1. Final Year Project Workshop on Writing 1 Tips for Writing Essays This assumes you can write English. Use top-down refinement: have a beginning, middle and an end. Be sensible with paragraphs. Be balanced (argue with yourself). Use and acknowledge reliable information. Make sure your arguments are justified form the facts. Save a little bit of pure opinion for the conclusion if you like.

2. Final Year Project Workshop on Writing 2 Writing Chapters Use the chapter outlines on the project web pages as a template for each chapter in your report. Plan each chapter in outline and then incrementally refine each major section of the chapter Top and tail each chapter in a manner similar to Sommerville or Pressman in their respective Software Engineering text books.

3. Final Year Project Workshop on Writing 3 Typical Chapter 1 Should contain a discussion of the academic context of the project, the project motivation and background Should contain a survey of the particular field of the project with citations and examples Should contain the objectives of the project and the project plan Should end with a guide to the rest of the report, chapter by chapter

4. Final Year Project Workshop on Writing 4 Size of Chapters Aim for a balance in material throughout the report - roughly 18K words might be broken down as follows: –Chapter 1 - 2K –Chapter 2 - 3.5K –Chapter 3 - 3.5k –Chapter 4 - 3.5K –Chapter 5 - 3.5K –Chapter 6 - 2 Major chapters generally should have more material than the first and last.

5. Final Year Project Workshop on Writing 5 Proof Reading and Reviewing Make it a practice to proof read what you have written and if possible also ask a colleague to proof read your text - offer to proof read theirs in return Discuss your chapter drafts with your supervisor - it is good practice to ask your supervisor to review chapters once you have completed them, ideally do this as soon as you have the chapter ready - don't wait until the report is complete!

6. Final Year Project Workshop on Writing 6 Writing Tools Use tools such as spell checker and grammar checker regularly to ensure that typos, etc are eliminated Consider using a tool like EndNote to manage your references, or build your own reference database. Use diction and style to measure the complexity of your writing and gain advice on improving your style.

7. Final Year Project Workshop on Writing 7 Other resources Books on writing, chapters on writing in the project books, e-books on writing, …you’ll find references for these in the Duo workspace for the Final Year Project Module Feedback welcome!