Guide to Report Writing

Introduction
A technician who is unable to communicate effectively with his superiors or colleagues will never
receive due credit for his/her work. Information must be transmitted in a clear and concise manner in
order to enable decisions to be made. The most popular method of technical communication is via the
report.

Points to Consider Before Starting Your Report

The following should be considered prior to starting your report:

1. Why is the report being written?

2. Have the contents been planned in a manner that can be easily understood by the reader?
3. Who will read the report?
This decides the level of technical information that is to be included.

Suggestions to Improve the Quality and Presentation of Your Report

1. Choose a short, meaningful title.

2. Include as many tables and diagrams as you think are appropriate. Remember that a single
diagram will often clarify what would otherwise be a very confused paragraph.
3. Use a simple, clear style of writing. Long and involved sentences are a hindrance to easy
understanding and often contain grammatical errors.

Format of the Title Page and Plagiarism Declaration

The format to be followed for the title page and plagiarism declaration is shown on the following two
pages:
 Project Title

16 pt. Calibri, bold &

By centre justification

Your Surname and Initials here

Your Student Number here 12 pt. Calibri, bold &

centre justification

Submitted in the Faculty of Engineering: Department of Electronic Engineering

in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the

Bachelor of Technology Degree in Electronic Engineering

at the

Durban University of Technology

Insert Month and Year Here

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 Plagiarism Declaration

14 pt Calibri, bold &

centre justification

1. I know and understand that plagiarism is using another person’s work and pretending it is
one’s own, which is wrong.

2. This essay/report/project is my own work.

3. I have appropriately referenced the work of other people I have used.

4. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing
it off as his/her own work.

___________________________ ____________________________
Surname and Initials Student Number

____________________________ ____________________________
Signature Date

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 Report Layout

The following sections are typically included in all technical reports. Each section is to start on a new
page using a page break:

Acknowledgements (optional)
You can use this section to express your gratitude to those who assisted you with your project. Only
necessary with large reports and should not be used to increase the size of your document.

Abstract

A brief clear and concise summary of the contents of the report, stating your aim, methods, results
obtained and conclusions reached.

Table of Contents
The contents list must contain the main and sub-paragraph headings and the respective page numbers.

The table of contents is formatted using right tab stops with dot leaders (see example on page 8).

List of Figures

List of Tables

List of Constants and Abbreviations

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction
The objective of this chapter is to introduce the reader to the problem using relevant background
information on the topic, and to point out the purpose and significance of the report. The specifications
and scope of the project should be clearly defined.

CHAPTER 2 DESIGN

The body of the report will consist of more than one chapter.

The body contains the primary message of the report, described in detail. The subject matter discussed
in the body must be logically developed and presented in a manner that is easy for the reader to
understand. All aspects of your design are to be discussed in this section.

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System Block Diagram: Give the system’s block diagram and also mention the function of each stage.

Circuit Diagram: Draw the circuit diagram and clearly indicate all its different stages. The methodology
used to design your circuit must also be discussed in this chapter. For example, if you were designing
a driver circuit to provide sufficient current to operate the car motors, then you must describe the
operation of this circuit and also mention the points taken into consideration during the selection of
the driver transistor/s or integrated circuit. All information on the selected components can be found
in the respective data sheets and application notes. Calculations are to be shown wherever necessary.
Also mention any safety features that you may have incorporated in your design. For example, you
may have used an opto-coupler to isolate the micro-controller from the motor driver circuit.

Software and Software Design: For microcontroller-based projects, the software flowchart must be
given. Certain aspects of the software, such as the delay calculations must also be given in this chapter.
The complete software listing must be shown in an annexure.

CHAPTER 3 CONSTRUCTION (and more chapters)

In this chapter information on the relevant mechanical and/or electronic construction of the project
should be presented in detailed.

CHAPTER 4 TESTING

Procedures used to test various stages of the project must be included here.

CHAPTER 5 RESULTS

All results obtained during testing should be documented and compared to expected results.
Remember, a graphical representation of your results is usually more meaningful and therefore
preferable to tabulated results (all results should be discussed in detailed). Analysis of the results
should be documented.

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION
This chapter discusses the efficiency of the system’s design and the conclusions arrived at, based upon
the performance of the design ascertained during the testing stage. You may also make any worthwhile
recommendations, to improve the performance of your project, in this chapter.

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REFERENCES
All references used to design your system or in your research must be given and all references used
must be referred to in the text. The following format must be adhered to when listing references:
[1] Cebekhulu J R, Groenewald S, Naidoo Y, Student’s Guide to Project Design, Prentice-Hall, 2000.
[2] Astronomy 161 The Solar System, available at:
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/time/coordinates.html[Accessed10September2007]
[3] Chambers W R, Dictionary for Science and Technology, Pearson, 2009.
[4] Bose N K, Digital Filters, Theory and Applications, 2nd Edition. Elsevier Science Publishing
Company, New York, 1975.
[5] ANSI/IEEE Standard 488.1, IEEE Standard Digital Interface for Programmable Instrumentation,
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, New York, 1987.
Note that for website references, the actual website page reference must be used, and NOT simply
the generic website address. (see [2] above). The date the website is accessed must also be included.
Further information can be obtained at http://library.dut.ac.za/

ANNEXURES
The following are examples of the type of data that could appear in an annexure:

Complete Circuit Schematic

PCB Layout

Bill of Materials (if applicable)

Full Code Listings

Datasheets

Datasheets should be included as an annexure only if certain details on the datasheet need to be
referenced in your text. If details on the datasheet are not needed as a reference in the body of the
report, the datasheet should NOT be included.

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 Report Format

The following must be adhered to when writing a technical report:

1. Font/Typeface
The document must be typed in Calibri 11pt font.

2. Paper
Only one side of white, A4, bond paper is to be used.

3. Margins
Left margin = 3 cm
Right margin = 2 cm
Top and bottom margins = 2 cm
The left margin must be greater than the right margin to allow for binding along the left of the page.

4. Justification/ Text Layout

Full justification is to be used for the body of the text. All tab stops used in the document should have
a spacing of 1 cm and are already set in the downloadable report template.

5. Line Spacing and Document Length

1.5 line spacing should be used throughout the document text. An extra line must be inserted between
paragraphs and headings.

6. Pagination
The page number should appear centred at the bottom in the footer of the page. The page number
should appear on its own and should not be followed by a full stop.

7. Italics / Bold/ Underlining

Italic/bold should always be used for emphasis. Underlining should NOT be used at all in a document.

8. Punctuation for lists

The following punctuation rules must be applied when using bulleted or numbered lists:

1. First point;
2. Second point;
3. Third point.
Note that the text that appears in bulleted lists should be indented to one tab stop after the number
as in this example.

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9. Tense
The report is to be written in the third person, past tense, for example “the instrument was calibrated”
as opposed to “I calibrated the instrument”. Avoid using “I”, “we”, “our”, “us”.

10. Spelling and Grammar

The authority on spelling is the Oxford English Dictionary. The spell check facility on the word
processor must be used to check the document spelling but remember to use either the South African
or UK dictionary (NOT the USA dictionary). It is a good idea to get someone else, not necessarily a
technical person, to proofread what you have written and to check for grammatical errors. Do not
make the report sound like a pub chat. Remember that it is a technical document and should read as
such.

11. Abbreviations
If using abbreviations always omit full stops in, eg NSRI, not N.S.R.I. Abbreviations should either be
included in the “List of Abbreviations” near the start of the report OR inserted into the text when first
used (not both):
A Raspberry Pi (R-Pi) was used as the microcontroller (µC) of choice for this project.

12. Numbers
The general rule for using numbers is to spell out larger numbers which can be expressed in two words,
e.g. Two million. For other numbers use numerals, e.g., 2054 students, 139 pages. Numerals must be
used for dates, street numbers, telephone numbers, decimal values and percentages. Numerals should
also be used if the number has a unit associated with it e.g., 5 V, 32 MHz. See the booklet titled
“Standard Symbols and Notation” for details.

13. Equations
Word processors have an equation editing facility which correctly formats an equation. All equations
that are referenced in the body of the text must be numbered. The following shows an example of an
equation number 10 in CHAPTER 2:

3
mx + c
y= [2-10]
x2

A line space must be inserted before and after the equation.

14. Quotations
All quotations should be within double quotation marks and the source thereof must be acknowledged
with the reference in square brackets e.g. “This is a quotation” [12].

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 15. Figures / Tables
All figures and tables used in the report must be named, discussed and referred to in the text. Labelling
of tables will be above the tables while the figures will be below the figures as shown in page 35.

16. Units
Always refer to measured quantities in terms of their SI units and accepted derivations thereof. This
applies to all text, tables, graphs and calculations. The omission of physical units in an engineering
report is totally unacceptable.
17. Table of Contents
The layout of the table of contents is set up using tab stops. The last tab stop must be a Right Tab Stop
with a dot Leader which automatically inserts the dots between the end of the text and the page
number. Note the type of numbers for each section (Roman numerals or integers). (See example on
page 8).
18. Headings
The main headings should be centred on the page and should be in bold type. Section headings or
sub-headings should start on the left.
The following layout gives an example of the way headings on a page should be laid out:

14 pt, bold, capitals CHAPTER 3

12 pt, bold

3.1 Section Heading

This is the paragraph text for this section.
11 pt, bold, italics
3.1.1 Sub-section Heading
11 pt, full justification, Excessive subdivision should be avoided, with the
1.5 line spacing two levels outlined above usually being sufficient.

19 Diagrams
Diagrams are a very important communication tool in a technical report. The objective of a report is
to convey information to the reader in the clearest, most effective way. Technical information is often
best communicated with the aid of a diagram.

Before including a diagram in your report, consider the information you wish to convey and whether
the proposed diagram conveys this information clearly.

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Diagrams must always be accompanied by explanatory text that makes clear reference to the diagram.
A diagram must be numbered (e.g., Figure 3.2 for the second diagram of CHAPTER 3) and the diagram
must have a title. (See examples at the end)

Diagrams must be kept simple, clear and fully explained with supporting text. Block diagrams are
particularly useful in the Introduction and early chapters of a report. Circuit diagrams, flow charts and
line graphs are other commonly used diagrams in engineering reports.

FINALLY:

• Do not waffle or try to pad the report with unnecessary information.

• Do not conclude that “results were as expected or not expected”, “that you learnt a lot”,
“that the project was interesting”, “that the equipment broke down”, “that the results were
good, bad, inaccurate, etc.”, unless you have argued these points in the discussion and you
have quoted figures in the conclusion.

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 EXAMPLE TABLE OF CONTENTS

PRELIMINARIES ONLY
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. ii

Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. iii

Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................... iv

List of Figures ...................................................................................................................................... v

List of Tables ....................................................................................................................................... vi

Constants and Abbreviations ............................................................................................................ vii

CHAPTER 1
1.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................................1

1.2 Background Information ...............................................................................................................2

1.3 Problems .......................................................................................................................................4

1.4 Project Specifications ....................................................................................................................6

CHAPTER 2
2.1 Project Design ...............................................................................................................................7

2.1.1 Electrical ...........................................................................................................................7

2.1.2 Electronic ........................................................................................................................10

2.1.3 Etc. ..................................................................................................................................12

CHAPTER 3
3.1 Electrical ......................................................................................................................................14

3.2 Mechanical ..................................................................................................................................17

CHAPTER 4

4.1 Initial Testing ...............................................................................................................................20

4.1 Results .........................................................................................................................................22

CHAPTER 5
5.1 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................27

5.2 Recommendations ......................................................................................................................28

REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………29

Annexure A: Schematic ....................................................................................................................31

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Annexure B: PCB Layout ...................................................................................................................32

Annexure C: Bill of Materials ...........................................................................................................33

Annexure D: Code Listing .................................................................................................................34

Annexure E: Datasheet .....................................................................................................................35

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 EXAMPLE
Figure 2.1 is a block diagram of the complete system [4]. This project deals with the design,
construction, and testing, of the D/A converter, the amplifier and speaker. The rest of the block

ONLY
diagram of Figure 2.1 falls outside the scope of this project.

FLASH D/A
PROCESSOR
MEMORY 8 bits 16 bits AMP
8 M X 16 bit CONVERTER
DEVICE

TRIGGER
DEVICE
DEVICE
DEVICE

Figure 2.1 Audio Playback System Block Diagram [4].

The graph of Figure 2.2 shows a four times oversampled audio signal [5]. The difference between two
recorded digital samples is divided by four. This quarter difference is then added to the first sample
three times to generate three additional virtual samples.

Recorded Samples
Amplitude

Quarter
Audio Signal
Difference

Time
Interpolated Virtual Samples

Figure 2.2 Four times Linear Interpolated Oversampling [5].

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