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Report Writing
Tim Bodisco
Science and Engineering FacultyQueensland University of
Technology
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Tim Bodisco - 2012
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General Formatting Experimental Reports
Experimental Reports
Background InformationThere is no one correct way to write a
reportA good report flows and naturally leads thereader without
unnecessary jumps and pausesIt all comes back to the concept of a
logicalstructure
will be discussed later in more depth
Most importantly, a good report is written in wellstructured,
concise, fluent and appropriatelanguage!
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General Formatting Experimental Reports
Experimental Reports
Possible Section HeadingsTable of ContentsAimIntroduction or
BackgroundExperimental MethodExperimental DataData
AnalysisResultsDiscussionConclusion
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Tim Bodisco - 2012
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General Formatting Experimental Reports
Experimental Reports
AimShould concisely tell the reader whatexperiment you have
done, and why it was doneVery short, 2-4 sentences is a good
lengthCare should be taken when writing, this will bethe first
thing read!
a negative impression at the beginning of a reportcan be
detrimental to how the rest of a report is seen
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Tim Bodisco - 2012
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General Formatting Experimental Reports
Experimental Reports
Introduction or BackgroundInforms the reader about the important
theorybehind the experimental workDiscusses work that other
researchers havedone in this areaGives an impression of the
importance of thiswork
justifying why it is was worth doing
These things all require good references
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Tim Bodisco - 2012
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General Formatting Experimental Reports
Experimental Reports
Experimental MethodExplains how the experiment was
conductedBullet points should be avoided
it is much more professional to write a methodsection in clear
and concise paragraphs
Should be easy to follow and therefore easy torepeat
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Tim Bodisco - 2012
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General Formatting Experimental Reports
Experimental Reports
Experimental DataMust have text before showing any figures
ortablesIt is important to explain figures and tablesbefore showing
them
this gives them context to the reader; and,allows you to direct
the reader to the features youwant them to focus on
Discuss any issues that are immediatelyobvious with the data
leave features that are not immediately obvious todiscuss later
in the results section
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General Formatting Experimental Reports
Experimental ReportsData Analysis
Much like the previous section, ExperimentalData, this section
must also begin with textYou should explain and justify your method
ofanalysisDiscuss other possible methods of analysis
if there are any; and,if there are, you should justify why the
one you haveused is the most appropriate
Explain steps if you are showing mathematicalcalculations
pages of mathematics with no explanations arecumbersome to read,
it also makes your report notwritten as a correct scientific
report
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Tim Bodisco - 2012
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General Formatting Experimental Reports
Experimental Reports
ResultsA place to show the outcomes of the dataanalysisCan be
incorporated in the data analysis sectionif it is
appropriateDiscuss whether the result obtained met
yourexpectation
if it didnt, why do you think it didnt; and,if it did, what made
this experiment so successful
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General Formatting Experimental Reports
Experimental ReportsDiscussion
An extended summary of the entire report fromstart to finishA
good discussion should not introduce any newinformation
it can, however, elaborate on information previouslyavailable in
the report
for example, if your results didnt meet your expectationthe
discussion is a place where you can go into moredepth about what
was expected, what you got and whereit went wrong
If only your discussion was read, the readershould know all the
most important informationabout what you have done
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General Formatting Experimental Reports
Experimental Reports
ConclusionA very concise summary of the most
importantinformationOnly 1 or 2 paragraphs longShould mention the
most important results andoutcomes of the work
even if they were just mentioned in the discussion
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General Formatting Figures and Tables
Figures and TablesFigures and Tables
Must always be referred to in-text before theyare seen
when referring to a figure or table in-text a capitalletter is
required. i.e. as shown in Figure 6...
Tables should never be more than a pageand only that big out of
necessityif they must be there, and are bigger than 1 page,put them
in an appendix
Ensure that you figures and tables look verygood
this not only makes them easier to read, but alsogives an
impression that you put effort into your work
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Tim Bodisco - 2012
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General Formatting Figures and Tables
Figures and Tables
Figures and TablesMust have a caption (a title)This caption must
be informative
your caption cannot be y vs xit must inform the reader about
what is in the figureor table and either (or both) of where it came
from orwhat it is being used for
The caption of a figure goes below the figure,the caption of a
table goes above it
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General Formatting Figures and Tables
Figures and Tables
Figures and TablesAxes must be labeled with a name and with
unitsWhen your report is in printed form the size ofthe axes labels
should be similar (often afraction smaller is normal) to the size
of the textin the reportEnsure that they are of an appropriate size
inthe reportpresentation is very important
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General Formatting Figures and Tables
Figures and TablesA Bad Figure
Figure 1Pressure vs Crank angle
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General Formatting Figures and Tables
Figures and TablesA Good Figure
358 360 362 364 366 368Crank Angle (degrees)
-4.0
-3.0
-2.0
-1.0
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
Filtered In-Cylinder Pressure (Volts) 102
D100E000
Figure 2Band-pass filtered pressure signalat 2000 rpm, full load
on neat diesel fuel
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General Formatting Uncertainty Analysis
Uncertainty Analysis
Some discussion of error should be in a reportDo not make up
values
have a logical explanation for the level of uncertaintygiven to
a recorded valueshow, or at least explain well, how the level
ofuncertainty for calculated values was obtained
reference any method you use!there is a great book called
Experimental Methods byLes Kirkupthere are plenty of other good
books aside from this oneno need to be overly fancy, anything
justifiable is fine
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General Formatting Uncertainty Analysis
Uncertainty Analysis
Uncertainty is only quoted to one significantfigureThe quoted
value should only show the numberof significant figures to line up
at the samedecimal position as the uncertainty valueIncorrect
33.47 0.4190533.47 0.4
Correct33.5 0.4
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Writing Logical Structure
Logical Structure
What is logical structure?Logical structure is one of the most
importantcriteria in written workImpacts all the criteria around
itEssentially it refers to how well you kepteverything in your work
in context at the time itis being readIf you have achieved this
perfectly, the readershould be able to read from start to
finishwithout having an original thought
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Writing Logical Structure
Logical Structure
Logical StructureWhen your work is written in context at all
timeswith very clear and fluent English it allows you todirect and
guide the reader wellThis is much harder to do than it
soundsAnything that makes the reader pause and thinkcan break
this
so it is very important that your work is well writtenand free
from basic errors
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Writing Common Errors
Common Errors
General Report WritingEnsure that all of your pages are
numberedWrite your report as though it is addressed toyour
peers
you should be able to give it to someone with asimilar level of
background to you, and they shouldbe able to understand and follow
the content
Never break from the structureUse simple and clear language
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Writing Common Errors
Common Errors
How can I improve my written English?Write fluently
avoid starting sentences with words that create anatural pause
before them
the, this, there, then, when, a and anavoid continually starting
sentences with the sameword
both of these create the feel of a listlists are not verynice to
read
Very carefully proof read your workget someone to read it out
loud to you
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Writing Common Errors
Common ErrorsHow can I improve my written English?
Becareful about what happens when you use athesaurus (or the
synonyms package inMicrosoft Word)It is not uncommon to pick a word
that is out ofcontext
this makes the reader pause and wonder why youused that word
It is also possible to pick a word the reader doesnot know
unfortunately, this also breaks the fluency whilst thereader
stops to ponder what the word you usedmeans
The best thing you can do is use, simple, clearand concise
language
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Writing Common Errors
Common Errors
How can I improve my written English?Numbers and units are
separate words andtherefore need a space between them
the only exception to this is the percentage sign %and the
degree sign
Be very careful about automatic spell checkit makes your work
look unprofessional if you havewords that are wrong
a common one Ive seen is: ...bellow this...
your work needs to be written in AustralianEnglish, not American
English
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Writing Common Errors
Common Errors
How can I improve my written English?Do no cast blame in your
workPhrases such as, A possible source of error inthis work was
human error, give the reader theimpression that you lack
confidence
you do not want the reader to doubt the quality ofyour work, or
the effort you put in
Do not cast blame on othersno matter howmuch you feel it is
appropriate
when you discuss anything that went wrong keep allemotion out of
it
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Writing References
References
ReferencesFor your work to be a scientific report, it
mustcontain referencesReferences must come from a credible
source
as a rule-of-thumb websites are not credible sourcesyes, this
includes government and organisation websitesthese types of
websites likely have an agenda and aretherefore inheritantly bias
and therefore not a crediblesourcethe easiest thing to do is simply
not reference anywebsite
when you reference a book always check who wroteit
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Writing References
References
ReferencesThe easiest way to ensure that you have
goodinformation is to source it from peer-reviewedjournal articles
and quality text booksQUT has access to most major journalsThe
library website has a journal article searchengineGoogle Scholar is
excellentIt is all on the internet anyway!
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Conclusion Conclusion
Good Luck
I hope you found this presentation usefulGood writing begins
with having confidence anda willingness to practice and to be
self-critical ofyour workStart writing well at all times, even when
you talkto friends online and via text messages
eventually, you will write well without thinking about it
Cheers, and have a good day!Tim Bodisco
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Tim Bodisco - 2012
General FormattingExperimental ReportsFigures and
TablesUncertainty Analysis
WritingLogical StructureCommon ErrorsReferences
ConclusionConclusion
