Report Writing

Diana Musgrave

dmusgrave@dmu.ac.uk

Based on a presentation from the University of Derby

CPRJ2003Systems Development Group Project

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Module web site

• This presentation will go on the module web site:

http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~jennyc

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Module Schedule Reminder

• Week 9– Meetings with tutors. Bring feedback from

user trials of product

• Week 10– Product demos– Thurs 1 April, 4pm – final report due, with

working disk/CD of your system

• Then peer assessment and individual essay after Easter.

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Report Writing

• An important skill:

– In this module– During your Placement next year– For your Final Year Project– In your future career.

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• A bad project cannot be made into a good one by a good report

• A good project can be ruined by a bad report

• Often a report provides important evidence of the substantial amount of work that has gone into a project.

Report Writing

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Report Writing: Topics to be covered

Your report for this module

Structure of a report

Presentation and style

Reviewing your report.

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Final Project Report for this Module

• 15% of the marks for the module• Detailed requirements are in the module

guide• Briefly:

– What you planned to do– What you actually achieved– Project evaluation

• A good report is likely to be at least 5,000 words, excluding appendices

• Report will be marked on presentation as well as content.

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Overall Structure

Title page Abstract or summary Acknowledgements Table of contents List of tables } As appropriate List of figures }

Report: IntroductionMain bodyConclusions/recommendations

References Appendices/documentation/user manual.

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????? Question ?????

• What’s the difference between an Abstract/Summary and an Introduction?

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Front Pages

• Title page– Clear title, authors’names, date

• Abstract/summary– A summary of the whole report

• Acknowledgements– Name people outside the group who have

helped you in this project.

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Contents List Page

Summary 11 Introduction 22 First chapter heading 3

2.1 Section heading 3 2.1.1 Sub-heading 5

2.1.2 Sub-heading 6

Etc

References 10

Appendix 1: Name of appendixAppendix 2: Name of appendix

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Figures & Tables

Note that “tables” here does not mean Access tables!

• Figures and tables add much to a report• Should be uniquely numbered and titled• Cite source, if not your own work• Discuss them in the text• List them after your contents page.

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Structure

Overall, and each section / chapter has:

• Introduction

• Main body

• Conclusions.

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Introduction

• Sets the scene for the main body. Provides the reader with a clear idea of the task being undertaken

• Used to state the aims of the project• May include outline of work - when,

where, and how the project was carried out.

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Main Body

See p7 of module guide – the following sections should all be included

Plans Product overview How the product is intended to be used Requirements specification Methodology and justification Discussion of orginal project plan (plan in

appendix).

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Main Body ctd

Achievements Analysis and design (ERD, table types, use

cases etc in appendices) Description of product (Access relationships

screen print, data, user manual as appendices) Discussion of software testing (test documents

in appendix).

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Main Body ctd

Project Evaluation What is good/weak about your product User feedback (forms in appendix) Discussion of the effectiveness of your project

planning (possibly include new Gantt chart in appendix)

What changes would you recommend?.

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Conclusions

• Summarising the findings in the main body - not new material

• Be consistent with previous parts of the report.

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Appendices

• Gantt charts, design documentation etc as above

• Appendices give extra material for the interested reader

• Discuss the contents of your appendices in your main text:– “As can be seen from the Feedback Forms

in Appendix G, users were generally positive about the system, but they also made some criticisms……”.

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????? Question ?????

• Reports are structured to make it easy to find information - which parts of reports do you think managers read most/least?

– Abstract/summary– Introduction– Main body– Conclusion– Appendices.

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Reading Reports

From most to least read:Abstract/summaryIntroduction and conclusionMain bodyAppendices

Findings of Windust (1983) as quoted by Hilton (1998).

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So what is the difference between an Abstract/Summary

and an Introduction?• The Abstract/Summary tells you briefly

what the whole report says• It is complete in itself, and can be

published separately from the report• The Introduction sets the scene for the

report; it leads readers on to the main body of the report.

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Plagiarism

Use of other people’s work, as if it were yours

Make sure you reference other people’s work appropriately.

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Referencing

Citing Bibliography / References.

Why Cite References?

•Avoid plagiarism

•Show academic background

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In your text:

“There is some evidence (Jones, 1992) that these figures are incorrect.”

or

“Jones (1992) has provided evidence that these figures are incorrect.”

The Harvard System of Referencing

(Examples from DMU library advice)

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In your list of references:

Books:

JONES, J.L. (1992) Pollution, London, Van Nostrand.

Web documents:

YEATES, R. (1996) NewsAgent for Libraries: Overview [WWW] Available from: http://www.sbu.ac.uk/litc/overview.html [Accessed 20 January 2002].

The Harvard System of Referencing

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Write in a Formal Style

Don’t say:

“We had a chat about what to do.”

Instead say:

“The group drew up a plan.”

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Review your Report

• Check your own work – spell check it, read it through. Try reading it aloud – does it make sense?

• Get another member of the group to read each section of the report and suggest improvements

• At least one person should read the whole report and suggest improvements.

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We have covered:

Your report for this module

Structure of a report

Presentation and style

Reviewing your report.

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Further advice

• Consult the DMU library web site• A report writing guide by Anne Hilton

and advice on Harvard Referencing are also available on paper from the DMU library.

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End of Lecture