x can be done by/measured by
• This would suggest that
• Attention should be given to

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TECHNICAL STYLE SENTENCES WITH IT/THERE

• To avoid the passive, we can use impersonal
  constructions starting with It and There e.g.
• It is essential to
• It is important to
• It is necessary to
• It may be possible to
• It may be necessary to
• May reduces commitment
• There is general agreement that .
• There are a number of reasons for
• There is a strong possibility that .
• There seems to be
• There appears to be
• Seems/appears- reduce the strength of the
  proposition

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TECHNICAL STYLE OTHER FORMS

• By making the study/experiment/paper/report the
  subject
• This study shows
• This report gives
• Section 1 covers
• The results obtained..
• The measurements obtained in this
  study/experiment
• The results section gives detailed data for ..
• The results of this experiment were inconclusive
• X allows y to
• One way of measuring the output of
• By measuring the interference from

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VERBS FOR REPORTING OTHER SCIENTISTS FINDINGS
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PART 3 Checklists
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A FINAL CHECK!
TITLE Does it explain what the report is about
succinctly? ABSTRACT Does it explain why the
work was done? Does it outline the entire report
including the findings? Have you managed to keep
the abstract to one paragraph? Are all the
sections covered? CONTENTS LIST Are the page
numbers correct? INTRODUCTION/ Does it contain
enough background material and cite the relevant
references? BACKGROUND Have you defined all the
technical terms used? Is it clear why you have
investigated the problem? METHODOLOGY Have you
explained why you chosen your particular
approach? Is there sufficient detail to allow
replication of your work? RESULTS Is the sequence
of results presented logically? Are the data
presented in the clearest possible way? Are all
figures and tables number in the order I which
they appear? Tables Are all your tables clear?
Do the tables have a caption placed above the
table? Does the caption provide all the
necessary Information without reference to the
main text? Have you referred in the main report
body to all tables? Figures Are all figures
clear? Are all symbols used explained in a key or
in a caption? Do the captions provide all the
necessary information without reference to the
main text? Have you referred in the main report
body to all figures? Have you explained the
significance of your results? Have you compared
your results with Published work? DISCUSSION/
Are your conclusions justified by the data and
analytical methods used? CONCLUSIONS Have you
managed to suggest what further work is
useful? ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Have you listed all
people who have contributed to the work you have
reported? REFERENCES Do all the references in
the main text (and appendices) appear in the
list? Is your list correctly in alphabetical or
numerical order? Have you used a consistent
format for all references in the list?
Slightly Adapted from Andy
Binleys Project Skills teaching materials. ES
2005
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FINAL CHECKLIST!

• Also check that you report has
• Page numbers
• Table of Contents
• List of figures tables if used in the report
• References
• Title page
• Abstract
• Appendices if used
• Any CDs, DVDs, videos etc. securely attached if
  you have any
• Your name!And make sure it is securely bound

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GRAPHICAL PRESENTATION CHECKLIST

• Check your presentation of plots carefully!
• Have you clearly and unambiguously labelled the
  axes?
• Are the units or values clear?
• Have you included a key? Is it self-explanatory?
• Is it easy to understand the plot?
• Where there are multiple lines, are these clearly
  distinguished?
• Is there a self-explanatory figure legend?

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GRAPHICAL PRESENTATION CHECKLIST

• Have you numbered the figure?
• Have you referred to the figure in the text?
  e.g.
• Figure 3.2 shows that when xxxxx is applied, the
  signal loss increases proportionally until..
• ..as shown in not as it is shown
• As can be seen from figure 3.2, the level of .
• The second simulation of xxxxx reveals a higher
  level of Figure 3.2