1. How not to write an honours report A/Prof Geraint Lewis gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

2. Why am I here? Because I’m angry!!

3. But why are you here? Your Honours project grade is very important, especially if you want to;  get a university medal  get a PhD scholarship (you need a 1 st )  want to stroke your ego so you need to do the best you can.

4. What’s expected of you? It’s pretty simple really. All you need to do is Do some original research (not simply a literature review) in a physics area. Write a report detailing your research findings. Give a talk to provide an overview of your research.

5. How are you graded?

8. Who examines you? The overall project mark is made of  60% group mark  10% talk mark  30% external examiners mark (3x10%) Clearly you need to do well on all aspects of the examination process for a good final mark.

9. What do examiners do?

10. It is important to remember that an individual examiner may read a lot of reports. This especially true of senior staff in large groups (e.g. Astro, CUDOS etc) who will read all the group reports (as well as see the talks), as well as acting as an external examiner on several more reports. Last year, I examined >10 reports! Therefore you need to stand out to get a high mark.

11. Where can you go wrong? Poorly written, with poor language, formatting, figures and style. Not telling a consistent story. Overestimating the intelligence of your reader/examiner. Not telling us what you did!

12. Badly written Generally, this is not a big problem, although bad text/figures are jarring (resulting in lower marks)! Don’t assume that because you gave your supervisor a draft which they scribble on means that your text is perfect; it quite probably isn’t! Get your peers to read through and comment, and take criticism constructively. Be prepared and complete drafts well in advance!

13. Not telling a story Your report should be a complete story, with a beginning, middle and end. Make sure you “set the scene” in the opening chapter, especially with regard to why what you did was interesting! Make the text flow, so that it’s easy read, easy to follow, and goes somewhere. Again, your peers can help.

14. Know your enemy! Your external examiner may never have looked through a telescope, thought about quantum mechanics for 20 years or care about photonics. Theory, experimenter or observer?

15. Tell us what *you* did!! The biggest complaint I have heard about reports is that “I don’t know what the student did”. Where does the literature review end & your research begin? Make sure you emphasize the work that you did (don’t write in the passive voice). Highlight your innovations, ideas and breakthroughs, and don’t be afraid to “blow your own trumpet”. Your inner brilliance will probably not shine through!!

16. Statement of Contribution

17. Don’t forget your talk! The same rules apply for your talk, and it is essential for you to be prepared. Make sure your slides look “nice”, you tell a story and tell it well. DO NOT overrun (20+5min) and be prepared for curly questions. If you don’t know the answer, just say so, but outline how you would go about finding out. DO NOT waffle a guess (you will look silly)! Practice, practice & then practice some more!

19. Table of Radio Properties

20. 1. XMM-Newton observation Centaurus B ( radio: Jones, Lloyd, McAdam, 2001, MNRAS, 325, 817) Un-identified Point Source nucleus “Jet” “Arrow” un-ID source ((pow + ray) x Gal. Abs.) Photon index: 2.65±0.31 Temperature: kT = 0.14 keV F (2-10keV) : 0.3×10 -13 erg cm - 2 s -1 un-ID source ((pow + ray) x Gal. Abs.) Photon index: 2.65±0.31 Temperature: kT = 0.14 keV F (2-10keV) : 0.3×10 -13 erg cm - 2 s -1 “jet” (power-law x Galactic Abs.) –Photon index: 1.43±0.18 –F (2-10keV) : 2.0E-13 erg cm -2 s -1 –L (2-10keV) :5.6E40 erg s -1 “jet” (power-law x Galactic Abs.) –Photon index: 1.43±0.18 –F (2-10keV) : 2.0E-13 erg cm -2 s -1 –L (2-10keV) :5.6E40 erg s -1 “arrowhead” (power-law x Galactic Abs.) - Photon index: 1.66±0.43 - F (2-10keV) : 0.5E-13 ergcm -2 s -1 - L (2-10keV) :1.2E40 erg s -1 “arrowhead” (power-law x Galactic Abs.) - Photon index: 1.66±0.43 - F (2-10keV) : 0.5E-13 ergcm -2 s -1 - L (2-10keV) :1.2E40 erg s -1 Whole & “diffuse” (Diffuse = power-law x Galactic Abs.) Photon index: 1.4±0.3 F (2-10keV) :6.7E-13erg cm -2 s -1 L (2-10keV) :1.9E41 erg s -1 Whole & “diffuse” (Diffuse = power-law x Galactic Abs.) Photon index: 1.4±0.3 F (2-10keV) :6.7E-13erg cm -2 s -1 L (2-10keV) :1.9E41 erg s -1 “diffuse” AGN (power-law x Abs.) - Photon index: 1.56±0.02 - F (2-10keV) : 5.4E-12 ergcm -2 s -1 - L (2-10keV) :1.5E42 erg s -1 AGN (power-law x Abs.) - Photon index: 1.56±0.02 - F (2-10keV) : 5.4E-12 ergcm -2 s -1 - L (2-10keV) :1.5E42 erg s -1 Centaurus B with MOST (McAdam, 1991, Proc. Astron. Soc. Australia, 9 (2), 255) & ASCA (Tashiro et al. 1998, ApJ 499, 713) ASCA (ISAS)

21. And finally… It’s important to be positive in writing your report, and “sell” your project. It’s especially important to be positive in your closing chapter on Further Work highlighting your success and where it should go from here. If your are not positive about your research and its impact, why should you expect your examiners to be positive?