DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING GUIDE TO TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING

Transcription

1 DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING GUIDE TO TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING Introduction A technician who is unable to communicate effectively with his superiors or colleagues will never receive due credit for his/her work. Information must be transmitted in a clear and concise manner in order to enable decisions to be made. The most popular method of technical communication is via the report. Points to consider before starting your report The following should be considered prior to starting your report: 1. Why is the report being written? 2. Have the contents been planned in a manner that can be easily understood by the reader? 3. Who will read the report? This decides the level of technical information that is to be included. Suggestions to improve the quality and presentation of your report 1. Choose a short, meaningful title. 2. Include as many tables and diagrams as you think are appropriate. Remember that a single diagram will often clarify what would otherwise be a very confused paragraph. 3. Use a simple, clear style of writing. Long and involved sentences are a hindrance to easy understanding and often contain grammatical errors. Format of the Start of the Report: Title Page and Plagiarism Declaration The format to be followed for the title page and plagiarism declaration is shown below: Guide To Technical Report Writing 1 v5

2 Project Title By 16 pt Calibri, bold Centre justification Your Surname and Initials here Your Student Number here 12 pt, bold Submitted in the Faculty of Engineering: Department of Electronic Engineering in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the National Diploma in Electronic Engineering Bachelor of Technology for B.Tech degree at the Durban University of Technology Insert Month and Year Here Only one place needed for student signature if only one student is working on the project. Signature of Student Signature of Student Signature of Supervisor Date Guide To Technical Report Writing 2 v5

3 PLAGIARISM DECLARATION 14 pt, bold 1. I know and understand that plagiarism is using another person s work and pretending it is one s own, which is wrong. 11 pt 2. This report / project / essay is my own work. Choose one 3. I have appropriately referenced the work of other people I have used. 4. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing it off as his/her own work. Only one place needed for student details if only one student is working on the project. Surname and Initials Student Number Signature Surname and Initials Student Number Signature Date Guide To Technical Report Writing 3 v5

4 REPORT LAYOUT PRELIMINARIES The preliminaries will include the following, each on a new page. The page numbering format should be different to the main body of the report. (See example on page 7) Acknowledgements (BTECH ONLY) Optional: You can use this section to express your gratitude to those who assisted you with your project. Only necessary with large reports and should not be used to increase the size of your document. Abstract (BTECH ONLY) A brief(one paragraph) clear and concise summary of the contents of the report, stating your results and conclusions. Table of Contents The contents list must contain the main and sub-paragraph headings and the respective page numbers. The table of contents is formatted using right tab stops with dot leaders. (see example on page 7) List of Figures and/or Tables (OPTIONAL at Diploma Level) List of Constants and Abbreviations (OPTIONAL at Diploma Level) CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION The objective of the introduction is to acquaint the reader with the problem and to point out the purpose and significance of the report. Clearly define the specifications and scope of the project. CHAPTER 2 - DESIGN System Block Diagram: Give the system s block diagram including signals and discuss the function of each stage (block on the diagram). The body contains the primary message of the report, described in detail. The subject matter discussed in the body must be logically developed and presented in a manner that is easy for the reader to understand. All aspects of your design are to be discussed in this section. Circuit Diagram: Draw the circuit diagram and clearly indicate all its different stages. The methodology used to design your circuit must also be discussed in this chapter. For example, if you were designing a driver circuit to provide sufficient current to operate the car motors, then you must describe the operation of this circuit and also mention the points taken into consideration during the selection of the driver transistor/s or integrated circuit. All information on the selected components can be found in the respective data sheets and application notes. Calculations are to be shown wherever necessary. Also mention any safety features that you may have incorporated in your Guide To Technical Report Writing 4 v5

5 design. For example, you may have used an opto-coupler to isolate the micro-controller from the motor driver circuit. CHAPTER 3 - CONSTRUCTION CHAPTER 4 - TESTING Procedures used to test various stages of the project must be included here. Software and software design: For micro-controller based projects, the software flowchart must be given. For high-level programming, the top-down design should be included. Certain aspects of the software, such as any calculations used must also be detailed in this chapter. The complete software listing must be shown in an annexure. CHAPTER 5 - RESULTS All results obtained during testing should be documented and compared to expected results. Remember, a graphical representation of your results is usually more meaningful and therefore preferable to tabulated results. CHAPTER 6 - CONCLUSION This chapter discusses the efficiency of the system s design and the conclusions arrived at, based upon the performance of the design ascertained during the testing stage. You may also make any worthwhile recommendations, to improve the performance of your project, in this chapter. REFERENCES All references used to design your system must be given and all references used must be referred to in the text. The following format must be adhered to when listing references: [1] Cebekhulu R, Groenewald S, Naidoo T, Student s Guide to Project Design. Prentice-Hall, [2] Astronomy 161 The Solar System, available at: [10 September 2007] [3] Chambers W R, Dictionary for Science and Technology. Pearson, [4] Bose N K, Digital Filters, Theory and Applications, 2nd Edition. Elsevier Science Publishing Company, New York, [5] ANSI/IEEE Standard 488.1, IEEE Standard Digital Interface for Programmable Instrumentation. Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, New York, Note that for website references, the actual website page reference must be used and NOT simply the generic website address (see [2] above). The date the website is accessed must also be included. Guide To Technical Report Writing 5 v5

6 ANNEXURES The following are examples of the type of data that could appear in an annexure: Complete Circuit Schematic PCB Layout Bill of Materials (costing table) Full Code Listings Data sheets should be included as an annexure only if certain details on the datasheet need to be referenced in your text. If details on the datasheet are not needed as a reference in the body of the report, the datasheets should NOT be included. Guide To Technical Report Writing 6 v5

7 * * * * * PRELIMINARIES TABLE OF CONTENTS An example of the Table of Contents layout. Note that some of these headings (marked with asterisks) will not be included in Design Project 3 reports. Acknowledgements... ii Abstract... iii Table of Contents... iv List of Figures... v List of Tables... vi Constants and Abbreviations... viii CHAPTER 1 (Introduction this chapter details research done into your project topic) 1.1 Background Information Project Specifications... 4 CHAPTER 2 (Design this chapter details the design of the project and problems overcome) 2.1 Project Design Mechanical Electronic Software CHAPTER 3 (Construction this chapter details any construction of the project) 3.1 Mechanical Electrical CHAPTER 4 (Testing - details the testing procedures that you used to obtain your results) 4.1 Electronic Software CHAPTER 5 (Results - results listed graphically and the analysis of those results) 5.1 Analysis of Results CHAPTER 6 (Conclusion must be based on the results and analysis that you have obtained) 5.1 Conclusion Recommendations REFERENCES Annexure A: Schematic Annexure B: PCB Layout Annexure C: Bill of Materials Annexure D: Code Listing Note that page numbers listed are for example only! Guide To Technical Report Writing 7 v5

8 REPORT FORMATTING The following formatting must be adhered to when writing a technical report: 1. Font / Typeface The document must be typed in Calibri 11pt font. 2. Paper Only one side of white, A4, bond paper is to be used. 3. Page Margins Left margin = 3cm Right margin = 2cm Top and bottom margins = 2cm The left margin must be greater than the right margin to allow for binding along the left of the page. 4. Justification Full justification is to be used for the body of the text (the text lines up against both the left and the right margins). 5. Line Spacing and Document Length 1.5x spacing should be used throughout the document text. An extra line should appear between paragraphs (this is done automatically in MSWord). For code listings, use a line spacing of Pagination The page number should appear centered at the bottom in the footer of the page. The page number should not be preceded by a p= or page= and should not be followed by a full stop. 7. Italics / Underlining Italic print should always be used for emphasis. Underlining should not be used at all in a document. 8. Tense The report is to be written in the third person, past tense, for example the instrument was calibrated as opposed to I calibrated the instrument. Guide To Technical Report Writing 8 v5

9 9. Punctuation for lists The following punctuation rules must be applied when using bulleted lists: 1. First point; 2. Second point; 3. Third point. Note that the text that appears in bulleted lists should be indented to one tab stop after the number. 10. Spelling and Grammar The authority on spelling is the Oxford English Dictionary. The spell check facility on the word processor must be used to check the document spelling but remember to use either the South African or UK dictionary (NOT the USA dictionary). It is a good idea to get someone else, not necessarily a technical person, to read what you have written and to check for grammatical errors. Do not make the report sound like a pub chat. Remember that it is a technical document and should read as such. 11. Abbreviations Abbreviations should be avoided if possible. If using abbreviations always omit full stops, eg NSRI, not N.S.R.I. 12. Numbers The general rule for using numbers is to spell out those numbers under one hundred, eg. seventyfive, as well as the larger numbers which can be expressed in two words, eg. Two million. For other numbers use numerals, eg students, 139 pages. Numerals must be used for dates, street numbers, telephone numbers, decimal values and percentages (eg. 75%). Numerals should also be used if the number has a unit associated with it eg. 5 V, 32 MHz. Therefore, in a technical report, numerals should be used. 13. Equations Word processors have an equation editing facility which correctly formats an equation. All equations must be numbered and this number must be used when referring to the equation in the body of the text. The following shows an example of an equation number 10 in Chapter 2: 3 mx c y [2-10] 2 x A blank line must be inserted before and after the equation. Guide To Technical Report Writing 9 v5

10 14. Quotations All quotations should be within double quotation marks (eg. xxx ), and the source of the quotation must be acknowledged with the number of the reference in square brackets. 15. Figures / Tables All figures and tables used in the report must be named and referred to in the text. Do not include figures in the document that are not referred to. (See page 12 for examples) 16. Units Always refer to measured quantities in terms of their SI units and accepted multiples or sub-multiples thereof. This applies throughout the report, i.e. to text, tables, graphs and calculations. The omission of physical units in an engineering report is totally unacceptable. 17. Table of Contents The layout of the table of contents is set up using tab stops. The last tab stop must be a Right Tab Stop with a Dot Leader which automatically inserts the dots into the line up to the page number. Note the type of numbers for each section (Roman numerals or integers). (See example on page 7) 18. Headings The main headings should be centered on the page and should be in bold type. Section headings or sub-headings should start against the left hand margin. The following layout gives an example of the way headings on a page should be laid out: 14 pt, bold, capitals CHAPTER 3 12 pt, bold 11 pt, bold, italics 11 pt, Calibri font, full justification, line spacing = Section Heading Sub-section Heading Further subheadings can be included and in each case they must stand out from the body of the text. However, excessive subdivision should be avoided, with the levels outlined above usually being sufficient. Margin = 3cm Margin = 2cm Guide To Technical Report Writing 10 v5

11 19. Diagrams Diagrams are a very important communication tool in a technical report. The objective of a report is to convey information to the reader in the clearest, most effective way. Technical information is often best communicated with the aid of a diagram. Before including a diagram in your report, consider the information you wish to convey and whether the proposed diagram conveys this information clearly. Conversely, consider whether a proposed textual explanation would be more effective if a diagram was used. Diagrams must always be accompanied by explanatory text that makes clear reference to the diagram. A diagram must be numbered (eg. Figure 3.2 for the second diagram of Chapter 3) and the diagram must have a title. (See examples on page 12) Diagrams must be kept simple, clear and fully explained with supporting text. Do not put important diagrams in an annexure. Annexures are for additional information that is not essential to the report. Block diagrams are particularly useful in the introduction and early chapters of a report. Circuit diagrams, flow charts and line graphs are other commonly used diagrams in Electronic Engineering. FINALLY: Do not waffle or try to pad the report with unnecessary or irrelevant information. Do not conclude that results were as expected or not expected, that you learnt a lot, that the project was interesting, that the equipment broke down, that the results were good, bad, inaccurate, etc., unless you have argued these points in the discussion and you have quoted figures in the conclusion. Guide To Technical Report Writing 11 v5

12 Diagram Examples Figure 19.1 is a block diagram of the complete system. This project deals with the design, construction, and testing of the D/A converter, the amplifier and the speaker. The rest of the block diagram of Figure 19.1 falls outside the scope of this project. FLASH MEMORY 8 M X 16 bit PROCESSOR 8 bits 16 bits D/A CONVERTER AMP TRIGGER DEVICE Figure 19.1: Audio Playback System Block Diagram The graph of Figure 19.2 shows a four times oversampled audio signal. The difference between two recorded digital samples is divided by four. This quarter difference is then added to the first sample three times to generate three additional virtual samples. Amplitude Recorded Samples Audio Signal Quarter Difference Interpolated Virtual Samples Time Figure 19.2: Four-times Linear Interpolated Oversampling Guide To Technical Report Writing 12 v5