1. CPRJ2003 Systems Development Group Project
Report Writing Diana Musgrave Based on a presentation from the University of Derby

2. Module web site This presentation will go on the module web site:

3. Module Schedule Reminder
Week 9
Meetings with tutors. Bring feedback from user trials of product
Week 10
Product demos
Thurs 1 April, 4pm – final report due, with working disk/CD of your system
Then peer assessment and individual essay after Easter.

4. Report Writing An important skill: In this module
During your Placement next year
For your Final Year Project
In your future career.

5. Report Writing
A bad project cannot be made into a good one by a good report
A good project can be ruined by a bad report
Often a report provides important evidence of the substantial amount of work that has gone into a project.

6. Report Writing: Topics to be covered
Your report for this module
Structure of a report
Presentation and style
Reviewing your report.

7. Final Project Report for this Module
15% of the marks for the module
Detailed requirements are in the module guide
Briefly:
What you planned to do
What you actually achieved
Project evaluation
A good report is likely to be at least 5,000 words, excluding appendices
Report will be marked on presentation as well as content.

8. Overall Structure ¶ Title page · Abstract or summary
¸ Acknowledgements
¹ Table of contents
º List of tables } As appropriate
» List of figures }
¼ Report: Introduction
Main body
Conclusions/recommendations
½ References
¾ Appendices/documentation/user manual.
1 Title page - format - title, author, date, affiliation etc
2 Abstract or summary - covered in separate lecture
4 Table of contents - indicates structure/organisation of
the report - includes chapters and sub headings
5 List of tables (if needed) - table number, title, page
number
6 List of figures (if needed) - figure number, title, page

9. ????? Question ?????
What’s the difference between an Abstract/Summary and an Introduction?

10. Front Pages Title page Abstract/summary Acknowledgements
Clear title, authors’names, date
Abstract/summary
A summary of the whole report
Acknowledgements
Name people outside the group who have helped you in this project.

11. Contents List Summary 1 Introduction 2 First chapter heading 3
Page
Summary
Introduction
First chapter heading 3
2.1 Section heading 3
Sub-heading 5
Sub-heading 6
Etc
References
Appendix 1: Name of appendix
Appendix 2: Name of appendix

12. Figures & Tables Note that “tables” here does not mean Access tables!
Figures and tables add much to a report
Should be uniquely numbered and titled
Cite source, if not your own work
Discuss them in the text
List them after your contents page.

13. Overall, and each section / chapter has:
Structure
Overall, and each section / chapter has:
Introduction
Main body
Conclusions.

14. Introduction
Sets the scene for the main body. Provides the reader with a clear idea of the task being undertaken
Used to state the aims of the project
May include outline of work - when, where, and how the project was carried out.
Additional points to be mentioned:
The introduction should also give the reader the following information:
Who asked for the report?
What is the purpose of the report?
Statement of the problems involved
The scope and limitations of the investigation
Methods of investigation
SET SCENE
IDENTIFY GAP
GAP FILLER

15. Main Body
See p7 of module guide – the following sections should all be included
Plans
Product overview
How the product is intended to be used
Requirements specification
Methodology and justification
Discussion of orginal project plan (plan in appendix).

16. Main Body ctd Achievements
Analysis and design (ERD, table types, use cases etc in appendices)
Description of product (Access relationships screen print, data, user manual as appendices)
Discussion of software testing (test documents in appendix).

17. Main Body ctd Project Evaluation What is good/weak about your product
User feedback (forms in appendix)
Discussion of the effectiveness of your project planning (possibly include new Gantt chart in appendix)
What changes would you recommend?.

18. Conclusions
Summarising the findings in the main body - not new material
Be consistent with previous parts of the report.

19. Appendices Gantt charts, design documentation etc as above
Appendices give extra material for the interested reader
Discuss the contents of your appendices in your main text:
“As can be seen from the Feedback Forms in Appendix G, users were generally positive about the system, but they also made some criticisms……”.

20. ????? Question ?????
Reports are structured to make it easy to find information - which parts of reports do you think managers read most/least?
Abstract/summary
Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
Appendices.

21. Reading Reports From most to least read: Abstract/summary
Introduction and conclusion
Main body
Appendices
Findings of Windust (1983) as quoted by Hilton (1998).
Break down into chapter headings - give an overall
structure - know what you have to do
Draft the introduction first - gives the reader a sense of
direction so will do the same for you

22. So what is the difference between an Abstract/Summary and an Introduction?
The Abstract/Summary tells you briefly what the whole report says
It is complete in itself, and can be published separately from the report
The Introduction sets the scene for the report; it leads readers on to the main body of the report.

23. Make sure you reference other people’s work appropriately.
Plagiarism
Use of other people’s work, as if it were yours
Make sure you reference other people’s work appropriately.

24. Referencing Why Cite References? Citing Bibliography / References.
Avoid plagiarism
Show academic background
Avoid plagiarism
Show context
Show how it builds on other work
Show academic background
Citing
Bibliography / References.

25. The Harvard System of Referencing (Examples from DMU library advice)
In your text:
“There is some evidence (Jones, 1992) that these figures are incorrect.” or
“Jones (1992) has provided evidence that these figures are incorrect.”
Harvard Advantages:
Author’s name and year appear in text
Alphabetical reference list easy to consult
Only one entry needed for each reference in text
Amendments easy to make without renumbering
The well known COREL (Nugent et al 1992) and ALDEP (Hales 1984) are examples of construction types.
References
Hales, H L (1984) Computer Aided Facilities Planning, Addison-Wesley, New York.
Nugent, C E. Vollmann, T E. Ruml, J (1990) ‘A Comparison of Techniques for the Assignment of Facilities to Locations’, Operations Research, Vol 16(1), pp
The well known COREL [1] and ALDEP [2] are examples of construction types.
1. Nugent, C E. Vollmann, T E. Ruml, J. ‘A Comparison of Techniques for the Assignment of Facilities of Techniques for the Assignment of Facilities to Locations’, Operations Research, Vol 16(1), 1990, pp
2. Hales, H L Computer Aided Facilities Planning, Addison-Wesley, New York,

26. The Harvard System of Referencing
In your list of references:
Books:
JONES, J.L. (1992) Pollution, London, Van Nostrand.
Web documents:
YEATES, R. (1996) NewsAgent for Libraries: Overview [WWW] Available from: [Accessed 20 January 2002].
Harvard Advantages:
Author’s name and year appear in text
Alphabetical reference list easy to consult
Only one entry needed for each reference in text
Amendments easy to make without renumbering
The well known COREL (Nugent et al 1992) and ALDEP (Hales 1984) are examples of construction types.
References
Hales, H L (1984) Computer Aided Facilities Planning, Addison-Wesley, New York.
Nugent, C E. Vollmann, T E. Ruml, J (1990) ‘A Comparison of Techniques for the Assignment of Facilities to Locations’, Operations Research, Vol 16(1), pp
The well known COREL [1] and ALDEP [2] are examples of construction types.
1. Nugent, C E. Vollmann, T E. Ruml, J. ‘A Comparison of Techniques for the Assignment of Facilities of Techniques for the Assignment of Facilities to Locations’, Operations Research, Vol 16(1), 1990, pp
2. Hales, H L Computer Aided Facilities Planning, Addison-Wesley, New York,

27. Write in a Formal Style Don’t say: “We had a chat about what to do.”
Instead say:
“The group drew up a plan.”

28. Review your Report
Check your own work – spell check it, read it through. Try reading it aloud – does it make sense?
Get another member of the group to read each section of the report and suggest improvements
At least one person should read the whole report and suggest improvements.

29. We have covered: Your report for this module Structure of a report
Presentation and style
Reviewing your report.

30. Further advice Consult the DMU library web site
A report writing guide by Anne Hilton and advice on Harvard Referencing are also available on paper from the DMU library.

31. End of Lecture