FYP Report Writing

Spend less time. Score better grades.

Ricky Chua (rickychuaks@ntu.edu.sg)

Forging Opportunities. Retracing Memories.

FYP Myths-Busted Workshop

Part 1 (Aug 2011):

◦ FYP Concept & Lit Review Tips

Part 2 (Feb 2012):

◦ FYP Report Writing

Part 3( Feb 2012):

◦ FYP Oral Presentation Strategies

What is the purpose of an FYP

report?

Common Myths

FYP Report is:

◦ A complete of waste paper

◦ Nothing more than a requirement to graduate

◦ To show I did at least SOME work

◦ To show I did A LOT of work

Report should be:

◦ As thick as possible!

◦ As colourful as possible!

◦ As full of pictures as possible!

◦ As intellectual sounding (confusing) as possible!

◦ “cut and paste” from senior’s reports to save time

To tell the school in written form

why you deserve your Honours degree

ie. You know how to approach ANY problem with no known solution

The Plot Thickens!...

There is more to a Professor’s life than reading FYP reports.

Informal weightage of sections

Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

Experimental

Results and Discussion

Conclusions

Recommendations

Bibliography

1%

1%

20%

2%

70%

4%

2%

2%

Literature Review (~6 to 10 pages)

What’s does your examiner want to see from the Literature Review?

◦ Read broadly

◦ Know what was done, what was not done, what could not be done in their time.

◦ What role does YOUR project play in this field?

Something totally unexplored?

Enhancing on someone’s work?

Combining ideas?

Literature Review

Common Mistakes

◦ Putting more references than appropriate

(kiasu syndrome)

◦ No analysis

◦ Plagiarism

◦ Not enough depth and breadth

◦ Incongruent (lack of focus)

THE DISCUSSION

The most important section of your report

Common Mistakes

Talking about EVERYTHING you did ◦ Pareto Principle! 80-20!

Shallow or no analysis of results

Wild/exotic/tantalizing conclusions without supporting evidence ◦ It’s ok to make educated guesses, but make sure you

say so!

Pulling “facts” out of nowhere as evidence

Poor presentation of figures

Inserting useless images

Poor grammar and spelling

Which is correct? Which is wrong?

The same set of data plotted 2 different ways

100

20

0 20

25

Incorrect 100

20

0 20

25

Correct

Wrong use of axis

range misleads reader

to think there is

horizontal trend

Do make sure…

You discuss about EVERY result you

mentioned or displayed in the report

Your discussion ties in with your Lit

Review

The main focus of your diagrams are clear

You get someone to proof-read your

grammar and spelling

Your presentation is NEAT

Do make sure…

MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL

Your reader understands the POINT of the

discussion!

Remember: Negative results are still results

and (if relevant) worthy of discussion.

Professors Say…

Common mistakes

◦ Too much data is presented. Not enough analysis.

◦ Don't talk about what you have done; talk about what you have accomplished

Pet-Peeves ◦ poor formatting of reporting – shows no effort from

student

◦ obvious language errors - tells me that the report is not even worth the student's attention. Then why should it be worth mine?

◦ Photographs of Microscope, Probe Station, Evaporator (equipment in general).

Advice from the Professors

brush up on English language

Less is More - if a piece of data does not contribute to the SIGNAL, it just contributes to the NOISE.

An excellent report focuses on Analysis, Basic Scientific mechanisms, and asks more questions that it answers.

Prioritize data: “more” is not necessarily good, focus on fundamentals / basics.

Every report is a story - make sure the story has a central message and all that goes into the report support that storyline. If it does not, it does not belong there.

The Big Picture

An FYP Report is a STORY, and stories need to fulfill some levels of criteria

Put yourself in the examiner’s shoes and see how many of these levels does your report fulfill: ◦ Level 1: I need to understand what is written.

◦ Level 2: There must be a central theme that piques my

interest.

◦ Level 3: It makes me think! I ask curiousity-based questions (as opposed to interrogation-based questions).

◦ Level 4: It inspires me to take action!

Questions

What are the 2 most important sections? ◦ Lit Review and Discussion

Why do a Lit Review? ◦ To describe your role in this field

What is the purpose of discussion section? ◦ To provide data and analysis to support ONE

conclusion

How should the examiner feel after reading your report? ◦ Inquisitive and relaxed