About reports in general

Last updated 2009 November 27

Overview

You will hand in for grading a set of reports. The grading scheme and timetable sections give details. The specifications for each report will leave the amount of work open ended. One purpose of each report is for you to strive toward the achievement of a particular goal and report on what you did over the time up to the due date in working towards the requested objective. In a report it is not only important to describe what you succeeded in doing but also what you did not succeed in doing. You describe what problems were solved, what problems were left unsolved, and what new problems arose.

Reports will normally be handed in on or before the due date, to the course instructor at the beginning of the class on the due date. Should you need to submit the report earlier, then please submit it to the instructor in their office or in the Departmental office CSB 1003. Reports are to be handed in during normal Departmental business hours and are due by date and time given in the timetable. It is recommended that you hand in the reports at the class. Missing classes while working on a report is a poor learning strategy.

Please use a copy of the cover page (pdf file) as the first page of the report you hand in. It is used to record grades for each part and for the marker write general comments about the report.

Working in groups

Reports may be done in groups of size 1 or 2, no larger groups. Groups may have members that are attending different sections of the course. Jointly authored reports require an appendix that clearly and specifically describes the contribution of each author. There is no prorating of work for smaller groups; the same amount of work is expected for each report.

You are reponsible for arranging to be in a group. Neither the course director nor instructors can deal with group management. Should your group split up, you are responsible for submiting a report. The resulting reports from each subgroup will have elements in common, so each subgroup must clearly and specifically indicate what work was done by each of the group members before the split.

On incomplete work

Normally, there are no extensions to published deadlines. On rare occasions, they may be given to individuals due to illness. Such extensions require a note from a physician stating the dates of the illness. The extension is no longer than a couple of days.

If for any reason a report is incomplete, then you should submit, on or before the due date, all work done to date (organization counts) along with a note describing:

Report style

Format

I expect professional looking reports. Use single line spacing and normal size type with reasonable amount of white space separating different items in the report; for example, diagrams, lists, paragraphs, etc. Reports in computer science are technical in nature, consequently they are partitioned into sections, sub-sections, etc. The specifications in this course for your are examples of the overall structure.

Here is a generic overview of the structure of a report and what a report contains. For short reports, as in this course you can replace the title page with a "title section" at the top of the first page of the report -- see the example design document in the course examples web page .

Here is a more detailed description of report format.

Please use a copy of the cover page (pdf file) as the first page of the report you hand in. It is used to record grades for each part and for the marker to write general comments about the report. The cover page does not replace the title or title page, it is in addition to it.

You can google "report format" if you want more examples.

Content

A report is not a puzzle to be solved by the reader. As the designer/author it is your responsibility to present, describe and explain everything pertinent to the problem being solved. Give overviews and guidelines for the reader. Tell the reader what you are doing, how to interpret figures, tables, examples, programs, etc. It is not, however, a tutorial on techniques used; assume that the reader knows these or point to where they can learn about the technique. Assume your reader is a student either in the course or just finished the course.

A copy of specifications is useless. I already have a copy. For readers of your reports they are uninteresting. Instead summarize, in your introduction, what you have done. Think of your reports as something you could take along to a job interview to show the kind of work you do. Just as artists of all kinds you need to collect a portfolio of your work. When someone asks what you have done you can give them example reports.

Do not use point format, except for the occasional list, or unless explicitly asked for. Use correct, grammatical sentences and paragraphs. Word processors and GNU emacs have spell checkers. There is a stand alone program, spell, on Prism. Use them.

Judicious use of external sources of material makes for better reports. In your reports be sure to cite the source of any material that you did not create yourself (no citation implicitly implies the work is yours). All information taken from external sources (everything which is not your own work) must be clearly indicated (verbatim items are quoted) and correctly referenced. If you cite references, there should be a reference list at the end of the report.

Even in the "real world" you are expected to cite where and how you obtained the answer so those people needing the report know how much trust to place in it.

Familiarize yourself with the rules and regulations regarding plagiarism. Be sure to read the section "Senate Policy on Academic Honesty", and "Faculty of Arts Policy on Academic Dishonesty" of the York University Calendar. Also see On Academic Honesty.