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Report Writing
Tips
From 2014
- avoid colloquialisms such as "doable",
"awesome", "pain-point", etc
- the tone of the report should be
professional and scientific
- include justifications for all your
decisions
- include reasons for your
judgements
- include references for all quotable
material
- scale images as appropriate for the
page
- include "call-outs" to point to and
describe important features in photos, figures
- do not use "justified" paragraph
formatting
- use a larger font on cover
page
- mention course name on cover
page
- strive to be concise by merging
sentences
- organize your report to "tell a
story"
- break up concentrations of text with
figures or photos
- have readability as your goal
- break up long paragraphs
- have someone outside you team proofread
your report
- include fixes in your end-of-term
report
- include any equations, calculation, and
analyses
- avoid repetition
- avoid repetition
- compare your project effort to existing
products
From 2013
- delete "in order to"
- use past tense when referring to completed
activities
- start a new section on a new page rather
than on the very bottom of the current page
- avoid cliches
like the plague J
- figures and tables
- figures and tables should not be in a
separate section at the end of a report
- embedding figures and tables within
text is ok
- insert figures and tables near their
mention
- label each figure and table: "Table
1", "Figure 3a"
- each figure and table should have a
descriptive caption
- refer to each figure and table in body
of report by its label
- sketches
- use Design Group copier to add
contrast and remove background
- re-draw sketches that can't be made
legible
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