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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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