Things to do and not to do in Project Reports

Project: Dos & Don’ts:

• Choose a font size that is not too small or too large; 11 or 12 is a good font size to use.
• Acknowledgment need not be a separate page, except in the final report.
• Make sure your paragraphs have some indentation and that it is not too large.
• If figures, equations, or trends are taken from some reference, the reference must be cited right there, even if you have cited it earlier.
• The correct way of referring to a figure is Fig. 4 or Fig. 1.2 (note that there is a space after Fig.).
• The same applies to Section, Equation, etc. (e.g., Sec. 2, Eq. 3.1).
• Cite a reference as, for example, “The threshold voltage is a strong function of the implant dose [1].” Note that there must be a space before the bracket.
• Follow some standard format while writing references.
• Do not type references (for that matter, any titles or captions) entirely in capital letters.
• The only capital letters required are the first letter of a name, acronyms, the first letter of the title of an article the first letter of a sentence.
• The order of references is very important.
• In the list of your references, the first reference must be the one which is cited before any other reference, and so on.
• As far as possible, place each figure close to the part of the text where it is referred to.
• Do not add a space before a full stop, comma, colon, etc.
• Do not use “&”; write “and” instead. Do not write “There’re” for “There are” etc.
• If you are showing comparison of two (or more) quantities, use the same notation through out the report.
• For example, suppose you want to compare measured data with analytical model in four different figures, in each figure, make sure that the measured data is represented by the same line type or symbol.
• If you must resize a plot or a figure, make sure that you do it simultaneously in both x and y directions.
• Otherwise, circles in the original figure will appear as ellipses, letters will appear too fat or too narrow, and other similar calamities will occur.
• If you have sections that are too small, it only means that there is not enough material to make a separate section.
• In that case, do not make a separate section.
• Include the same material in the main section or elsewhere.
• Do not make one-line paragraphs.
• Always add a space after a full stop, comma, colon, etc.
• Also, leave a space before opening a bracket.
• If the sentence ends with a closing bracket, add the full stop (or comma or semicolon, etc) after the bracket.
• Do not use very informal language.
• Do not use “bullets” in your report.
• They are acceptable in a presentation, but not in a formal report.
• You may use numerals or letters instead.
• Whenever in doubt, look up a text book or a journal paper to verify whether your grammar and punctuation are correct.
• Do a spell check before you print out your document. It always helps.
• Always write the report so that the reader can easily make out what your contribution is.
• Do not leave the reader guessing in this respect.
• Above all, be clear.
• Your report must have a flow, i.e., the reader must be able to appreciate continuity in the report.
• Plagiarism is a very serious offense.
• You simply cannot copy material from an existing report or paper and put it verbatim in your report.
• The idea of writing a report is to convey in your words what you have understood from the literature.