Slide 1FYP – ELEC4840/ELEC4840A/ELEC4840BBrendan McGrathCoordinator

Report Writing Skills

School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Slide 2

Overview

• Introduction – Technical Writing

• Thesis Requirements

• Thesis Structure

• Writing Style

Slide 3

Technical Writing

• Communication - the most important engineering skill

What’s the point of having an idea if you can’t tell anyone!

• Written communication is particularly challenging. It is a skill that must be developed and practiced.

• The act of writing helps you learn!

About the problem

And also how to write technical documents

Slide 4

Technical Writing

• To write a technical document, you must:

Know the purpose of your document

Know your audience

• This defines your document structure and style:

E.g. Software documentation for a PC user, verses a code cutter

E.g. Academic research paper, verses technical specification

Slide 5

Thesis Requirements

• The thesis will be a new style of document to you:

A research/development/scientific report

Unlike under-graduate assignments

No clear-cut, pre-defined answer

• The audience may know very little about your problem. They are experts, and will know the broad literature

• This leads to a distinct thesis style

Slide 6

Thesis Requirements

• In general a thesis addresses four key considerations:

The problem that must be addressed - “What I did!”

The context and relevance of the problem - “Why I did it!”

The results/analysis/development - “What I found!”

The conclusions and relationship to context - “So what!”

• Interim reports will also include:

Long and Short term goals – “How and when I will do it!”

Slide 7

Thesis Requirements

• The thesis must CLEARLY identify your contributions

The thesis must contain sufficient detail to allow the reader to fully understand what you have done

The reader should be able to replicate your results

But! If you use results, figures, software, hardware from a 3rd party, this must be clearly identified

Plagiarism and academic conduct will be discussed separately

Slide 8

Thesis Structure - Preamble

• The necessary preamble information

Title Page

Table of Contents

Identification of your original contribution

Acknowledgements (if required)

Slide 9

Thesis Structure – The Abstract

• Abstract – A concise summary of the project.

Not more than one page

A self contained document – could be published in its own right

It should convey:

o The problem

o The solution

o Closure and extensions - “What it means, and what’s next.”

Slide 10

Thesis Structure – Introduction

• Introduction – The context of the project

What is the topic, and why is it important?

State the problem, as simply as possible

Take a broad – high level view of the problem

How does the problem relate to the broader discipline?

• Assume the reader is not familiar with the field

Recall – examiners know Maxwell’s equations, but what’s CDMA?

Slide 11

Thesis Structure – Literature Review

• The purpose of a literature review is to position your work in context with the broader discipline

• Key questions include:

Where did your problem come from?

What approaches are currently used to address it?

Why do they fall short?

Who is interested in a resolution to the problem?

Slide 12

Thesis Structure – Literature Review

Where do the techniques you use come from?

How do these techniques work?

What are their limitations?

• The literature review should not be a list of papers with a comment on each

• Group the references and extract the key concepts in context to your problem

Slide 13

Thesis Structure – The Body

• The Body of the thesis (i.e. the central chapters) present your major contributions

• The exact structure can vary greatly – depends on content

• Generic Scientific Format:

Materials and Methods (Often just methods/algorithms)

Theory (Often incorporate in the above)

Results and Discussion

Slide 14

Thesis Structure – The Conclusion

• This chapter should :

Summarise the problem and its relevance

State the approach used to address the problem

Present the conclusions of the work

Show the limitations to the completed work

Illustrate avenues for improvement and extension

• It should relate back to the Introductory chapter

Slide 15

Thesis Structure

Introduction

Literature Review

1st Contribution Chapter

Last Contribution Chapter

Conclusion

Thesis Body

Slide 16

Appendices

• A thesis in general will be highly detailed

• However - excessive detail obscures the work

• Appendices should be used to show:

A complete mathematical development

Software listings

Circuit and system schematics (CAD)

• Thesis Body refers to the Appendices

Slide 17

Writing Style

• For technical writing – STYLE counts

• Technical readers expect a certain structure

• This helps to focus purely on content

• Technical readers notice the English only when it’s bad

• Key style points follow

Slide 18

Writing Style – The Topic Sentence

• Paragraphs – One idea only

• The topic sentence :

The 1st sentence of any paragraph

It should flag the key idea of the paragraph

Helps avoids waffle – gets to the point quickly

It greatly assists the reader

Slide 19

Writing Style – The Topic Sentence

• Good Example - The AGE newspaper, May 1st 2006 :

“Women in stressful jobs who become pregnant should virtually halve their time at work right from the start of their pregnancy.”

• Bad Example – “Lonely Planet Guide – Korea” :

“Despite rapid economic development and modernisation in recent years, Korea is still Confucian.”

[Paragraph’s actual topic – Gender roles and female employment in Korea]

Slide 20

Writing Style – Chapter Entry

• There should be one to two introductory paragraphs to each chapter

• They state the

Purpose of the chapter

Structure of the chapter

Central themes of the chapter

Slide 21

Writing Style – Chapter Exit

• The exit paragraphs provide the summary/conclusion

• The Summary should:

State the major conclusions from the chapter

Relate these conclusions back to the introductory remarks and the central themes of the chapter

State the relevance of these conclusions

Show how this leads into the next chapter

Slide 22

Resources and Tips

• Project Web site has a list of resources:

• http://www.eng.newcastle.edu.au/eecs/fyweb/4thyearprojects/index.html

• Read Theses (Masters, PhD’s, FYP)

Take a Meta position – Look at the writing style, not content

If the thesis reads well – WHY?

Slide 23

Figures and Diagrams

• Figures and Diagrams are key to a thesis

• Use appropriate drawing packages:

VISIO, AutoCAD, CORREL, CANVAS

• Minimum font in figures = 9pt