Some Notes on Writing a Project Report

• Planning the structure of your project
• Checking on the quality of the information it contains
• Some hints on writing style
• Presentation and layout
• A list of helpful tools and sources of information

Planning the structure of your report

1. A report outline can be found in Tony Drewry's notes on Reports and Documentation. Using this as a rough guide, make a preliminary list of headings for the different sections of your report.
2. Turn a large sheet of paper sideways and divide it into columns, one for each section. Leave a couple of columns free in case you need to add sections as you go along.
3. Under each heading, jot down all the major points you would like to mention. If they don't quite fit, then reword your headings or add extra columns. While you're doing this, you'll probably come up with ideas for sub-headings; make a note of these as well.
4. Mark the most important points in each section.
5. Mark the least important points, and those that your reader might find irrelevant (you may decide to omit these).
6. In each section, arrange the points and/or sub-headings in a logical sequence; one way of doing this is to write each point on a small slip of paper and shuffle them around until you're reasonably happy with the order.

Quality of information

1. Are the aims of the project clearly stated?
2. Does the report contain unsubstantiated assumptions, eg: 'A computerised system will make this process much easier to carry out?
3. Are there any inconsistencies in information or terminology?
4. Are arguments logical, and followed through?
5. Is all the necessary information included?
6. Is everything included relevant?
7. Are sources of information clearly indicated?
8. Are the main issues discussed in the body of the report obscured by too much detail?

Style

• Once you have an overall plan, start off by writing each section or chapter as it comes (not necessarily in the order in which they will appear).
• Having completed the first draft, let it sit for at least a couple of days before you reviseit.
• You will probably find that the longer you leave it, the more objective you can be about the quality of the writing.
• I find that it usually takes about four revisions before I'm even moderately satisfied with what I've written, so start as early as possible.
• Once you've reached this stage, try reading the draft with the eyes of your reader - your project
• supervisor, prospective employer, fellow students.

1. Your report should be as short as is commensurate with communicating the necessary information. Don't be tempted to pad it out. A concise report is much more likely to retain your reader's interest to the end than one that rambles on.
2. Get rid of any clichés or statements of the obvious, eg: `users will prefer a system that is easy to use'.
3. Avoid repetition - If you wish to refer to points made elsewhere in the report, use a cross-referencing system.
4. Never use a long word where there is a shorter equivalent - 'start' is usually better then 'commencement', 'end' more readable than 'termination'.
5. Don't use technical words where non-technical ones will do just as well. If possible avoid acronyms. If you do use them, then they should be spelled out the first time they are referred to. Both these and technical terms used should be listed in a glossary.
6. Keep sentences and paragraphs short. As a rule of thumb, a single sentence should not generally exceed two lines and there should be at least 4 or 5 paragraphs on a page.
7. Don't use the technical, third person, form for reporting what you have done. This isn't a chemistry lab report.
8. If you're not sure about punctuation - the use of capital letters, colons and semicolons etc., use a book to check what you've done.

Presentation and layout

Choosing a text or word-processing package

• If possible, use a package and computer system with which you are already familiar.
• Those of you who have home computers with text production facilities should probably use them.
• You will be able to work more comfortably at odd hours (5.00.am on the day your report is due in), and will relieve pressure on the university facilities
• (you won't be penalised because your report is not produced on a laser printer!)

1. Is the package easy to learn?
2. Is there any documentation available?
3. If not, is there someone - a friend, project supervisor, other member of staff - who can give you some help?
4. Is the package available on a large number of machines?
5. Does it have reasonable previewing facilities?
6. How easy is it to print (i) in draft mode? (ii) on the laser printer?
7. Does it provide all the facilities you need, eg:. equations, graphs, fixed width font for code fragments? if not, will it be easy to insert material produced using another program, or by hand?

Deciding on layout

1. Line spacing: You'll probably want one and a half or double line spacing. Although this can be easily changed at the end, it's better to decide early on as it might affect page layouts.
2. Paragraph style: indented or not? Separated by an additional line space or not? It doesn't Matter too Much what you choose, but be consistent.
3. Conventions for headings and sub-headings - font types and sizes, line spacing for different levels of headings, numbered or not. You should try to avoid more than three levels of numbering. ft looks ugly and is hard for the reader to follow. Please don't use numbered paragraphs throughout the report.
4. Other textual conventions: How you are going to deal with references, footnotes, quotes from other sources, quoted words (such as the use of 'typewriter' in the paragraph below)
5. Fonts: Choose something simple as a base font, and stick to it. You shouldn't need to use more than one font family (with bold and italic variants and two or possibly three different sizes). The only exception might be if you wish to use a 'typewriter' font such as Courier to including program fragments
6. Figures and Graphics: It is often helpful to convey information in a tabular or graphical form. It also breaks up the text and improves the appearance of your report. but the advent of desk top publishing systems seems to have encouraged the practice of including diagrams for the sake of it. Even with a computerised system, good diagrams and graphics are time-consuming to produce so:
• Don't use an illustration unless the information it contains is relevant and you are convinced that this is the best way of conveying it.
• Don't produce (and/or insert) your graphics or tables using the computer when you can do it almost as effectively (and in a fraction of the time) by hand. There's nothing wrong with a black pen and ruler, perhaps enhanced by a bit of Letraset, and manual cut and paste. In fact, if you're good at that sort of thing it often looks nicer.

Other Sources of Help

1. Most computerised packages will provide you with a spelling checker and thesaurus; use them (or the printed versions).
2. There are lots of little books on written english. They cost only a few pounds, and are a valuable reference.
3. Read project reports from previous years. They will give you good ideas for your report as well as making you aware of what to avoid.
4. When you've finished the report, ask a friend to read through it and comment on clarity of ideas, style and appearance.
5. Read anything. The more you read, the easier you will find it to write. Next time you sit down to watch a video, ask yourself whether you wouldn't rather read a good novel.

See also:

• Notes on Reports and Documentation from Tony Drewry .
• A Guide to Writing for Computing Students from Bob Storey-Day

1. click on the 'File' button in the Menu bar
2. choose 'Save as'
3. identify the disk and directory to which you wish to save
4. click on the down arrow besides the 'Save File as Type' box
5. choose 'Plain text'
6. and save the file to disk
7. (if you don't have a floppy with you, save the file to disk and send it to yourself using email)
8. later you can load the file into a wordprocessor and print out the parts of the text you need.
9. Be aware that all normal copyright restrictions apply, ie: you can take a copy for your own use but not for distribution in any form.