Some details
Below, you will find a list of small hints that you may consider when you write your project and master theses:
- The text should be written with a serif-font (such as Times, Garamond, or Cambria). Text paragraphs written in such a font are easier to read than for a sans serif font (such as Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica).
- Decide whether you want to write UK English or US English. Set your spell-checker to the desired language and do not mix the two. Remember that many words and the punctuation are different in the two languages.
- Write direct and short sentences.
- Use as simple words as possible. If you have several alternatives, use the shortest and simplest words.
- One idea or piece of information per sentence is sufficient - avoid multiple statements in one sentence.
- Eliminate redundant phrases.
- Use active voice. For example: “Ref 1 shows that …” instead of “It is shown in Ref 1 that …”
- Avoid using too many adjectives (Remove them whenever possible).
- Avoid abbreviations such as "it's", "hasn't", "don't", and so on.
- When you have written your report, everything you want to say is in the report. Do not write statements such as “This result will be further discussed in Chapter 3”. When reading the report, everything has been written – it will not be written! You should instead write “This result is further discussed in Chapter 3”.
- Avoid using words like: also, therefore, somewhat, however, in addition, moreover, and so on.
- Always use articles together with (singular) nouns, for example, "The report is written in English" or "A report has been published". Never write something like "Report is written in English"! In plural, you may, however, write for example, "Reports have been published".
- Present tense should be used for known facts and hypotheses. This means that you should use present tense when referring to results found in the literature. For example “Ref 1 shows that…” and not “Ref 1 has shown that …”
- Use past tense when you refer to results from experiments that you have conducted.
- All figures and tables shall have captions (i.e., text explaining what is seen in the figure/table). If you have copied the figure/table from somebody, include the reference in the caption as (Murthy, 2008) or as (from Murthy, 2008). If you have modified the figure/table based on somebody's work, you should give reference in the caption, such as (adapted from Murthy, 2008).
- Figure number and figure caption shall come below the figure - and table number and table caption shall come above the table.
- Mathematical formulas and symbols shall be written with the same mathematical font. If you use Microsoft Word, you may choose between the built-in equation editor and MathType. When you have chosen one of these, use it systematically -- also for inline symbols and equations. If you write statements such as: "Let t denote the time", then t shall be inserted as an inline equation by using the equation editor or MathType. In LaTeX, the sentence in the .tex-file is written as: "Let $t$ denote the time".
- Always use capital letters to denote random variables - and (the same) lowercase letters to denote observed values. Example: "The time to failure T was observed to be t." (Note that both T and t are mathematical symbols and shall be written in a mathematical font - see previous item). Avoid using capital letters for parameters, such as test intervals, frequencies, and so on.
- Avoid abbreviations such as e.g., i.e., and etc. in the text. Write instead: for example, that is, and and so on. The abbreviations may, however, be used inside parentheses, for example, (e.g., see Ref 1)
- Do not capitalize words that are not registered names. Common cause failure is, for example, not such a registered name – and should not be written as Common Cause Failures.
- Maintain a textfile where you record the way you write the various expressions - sort the file alphabetically.
External sources
If you search the net for guidelines to writing reports, you will find a high number of hits. Some of these guides may be very useful, but you should be careful so you are not misguided.