Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Generally following headings are mostly represented in this report and are
generally required for a clear presentation. Those marked with an * are not
always required, particularly in a shorter report.
A. Preliminary Pages:
Title page
Acknowledgements page*
Table of Content
List of Figures and Tables*
Abbreviations* & Acronyms
Summary/Abstract
B. Main Body
Introduction
Methods
Sections or Chapters of report
Conclusions
Recommendations*
References/Bibliography
C. Appendices
1 - Title page
The title page is the prime catch point of reader's eye & attention. Hence it
is important and it should be neat, not overcrowded and contain the relevant
information.
The title page should include the title of the report, who wrote it, what course
and establishment they are from and the date (requirement being fulfilled, the
name and location of the institution, date of submission of report) are always
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required. Additional items may include to whom the report is for, corporate
logo if required, report reference number and a security classification, if
appropriate.
2 - Acknowledgements
If particular help has been received on the work contained within the report, it
is polite to thank the persons involved. This is a suitable place to do that.
The language used in the acknowledgements is often less formal than in the
rest of the report. Do not follow the blanket approach of salutation and
acknowledgement. Acknowledge them with precise indication of their help
and support you have got.
3 - Table of Contents
The contents list is one of the first parts of the report to be sketched out and
one of the last to be finalised. It will refer to all sections, divisions and
subdivisions of the report and is the reader's guide to navigation within the
report.
It is not difficult for the report writer to produce a contents list after the
report has been written and it provides a useful overview to the report. The
contents list should be drawn up early in the production of the report and
provides guidance to the author with regard to what has yet to be written,
what sections are misplaced and which are too lengthy or too short.
This section lists the titles of the figures and tables, their reference numbers
and their locations (page numbers). It is not always required, especially in a
smaller report. In a large report however there may be reference to figures
that are not in the immediate vicinity of the text and in this case, a reference
to where they may be found is useful.
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alphabetical order. It is normally only required if the abbreviations are novel
or would otherwise not be familiar to the reader.
6 - Summary/Abstract
1 - Introduction
The introduction should outline the aim of the report and the way it is laid out.
It often repeats parts of the summary - don't worry about this. It should also
introduce the reader to the subject matter in hand, at a level suitable for the
intended reader. If there are a range of readers with different backgrounds in
mind then there should be sufficient information for the least well informed
reader to be able to understand the basics of what is to be explained. This is
probably best done by references to books, articles etc. and perhaps to the
appendices.
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2 - Sections and Chapters
This, at last, is where the work will go. Chapters are used to break down the
work, if it covers many separate topics. The chapter may be subdivided into
logical sections, each of which may be further reduced into subsections. Some
common sense must be used here as subsections should not be too long or too
short.
- Numbering system
Graphs and figures in a chapter should bear labels such as 'Figure 2.1' to
illustrate the first figure of the second chapter. This makes it easier for the
reader to find them.
3 - Conclusions
4 - Recommendations
Not every report will have recommendations to make. This is more applicable
to a company report or a feasibility study.
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5 - References/Bibliography
Most people use some books, Internet sites or other reference material when
preparing a report. These sources must always be referenced. When quoting a
formula or text or whatever that was obtained from a book, put in the text a
reference to the source. This means that the reader could reproduce the
research if necessary and it covers you in case it is wrong. It also protects you
from the accusation of claiming others work as your own (plagiarism).
Bibliographies are those books or materials helpful, useful and relevant with
your study topic but not directly quoted or cited in your report can be
mentioned. In some cases reference and bibliography used as same.
C - Appendices
Appendices should be used liberally for anything relevant to the report which
would otherwise clutter up the body of the text. This may include tables of
data, computer programs used to calculate something, the document
requesting the report originally, tedious mathematical analysis, costing and so
on.
All appendices should be referred to or they may never be found by the reader.
For example '...during a PL, drinks cost on average £5.35 per person (see
appendix A for breakdown) whilst food averages £3.95 per person (see
appendix B for menu)...'
In order to make the report easy on the eye, it is important to pay attention to
page layout, typing styles and so on. The following points are worth
remembering.
Margins - sufficient margin should be left so that the binding does not
interfere with the text, graphs etc.. It is normal to use a 30 -
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40 mm margin at the left hand edge of the page and 25 mm on
the other edges. Only use one side of the paper.
Headers - these may be used to repeat the document title on each page
and also the section number and title if desired.
Font size - it is normal to use 12 points for the main text and a slightly
smaller size for subscripts and superscripts. Always use one and a
half or double spacing to make the text much more readable (this
document is 1.5 lines spaced).
Binding - this is important as it is the first thing that the reader sees and
feels as they pick up the report. It should be appropriate to the
style of the report. In the case of a final year project, a special
binding is required but for most purposes a plastic loose-leaf
binder with a clear front is appropriate. Reports should be, in the
words of one expert, 'Bound to Impress'.
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- Proof Reading
An important part of the production of any report is proof reading. You should
try and get at least one and preferably two or three people to do this for any
report. Give each a clean copy of the report to mark up. Your proof readers
may be people who can fully understand the material or may be completely
ignorant of it. Each will have a different and valuable point of view. Allow
and encourage them to clearly mark errors, unclear passages, grammatical and
punctuation errors and so on. Don't argue too much with them or they may not
do you the favour next time.
When you have all the proofs back, go through them all at the same time and
do the corrections you agree with and don't do the ones that you don't agree
with - it's your report after all!
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Presentation of Data
The presentation of the data that has been gathered is vitally important. It is
often what the reader is looking for and if it is presented in a garbled manner,
it will only serve to confuse. Similarly, if the data is presented in a manner
which disguises the true nature of the results, the reader may be initially
happy but will eventually find out that they have been misled. Then you will
be in trouble.
Here then are some tips on the presentation of data, firstly in graphical
formats and then, if all else fails, in tabular forms.
2 - Graphs
Graphs may be in a 'portrait' (vertical) format, in which case they just go in like
a normal page, or they may be in a 'landscape' (horizontal) format. In this case
they should go in the report so that it must be turned clockwise to read the
graph. Take care, as with the rest of the report, that titles etc. do not
disappear into the binding when the report is finally put together. A margin of
at least 30mm would be wise at that edge.
Title
Axes
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Scales
Key
Various lines showing the data
Every graph should have a title. This indicates what the data represents and
where it was obtained from. Titles should not be too cryptic. For example
'Beer sales (product 1) in 'The Ship' (location 44) as a function of time of night'
is much better than 'A Graph showing sales of product 1 in location 44'.
Axes are the horizontal and vertical (or occasionally radial and circumferential)
lines representing the quantities being displayed. They must be labelled
clearly and correctly with the quantity and the units being used. Note that the
horizontal axis is normally used for the 'independent variable', that is the
variable which is being changed or is changing. The vertical axis is then used
for the 'dependant variable', the quantity being measured. For example, if
plotting a graph of beer sales against time of night, time is the independent
variable and therefore would go on the horizontal axis. The words 'against' and
'as a function of' indicate the independent variable.
Scales are the lines vertically and horizontally where the numerical information
is read off. They must be sensibly ranged such that subdivision is easy. Do not
use, for example, 0,7,14 etc. along the major divisions of normal graph paper
as the minor divisions then work out in steps of 0.7. It is much better to use
0,8,16 etc. making the minor divisions 0.8 long, or better still 0,10,20 etc. so
that subdivision is easier.
A key on a graph is used when there are several different lines on the graph in
different colours or styles. A sample of the line style is given along with what
parameter has been varied to give a different curve. For example there may
be a dotted line for one pub, a dashed line for another and a solid line for the
average.
The various lines or curves showing the data should be clear and unambiguous.
Use different line styles or colours for each line. Beware that if a report is to
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be photocopied then colours will not come out. If the actual data points that
were used to plot the graph are important, rather than just the shape of the
curve, then these should be marked clearly with a small 'x', a circle etc.,
different for each curve. If however the shape of the curve is the important
thing then actual data points do not have to be marked. They should however
be in a table in an appendix.
Sometimes a series of values have been measured for the same value of the
independent variable and then the average plotted. In this case it is normal to
use 'Error Bars' (short vertical lines with an horizontal tick at either end) to
show the range of measured values.
3 - Photographs
If you present photographs of, for example, oscilloscope screens make sure
that the graduations are clearly visible and that the axes are clearly annotated.
Beware that photocopies will probably be a lot worse than the originals.
4 - Tables
Within the main text of a report, tables of data should only be resorted to if
absolutely necessary. They are generally difficult to read and so most readers
will skip over them. If the data is presented graphically, put a table of results
in an appendix and refer to it. An example table is presented in Appendix D.
Tables should be labelled in the form 'Table 2.1' to indicate the first table of
the second chapter. They should also have a title, column headings and row
headings if applicable. Lines should be ruled to separate columns.
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4 - Conclusions
This report has covered various aspects of the production of a formal report.
The technical content of the report has barely been mentioned as this will vary
widely, but the general form of data presentation has been covered.
From this report it is hoped that the reader will have gained an insight into
producing a report which, even if the technical content is poor, will impress
the reader with its clarity and ease of use.
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