COMMUNICATION AND THE ENGINEER

Communications Manual of the

School of Electrical and Information Engineering
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Editor: A. Pantanowitz

Past Editors: Professor A.R. Clark (immediate), Professor G.J. Gibbon

Copyright c
School of Electrical and Information Engineering
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Revision 9

September 15, 2017

Abstract
Good written and oral communication is one the most important requirements for
engineers. The School of Electrical and Information Engineering acknowledges that
communication is not a natural skill for most students and throughout the curriculum
both teaches and assesses this aspect of engineering. The information contained in
this manual provides the student with the basic knowledge and reference material
required to develop a good communication ability. This document should be used
when preparing any written or oral presentation for the School of Electrical and
Information Engineering.

i
Acknowledgements
This manual originated as a guide to report writing compiled by Dr Brian Austin in
the early 1980s. The Austin guide was brought up to date by Professor Ian Jandrell
and later by Mr Alan Meyer for Engineering Design. A set of notes on written
communication and oral presentation prepared by Professor Hu Hanrahan was used
as further source material. The comments and criticisms of the staff of the School
of Electrical and Information Engineering (in particular Mr Dean Redelinghuys, Dr
Neill Harris, Professor Hu Hanrahan and Professor Alan Clark) in the preparation of
this and earlier editions is gratefully acknowledged.

ii
Preface
Engineering activity cannot be successful without effective communication. The cat-
egorical statement just made is based on a great body of experience. Engineering
involves conceiving, creating, planning, designing and implementing components, sys-
tems and processes which serve useful purposes for the development of society and
economic growth. No matter how clever or technically excellent an engineer’s con-
cepts, plans or designs, they cannot be brought to fruition without the support of many
forms of communication. Engineers interact with colleagues, seek and create informa-
tion and must persuade those who make the ultimate decisions on implementation.
Interaction, exchanging information and persuasion require effective communication.
Engineering faculties are expected to produce graduates who can communicate at
the level expected in the work situation. The School of Electrical and Information
Engineering at Wits takes this obligation seriously. We start in first year with teaching
students how to write acceptable design reports. In the final year the student’s written
communication abilities are verified through the major reports for the design and
laboratory projects.
Communication through the English language is essential for any engineer or profes-
sional person. Engineering activity is global. Technical literature is almost exclusively
in English. Increasingly, multinational companies adopt English as their official lan-
guage even if they are based in non English speaking countries. International confer-
ences are conducted in English, even if the majority of those present are not native
English speakers. When African engineers get together the common language is En-
glish. All engineers irrespective of where they practice, must be proficient both in
communication and in the English language.
Learning how to communicate effectively or improving one’s proficiency is neither
easy nor is it fun. Becoming a good professional communicator takes time and effort.
However, the rewards of being able to communicate well throughout one’s studies
and career are immeasurable. For example, employers often rate communication and
problem solving ability above deep technical knowledge when seeking engineering staff.
This Communications Manual is intended to assist the Electrical Engineering student
to acquire and perfect the necessary abilities in written communication and oral pre-
sentations. Other skills of reading and receiving spoken instructions and information
are not covered. The manual encapsulates the experience of the staff of the School
over many years and expresses their expectations of student reports and presentations.
The staff believe that the manual will help the student in the difficult, sometimes te-
dious but essential task of becoming an effective communicator.

H.E. Hanrahan
Professor of Communications Engineering
August 1998

iii
 Technical Communications Website

Updates to this manual, together with other useful reference material

are posted and updated from time to time on the following Web page:

http://ytdp.eie.wits.ac.za/BlueBook

iv
Contents
1 Importance of Communication 1

2 Types of Document 1

3 The Purpose and Audience 2

4 Reports 3
4.1 Logical Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4.2 Main Elements of a Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4.2.1 Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4.2.2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4.2.3 Descriptive Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.2.4 Concluding Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

5 Using the Literature 8

5.1 Performing a Literature Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.2 List of References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.2.1 Numerical System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.2.2 Harvard System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.3 General consideration for referencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.4 Web References: Good and Bad Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.5 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.6 Plagiarism and How to Avoid It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

6 Figures, Tables and Other Diagrams 15

6.1 Using Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
6.2 Using Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

7 Report Structure, Style and Language 17

7.1 Report Structuring Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
7.2 Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
7.3 Sentence Construction Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
7.4 Use of Tenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
7.5 Wordprocessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7.6 Writing Substantial Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

v
8 Additions to Aid the Reader 23
8.1 Page Numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8.2 Section Numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8.3 Title Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8.4 Abstract (Summary, Executive Summary, Synopsis) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
8.4.1 Features of a Good Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
8.4.2 Features of an Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8.5 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8.6 Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.7 List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.8 List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.9 List of Symbols and Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

9 Conventions and Formats 28

9.1 Page and Font Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
9.2 Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.3 Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
9.4 Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
9.5 Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
9.6 Test Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
9.7 Using Quotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
9.8 Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
9.9 Punctuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
9.10 Point Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
9.11 Coping with Personal Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

10 Oral Presentations 36
10.1 Differences between Oral and Written Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
10.2 Planning and Preparing a Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
10.2.1 Purpose and Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
10.2.2 Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
10.2.3 Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
10.2.4 Choosing a Style of Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
10.2.5 Designing Visual Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
10.2.6 Supporting Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
10.2.7 Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
10.3 Powerpoint Presentation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
10.4 Delivering the Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

vi
11 Conclusion 44

References 44

A Problematical Words and Phrases 46

B Fonts and Font Effects in LATEX 48

C A Note on Correct Formatting of References 49

C.1 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
C.2 Bibliographic Entry Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

D Minimum Requirements for all reports submitted by students to the

School. 54

vii
1 Importance of Communication
The work that an engineer performs is of little value unless it is communicated to
others. For this reason communication skills are a vital part of an engineer’s train-
ing. In most cases the communication is both oral and written. While much of this
communication is informal, made up of discussions and memos, the outcome of any
project must be a written report and often a formal oral presentation.
To achieve personal success and to make a proper contribution to society, engineers
must be able to communicate their ideas, findings and conclusions to colleagues,
other professionals as well as interested and concerned parties outside engineering.
Engineers must be able to persuade others to accept their proposals. Unfortunately,
many aspirant and practising engineers do not perceive the importance of professional
communication. All parties suffer as a result: the engineer, the enterprise, clients and
the standing of the engineering profession.
This manual introduces the student to the topic of communication, both written and
oral, and provides guide-lines to assist the production of acceptable reports and pre-
sentations, firstly, for examination at this university and, secondly, in the graduate’s
future career.
This manual is written in the form of a medium length report and illustrates many
of the formats and conventions it presents.
Note: This manual sets the standards of the School of Electrical and
Information Engineering for student reports. All reports presented to the
School must comply with the standards as laid down in this document.
Sections 2 and 3 examine the varied types of documents and audiences. Section 4
identifies the main structural elements of a report. Section 5 discusses the process for
identifying, listing and citing references in the literature. Section 6 presents conven-
tions for diagrams and tables in engineering documents. Section 7 assists the author
to design the structure of a report, select a style and use correct language. Section 8
reviews conventions for the parts of the document that are introduced to assist the
reader, including the abstract, table of contents and numbering. Section 9 reviews var-
ious conventions used in the engineering literature. Section 10 presents best practice
for oral presentations.
To aid the use of this Manual as a reference while writing, an Index is provided at
the end.

2 Types of Document
The range of documents that an engineer is called on to write is wide as the following
list shows:

• Management reports and documents;

• Progress reports or presentations;
• Evaluation reports or presentations;

1
 • Technical manuals for hardware and software;

• Design documentation;

• Technical reports;

• Conference papers;

• Papers for publication; and

• Standards documents.

Each type of document has a specific purpose but all have a number of common
elements and requirements. We identify and describe the essential parts of documents
that engineers write. Writing is as much an art as following rules. We therefore also
convey the ideas underlying best practice in effective professional communication in
this manual.
Section 4 concentrates on the report form, as this is the type of document that the
student generally writes. The conventions and techniques described for reports are
readily adapted to other types of document.

3 The Purpose and Audience

Before starting on any report or presentation, it is vital that the purpose of the doc-
ument and the intended audience be carefully considered. The question must always
be asked “for whom is the report or presentation intended and what information or
proposals must be conveyed?”
The author should not over- or under-estimate the audience’s knowledge of the sub-
ject. A safe starting point is to assume that the audience is competent at a level that
must be identified by the author, but not completely familiar with the subject being
reported. Members of the audience may be at different levels of competence and the
author needs to plan the report or presentation to be acceptable to each group.
Engineering activity affects almost every aspect of the economy and society and an
engineer’s audience may consist of almost anyone. The more common audiences that
may be expected by a practising engineer are:

• Engineers in your specialist field;

• Engineers from other fields;

• Managers, company directors and financiers;

• Scientists and other related professionals;

• Lawyers, accountants and entrepreneurs;

• Technicians, artisans or operators;

• Government and regulatory authorities;

2
 • Labour union officials and members; and
• Lay persons, civic, environmental and other interest groups.

The report or presentation may have to address more than one group and would have
to be structured accordingly.
In some cases it is appropriate to identify the audience explicitly in the Introduction,
for example “This report was prepared for the Board of Directors as part of the Super
Network Project”, or “This review is intended for telecommunications engineers who
need to gain an appreciation of new technologies”.

4 Reports
This section describes the logic, conventions and techniques for constructing reports.
Examples are given to illustrate aspects of report writing. Checklists allow key ele-
ments of reports to be tested against best-practice.

4.1 Logical Approach

The report should progress from its objectives or problem statement, through the
necessary analyses and actions to its conclusions. Often, a research project diverges
from its theme at commencement of the work so that the findings ultimately bear
little relation to the initial problem statement. In such cases, the problem should be
restated for the report. Reports should always be written with a degree of hindsight
and not merely provide a blow-by-blow account of the project as it developed. The
report is written as if the problem was identified and solved by a smooth-running
process: this hardly ever occurs in reality!

4.2 Main Elements of a Report

All types of report, whether a short two-page progress report, this manual of some
forty pages or a 100-page thesis, have the same principal elements listed below and
discussed in subsequent sections1 :

• Title
• Introduction
• Descriptive section(s)
• Conclusion

Other elements described in section 8 may be added to assist the reader to use the
document or to support the main elements.
1
We use the word element to refer to any constituent part of the report. The terms section and
sub-section mean a portion of the main text identified by a heading and usually having a number.

3
4.2.1 Title

The title should convey the essential nature, content or purpose of the report in as
few words as possible. The title, abstract and introduction must be well co-ordinated.
Example 1 shows how addition of a few words focuses the title on the subject.

Example 1: Developing a title

The title “A trip to the coffee shop.” tells the reader you are writing about a
trip to a coffee shop.
Changing the title to “A trip to the coffee shop to buy food.” also informs
the reader why you are undertaking this trip.

Having drafted a title, checklist 1 should be applied.

CHECKLIST 1: TITLE

Does the chosen title:

• Use as few words as possible but convey the essence of the content;

• Avoid redundant phrases such as “Report on an investigation into..”;

4.2.2 Introduction

The Introduction draws the reader’s attention to the subject of the report and should
concisely:

• provide background information necessary to understand the basis of the report

which is to follow;

• state clearly what the problem or subject under discussion is and why it is being
investigated or reported;

• identify the scope of the report; and

• give an overview of remainder of the document.

The form and length of the Introduction depend on the type of report being written
and what is required by the reader for a full understanding of what is to follow. In a
long report, the Introduction may be broken into subsections.
The Title and the Introduction must be well co-ordinated to orientate the reader.
Example 2 illustrates the development of an Introduction for the coffee shop example.

4
Example 2: Coffee shop trip report: Introduction
• For the report on a trip to the coffee shop, the title indicates that the object
is to buy food and provides part of the introduction.

• A paragraph may be necessary to expand the reasons for the trip, say:

– Because you had no breakfast; or

– Your alarm clock did not work.

• A section (or chapter in a long report) may be necessary to fully explain the
background and reasons for what you are reporting, for example:

– Background information on coffee shops;

– References to clock makers and their history; or
– The demise of clock makers in general.

The Introduction must present the objectives of the report, usually in the form of a
problem statement. The problem statement must state what the problem is and the
limits on the expected solution. The problem statement must be presented against
an adequate background. The method of formulating the background and reporting
supporting information through a literature survey is given in section 5.
Checklist 2 is intended to be used when writing the Introduction.

CHECKLIST 2: INTRODUCTION

Put yourself in the reader’s position. At end of the Introduction:

• Has the background been sketched?

• Is the purpose of the report clear?

• Is the problem clearly identified and stated?

• Is there a guide to the rest of the document?

• Is the reader likely to be ready to tackle the rest of the document?

• Is the literature survey satisfactory:

– Has sufficient information been collected?

– Is each reference significant to the problem?
– Has the literature survey been documented in the text using a proper
referencing system as described in section 5?

5
4.2.3 Descriptive Part

One or more sections, which we call the descriptive part, describe the methods and
activities used to solve the problem(s) stated in the introduction and present the
results obtained. The descriptive part contains one or more sections and sub-sections
depending on the length and format of the report and the number of topics covered2 .
Each section and subsection must have a heading which conveys its essential purpose.
Do not actually head the descriptive part with the words: “Descriptive
Part”.
The descriptive part of the report must exhibit logical organisation, development and
continuity. A report is an argument, where each point is logically introduced so that
the reader can easily follow the reasoning.
Elements of the descriptive part of the report on a visit to the coffee shop are listed
in example 3.
Section 7 discusses how to structure a report, including the descriptive part. Check-
list 6 allows the report structure and descriptive part to be tested for best-practice.

Example 3: Describing the visit to the coffee shop

The descriptive part for the visit to the coffee shop could include sections on:

• Route to the shop;

• Possible dangers of the trip;

• Food available;

• Choice of food with reasons;

• Results of the trip (in the form of sub-sections);

– Information on the route and its dangers;

– Quantity of food available;
– Quality of food;
– Solution to the hunger problem.

4.2.4 Concluding Section

All reports must arrive at a conclusion. The concluding section must present the
conclusions reached and, if required, make recommendations. The conclusions may
be supplemented by a discussion and recommendations for further work. We examine
the three elements of the concluding section.
Discussion
2
In a long report a number of descriptive chapters may be used.

6
Before formulating conclusions, all relevant results obtained and their analysis must
be fully presented. The analysis may be located in its own section in the descrip-
tive sections. The discussion part of the concluding section is a review of what has
been done and could summarise the findings. Discussion would typically include a
comparison with the results of other work.
The actual conclusions
The conclusion closes the loop back to the problem statement given in the introduc-
tion. Here the author evaluates the results of the work and aids the reader to judge
the worth of the work. No new information should be included in the conclusion.
The conclusion must link back to the objective or problem statement given in the
introduction.
Reporting of failure, that is a case when the methods used did not solve the problems
stated in the introduction, is just as important as reporting a successful project.
Informing readers of unsuccessful procedures will prevent them from repeating your
mistakes.
Recommendations for further work
Where relevant, recommendations for further action can be included. Some reports
require definite recommendations to be made. In such cases, the recommendations
must be specific and clear.
The following format for the concluding section or chapter is often successful:

• Summary of main body written with hindsight;

• List and comment on main findings and recommendations, relating each to the
problem statement;

• Proposals for further work may be appropriate, especially in a substantial re-

search report.

The length of each component depends on the nature of the work.

Example 4: Conclusions on the coffee shop project

For the visit to the coffee shop the conclusions should comment on:

• The choice of route and specific dangers encountered.

• Food examined, your selection and reasons.

• Recommendations on possibly using other routes or other food choices, based

on information contained in your report.

• Whether the food purchased met the requirements as set out in the introduc-
tion.

Checklist 3 should be applied whenever a concluding section is written.

7
 CHECKLIST 3: CONCLUSION

Does the concluding section:

• Summarise and analyse the principal findings;

• Draw factual conclusions or exercise judgement relating to the problem state-

ment;

• Introduce information not contained in the main body (if so move to main
sections);

• Record proposals for further work arising from the present project?

5 Using the Literature

Few works can be conducted without reference to information gathered from a variety
of sources including books, papers, standards, archives and the World Wide Web.
Reports are enhanced by describing the background to the problem which is solved.
For example, a report on the design of a new video camera should contain the moti-
vation for embarking on the design. Background and supporting information are best
found through a literature survey and the sources are recorded in a list of references.
Assertions made by the author are often justified by the work of others. Such work
must be referred to using the method of citation and reference list described in this
section.

5.1 Performing a Literature Survey

As the reader is not necessarily an expert in the field under discussion, suitable back-
ground material must be included, if not already covered in the introduction. This
should include a literature survey where any work done by other researchers in the
field should be cited and their results, if relevant, briefly discussed. A literature survey
draws on many sources including books, journals, vendor’s product and application
data, standards documents and the World Wide Web.
The literature survey may occupy a separate section if it is lengthy. Works such as
papers, technical reports and academic and professional textbooks require references
for several reasons

• To ensure that the author has adequate background information and insight
into the problem;
• To confirm that existing knowledge has been taken into account in the work;
• To provide authority for statements that are made; and
• To allow the reader to obtain more information.

8
The objective of the literature survey is to obtain material that supports the work at
hand. The following stages constitute an effective literature reviewing method.

• Firstly, the problem statement or research question must be foremost in the

author’s mind, even if it is not yet properly formulated.

• Obtain reference material: from archival and other sources including the Inter-
net.

• Read and comprehend references: too often the mere possession of a copy of a
reference is considered adequate scholarship. It is essential that each reference
be read in adequate depth. Some works may be rejected after skim reading.
Any reference actually used must be carefully read and digested.

• Organise and record information: Enter references into a properly formatted

list. Summarise the parts of reference relevant to the work.

• Evaluate information: What is the relevance of the material? What is the

standing and credibility of the material?

• Draw conclusions: What does the reference contribute to the solution of the
problem?

• Document relevant material: Write sentence(s) or paragraphs in your own words

for your document, citing references.

5.2 List of References

Most reports are incomplete without a proper set of references, properly cited in the
text. Several standard referencing systems exist, and all are generally acceptable. In
engineering, both the Numerical and the Harvard systems of referencing are used.
However, having adopted a particular system on the first page of the report, one must
adhere to that system for the entire report.
Various organisations and journals specify the referencing style required and the au-
thor must ascertain and adhere to these standards.
Referencing systems have two components. Firstly, references are listed in the defined
format and secondly, references are cited in the text using a defined format.

5.2.1 Numerical System

The list contains numbered references. Citation is performed using the reference
number. The order of items in the reference list is in order of citation in the text.
Example 5 shows the method of citation of references by number and example 6 shows
the reference list formatted according to the numerical list.

9
Example 5: Citing references by number
“System faults initiated by very fast transients (VFTs) have been the subject of
much research [1-3]. One of the more prominent faults is the breakout of the spark
between the disconnecter contacts, leading to an earth fault [4]. . . . The magnetic
effects are known to be of particular importance [5], and further research has been
proposed in this area . . . ”

The cited references, numbers 1 to 5, must be included in the list of references using
the recommended format shown in example 6.

Example 6: Reference list according to the numerical system

References

[1] Reynders J P, Modry R, Meppelink J. Breakdown in a coaxial gap with the

application of disconnecter generated transients. SAIEE Transactions, Vol 77,
August 1986, pp 144-150.
[2] Boggs SA, Chu F Y, Fujimoto N, Krenicky A, Plessl A, Schlicht D. Disconnect
switch induced transients and trapped charge in gas-insulated substations IEEE
Transactions, Vol PAS-101, January 1982, pp 3593-3602.
[3] Luxa G, Kynast E, Pigini A. Improvements in reliability for gas- insulated sub-
stations. CIGRE paper 23-11, Paris, August 1988.
[4] Witzman R. Fast transients in gas insulated substations (GIS) - modelling of
different GIS components. Paper 12.06, Fifth ISH, Braunschweig, August 1987.
[5] Bozorth R M. Ferromagnetism. D Van Nostrand Company Inc, New Jersey, first
edition, 1951.
[6] Simmins I., European Telework Development Initiative.
http://www.eto.org.uk/faq/faqtcvtc.htm, Last accessed 3 August 1998.
[7] Einstein A., Personal Communication

Note how technical papers (references 1 and 2), conference proceedings (references
3 and 4) and books (reference 5) are formatted. Reference 6 shows how to include
an item found on the World Wide Web, while reference 7 shows how to indicate that
information was obtained personally from a source. Personal Communications should
be used sparingly and should be in writing so that the material could be supplied
to an interested party. Note the hanging indent format used for reference lists. As
Web documents may change or be removed, it is advisable to include the date of the
document, or if undated, give the date on which the version of the document used in
the work was accessed.
Further examples of formatting references are given in Appendix C.

5.2.2 Harvard System

In the Harvard system, the references are listed alphabetically and are cited in the
text with the first author’s surname and date as illustrated in example 7.

10
Example 7: Citing references in the Harvard system
“System faults initiated by very fast transients (VFTs) have been the subject of
much research [Reynders 1986, Boggs 1982, Luxa 1988]. One of the more prominent
faults is the breakout of the spark between the disconnecter contacts, leading to an
earth fault [Witzman 1987]. ... The magnetic effects are known to be of particular
importance [Bozorth 1951], and further research has been proposed in this area ...”

Other Harvard citation formats are also used, for example Bozorth (1951).
The cited references must be included, in alphabetical order, in the reference list and
formatted according to the Harvard convention as shown in example 8.

Example 8: Reference list in Harvard format

References
Boggs SA, Chu F Y, Fujimoto N, Krenicky A, Plessl A, Schlicht D. Disconnect
switch induced transients and trapped charge in gas-insulated substations IEEE
Transactions, Vol PAS-101, January 1982, pp 3593-3602.
Bozorth R M. Ferromagnetism. D Van Nostrand Company Inc, New Jersey, first
edition, 1951.
Luxa G, Kynast E, Pigini A. Improvements in reliability for gas-insulated substa-
tions. CIGRE paper 23-11, Paris, August 1988.
Reynders J P, Modry R, Meppelink J.Breakdown in a coaxial gap with the applica-
tion of disconnecter generated transients. SAIEE Transactions, Vol 77, August
1986, pp 144-150.
Witzman R. Fast transients in gas insulated substations (GIS) - modelling of dif-
ferent GIS components. Paper 12.06, Fifth ISH, Braunschweig, August 1987.
Simmins I., European Telework Development Initiative.
http://www.eto.org.uk/faq/faqtcvtc.htm, Last accessed 3 August 1998.
Einstein A., Personal Communication

5.3 General consideration for referencing

Consistency and accuracy are essential ingredients in the referencing process. The
objective is to allow the reader to easily find and consult any of the sources cited in
your report.
Every reference must be cited: if not, remove the reference, or, in a long document,
move the item to a bibliography. Similarly, reference to other work must always be
backed up by means of a reference.
Generally applicable, accepted theory which the reader can be expected to know is not
referenced. For example, if the cosine rule is used in a calculation the author would
not reference it. However, the author must reference a technique that is novel and
that most readers of the report would not have heard of. For example, a published
but not generally known numerical analysis procedure used in the work should not be
described in full but should be referenced.

11
If copies of graphs and diagrams from references are used their source must be
acknowledged—otherwise the author is guilty of plagiarism, as discussed in sec-
tion 5.6.
An extensive guide to referencing is given in [1] and should be obtained by all students.
As a document nears completion, checklist 4 should be used to ensure consistency of
referencing and the reference list.

CHECKLIST 4: REFERENCES AND REFERENCE LISTS

• Is the referencing system acceptable to the target audience?

• Is every citation made according to the system chosen?

• Does the reference list conform to the chosen system?

• Could a stranger find every reference from the data given in the list?

• Is every reference in the list cited in the text?

Where does one put the citation? The answer is that a citation generally has
local significance within the sentence. For example this sentence shows clearly who
owns what: The design presented in this report is based on the enhanced widget
procedure developed by Smith [9] and extended by Bloggs to cater for the case of
pseudo-widgets [10].
If a reference has a wider scope than the current sentence the scope should be clearly
indicated. For example: We summarise the approach of Mugg and Bean [11]. They
address the problem of . . . Their work is based on the assumption . . . We rely on their
third result, namely . . .
A citation at the beginning of a sentence jars, for example: [10] discusses pseudo-
widget dynamics. Rather write: Bloggs derives the theory of pseudo-widget dynamics
[10].

5.4 Web References: Good and Bad Practice

When writing a paper for publication, the reference list provides the authority for
information not developed by the author. Works cited should therefore be authorita-
tive and should remain available for as long as readers need to consult the sources.
Today, it is often necessary to use a mixture of archival and Web-based references.
Conventions for archival references are well established and, if used properly provide
good support for the paper. Web references, however, are dynamic and can change or
disappear with time. Also, Web-references are not subject to scrutiny before posting,
except in a minority of cases. The level of authority of web references must be estab-
lished before citing. Experience has revealed a number of good and bad practices for
Web references listed below.

12
Good Practice

• Standards documents published on the Web-sites of reputable standards bodies

can generally be quoted with confidence.

• Check all the web references when the paper is complete for submission to the
conference or journal. Do not rely on references that were accessed one, three,
six, . . . months ago.

• Restrict web references to white papers, standards, tutorials and similar docu-
ments.

Bad Practice:

• Simply quoting the result produced by a search engine without going to the
reference itself and evaluating it.

• Quoting summaries of inaccessible documents (the full document may contain a

different message!). Don’t assume that the person who wrote the summary did
a good job!

• Quoting documents that are not available to any web user, for example requiring
a password or a fee.

• As far as possible, do not use press releases or other ephemera as references

unless the context justifies it: for example in a paper on how ephemeral press
releases are.

• Do not cut and paste text, pictures and diagrams from web references. There
could be copyright implications. Rather quote and acknowledge. See Plagiarism
in section 5.6. In any event, cutting and pasting usually means that the material
is never processed mentally by the cutter and paster!

• Giving only the URL3 and not the document tile and author, if any. Many
sites are complex and the document must be identified exactly. At least the
document title and the organisation behind the website should be quoted. If
the document has an author, that’s better still.

• Do not give URLs which contain script or search parameters, for example:
http://whatis.techtarget.com/wsearchResults/1,2902,sid9,00.html?query=Edge+Router
Conversely, do not just give the URL of the home page such as www.national.com
that has thousands of web-pages! If possible, specify the exact page.
3
Uniform Resource Locator, a name in a standard format that specifies some resource such as a
web page on the Internet.

13
5.5 Bibliography

A bibliography, in alphabetical order, may be added to a report but must not be con-
fused with the list of references. The bibliography is a list of documents that contain
information relevant to the subject of the report, but not cited in the document.
The bibliography is formatted in the same way as the reference list.
The bibliography indicates to the reader that you have read widely on the subject and
the referenced works you used for your report are based on this extensive knowledge.

5.6 Plagiarism and How to Avoid It

Plagiarism is a wrongful attempt to pass off another’s work as one’s own, or the act
of copying without permission or acknowledgement.
In short, plagiarism is intellectual theft.
Plagiarism may constitute a criminal offence under copyright law. Plagiarism is viewed
as a serious breach of academic and professional ethics. Universities, and Wits is no
exception, see plagiarism in a serious light and proactively discourage the practice
and take appropriate action against students who plagiarise.
What does this mean for the student? In plain English, the total unacceptability of
plagiarism means that:

• Do not simply copy material, including text, diagrams and software, from other
sources into your work.

• It is permissible to make limited, properly acknowledged, quotations from ref-

erences if, and only if, you follow the conventions for text quotations described
in section 9.7. Quotations must support the arguments of your work.

• When referring to the work of others, clearly attribute the referenced material
to its author(s).

• Write the part of your text referring to the work of others in your own words
and logic. Summarise or paraphrase, and even criticise, the original author’s
work.

• Make use of accepted citing and referencing conventions.

• Do not copy diagrams from references. Features of figures from the literature
may be adapted into drawings, omitting or de-emphasising unimportant fea-
tures, emphasising the features of particular relevance to your work and showing
your contribution to the understanding of the material. The original must still
be acknowledged. For example: put in the caption “Adapted from Smith [10]”.

Following the best practice in referencing as laid out in this handbook helps the
student avoid plagiarism.

14
6 Figures, Tables and Other Diagrams
Figures and tables are the most frequent methods used by engineers to communicate
information in a compact way in a report. The need for other types of illustrative
material arises, for example, engineering drawings and the Examples and Checklists
used in this manual.
Tables contain numerical or comparative descriptive information. Drawings and
graphs are usually inserted into figures.
Engineering drawings (diagrams and figures) follow standardised conventions whether
they are generated manually or by a computer aided design (CAD) system. There are
both international and “in-house” symbols used for drawings and the author should
use the standard required by the organisation or reader.
Tables, diagrams and figures must have:

• A stand-alone caption:
A reader should be able to scan the document for a figure and immediately
recognise its content without having to find the figure number reference in the
text to read about it.

• A table or figure number:

The reader must know which figure to refer to when reading the text, especially
if it is located on another page. The table or figure must be referred to
in the text.

• Figures must have axis labels, column headings and Units:

Labels, units, arrows, legends are all part of the language of diagrams. If parts
of the language are missing, then the diagram is difficult to understand. The
Units must be shown in the label to each axis.

If possible, the report should not have to be turned in order to read or view diagrams,
tables or graphs. However, should their size require this, then these items must be
positioned such that they are legible when the left hand edge of the page is
uppermost.

6.1 Using Figures

The way figures are used is illustrated by means of the sample text in example 9 and
figure 1.

Example 9: Text referring to a figure

A telephone connection from one subscriber, A, to another subscriber, B, connected
to another end exchange is set up by the end exchanges as well as the transit
exchanges. The call routing process is illustrated in figure 1. The call is routed via
the first choice trunks unless these are fully occupied. An alternate route trunk to
a transit exchange is used in such a case.

15
 Transit

Alternate
Route

End First Choice Trunks End

A B

Figure 1: Principles of telephone call routing in the Public Switched Telephone Net-
work.

Note that the figure is placed close to the text which refers to the figure by number.
Figures are often best placed at the top or bottom of the page. The caption, con-
ventionally placed under the diagram, is brief but explanatory. The text describes
individual elements of the diagram in the figure and how they relate to each other.
This example shows a figure which aids understanding of the text. A complex engi-
neering drawing may be better placed in an appendix rather than in the main text
body.

Refer to figures when the part of the text that relies on the figure starts. Conversely,
do not give the whole explanation and then refer to the figure as if an afterthought.

In the text, walk through the relevant parts of the diagram. Don’t use phrases such
as “. . . it may be seen from the figure that . . . ”. Rather refer to specific, clearly
identified features in the figure. For example: “Terminal A shown in figure 6.2 sends
a connection request to the Network Interface.” is an acceptable form if both objects
are clearly identified in the figure.

6.2 Using Tables

Tables are used to present numerical information in rows and columns. The caption
of a table is conventionally placed above the table. Table numbers are independent
of figure numbers. An example of a table is given in table 1 and the text referring to
it by number is in example 10.

16
 Table 1: Numbers of main lines in 1992 and growth rate 1982–1992 by region.

Region Main Lines (×106 ) Growth Rate %

Europe 220 5.1
North America 160 2.9
Asia 120 6.6
Latin America 33 7.1
Oceania 10 4.1
Africa 10 8.5

Example 10: Text referring to a table

The size of the world telecommunications market can be gauged from the telephone
population. In 1990 the number of main lines in the world was approximately 522
million while a decade later it will have reached 850 million. The breakdown by
region and the regional growth rates are shown in table 1. The high growth rates
in Asia and Africa are characteristic of developing countries.

Large tables are better placed in an appendix.

Checklist 5 should be applied whenever a table or figure is used.

CHECKLIST 5: FIGURES AND TABLES

• Are the tables and figures numbered, each with its own series of numbers?

• Is every figure and table referred to in the text?

• Does each figure and the text that refers to it, contribute to understanding of
the report?

• Does each table and the text that refers to it, contribute useful data to an
understanding of the report?

• Is there a concise explanatory caption:

– above each table;

– below each figure?

7 Report Structure, Style and Language

Apart from the technical content, a report is judged by the reader on its structure,
style of writing and the use of language. The purpose of any report is to convey ideas
effectively rather than to impress the reader with one’s command of the language,

17
vocabulary or mathematics. Often the reader’s first language will not be English.
The essence of a good report is simplicity coupled with sufficient detail so that the
subject matter is easily understood.
Every author must consider the logical architecture of the report, the choice of an
appropriate style. In all cases acceptable language usage is required. To write good
reports it is necessary to consider the issues that we discuss in the following sections.

7.1 Report Structuring Techniques

An essential first step in writing a report is to create a logical structure for the
document. We recommend a top-down approach to creating a report. The approach
should concentrate on the logical progression from problem to solution rather than
the actual sequence of successful and unsuccessful actions that led to the answer. The
report should never be a blow-by-blow account of how the project unfolded. Rather,
the report is often written as if the work had progressed perfectly the first time!

• As a first step, create a skeleton using carefully chosen words for:

– Chapter headings (long reports only)

– Section headings
– Subsection headings
– Sub-subsection headings
– ...

• As the second step, within each of the smallest divisions in the skeleton identified
above:

– Write a series of topic sentences which convey the main points of the
logic within the division;
– Identify the figures and tables and insert if already available.

• As a third step, use each topic sentence to start a paragraph. Add logically
connected sentences to fill out each paragraph. Ensure that added material is
concise: brief but comprehensive.

• Continue until the report is complete.

• Check the length of the resulting document. If stated constraints on the length
are exceeded, the report must be reviewed to be made concise but complete.

The author should remember that few people can write a document once from start
to finish without revision. Most writers need to develop the document by a process
such as the one described above and revise several times.
The skeleton is a preliminary form of the table of contents. Looking at the table of
contents of this manual gives a top-down view of its structure. Example 11 shows

18
topic sentences drawn from the Preface of this manual. The five sentences outline the
logic of the preface.
Example 11: A set of topic sentences from the Preface
1. Engineering activity cannot be successful without effective communication.

2. Engineering faculties are expected to produce graduates who can communicate

at the level expected in the work situation.

3. Communication through the English language is essential for any engineer or

professional person.

4. Learning how to communicate effectively or improving one’s proficiency is

neither easy nor is it fun.

5. This Communications Manual is intended to assist the Electrical Engineering

student to acquire and perfect the necessary abilities in written communica-
tion and oral presentations.

Checklist 6 should be used to assess whether the structure of the report, and the
descriptive part in particular, are satisfactory.

CHECKLIST 6: REPORT STRUCTURE

• Does the Skeleton, as reflected in the table of contents:

– have short but explanatory section and subsection headings;

– follow logically from the problem statement;
– show the logical development of the report;
– lead logically to the conclusion?

• Within each (sub-)section, does the first sentence of each paragraph reveal
the logical development?

7.2 Style
The style of engineering reports is more formal than would be used in a discussion
about the work. There is a temptation to write in the way that one speaks. The result
is generally unacceptable in written reports. Frequently occurring problematical words
and phrases are listed in appendix A.

7.3 Sentence Construction Techniques

Clear, simple, unambiguous English is essential in any report. Good sentence con-
struction is the key enabler of clarity. Best practice in sentence writing includes the

19
following:

• Keep the length of sentences moderate, not too long and not staccato: if the
average sentence length exceeds 20 words, see whether sentences can be split
and logically linked.

• Keep the subject and verb close together.

• Use active not passive verbs. For example: write “The amplifier produced
excessive distortion. . . ” rather than “excessive distortion was produced by the
amplifier.”

• Write impersonally. Do not use I, you, your, . . . unless the context justifies this
form. “We”, meaning the author and reader jointly is often used in tutorial
work and scientific papers.

• Deal with one idea per sentence.

• Link from sentence to sentence by means of a logical sequence and choice of

words indicating the links. See the fourth paragraph of the Preface for four
linked sentences making up a paragraph. Use words such as “consequently,
therefore, in conclusion, firstly, secondly, rather, . . . ” to signal transitions.

• A good dictionary, thesaurus and wordprocessor spellchecker are essential tools

for the report writer.

CHECKLIST 7: STYLE

• Does the style match the document’s purpose?

• Does the tone match the document’s purpose?

• Are problematic words and phrases listed in Appendix A used?

• Is there a significant proportion of long sentences?

• Do sentences in a paragraph link logically?

• Are future and past tenses used appropriately?

7.4 Use of Tenses

Incorrect choice of tense is a common difficulty. The following rules provide guidance:

• Use present tense to describe what is true now and in the future, for example
the results of other researchers. Thus the description of an object, system or
process is written in the present tense.

20
 • Use past tense to describe events in a historical sense, for example a procedure
already carried out or the sequence of events leading up to an incident.

• Use the future tense only for making a prediction.

• Do not use future to indicate what comes later in a report: it is there now and
will always be there, so use the present tense. Similarly, do not use the past
tense to refer to an earlier part of the report.

• Never mix tenses in the same sentence.

In summary, the present tense is used unless the past or future tense is justified.
In the example “The amplifier produced excessive distortion” the past tense may be
justified when a sequence of actions is described. However, in writing the amplifier’s
specification the present tense is used, for example “The total harmonic distortion
does not exceed 0.5%.” This statement is true at all times and is written in the
present tense.
The statement about this manual “Section 9.1 discussed the relationship between text
width and font size” is not correct simply because the section occurred earlier in the
report. Rather, the sentence should be written “Section 9.8 discusses the relationship
between text width and font size”. Similarly, writing “Section 10 will discuss oral
presentations.” is incorrect: it presents a discussion of oral presentations whenever a
reader looks at it! The future tense is appropriate for predictions such as “Calculations
show that the comet will be at its nearest approach to Earth on 11 June 2022.”

7.5 Wordprocessing
The use of wordprocessors is mandatory today and all students are encouraged to use
one for all reports presented to the School. Wordprocessors, if used effectively, provide
support for structuring documents as well as aiding the detailed writing. Some of the
advantages and possible pitfalls of wordprocessors are listed.
Advantages of writing with the aid of a wordprocessor:

• Top-down development of documents is possible. For example use a wordpro-

cessor to

– Plan the skeleton using headings and sub-headings;

– Insert hard material, formulae, tables, figures and mathematical develop-
ment;
– Incorporate boiler-plate or pre-written material; and
– Evolve and polish through successive drafts.

• Bottom-up development is equally possible but never as efficient!

• Spelling and style checkers can be useful, but are not always contextually correct.

Possible pitfalls of wordprocessors:

21
 • The technology can mask the communication objective;

• Writing directly onto a wordprocessor requires skill, developed through experi-

ence;

• Section numbering, tabular and mathematical capability is problematic in some

wordprocessors;

• Using an unfamiliar system against a short deadline can be disastrous;

• Greater reliance on technology increases the risks of something going wrong;

• Failure to backup work is a common and unforgivable disaster;

• Not allowing enough time for printing;

• Not proofreading.

7.6 Writing Substantial Documents

By substantial, we mean a document which has some or all of the following charac-
teristics: is long, has several figures or tables, relies on references, and makes use of
internal cross references, say between the text and figures or one part of the text and
another.
While some may view the following as a display of bias on the part of the authors, we
urge writers to adopt LATEX as their text processing medium for substantial technical
documents.
We also advise the student to do the following.

• Migrate early to LATEX: there is a learning curve to being able to exploit the
power of LATEX. Use the many resources available, for example [2].

• Adopt a development environment such as TeXnicCenter.

• Develop a set of original diagrams using a quality drawing programme, saved

in EPS format. (A related objective is avoiding plagiarism). The author should
never cut and paste diagrams without the explicit permission of the copyright
holder. Rather, the author should develop diagrams, which may be based on
standard or other authors’ drawings, but should be adapted and enhanced to
show the points that the author wants to bring out.

• Insert references into BibTeX data files as they arise. Ensure that the most
appropriate type of reference is chosen and that the title and author fields are
correctly formatted, for example as indicated in appendix C. Check the validity
of each entry by producing a reference list and careful proofreading.

22
8 Additions to Aid the Reader
The main elements, namely the title, introduction, descriptive part and conclusion
form the heart of the report. A number of elements may be included to aid the
reader. The actual elements included depend on the length and complexity of the
report and the requirements of the reader. For example, your university teacher,
your employer or the journal for which you are writing have particular expectations.
Within these expectations there is often latitude and judgement must be exercised on
what to include.
The elements normally included in a technical report are listed below, together with
a reference to the section of this manual containing detailed requirements on each
element:

• title page (8.3)

• abstract (summary or synopsis) (8.4)
• acknowledgements (8.5) placed here in a longer document
• table of contents (8.6)
• list of figures (8.7)
• list of tables (8.8)
• list of symbols, abbreviations or acronyms, only in a long report (8.9)
• introduction (4.2.2)
• background to the problem and literature survey (5)
• descriptive part of the report, which may include various chapters or sec-
tions (4.2.3)
• discussion of the results (4.2.4)
• conclusion (4.2.4)
• list of references (5.2)
• bibliography (5.5)
• acknowledgements (placed here in a short document or technical paper)(8.5)
• appendices (9.2)
• footnotes (9.3) which may appear on any page containing text.

The order in which the elements are presented depends on the requirements of the
reader but should not depart significantly from the list. Elements may be combined in
a section, for example the introduction may cover the background and the literature
survey. Discussion and conclusions may be in the same section in a short report.
It is the author’s responsibility to determine the purpose of the report
and the report elements that the reader requires.

23
8.1 Page Numbering
It is essential that pages are numbered in a technical report. In a long report with sep-
arate title page, table of contents, preface and other preliminary items, the following
page numbering conventions are generally used.

• Title page: Unnumbered

• Contents, Acknowledgements, etc.: Small Roman numbers i, ii, iii, iv, . . .

• Main part, references, appendices: Arabic numbers 1,2,3,. . .

8.2 Section Numbering

A short report normally needs no more than section, subsection and sub-subsections.
The section numbering system would be used as in this manual.

• Sections: 1, 2, 3, . . .

• Subsections; 1.1, 1.2, . . . , 2.1, 2.2, . . .

• Sub-subsections; 1.1.1, 1.1.2, . . . , 2.1.1, 2.1.2, . . .

• Appendices: A, B, C, . . .

The headings of the following elements are not numbered: Title, Abstract, Ac-
knowledgements, Table of Contents, . . . See pages i—iv of this manual for an example
of this convention.
In a long report, chapters may be used as the first level of numbering. Chapters are
numbered 1, 2, 3, . . . Sections are then numbered 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, . . .
Sections do not start on a new page, as in this manual. Chapters, as would be used
in a long report or thesis, start on a new page.
Other section numbering conventions are in use and may be required by firms and
journals.

8.3 Title Page

The title of the report, as well as the name of the author(s), the date of publication
and the name of the party for whom the report was prepared, normally appears on a
title page or in a title section. Generally, all organisations have a standardised format
for their title page, and this invariably includes the organisation’s full name, logo,
author and other relevant data.
The title page must not use fancy fonts, borders or clip art, other than possibly the
institution’s logo.
In a short report, say up to ten pages, the title, abstract and table of contents (if the
short report absolutely needs one) may all be placed on the same page.

24
8.4 Abstract (Summary, Executive Summary, Synopsis)

The terms abstract, summary, executive summary and synopsis have much the same
meaning but each is used in a particular context. Abstract usually refers to a technical
report or scientific paper. An executive summary is intended for management to glean
the implications of a detailed technical report. Summary and synopsis are often used
interchangeably with abstract.

Most reports should include a brief informative summary which outlines the purpose
of the report, the techniques used and the major results and conclusions obtained.
This is the advertisement for your project, and it is a stand-alone document.

8.4.1 Features of a Good Abstract

The abstract must convey the essential substance of the work. Together with the
title, the abstract must enable the reader to decide whether or not to read the whole
report. In many cases only the title and abstract are available to the prospective
reader.

The abstract is a stand-alone part of the report. The abstract is therefore never
numbered. When writing the Introduction, do not omit material that may have been
included in the abstract: the reader needs to understand the introduction as a whole.
The abstract must be specific, not general. The abstract should be written as a
single paragraph using full sentences and not “telegraphese”. The following must be
included in the abstract:

• the purpose of the work or investigation;

• the depth of treatment;

• the approach or methods used; and

• major results, conclusions and recommendations.

Hint: One sentence covering each item is a useful technique when writing abstracts
for short reports.

The abstract of a technical paper is likely to be read by many more people than the
report itself, as abstracts of papers are disseminated world-wide.

Checklist 8 should be used to assess whether an abstract is satisfactory.

25
 CHECKLIST 8: ABSTRACT

Does the Abstract, together with the title, form a unit covering:

• The purpose of the work;

• The depth of treatment;

• The methods used;

• Results, conclusions, recommendations?

Is the Abstract:

• Factual and specific;

• Written in full sentences;

• Written as a single paragraph;

• Free from references or mathematics unless there is a good reason for inclusion?

8.4.2 Features of an Executive Summary

By far the most frequent documents that engineers practising in a commercial envi-
ronment are called upon to produce are technical sales proposals and business plans.
One of the key elements of both these documents is the Executive Summary. An
Executive Summary to a sales proposal or business plan is usually a little longer than
an abstract as it is intended to be read by the company’s top management and should
succinctly summarise the important points of your proposal, sufficient to either entice
its reader to dig deeper, or make a judgemental decision on your proposal at a Board
meeting.

8.5 Acknowledgements

Often an individual or an organisation actively supports or contributes to the success

of a project. Obtaining such help is to be encouraged, but should always be acknowl-
edged. See the Acknowledgements at the beginning of this manual for an example of
how to write an acknowledgement.

Checklist 9 should be used when evaluating the acknowledgements section.

26
 CHECKLIST 9: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Is the Acknowledgement:

• Restricted to recognising those who significantly contributed to the work;

• The place where you identify contributions: for example funding, work done,
information supplied or helpful discussions;

• Straightforward, not overstated, not flattering;

• Located:

– In initial pages in a long document;

– For a paper or a short to medium report, after the conclusions or as a
footnote on the title page?

8.6 Table of Contents

Any multi-chapter or long report must have a list of the contents so that a reader can
find the sections of interest quickly and easily. Short reports, say of less than seven
pages, do not require a contents page: however, reader or project requirements may
dictate otherwise.

8.7 List of Figures

Graphs and other diagrams usually form an integral part of a report, and readers
should be able to refer to them easily. A list of figures is similar to the table of
contents and gives the figure caption and the page on which the figure is found. A
short report is unlikely to require a list of figures.

8.8 List of Tables

Tabulated data is often an important part of a report and should be easily referenced
by the reader. A list of tables, similar to the list of figures, gives each table’s captions
and the page on which the table is found. A short report is unlikely to require a list
of tables.

8.9 List of Symbols and Abbreviations

Any report which uses extensive mathematics or a significant number of abbreviations
and acronyms should provide a listing to aid the reader. Such lists could take the
form shown in example 12.

27
Example 12: Lists of symbols and abbreviations

List of symbols
φ = Flux Wb
B = Flux Density T
Nk = Number of turns on search coil k
Vk = Voltage induced in search coil k V

List of Abbreviations
AM Amplitude modulation
FM Frequency modulation
NBFM Narrow band frequency modulation
QPSK Quadrature phase shift keying

9 Conventions and Formats

Authors of reports must follow accepted conventions for matters such as abbreviations,
units and quotations. This section reviews accepted conventions in the engineering
field and literature.

9.1 Page and Font Sizes

The choice of the layout of the typical page and the font used affect the ease of
reading of the document, its general appearance and, of importance in newspapers
and magazines, economical use of pages. Considerations for readability and general
appearance follow.
The font size is the distance between the highest ascender, for example the top of a
capital letter, to the lowest descender, for example the bottom of the letters g or y.
Font size is measured in points (pt). A point is 1/72 inch or 0.353 mm. The minimum
line spacing for readability, called single spacing, is obtained by inserting white space
of at least 20% of the font size between lines. Single line spacing is therefore at least
1.2 times the font size. For example, minimum line spacing in 10 point is 10×3.53 ×
1.2 ≃ 4.3 mm. These approximate relationships are shown in figure 2 for a sample of
72 point text.
The normal range of font size for body text is 10, 11 or 12. Body text larger than
12 point or smaller than 8 point is hard to read. For example, this manual was
prepared using 12 pt type on A4 paper. It was then reduced to A5 size, giving a
resulting type size of 8.5 pt and textwidth of 106 mm.
Generally, documents are formatted for the International A4 Paper size, that is
297 mm by 210 mm. Most documents have a single column of text but conference
papers are often required to be formatted in two columns. The author must, unless
using a pre-defined format or style, choose the margin widths: left, right, top and

28
 30 mm
By 72 ~25 mm = 72 pt

~5 mm

18 mm

Point
Figure 2: Illustrating the point size and line spacing of a font

Table 2: Favourable combinations of text width and font size

Columns Font Size Text Width Margins

Left and Right Top and Bottom
Single 12 pt 150 mm 30 mm 25–30 mm
11 pt 138 mm 36 mm 30–35 mm
10 pt 126 mm 42 mm 35–40 mm
Double 9 or 10 pt 82 mm 19 mm left and right 19 mm
8 mm between columns

bottom. The choice of left and right margins, and hence the text width, are not in-
dependent of the choice of font size. Ideally, the choice of text width and font should
result in no more than 65 to 70 characters per line. Combinations of text width and
font size that satisfy this criterion are listed in table 2.
A plethora of fonts is available. In professional and technical writing, a limited number
of fonts suffice. It is generally accepted that Roman font types are more readable as
evidenced by their widespread use in books, magazines and newspapers. San Serif
types used for large amounts of continuous text are generally less readable. Appendix
B demonstrates the range of effects that can be obtained from only three fonts in
LATEX.
Changing the font may have unexpected consequences on the resulting character size.
In the many fonts available in Microsoft products the height and average width varies.
For example, characters in Arial are 10% taller and wider than in Times New Roman
of the same point size. Tahoma is the same height as Arial but may appear wider
or narrower on the average in different programmes. In LATEX, San Serif is the same
height but narrower than Roman type of the same point size.
The font shape may be varied for example to italic or slanted to provide emphasis
or other significance. Similarly, the weight of characters may be increased to bold.
Underlining may also be used, but sparingly as it reduces readability. The general
convention is to use italics for emphasis. In a particular report, the author may define
conventions for the use of different typefaces and font effects.

29
9.2 Appendices

Two methods are used to include material which is supportive of, or explanatory to,
the main section of the report, namely appendices and footnotes.
Appendices are used to give more detailed information or a more extensive explanation
of methods and techniques that are summarised in the body, as well as any other
information that is not essential to the understanding of the main part of the report.
All material that may detract from the continuity of the main body should be assigned
to an appendix.
Appendices typically contain:

• Detailed calculations;

• Detailed mathematical derivations;

• Detailed descriptions of apparatus;

• Extensive tables of data;

• Engineering drawings; and

• Computer programme listings.

Material is placed in an appendix to avoid disrupting the flow of the report. Ap-
pendices allow the reader to concentrate on the main part of the report, referring to
the appendix only if necessary. For example, an equation used in a calculation in
the report is quoted in the text. Its derivation, if required, is placed in an appendix.
When introducing the equation, the author refers to the appendix.
Every appendix must be referred to in the main text. Appendices are numbered
alphabetically.
It is not acceptable to include information in appendices which is easily referenced
or only marginally relevant. For example, manufacturer’s product data should be
referenced but not reproduced. Effective use of appendices allows the author to keep
the body of the report concise.
Appendix A provides an example of how an appendix supports the main text. Sec-
tion 7.2 refers in the text to a list of words and phrases contained in appendix A.
As the list is for reference purposes and occupies a whole page, it could distract the
reader if placed in the main text.
In a long report, the appendices are likely to be substantial in their own right. Such
appendices may be self-standing documents, that is have conventional parts such as
an Introduction. Appendix B is an example of such an Appendix.
Checklist 10 must be applied to each appendix.

30
 CHECKLIST 10: APPENDICES

• Is there any part of the main text which is:

– hard to read but which contributes its results to the logic of the main
text;
– a very detailed table of data;
– a detailed engineering drawing;
– detailed mathematics (in a non-mathematical report);
– other material which detracts from the continuity of the main text?

• If yes to any of the above, move the material to an appendix and refer to it
from main text.

• Is the material in an appendix available in the literature? If yes, remove the

appendix and use a reference instead.

• Is every appendix referred to in the main text? If not, is the appendix neces-
sary?

9.3 Footnotes
Footnotes are used to convey a small amount of relevant additional information to the
reader to enable the understanding of the information presented on that particular
page. A footnote should not exceed two or three lines. If longer, the information
should be included in the appendix.
Footnotes are placed at the bottom of the page on which the reference to the note
appears4 .

9.4 Abbreviations
The terms abbreviation, acronym and mnemonic are often incorrectly interchanged.
Their meanings and conventions are defined below.

Abbreviation: is a shortened form of a word or phrase, including use of initial letters

to represent the full name of the organisation, object or concept. For example,
Op-amp for operational amplifier;
exam for examination;
e.g. for exempla grata (a free example);
TV for television;
IMF for the International Monetary Fund;
N for North.
4
This is an example of a footnote. The superscript number in the text identifies the footnote.

31
Only commonly accepted abbreviations may be used. Recognised engineering abbre-
viations are permissible, provided they are defined the first time they appear. For
example, refer to section 5.2. In the text quoted, “VFTs” are defined. From that
point onward, the abbreviation VFT may be used for “very fast transients” in the
document.
In a long report or one with many abbreviations the type of list described in section 8.9
should be considered.
The terms acronym and mnemonic are often used incorrectly. Here are the definitions
and a few examples of each.

Acronym: a pronounceable word made up from the initial letters of the words mak-
ing up a name, adopted into the language, written with an initial capital and
lowercase. Some examples are:
Radar = Radio Distance and Ranging;
Laser = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation;
Cosatu = Congress of South African Trade Unions.

Mnemonic: a formula for aiding memory. For example:

CIVIL: In a Capacitor current (I) leads Voltage but I lags in an inductor (L).

If an abbreviation does not sound like a word, it does not rank as an acronym, for
example FPLMNTS. Abbreviations generally include acronyms but the converse is
not necessarily true.

9.5 Units
The SI system of units is used in all engineering documentation unless there is a
compelling reason for another system. The standard prefixes p, µ, m, k, M, G, T
should be used. Note that the case of the prefix is important: the system uses m, M
and k but not K. The prefix is always set in the same type as the normal text.
Three or four significant figures should be used unless the context demands a greater
or lesser number.
Units other than the basic SI types are often expressed as abbreviations. The standard
units and abbreviations should be used, for example bit/s rather than bps.
A space is inserted between a number and its units. For example, 5.15 µm is correct
while 5.15µm is not. Also, the number and units should not be allowed to break across
a line5 .

9.6 Test Sheets

Some reports may have a specific requirement to include un-edited test reading and
result sheets. In such cases, all readings taken during tests must be entered into a
5
A non-breaking space is obtained in Word by typing Ctrl-Shift-Space, and in LATEX by simply
typing a tilde (˜) where the space is required.

32
neat test sheet. The test sheet must record readings and calculations using those
readings. No comments or discussions must appear on the test sheet though a short
note describing how the test was performed is permissible.

9.7 Using Quotations

When quotations are used the source must be attributed via a citation to the reference
list. For example, when the numerical system is used, the reference number and page
number should be cited. Suggestions for formatting major and minor quotes follow.

Major quotes

Major quotations are formatted as separate paragraphs. A segment of text incorpo-

rating a major quotation is given in example 13.

Example 13: Text using a major quotation

As in any other field, good man-machine interfaces are particularly needed in the
field of telecommunication:

In large exchanges, where the consequences of an error are considerable

and the amount of data to be handled is formidable, the user-friendly
man-machine language eases the problem [20 p.97].

Minor Quotes

Minor quotations are formatted within a sentence or paragraph. A segment of text

incorporating a minor quotation is given in example 14.

Example 14: Text using a minor quotation

Advanced features of ETEs require operators to have higher qualifications. One
method of coping with the advanced features is to provide the best interface between
the operator and the system in order to enhance the effectiveness of the operator’s
work and to reduce training costs [4 p.270].

When the Harvard system is used the citation takes the form (Bloggs 1999, p.270).

9.8 Mathematics
Few engineering reports are an exercise in mathematics for its own sake. Rather,
mathematics is used as an aid to describe the phenomena or processes that the report
addresses. If mathematics is included in a report it should form an integral part of
the argument and should be understandable and enhance the text, not replace it or
confuse the reader.

33
Mathematics is a precise and concise language but, as with any language, it must
inform the reader. The reader must, in turn, be sufficiently competent in the language.
Symbols used in mathematics must be defined.

Equations contained in the text must be relevant to the logic of the report. Detailed
derivations should be put into the appendix and referred to in the text.

Example 15: Expertly laid out Mathematics

The Notation
x(t) ⇐⇒ X(f )
indicates that x(t) and X(f ) form a Fourier Transform Pair
Z ∞
X(f ) = x(t)e−j2πf t dt
−∞

Z ∞
x(t) = X(f )ej2πf t df
−∞

where √
j= −1

Many leading wordprocessors can produce mathematical symbols and equations but
do not do it easily or well6 . Example 15 shows mathematics formatted by LATEX as
well as an expert typesetter could. Note that alphabetical symbols in mathematics
are written in italic font. If a wordprocessor does not produce adequate mathematics,
it is preferable to leave spaces and write the mathematics in by hand in black pen.

Checklist 11 should be used when mathematics appears in reports.

CHECKLIST 11: MATHEMATICS IN REPORTS AND PAPERS

• Is the mathematics essential to the development of the report’s logic?

• Does the level of mathematics match the audience’s capability?

• Are complex mathematical developments relegated to appendices?

• Are symbols carefully chosen and defined?

• Is the layout of mathematics similar to that used in textbooks?

• Has the mathematics been checked thoroughly for errors?

34
 Table 3: Principal punctuation marks and their uses
Comma , Used to separate the smallest parts sentences in the interests of
readability. For example, lists of simple items in a sentence:
The main elements of a report are the title, introduction, descrip-
tive part and conclusion.
Semi-colon ; Intermediate between a comma and a colon. Used sparingly in
technical writing. Used for lists within sentences, closely related
or sequential clauses within a sentence, for example:
The project is now in its sixth month; management realises that
the project will overrun its time and budget; the workforce is
undisciplined but senior management is reluctant to act.”
Colon : Separates separate grammatical structures within a sentence.
Used to link two parts of a sentence where the second elaborates
on the first. For example:
The word “It” at the beginning of a sentence leaves the subject
ambiguous: the sentence can always be turned around to start
with the subject.
The colon introduces a list as the example shows.
The meal has three courses:
• A first course of butternut soup or smoked salmon;
• A main course with choice of six dishes; and
• A low-calorie dessert.
n-dash – Used to demarcate a range, for example:
Students with surnames starting A–H are placed in group one.
m-dash — Used to mark the beginning and end of a digression from the
main purpose of a sentence. Use sparingly in professional com-
munication. For example:
The jet plane approached its takeoff speed—and it always gives
me a thrill to hear the roar—then rotated and lifted off.
Hyphen - Break words over the end of a justified line in typesetting.
Used to link parts of compound words, for example:
The phase-locked loop has a good signal-to-noise ratio.
Used with adjectival nouns, for example:
Vector-space methods are used in two-body problems.
Used in reference lists for page ranges, for example pp 110-115.

35
9.9 Punctuation

The English language has general conventions for the use of punctuation marks in
sentences. Correct punctuation is essential to ensure the correct meaning is conveyed
and that sentences read well. In modern writing, punctuation is kept to the minimum
necessary to ensure correct meaning. The principal punctuation marks and their
usages are listed in table 3.

9.10 Point Form

The use of point form, as in sections 7.4 and 7.5, indicates clearly to the reader the
points you are making. The use of point form from time to time in your document
saves space and changes the tempo and format making reading more interesting. This
manual, consisting largely of instructions, uses point form to a greater extent than
normal in a technical report.
No report can be written in point form only! Any set of bullet points needs
a lead-in sentence or paragraph, together with a sentence or paragraph after the list.
See for example section 9.2 of this manual for a good balance between lists and text.

9.11 Coping with Personal Preferences

Students experience differences in personal preference from one member of staff to

another. For example, one staff member prefers a 10-page report to have a table of
contents, while a second does not. Similarly, one staff member may prefer each section
to be numbered, while another may not. These examples emphasise the importance
of trying to anticipate the wishes of the recipient of the report—equally important in
both the University and the industrial environment. Slavish adherence to rigid rules
on report writing can lead to soulless reports. Always ensure that you understand
what your reader is expecting of you; but remember that the items listed in bold
in section 8 on the structure of a report are essential.

10 Oral Presentations
The ability to make effective oral presentations is an essential competence of an en-
gineering graduate. In this section, we describe best practice in oral presentation.
Bad presentations by engineers are regrettably common. Frequent shortcomings of
presentations are listed in example 16.
How then does the presenter avoid the many pitfalls of presentations? We recommend
a number of practices which contribute to excellent presentations. The remainder of
this section draws on the experience of experienced presenters.
6 A
LT EX, which was used for this manual, is the premier text processor for mathematics. It out-
performs leading wordprocessors in other aspects as well.

36
Example 16: Heard after bad presentations
• He went on too long.

• That was dead boring, I nearly went to sleep.

• I couldn’t read her slides.

• The slides flashed past so quickly that I couldn’t keep up.

• His slides and what he said bore no resemblance.

• If the presentation had any message, it escaped me.

• He didn’t answer my question.

• I got lost in the maths/ all the statistics/ the complicated drawings . . .

• If they are not competent to put on a decent presentation, we are not going
to invest in their project.

• And many more . . .

10.1 Differences between Oral and Written Communication

Formal oral communication has some commonality with written reporting but also
has major differences.
Written material is read in the absence of the author. The reader relies solely on
the document for information. Oral presentations involve a direct link between the
presenter and the audience: feedback from the audience can be immediate. The
listener obtains other cues to assist understanding including body language, vocal
intonation and gestures.
Written documents can address complex issues and lead the reader to an understand-
ing of the complexities of a problem. By the very nature of the oral communication
process, the audience cannot follow involved calculations or convoluted reasoning.
The listener, unlike a reader, cannot easily go back to check on some point that has
been missed. An oral presentation should emphasise one or two major themes only.
These themes should be treated at a broad logical level. Details should be limited to
that required to reinforce the main theme. After the presentation the audience will re-
member only a few aspects and the success of the talk depends on them remembering
the principal message. The principal message must therefore be clear.

10.2 Planning and Preparing a Presentation

A systematic approach to planning a presentation often ensures that essential factors

are not forgotten. The following sections deal with seven essential operations in
planning and preparing a presentation:

37
 1. Identifying the purpose of the presentation and audience;

2. Identifying the constraints on the speaker;

3. Designing a structure;

4. Choosing an appropriate style of presentation;

5. Designing a set of visual aids;

6. Providing supporting material; and

7. Preparing for the actual presentation.

10.2.1 Purpose and Audience

The presenter must identify the purpose of the presentation and the audience if the
presentation is to be effective. For example, an engineer may set out to impress
the board of the company with the technical intricacies of a design. The board is
however interested in whether the product is viable in the market place. The engineer’s
objectives are mismatched to the requirements of the audience and the presentation
is unlikely to be successful. Thus, the presenter must decide before the presentation
what information the audience is interested in and capable of absorbing.

10.2.2 Constraints

The presenter is always constrained in time and by the facilities available for the
presentation. The presenter must determine the time available for the presentation
and for questions. If no time limits are stated, the presenter should set a reasonable
limit.
The facilities available in the venue should be confirmed and, if possible, inspected at
an early stage of planning.

10.2.3 Structure

The key to a good presentation is designing the right structure to meet the purpose,
audience requirements and constraints. The structure must:

• Be attuned to the purpose of the presentation;

• Be geared to the requirements of the audience;

• Must ensure continuity and logical flow of the presentation;

• Take into account the constraints, including time available; and

• The structure of the presentation should be reflected in a set of slides.

38
10.2.4 Choosing a Style of Presentation

The purpose and audience are key factors in determining the style of presentation. The
level of formality or informality must be chosen according to what is most acceptable
to the audience.
Use visual aids whenever possible. It is always more effective to communicate visually
as well as orally. Not even an exceptional speaker can present a technical, financial
or managerial analysis without visual material.

10.2.5 Designing Visual Aids

The overhead projector, or data projector if available, is assumed to be the principal

medium of presentation. A number of issues arise in designing a set of slides for an
overhead or data projector:

• How many slides? A good general rule is to average not more than one slide per
two minutes, unless the material lends itself to more. Too few slides could result
in the audience having to concentrate on long explanations with insufficient
visual support.

• A good set of slides serves as the presenter’s “crib notes” and avoids having to
speak from a separate set of notes.

• What are essential slides? A presentation should have at least the following
slides:

– A title slide: Title of presentation, presenter’s name(s) and affiliation(s),

date, presented to, . . . ;
– Overview slide: list of main sections conveying the logic of the presentation;
– Specific slides as required;
– ......
– Concluding slide: summarising the main results, presenting recommenda-
tions as required.

• It is good practice to list a related group of points under discussion on a slide

and to refer to each as the talk unfolds. This list concentrates the audience’s
attention and also keeps the talk on track.

• For student presentations slides can be hand written or produced on a computer,

using a tool such as Powerpoint. An alternative to Powerpoint is Adobe’s Ac-
robat Reader (in full screen mode) using the PDF output from LATEX 2ε using
the seminar class. This route may be most convenient if the presentation has
a high mathematical content.

• However the slides are produced, the text must be legible and the amount of
information limited. A good set of rules are

– Not more than six first level items (points or bullets) per slide;

39
 – Not more than ten lines, implying that an individual point should not go
on for several lines;
– First level items should be in 28-32 pt type or ≃6.5 mm high7 ;
– Second level items should be 4 pt smaller that the first level.
– The slide title font should be 4 pt larger than the first level item.
– Avoid fancy fonts: San Serif fonts such as Arial and Tahoma are most legible
on projected slides.

• Diagrams should not be complex. A complicated diagram in a document should

be replaced by a simplified version for the presentation. Labels in a diagram
should not be less that 16 pt and should be as large as possible.

• Tables must be simple. A good rule is to consider a six-by-six table the largest for
presentation. A complex table in a document should be replaced by a simplified
version showing the principal data for the presentation. Text in the table should
not be smaller than 16 pt but should be as large as possible.

• Graphs and diagrams must be kept simple. Use no more than three curves on
any one graph. Label each curve directly. Do not rely on legends at the bottom
of the graph. Text on the axes or annotating the diagram should be at least
16pt.

• The message is more important than the medium. Use of tools such as Pow-
erpoint for preparing slides encourages the use of decorative backgrounds and
effects such as building and animation. Use these embellishments with caution
as the clarity of text, diagrams and tables can be reduced.

10.2.6 Supporting Material

In most cases, a presentation is enhanced by providing printed material to the audi-

ence, either before or at the presentation. Avoid having to supply the printed material
at a later date. The nature of the printed material varies as three examples show.

• Technical conferences provide a volume of printed papers before or at the con-

ference. The presentation concentrates on principal logic and results of the
paper.

• A complex project report should be sent out to the audience prior to the pre-
sentation. The document should be outlined in the presentation.

• A presentation has no formal document. A handout should be provided which

contains copies of the slides (reduced and printed back to back to save paper!).
7
See section 9.1.

40
10.2.7 Preparation

The novice presenter, and in fact all but the most accomplished presenters, must
rehearse the presentation. A few colleagues should be present and offer criticisms of
the structure, content, timing and visual aids.
The best advice to the presenter is:

• Be in command of the subject of the presentation and be familiar with the wider
context and impacts of the subject;

• Use the set of slides as a guide;

• Rehearse before the presentation in the presence of colleagues;

• Rehearse; and

• Rehearse again!

At the preparation stage, possible questions that could be put to the presenter should
be identified. The presenter should think through answers to these questions.
It is helpful to prepare a few extra slides which could cover material in the written
material which is not explicitly referred to in the presentation or which could be used
to support the answers to anticipated questions.
Checklist 12 enables the presenter to ensure that all necessary preparation has been
completed.

CHECKLIST 12: PREPARATION FOR A PRESENTATION

• Are the purpose of the presentation and the audience clearly identified?

• Have all constraints been identified and taken into account?

• Does the structure fit the purpose, audience requirements and constraints?

• Has a style of presentation been identified and checked against the audience
requirements?

• Does the set of slides (and other visual aids) reflect the structure, style and
purpose?

• Is the supporting material appropriate and available?

• Has the presentation been rehearsed sufficiently in the presence of colleagues?

41
 CHECKLIST 13: SLIDES FOR A PRESENTATION

• Does the number of slides depart from the rule of one per two minutes? If so,
is the number justified?

• Is there a title slide?

• Is there an outline slide?

• Is there a concluding slide?

• Does each slide have an explanatory title?

• Does the text on any slide violate size rules?

• If a data projector is to be used, is there a backup set of slides?

10.3 Powerpoint Presentation Guidelines

Powerpoint is the de facto standard for preparing and presenting slides with the aid
of a data projector. Misuse of Powerpoint’s many facilities often reduces the value
and impact of a presentation. A number of best practice for both preparation and
presentation guidelines follow.
Outline and Objectives
The Outline, Overview or Agenda Slide, usually the second slide, should not have
too many points. As a broad guide keep to the following approximate limits:

• 10-15 minute presentation: 4-5 points (expanding to one slide per point);

• 15-20 minute presentation: 6-7 points (expanding to 1.5 slides per point on
average);

• 20-30 minute presentation 8 points: (expanding to 2 slides per point on average).

In general, do not include Introduction and Conclusion in the points: there is a rea-
sonable expectation that the presentation will have an Introduction and a Conclusion.
Exceeding these slide number limits may be indicative of an overloaded presentation.
These numbers are consistent with the guideline that a slide per two minutes is a
good pace.
The purpose of presentation or problem statement must come out early in the pre-
sentation. One of many ways of conveying the purpose is a dedicated slide called
Objectives or Problem Statement before or immediately after the Outline.
Conclusion Slide
The conclusion slide must bring logical closure to the presentation. The conclusion

42
must be more that a backward looking summary and must clearly express the findings
of the work.
Using animation
Powerpoint provides the possibility of animation of slides. At a simple level, bulleted
items can be made to appear in sequence. Diagrams can be built up by making groups
of drawing objects appear in sequence. At a more complex level, audio and video clips
can be inserted. Regrettably, the power of animation is frequently misused and the
presentation is not enhanced. The following guidelines support restrained yet effective
use of animation.
In the case of bulleted lists and diagrams:

• Use animation when developing a complex idea.

• Restrict the effect to “Appear”. Other effects in which the item or drawing
group moves into place are often distracting (and can take time on a slow PC).

• In general, do not dim earlier items.

In general, remember that when going backward to a previous slide, it is necessary to

undo an animated slide item by item or drawing object by object, often wasting time
in the process.
Backgrounds (Designs)
Conventional wisdom holds that it is best to use light text (white or yellow) against a
dark background, usually blue. However, with the availability of high-brightness data
projectors, dark text on a light (white or grey) background is in many cases more
legible.
Using a Powerpoint Design which gives a patterned background to text or diagrams
has possible adverse effects. Legibility may be reduced. The design may obscure
material when hardcopy of slides is printed.

10.4 Delivering the Presentation

Having planned the presentation, attention needs to be given to the actual delivery.
Advice, born of experience of good and bad delivery, is captured in the following
points. The presenter is strongly advised to:

• Be completely ready to start at the appointed time: don’t use your presentation
time for setting up!

• Adopt a relaxed manner: if the preparation is thorough a relaxed approach is

possible.

• Never read a detailed report to an audience.

• When presenting the title slide, it is often better to say “My presentation is on
....” rather than “The title of my presentation is (and then repeat it verbatim).”

43
 • When presenting the outline slide, don’t say; “The outline of my presentation
is...”. Rather say “This presentation first .... then this leads to... ”.

• Maintain eye contact with the audience. The mark of an expert orator is that
each listener feels that he is being addressed directly.

• Always try to react to the audience.

• Use humour sparingly and inoffensively.

• Avoid distracting the audience, for example by:

– Excessive movement and gestures.

– Digression from the topic.
– Fumbling with the slides, notes ....
– Switching the overhead projector on and off for each slide.

• Stick to the allotted time.

• When answering questions:

– If there is a slide relevant to the question, display it immediately and use

it to support the answer.
– If a question is unclear, ask the questioner to repeat or clarify the question,
indicating the aspects that are not clear.
– Keep calm, even if the questioning gets aggressive.

11 Conclusion

This manual provides the essential elements of good practice in report writing and
oral presentation to the engineering student. To a large extent, the manual is self-
illustrating: it complies largely with the basic rules and practices that it advocates.
At the same time, a number of departures from the manual’s advice—which we leave
the student to discover—illustrate that alternative approaches may be justified in
particular circumstances.
We leave the student with the following advice. The fundamentals of professional
writing and presentations presented in this manual will, if mastered, serve most of
your future needs. However, cases will always arise in which it will be necessary to
proceed in terms of Nero Wolfe’s instruction to his assistant Archie Goodwin to use
“intelligence guided by experience”.

44
References
[1] Style guide for theses and dissertations. Graduate School of Engineering & the
Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2014.

[2] T. Oetiker, H. Partl, I. Hyna, and E. Schlegl. The not so short introduction
to LATEX 2ε . http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/, Accessed November
2014, 2014.

[3] S. Bradner. Key words for use in RFCs to indicate requirement lev-
els. Request for Comments 2119, Internet Engineering Task Force, 1997.
htp://www.ietf.org/rfc.html, Accessed November 2003.

45
Appendix

A Problematical Words and Phrases

• Words or phrases that are un-scientific or emotional should not be used. Exam-
ples are:

– Very, tremendous, tough, enormous, overwhelming, drastically, incredible,

naturally, notorious, obviously, suddenly, staggering, amazing, incredible,

• Unfortunately: indicating that an expected outcome did not happen, should not
be used.

• Can be [done]: means is possible but frequently used to mean is [done]

• May be: means is permitted or could happen (sentence should make meaning
clear)

• If, It, When, This, There is, As such. . . at the beginning of a sentence leaves
the subject ambiguous: the sentence can always be turned around to start with
the subject.

• . . . ing: beware words ending in . . . ing. For example “The clients are seeking a
settlement”, just use “The clients seek a settlement”.

• However, therefore, nevertheless (when there is little connection to the previous

sentence).

• Ideal (which in engineering means stripped of imperfections)

• Optimum (when no criteria for optimality are stated).

• Certain, above mentioned, traditional, commonly, . . .

• Only: misplaced so that it restricts the wrong thing in the sentence.

• Tautology: using words with redundant meaning: “The receiver returns an

acknowledgement back.”

• Legalese:

– herein, hereinafter, aforementioned, furthermore, . . .

• Colloquialisms:

– and/or (use one form only), plus-minus (meaning approximately), zinc

instead of galvanised steel (be precise), sort out (solve problem), maybe
. . . (meaning that something is possible). . .

• Misuse of similar words:

– principal–principle, cord–chord, . . .

46
 • Slang and jargon must not be used.

– Mike (for microphone)

– Advert (for advertisement), ...

• Frequently confused forms: “It’s” meaning “it is” and “Its” meaning belonging
to it are frequently interchanged.

• Singular/plural confusion: One criterion, many criteria.

Correct use of Imperatives

The following rules for use of imperatives in standards writing is given by Bradner [3].

Must or shall or is required means that the entity referred to is an absolute re-
quirement.

Must not or shall not means that the entity referred to is absolutely prohibited.

Should or [is] recommended means “that there may exist valid reasons in partic-
ular circumstances to ignore a particular item, but the full implications must be
understood and carefully weighed before choosing a different course.”

Should not or [is] not recommended means “that here may exist valid reasons
in particular circumstances when the particular behaviour is acceptable or even
useful, but the full implications should be understood and the case carefully
weighed before implementing any behaviour described with this label.”

May or [is] optional means that the item is truly optional.

47
B Fonts and Font Effects in LATEX
Basic LATEX does not have the myriad fonts that Word and Powerpoint have. However,
a limited number of fonts allow clear and consistent documents to be produced.
With the vast amount of fonts available via packages that are part of the standard
LATEX 2ε distribution, there are probably more fonts in more languages available than
in Word etc. Avoid using them unless you have a specific need: there is a reason why
the Computer Modern fonts were designed for LATEX 2ε !

Font Families: There are three basic font families: Roman (\rm, \rmfamily) (de-
fault), San Serif (\sf, \sffamily) and typewriter (\tt, \ttfamily)

Font Series: Type may be in a medium series (default) (\mdseries) or bold series
(\bf, \bfseries ).

Font Shapes: Characters may have different shapes: upright (default), italic, slanted
or Small Capitals.

A number of combinations of Family, Series and Shape are possible as shown below.
Roman, the default font, has the most possibilities:
\rmfamily (or default) This is a test sentence in the default Roman font.
\itshape This is a test sentence in Roman Italic.
\slshape This is a test sentence in slanted Roman.
\scshape This is a test sentence in small capitals.
\bfseries This is a test sentence in bold Roman.
\bfseries \itshape This is a test sentence in bold Italic.
\bfseries \slshape This is a test sentence in bold slanted Roman.

Sans-serif has fewer variations:

\sffamily This is a test sentence in Sans Serif.
\sffamily \bfseries This is a test sentence in bold Sans Serif.
\sffamily \slshape This is a test sentence in slanted Sans Serif.

Typewriter has only one possible form:

\ttfamily This is a test sentence in typewriter font.

48
C A Note on Correct Formatting of References

C.1 Purpose

This note demonstrates how references are stored in a BibTEX database and formatted
in the most widely used style, the IEEE Style. With LATEX, everything to do with
referencing can be made to happen automatically, provided that the details of the
references are entered correctly into the BibTEX database, for example using BibDb
intelligently. BibDb is a programme for managing bibliographic data files (*.bib files)
and is available in the MikTex distribution. *.bib files are text files and can be edited
with any text editor8 .
We stress that some care is needed when initially entering references into the database.
The examples given below illustrate some of the points to be taken into account when
entering data. Thereafter, references can be cited and listed over and over with little
extra effort.
Users of lesser text processing systems should use these examples as guidance and
hand craft reference lists for the same effect.

C.2 Bibliographic Entry Types

Each type of reference has a distinctive format selectable in the Add , .., Which?
menu in BibDb. A subset of the fourteen types of bibliographic entries provided there
suffices for most purposes. Look at the Required, Optional and Ignored fields for each
type.
The following examples illustrate the particularly useful types.

• The article type is used for all journal publications, for example reference [1].
The required fields are: author, title, journal, volume, number, pages,
year. The database entry is a kind of markup language:

@ARTICLE{laztselim94,
author = {A.A. Lazar and K.H. Tseng and K.S. Lim
and W. Choe},
title = {A Scalable and Reusable Emulator for Evaluating
the Performance of {SS7} Networks},
year = 1994,
journal = {IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in
Communications},
volume = 12,
pages = {395--404},
number = 3,
month = {April}
}
8
Much faster for correcting minor errors or cloning a new reference off an existing entry.

49
 Note how multiple authors are demarcated by and. Note that the lower case
initial letters in the title are inserted automatically in the listed reference. SS7
remains capitalised because it is enclosed in { } in the database entry.
• The inproceedings type (identical to conference) is used for published confer-
ence proceedings. See for example [2]. Required fields are: author, title,
booktitle (the name of the conference volume), month, year, pages. The
database entry looks like this:

@INPROCEEDINGS{AchHan01,
author = {R.A. Achterberg and H.E. Hanrahan},
title = {Mapping Business and Technological Factors
in Convergence},
year = 2001,
booktitle = {IEEE Intelligent Networks 2001 Workshop,
IN2001 Conference Record},
pages = {245--249},
Publisher = {IEEE},
number = {IEEE Catalog Number 01TH8566},
note = { ISBN 0-7803-7047-3},
month = {May}
}

Note that the note field is ignored.

• The proceedings type is similar but as only the title and year are mandatory,
with author, title, publisher, ... being optional this form is suited to
unpublished conference proceedings.
• The book type: is self evident and comes out as shown in reference [3]. The
database entry has the fields author, title, publisher, year and address.

@BOOK{Rus95,
author = {T. Russell},
title = {Signalling System No 7},
year = 1995,
publisher = {McGraw Hill},
address = {New York}
}

Type inbook is similar to book with the addition of a compulsory chapter and
pages field, suitable for identifying the chapter and page of interest. See type
incollection below for citing a chapter that has its own author, distinct from the
overall editor.
Book also works for ITU-T standards provided one specifies the body (i.e. ITU-
T) in the author field and embeds the Recommendation Number in the title as
shown in reference [4].

@BOOK{M3100,
author = {ITU-T},

50
 title = {{Recommendation M.3100: Generic Network
Information Model}},
year = 1995,
publisher = {International Telecommunication Union},
address = {Geneva}
}

Note that the whole title protected by { } as every word must have an initial
capital.

• The incollection type: is used for a book in which separately identified contribu-
tions, usually chapters, are made by different author(s). The book (collection)
has an overall editor or editors. Reference [5] is an example of an item in a
collection. In addition to the entries for a book author, title, (that is of
the contribution) publisher, year and address, we need to have the editor,
booktitle,(that is of the collection) chapter and pages.

@INCOLLECTION{Moo98,
author = {J.F. Moore},
editor = {D. Tapscott and A. Lowry and D. Ticoll},
year = 1998,
title = {The New Corporate Form},
booktitle = {Blueprint for the Digital Economy},
chapter = 4,
pages = {77--95},
publisher = {McGraw-Hill},
address = {New York}
}

• The techreport type: is useful for documents published by an organisation but

which have named author(s). Techreport is useful for corporate reports such as
reference [6] as well as IETF standards documents as shown in reference [7].

@TECHREPORT{RFC1155,
author = {M. Rose and K. McCloghrie},
title = {{Structure and Identification of Management
Information} for {TCP}-based Internets },
year = {1990},
type = {{Request for Comments}},
number = {RFC1155},
institution = {Internet Engineering Task Force}
}

Note that the database title and type entries protect initial capitals of proper
names (Structure of Management Information) and abbreviations (TCP) by
using { }. The type field suppresses the default description “Technical report”.
Techreport also works for company documents provided that there is an author,
for example [8] is based on the following entry.

51
 @TECHREPORT{Ver96,
author = {T. Chatt and J. Sepp\"{a} and M.A. Curry
and U. Hollberg},
title = {{TMN/C++}: An Object Oriented {API} for
{GDMO}, {CMIS} and {ASN.1}},
year = 1996,
institution = {Vertel Corporation},
type = {{White Paper}}
}

Note that the type field allows the user to insert a description such as White
Paper, Annual Report, or Progress report.

• The misc type: is useful when there is no author, for example web documents [9].
Select whichever of the optional fields are meaningful from :author, title, year,
month and howpublished fields. The last is useful for inserting the URL and
when last accessed.

• The manual, booklet and unpublished types are the simplest types of entries and
are unlikely to be used in a serious work.
• The mastersthesis type: has everything required for a masters dissertation or
project report [10],[11]. Required fields are author, title, year and school.
It is advisable to use the type field as shown. Otherwise, BibTeX thinks all
universities use the abbreviation M.S. and have master’s theses, rather than
dissertations and project reports. There is also a phdthesis type. The entry is
as follows:

@MASTERSTHESIS{MikMSc,
author = {Z. Miklos},
title = {Modelling generic access network components},
year = 1999,
type= {{MSc(Eng) Dissertation}},
school = {University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg}
}

Note that the references are listed in the order of citation in the IEEE bibliography
style. In other styles, for example plain, references are sorted in alphabetical order
by first author. The absence of an author in the misc type offends the sorting process.
The list of references is produced with the LATEX commands inserted at the place
where you want the reference list:

\bibliographystyle{IEEEbib}
\bibliography{<insert .bib file name + paths here>}

The file names must not have extensions and the path should use Unix-style forward
slashes.
Here is the resulting reference list.

52
References
[1] A.A. Lazar, K.H. Tseng, K.S. Lim, and W. Choe, “A scalable and reusable
emulator for evaluating the performance of SS7 networks,” IEEE Journal on
Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 395–404, April 1994.

[2] R.A. Achterberg and H.E. Hanrahan, “Mapping business and technological fac-
tors in convergence,” in IEEE Intelligent Networks 2001 Workshop, IN2001
Conference Record. May 2001, number IEEE Catalog Number 01TH8566, pp.
245–249, IEEE, ISBN 0-7803-7047-3.

[3] T. Russell, Signalling System No 7, McGraw Hill, New York, 1995.

[4] ITU-T, Recommendation M.3100 : Generic Network Information Model, Inter-

national Telecommunication Union, Geneva, 1995.

[5] J.F. Moore, “The new corporate form,” in Blueprint for the Digital Economy,
D. Tapscott, A. Lowry, and D. Ticoll, Eds., chapter 4, pp. 77–95. McGraw-Hill,
New York, 1998.

[6] J. Mazur, “Musical chairs in the telecom boardroom,” Research Brief TELC-
WW-DP-0169, Gartner Dataquest, May 2002.

[7] M. Rose and K. McCloghrie, “Structure and Identification of Management In-

formation for TCP-based internets,” Tech. Rep. RFC1155, Internet Engineering
Task Force, 1990.

[8] T. Chatt, J. Seppä, M.A. Curry, and U. Hollberg, “TMN/C++: An object

oriented API for GDMO, CMIS and ASN.1,” White paper, Vertel Corporation,
1996.

[9] “An introductory overview of SNMP,” Diversified Data Resources Inc.,

http://www.ddri.com, 2000.

[10] Z. Miklos, “Modelling generic access network components,” MSc(Eng) Disserta-

tion, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 1999.

[11] J.C.K. Lee, “Implementation of TINA service subscription information manage-

ment using ODBMS,” MSc(Eng) Project Report, University of the Witwater-
srand, Johannesburg, 2001.

53
D Minimum Requirements for all reports submit-
ted by students to the School.
√
Table D shows the elements of a report. Those marked must be included in all
reports submitted by students to the School of Electrical and Information Engineering,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Table 4: The elements of a report

Title page
√
Title
√
Abstract (summary or synopsis)
Acknowledgements
Table of contents
List of figures
List of tables
List of symbols, abbreviations or acronyms, only in a long
report
√
Introduction, background to the problem and literature sur-
vey
√
Descriptive part of the report, which may include various
chapters or sections and discussion of the results
√
Conclusion
√
References and a list of references
Bibliography
Appendices

54
Index
LATEX list of, 27
adopting, 22 number, 15
Font
Abbreviations, 27, 31 normal size, 28
Abstract, 25 Fonts
Acknowledgements, 26 available in LATEX, 48
Acrobat Reader, 39 Bold, 29
Acronym, 32 faces, 28
Active voice, 20 Italic, 29
Appendix, 17, 30 Roman, 29
acceptable material, 30 San Serif, 29
unacceptable material, 30 size, 28
Audience, 2, 38 size on slides, 39
Axes, 15 Slanted, 29
Bibliography, 14 slides, 40
types, 28
Caption, 15 Footnote, 31
Chapters, 24
Checklist Harvard Referencing System, 10
Abstract, 25
Introduction, 4
Acknowledgements, 26
Appendices, 30 Literature Survey, 8
conclusions, 7 method, 9
Figures, Tables, 17 purpose, 8
Introduction, 5 referencing, 9
Mathematics, 34 Logical development, 3
Presentation, 41
References, 12 Margins, 29
Slides, 41 Mathematics, 33
Structure, 19 LATEX, 34
Style, 20 font, 34
Title, 4 typesetting, 34
Citation, 12 Minimum requirements, 54
Conclusion, 6 Mnemonic, 32
Conclusions, 7
Numbering
Contents
chapters, 24
table of, 27
pages, 24
Descriptive Sections, 6 sections, 24
Discussion, 6 Numerical Referencing System, 9
Document types, 1
Oral Presentation, 36
Emphasis, 29
Executive Summary, 26 Page format, 28
Passive voice, 20
Figure, 15, 27 Plagiarism, 12, 22

55
 cut and paste, 13 examples, 53
defined, 14 Harvard citation, 10
Point form, 36 list, 9
Powerpoint, 39, 42 numerical citation, 9
alternative to, 39 practice for Web, 12
animation, 43 uncited references, 11
misuse, 42 using BibTeX, 49
slide background, 43 Using URLs, 13
Presentation, 36 where to put citations, 12
answering questions, 41, 44 Report elements, 23
audience, 38 unnumbered, 24
avoid reading from notes, 39
Sections, 24
constraints, 38
Sentence
copies of slides, 40
length, 20
delivery, 43
linking, 20
diagrams, 40
Sentence construction, 19
difference to writing, 37
Significant figures, 32
fonts, 40
Skeleton, 18
graphs, 40
Slides
number of slides, 39, 42
how much information, 40
objectives, 42
Standards for reports, 1
outline, 42
Structure, 18
planning, 37
methodical approach, 18
rehearsal, 41
of large documents, 22
slide background, 40
Structuring method, 18
structure, 38
Style, 19
style, 39
imperatives, 47
supporting material, 40
problem words and phrases, 46
tables, 40
Symbols
visual aids, 39
list of, 27
Punctuation, 36
mathematical, 27, 34
colon, 36
comma, 36 Table, 16
dash, 36 list of tables, 27
m-dash, 36 number, 15
n-dash, 36 referring to, 15, 16
semi-colon, 36 using, 16
Purpose of document, 2 Table of Contents, 27
Tenses, 20
Quotations use of future tense, 21
attribution, 33 use of past tense, 20, 21
avoiding plagiarism, 14 use of present tense, 20
major, 33 Text width, 29
minor, 33 Title, 4, 24
Topic Sentence, 19
Recommendations, 7
Topic Sentences, 18
References
currency of Web references, 13 Units, 15, 32

56
 abbreviations, 32
formatting, 32
prefixes, 32
SI, 32

Visual aids, 39

Web references, 12
Wordprocessing, 21
Writing impersonally, 20

57