1. Project Report1 Dave Inman Project report

2. Project Report2 Ways to write a report Top down: Write the structure of the report (maybe use the web templates as a starting point) Fill in the structure later, section by section Bottom Up Write each section as you complete the work Arrange the sections when they are complete Which approach do you think is best?

3. Project Report3 The big question Your project report is like a journey. It needs a signpost It starts from the big question/s your project will answer... it takes the reader through what you did and found out... to an answer to the big questions. Keep the big question in focus throughout

4. Project Report4 What must I deliver? A project report, bound with number and year on spine delivered to your supervisor and 2nd assessor direct. An MS Word copy of your report to a network server - this is your dated receipt. A stand / table at the project presentation day.

5. Project Report5 Who is the report for? Your supervisor Your second assessor The external examiners Your employers Your reader is intelligent, knows about IT but nothing about your project.

6. Project Report6 When should I start the report? As soon as you have finished a chapter At the end of term 1 write draft introduction and research chapter For research based project write up initial research by end of term 1. As you see the chapters building up it will let you see your progress.

7. Project Report7 How big should my report be? 10-20,000 words 1.5 - 3 cm when bound a PhD is 30,000 words! Don’t pad Don’t omit essential detail Use appendices wisely if getting close to upper limit.

8. Project Report8 A typical BIT project: sections Title Abstract Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Research Synthesis of research Data collection and analysis Summary of your findings Executive summary Future work Conclusions Bibliography Appendices

9. Project Report9 A typical CS project : sections Title Abstract Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Technical review Design Building the system & testing Future work Conclusions Bibliography Appendices

10. Project Report10 The abstract Half a page on the whole project. A big title. Write in the present tense. e.g.. "This project tackles the problem of.. using the techniques of.... The purpose of an abstract is to inform a potential reader of the whole content of a report This is a difficult task and should be left until the report is complete. Look at previous project reports.

11. Project Report11 The introduction What is the project about? What problems were tackled? Why do these problems need solutions? What existing methods have been tried? What constraints do you have? Machines Languages. Who uses the system What broad approach was taken?

12. Project Report12 The conclusions Overview of what the the project achieved A reflection on the whole project How far were the objectives achieved? What you would tell a student/friend about the project

13. Project Report13 Future work Things you wanted to do but couldn’t Why should you do them? Why didn’t you? What you would do in a different way & why?

14. Project Report14 References These should be presented as two separate sections: a reference section listing specific references made in the text, a bibliography listing general literature, relating to the project, that has been read. In both cases list, in alphabetical order, the author(s), title, publisher, edition, volume, pages and date. For the web include date accessed.

15. Project Report15 Appendices The appendices should contain all information which is relevant to the project but is not required in such detail in order to understand the content. You might include:  Detailed theory/algorithms  Survey data / results  Program listings / screenshots  Research findings in detail  Full test results

16. Project Report16 Research chapters 1/2 Review of approaches / sources  SBU library search of journals, books, CD- ROM, on-line databases.  British reference library search of journals, books, CD-ROM, on-line databases.  SBU staff suggestions of reading.  Library to help with on-line database searches.  Web resources.

17. Project Report17 Research chapters 2/2 Conclusions about existing work  What has been achieved?  What are shortcomings?  In outline what will you use of existing work?

18. Project Report18 Synthesis chapters Your own conclusions /synthesis Your own thoughts. Questions you need to answer to "test your ideas" How to find answers to these questions. What other approaches / hypotheses could you have tested?

19. Project Report19 Data collection chapters What data do you need to collect?  Interviews  Questionnaires  Literature search How did you design a questionnaire / conduct interviews? How did you attempt to get plenty of results? What data did you (re) use from existing sources?

20. Project Report20 Summary of your findings Research findings Analysis of data collected Integration of new data - testing your hypotheses Executive summary

21. Project Report21 Technical review 1/3 Review of algorithms / approaches to solve problems identified.  SBU library search of journals, books, CD- ROM, on-line databases.  British reference library search of journals, books, CD-ROM, on-line databases.  SBU staff suggestions of reading.  Library to help with on-line database searches.

22. Project Report22 Technical review 2/3 A review of any existing applications software or specialist software that tries to tackle the problems above. Platform / Languages / Methodologies to use  What are factors to consider?  What alternatives are there?  How do they measure up against the factors above

23. Project Report23 Technical review 3/3 Conclusions about existing work  What has been achieved?  What are shortcomings?  In outline what will you use of existing work?

24. Project Report24 Design Your own design based on the section above. Your own thoughts. What design did you end up with? What were the reasons for the final design? What were the intermediate designs that you rejected (brief)?

25. Project Report25 Building the system & testing Project management & planning. Approach you took to building, debugging, testing  Rapid prototyping?  Structured approaches (e.g. JSP) Test programme  What test data did you use?  What / who did you test it on?  What did you change as a result of testing?

26. Project Report26 Finally : read and modify draft Spell check - grammar check? Get a friend who does not know your project to read it:  Can they understand it?  Do they like it?  What errors did they spot? Supervisor will ask for a draft before Easter break As a minimum you must show a contents page, introduction and some other sections. Supervisor will advise on content only.

27. Project Report27 An exercise Read any report from the past projects of interest to you. Don’t read the abstract Then write a half page abstract based on what you read. Compare with the original abstract. Did you get the main points? Did you introduce the project concisely? If you can do this, you will be able to help your reader understand your project.

28. Project Report28 Sources of more information  See references in project guide  Economist style guide:  http://www.economist.com/research/StyleGuide/