OBJECTIVES:
To train students on collecting literature (i.e. books, reports, papers etc.), on a given topic involving information search, collection, rejection, sieving, ordering, etc. Assimilating and organising the information so collected and writing a report in his/her own words.
Reports (seminar reports, thesis reports, technical reports) are very important documents and must be taken seriously. A report is a means of conveying to the reader many important things: (a) the current status of the topic (literature survey), (b) the problems still to be solved or addressed, (c) the progress that you have made toward the goal of solving these problems, (d) issues that still need to be worked on. A good report, along with the references cited, should make a reasonably complete document by itself.
There are different styles of writing a report. Some people tend to be very formal and precise; others like to be somewhat informal and verbose. Style also depends to some extent on the topic. One cannot get too informal when writing a proof. On the other hand, an informal style may be effective, for example, in describing the historical background of a given topic.
While style is an important aspect of a report, there are the “nuts and bolts” to be taken care of, too. The guidelines presented here are about the latter. Do follow these tips to make your report free of the most common mistakes.
WRITING THE REPORTS
1. The report should be typed in single spacing or 1-1/2 spacing on one side of A4 size white papers with Times New Roman 11 or 12 point font. Keep equal margins of 1 inch form all sides. Total length of the report should be about 20-30 pages and must be soft (For final dissertation only hard bound) bound with any sober coloured cover.
2. Acknowledgment need not be a separate page, except in the final project report. In fact, you could just drop it altogether for the project preliminary report. Your guide already knows how much you appreciate his/her support. Express your gratitude by working harder instead of writing a flowery acknowledgment!
3. Make sure your paragraphs have some indentation and that it is not to o large. Refer to some text books or journal papers if you are not sure.
4. If figures, equations, or trends are taken from some reference, the reference must be cited right there, even if you have cited it earlier. Title of figures should be placed at the bottom of the figure whereas those of tables should be placed at the top both center justified. Use equation editors of the word processing packages for writing equations.
5. 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).
6. 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.
7. Follow some standard format while writing references. For example, you could look up any IEEE transactions issue and check out the format for journal papers, books, conference papers, etc.
8. Do not type references (for that matter, any titles or captions) entirely in capital letters. About the only capital letters required are (i) the first letter of a name, (ii) acronyms, (iii) the first letter of the title of an article (iv) the first letter of a sentence.
While using acronyms many times in the text it must be defined for the first time use.
9. 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. Also, every reference in the list must be cited at least once (this also applies to figures). In handling references and figure numbers, Latex turns out to be far better than Word.
The references may be cited in the body text of the report in one of the following two ways -
· Using numbers in square brackets e.g. [1] sequentially given in the order of citation of the text. Correspondingly, the references are listed at the end of the report serially in the same order they appear in the report.
· Using name of the author and the year of publication both enclosed within parentheses. In case more than one paper by the same author in the same year is cited, distinguish them using letters a, b etc. If there are more than two authors, use the word "et al." after the name of the first author. If there are two authors, you must give both names. In any case in the list of references given at the end of the report, names of ALL authors should appear. Correspondingly, the references are arranged alphabetically (according to the name of the first author) at the end of the report.
· While listing the references at the end of the report, you must give all the information about the references such as authors name, title of the paper or book, name of the journal, volume number, issue number, page numbers and year of publication in that order. When listing a book, you must mention the edition, publishers name and the place of publication also. Please carefully note the format of the list of references given below
Ø Looney, L. A., Monaghan, J. M., OReilly, P. and Talpin, D. M. R., "The Turning of an Al/SiCp Metal Matrix Composite", Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 33, pp. 453-468, 1992.
Ø Lonchner, R. H. and Martar, J. E., Design for Quality - An Introduction to the Best of Taguchi and Western Methods of Statistical Experimental Designs, Chapman and Hall, New York, 1990, p. 105.
Ø While citing reference to an internet site, after mentioning the name of the site, mention the date on which you have accessed it.
10. Many students use Gnuplot for preparing their figures. By default, this program draws the line type and writes the file name and things like “u 1:2” etc. which makes absolutely no sense to the reader. You need to remove these or change them to some meaningful labels. In fact, even manually labeling the different curves with arrows may work well, if you do it neatly. Remember to do this before you make copies.
11. Gnuplot, by default, uses narrow lines. These lines often do not show up well in the figures, especially in photocopies. Use a larger line thickness parameter to make things more clear. For example, use plot “xyz.dat” u 1:2 lw 2
Also, dotted lines generally are harder to see clearly; use solid, dashed, dash-dot, etc.
12. In figures, do not use “complete filling.” All drawing programs generally offer several other filling options such as dots, shading, etc. They may not only look better, but also save ink when printing or copying.
13. Many commercial packages allow “screen dump” of figures. While this is useful in preparing reports, it is often very wasteful (in terms of toner or ink) since the background is black. Please see if you can invert the image or use a plotting program with the raw data such that the background is white.
The following tips may be useful: (a) For Windows, open the file in Paint and select Image/Invert Colors. (b) For Linux, open the file in Image Magick (this can be done by typing display&) and then selecting Enhance/Negate.
14. As far as possible, place each figure close to the part of the text where it is referred to.
15. A list of figures is not required except for the final project report. It generally does not do more than wasting paper.
16. The figures, when viewed together with the caption, must be, as far as possible, self- explanatory. There are times when one must say, “see text for details”. However, this is an exception and not a rule. If you have to add figures from the literature ensure that they are clear and sufficiently large.
17. The purpose of a figure caption is simply to state what is being presented in the figure. It is not the right place for making comments or comparisons; that should appear only in the text.
18. Axes in figures must carry appropriate units. If that is not done, at least the caption must say, “current is in mA,” etc.
19. 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 deferent figures. In each figure, make sure that the measured data is represented by the same line type or symbol. The same should be followed for the analytical model. This makes it easier for the reader to focus on the important aspects of the report rather than getting lost in lines and symbols.
20. 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 to o fat or too narrow, and other similar calamities will occur.
21. In the beginning of any chapter, you need to add a brief introduction and then start sections. The same is true about sections and subsections. 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. Remember, a short report is perfectly acceptable if you have put in the effort and covered all important aspects of your work. Adding unnecessary sections and subsections will create the impression that you are only covering up the lack of effort.
22. Do not make one-line paragraphs.
23. 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.
24. Do not add a space before a full stop, comma, colon, etc.
25. Using a hyphen can be tricky. If two (or more) words form a single adjective, a hyphen is required; otherwise, it should not be used. For example, (a) A short-channel device shows a finite output conductance. (b) This is a good example of mixed-signal simulation. (c) Several devices with short channels were studied.
26. If you are using Latex, do not use the quotation marks to open. If you do that, you get ”this”. Use the single opening quotes (twice) to get “this”.
27. Do not use very informal language. Instead of “This theory should be taken with a pinch of salt,” you might say, “This theory is not convincing,” or “It needs more work to show that this theory applies in all cases.”
28. Units: we tend to write the abbreviated form for most of the units, e.g., A, V . As a general rule, if the unit is an abbreviation of a person’s name, write it in italics and capital. On the other hand, a meter is abbreviated and written as m (i.e., roman character and small). If you abbreviate “milli” or “kilo”, the abbreviation is roman, not italic, e.g., 10 k. and not 10 k.. Always leave a space between the number and the unit.
29. Do not refer to the Fermi level as “fermi level”, as Fermi is a person’s name.
30. Do not write 1 × 1018 as 1e18. Do not write p = q r as p = q * r.
31. The correct way to describe the base doping density of a BJT would be 1.5 × 1017 cm-3 and not 1.5 × 1017cm-3 or 1.5e17 cm-3.
32. Do not start using an acronym before defining it unless it is very widely used (e.g., MOSFET or VLSI).
33. Element symbols must be in roman, e.g., SiO2, and not SiO2;GaxAl1-x As, and not Gax Al1-x As.
34. Do not use “&”; write “and” instead. Do not write “There’re” for “There are” etc.
35. If you are describing several items of the same type (e.g., short-channel effects in a MOS
transistor), use the “list” option; it enhances the clarity of your report.
36. 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.
37. Whenever in doubt, look up a text book or a journal paper to verify whether your grammar and punctuation are correct.
38. Do a spell check before you print out your document. It always helps.
39. 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.
40. Above all, be clear. Your report must have a flow, i.e., the reader must be able to appreciate continuity in the report. After the first reading, the reader should be able to understand (a) the overall theme and (b) what is new (if it is a project report).
41. 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.
The above list may seem a little intimidating. However, if you make a sincere effort, most of the points are easy to remember and practice. A supplementary exercise that will help you immensely is that of looking for all major and minor details when you read an article from a newspaper or a magazine, such as grammar, punctuation, organization of the material, etc.
FORMAT OF THE REPORT
Structure of the report -
1. Title page
2. Contents
3. List of tables
4. List of figures
5. Nomenclature: List in the following order
English alphabet (a, A, b, B,...)
Non-English alphabet
Subscripts
Superscripts
Abbreviations
6. Abstract: Not more than 250 words
7. Chapter-wise presentation of the material along with critical analysis and discussions. Usually, the first chapter is titled "Introduction" and the last chapter "Conclusions."
8. References
9. Appendices (if any)
10. Acknowledgement
ORAL PRESENTATIONIn the 15-20 minutes given to you for presentation, you can’t present the entire material in the report. So never attempt to present the whole report. Give an overall idea (plan of presentation) in the first few minutes and choose a couple of aspects of the problem for a detailed explanation. Following are some of the dos and don’t regarding the presentation.
Dos -Ø Prepare transparencies neatly and carefully.
Ø Use MS-Power Point for preparation of presentation.
Ø Use Arial >20 font for written matter on transparencies with adequate letter gaps.
Ø Use colours and neat sketches wherever necessary.
Ø Face the audience boldly and speak out loud and clear.
Ø Be slow and clear. Remember "Haste make waste".
Ø If you use transparencies, then separate them with A4 size white paper.
Ø Make a note of (for your personal use) some important points that you should not
miss while presenting a transparency on a piece of paper.
Ø Your first transparency should mention the organisation of your talk, what aspects
you are going to touch upon etc. Your last transparency should summaries the
presentation and give major conclusions.
Ø Make a mock presentation in the hostel to ensure completion of presentation within
time.
Ø Make sure that you attend presentations of your friends.
Don’ts -Ø Do not clutter the transparencies with too many details. About 8-10 lines per transparency are good enough.
Ø Don’t stand in between the audience and the screen.
Ø Don’t write full sentences on transparencies. They should only contain key words and ideas. You are expected to buildup on these ideas and talk to the audience, not just read out from the transparency.
Ø Don’t read out the equations.
Ø Don’t speak in a monotone; modulate your voice effectively.
QUESTION ANSWER SESSIONØ Be thorough, not only with your report, but also other relevant material (both more elementary and more advanced).
Ø Relax and try to understand the question. If you have not understood it you may request the examiner to repeat it.
Ø Even if you don’t know the answer, don’t be eager to say so, we expect you to try to think logically and attempt an answer. However, after giving some thought if you still can’t answer it, be frank enough to say so. You are typically expected to answer about 75 - 80% of questions put to you.
Wish you happy report writing!
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