1. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development Based on a presentation written by Alison McEntee Learning Developer www.uws.ac.uk/effectivelearning Report Writing

2. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development Report Writing: the fundamentals  Purpose – to report an experiment/to inform others/to consolidate your own learning  Audience – your fellow student  Structure – ideas and evidence must be presented in a logical order

3. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development The Fundamentals cont.  Language – clear, simple, direct and objective  avoid unnecessary detail and vague and ambiguous language (about, approximately, almost)  Always use SI units of measurements.

4. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development The Fundamentals cont.  Information and evidence must be accurate and referenced  avoid making assumptions and using unproven statements (you must reference evidence to support what you write)

5. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development Example Lab Report Structure  Abstract – a brief outline of what was done, what was found and what it tells us.  Introduction – an introduction to the background science etc. (500 words) you should include references to journals or books you have used in your literature research.

6. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development Example Lab Report Structure cont.  Materials – a list of the materials and equipment that you used.  Method – a description of exactly what you did in the lab. This should be in the past tense.  Results – Present your results here, amounts, yields, spectra, TLC's, Mpts etc.

7. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development  Discussion – discuss what your results tell you, and what it means and what other work could be done or how could the methods be improved.  References – references throughout the report, and a full reference list. Use UWS Harvard style.  See “the CoRE” through Moodle Quicklinks

8. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development Example Marking guidelines  Introduction and Abstract - 20%  Does the abstract correctly describe the project.  How well is the literature researched? Has a good selection of sources been used? Has the material been understood? Is the rationale for the work explained?  Experimental Method description - 20%  Is enough relevant detail included for the work to be repeated elsewhere? Is it written in the past tense? Is it concise and direct?

9. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development  Presentation of Results - 20%  Has data been clearly presented in the normal scientific style? have graphs or tables been used properly ?  Discussion of results - 20%  Have the results been analysed and their meaning discussed? Is there discussion of how these results compare to other work? Are there suggestions for improvements or further work?  Overall Presentation - 20%  Written style, language, clarity of presentation, well labeled figures etc.

10. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development Illustrations/Diagrams  Illustrations/diagrams/ tables/equations MUST be in context, appropriately labelled, introduced and referred to in text  Technical terms should be used clearly, and only when you understand what they mean  Any non standard abbreviations must be defined in full

11. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development Illustrations/Diagrams cont.  Science diagrams about communication, not aesthetic appearance.  Must relate to text:  “would an illustration explain this more clearly?”  not “this is a good illustration, how can I work it into the report?”  Main problems with use of illustrations:  inappropriate illustrations.  lack of referencing.

12. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development Drawing your own illustrations  Keep illustrations simple.  2D not 3D.  Use:  single lines for outlines.  no shading/filing in. stippling or dots to show darker sections if necessary.  label with straight lines (not arrows). make sure lines don’t cross.

13. Scientific Diagrams (2010) [Online] Available: http://nswagtc.org.au/blogs/science-guru/1078-scientific- diagrams.html [Accessed: 5 December 2011]

14. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development Referencing an illustration  Follow CoRE: Images and Graphics.  Include as much detail as you can.  Get a URL that goes to the image by right click  copy shortcut. (Mac – Control + click  copy image location).  Your own illustration based on someone else’s work? Say “After: ” or “Based on: ”.

15. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development Flow charts  Useful for processes, cycles, sequences.  Clearer than long paragraph of text?  Work from left to right and top to bottom.

16. Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Development Getting Further Help  Effective Learning resources on Moodle; guides to academic writing, report writing, exam prep etc: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/course/view.php?id =3314&section=3  Regular drop-in sessions  www.uws.ac.uk/effectivelearning www.uws.ac.uk/effectivelearning