Exam report template
This text, as all text in red, provides comments to the template. You should read it and then delete it after reading it. Blue text is to be replaced. You can easily change the blue colour by marking the blue text and choose automatic character colour.
You should use the spell checker before submitting your report. This is a good aid if you are uncertain about the spelling of any word. In the Abstract part, the text is marked as English, which means that the spell checker uses a dictionary of English. You should also mark your Abstract as English to help you with English spelling.
For running text, the format template Text shall be used with the Garamond font. Headlines and sub headlines have been installed in Gill Sans MT, format templates Headline 1, Headline 2, and so on. The format template Text is set flush left, which results in a rugged right margin. Flush left is often better than having even margins on both sides, since this may produce wide gaps between words. Use soft hyphens (CTRL-) to avoid the risk of getting hyphens inside the text when editing.
As regards language, you should bear in mind that also an uninitiated reader should be able to take in what you have written. There are also some hints and good advice on language in the directions for exam work mentioned above.
It is important to give correct references to text and material that is not your own but that you have used in your work. On the one hand, you must give a reference to your source in the text itself, and on the other hand a complete reference must be provided in the chapter References. A reference can be made by giving (name, year) in the text or, alternatively, by referring to your source with a number in square brackets [1]. Learn about cross references (dynamic references) in Word and use them!
This exam work has been carried out at the School of Engineering in the subject area {subject}. The work is a part of the three-year Bachelor of Science in Engineering programme.
The authors take full responsibility for opinions, conclusions and findings presented.
Examiner: Name of examiner
Supervisor: Name of supervisor
Scope: 15 credits (first cycle)
Date:
Abstract
This paper shows how to write a report at the School of Engineering, Jönköping University. The abstract contains a short description of the content of the report. The abstract facilitates finding the report and is always written in English. The abstract contains the same information as the Swedish “Sammanfattning”.
Summary
The summary is a brief account of the contents of the report. It should not exceed one A4 page. It must include purpose, research questions, method, implementation, findings and conclusions. The emphasis should be on the findings. Reference to the running text shall not be made.
The purpose of the summary is to give the reader an idea of the assumptions and findings of the work. The information in the summary must therefore be as tangible as possible. It is crucial that you spend much time on your wording, since the summary is often what decides whether the report is judged to be worth reading or not.
Keywords
To facilitate for a reader to find your report by searching, keywords must be included. The number of keywords should be between 4 and 10. The words must describe what the report is about, but they do not necessarily have to be included in the report.
Contents
The list of contents is produced automatically by Word if the headlines in the report are formatted as headlines. To update the list of contents, place the cursor in the list and press [F9].
1 Introduction 4
1.1 BACKGROUND 4
1.2 PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 4
1.3 DELIMITATIONS 4
1.4 OUTLINE 4
2 Theoretical background 5
3 Methods 6
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN 6
3.2 DATA COLLECTION 6
3.3 DATA ANALYSIS 6
3.4 DATA QUALITY 7
4 Results 8
5 Discussion and conclusions 9
5.1 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS AND CONTRIBUTIONS 9
5.2 DISCUSSION OF METHOD 9
5.3 CONCLUSIONS 9
6 References 10
7 Appendices 11
1 Introduction
The introduction shall acquaint the reader with the topic and indicate how you intend to tackle your problem in the rest of the report. Remember that the introduction is meant to catch your reader’s attention. You should indicate the context in which the work has been carried out and mention that the report describes the exam work done as part of your education. The introduction must not be too long. Do not place too detailed information here.
1.1 Background
Here you shall give a background to the purpose and the research questions you have chosen to work with. Explain also why it is relevant to carry out the study. Start with a holistic perspective and then narrow down your description so that when you end your background description you will have arrived at the purpose and the research questions you have chosen to work with. The reader should understand the importance of the purpose and the research questions you have formulated.
If you work with the design of products/systems, you shall here describe how the product/system is being used and managed today and what flaws the product/system is burdened with. (An example: The problem with the current design is that the handle of the machine is too large and consequently cannot be used by persons with smaller hands. Another problem is the positioning of …)
1.2 Purpose and research questions
State concisely your purpose and research questions. The purpose defines what shall be carried out, investigated or compiled and the usefulness of it. The purpose is broken down into questions to be answered in your report. It is your purpose and your research questions that will guide you through the whole work. Design of products/systems can usually also be formulated in terms of purpose and research questions.
1.3 Delimitations
Here you specify what your work will not cover. State the delimitations made in order to ensure that the work and the report will not be too extensive. Note, that if you decide to work with only one company, that is a methodological choice and not a delimitation. In this section, you should state delimitations to the content and extent of the thesis.
1.4 Outline
Describe briefly how the rest of the report is organised, in other words how the report is structured.
2 Theoretical background
Having made a survey of current literature in the area of your exam work you will recount relevant parts in this section. It is crucial that you refer to all the sources you use in this chapter in accordance with the rules for referencing mentioned above. Note that the text must not be transcribed from a paper or a book but must be a summary. Transcription may only be done when “quoting” and should be used sparingly. Indicate page number only when quoting.
If you work with the design of products/systems this section may include various theoretical concepts and design theories, design philosophies, etc., that have inspired you in developing the design you are creating.
3 Methods
In this section you describe the methods you used to answer the research questions. Give references to the various methods as in the theory chapter. You must motivate the methodological decisions you made throughout the thesis work.
3.1 Research design
Here you must explain which research design you chose for your project, e.g. case study. If you are developing a process, “Design Science” can be a suitable design. Start by writing some generalities about the research design, add a reference and motivate why the research design you chose is suitable for your purpose. For “Case study”, remember to motivate the choice of case study design, present the case, i.e. the company(ies) you chose to work with and motivate why that/those company(ies) are a good case.
3.2 Data Collection
Here you must outline which methods you have used in your work. For each method you should provide some generalities (e.g. applicability, pros and cons) supported with references. Example of methods available are interviews, observations, document analysis, use of data in company databases, experiments. If applicable you should also discuss the use of secondary versus primary data. It can also be relevant to discuss the pros and cons of fixed methods. It can be a good idea to provide a matrix on a picture showing the relation between the methods used and the research questions. Thus, the reader will know which methods you used to answer each research question.
Give an operational account of the methods you used. For interviews, the reader needs to know how many interviews were conducted, how the respondents were selected, how did you decide to stop interviewing, how many interviewers were present, how did the interviewers collected the data, how long did it take the interviews, where were the interviews conducted, if the interviews were recorded, if the interviews were face-to-face or by other means, etc. Give an account of how you have collected and processed data. Be accurate in your account since it will affect the assessment of the validity and reliability of your exam work! If you work with the design of products/systems, this section shall include various design tools/aids that you have used during the design process, e.g., function analysis. It is extremely important that you give an exhaustive account of how you have managed the design process, since it is in that account that the reader can see how you have arrived at your final product.
• Method 1: XXX
• Method 2: XXX
• …
3.3 Data Analysis
For each of the methods stated under “Data collection”, you must explain how you analyzed the data. For instance, you must explain how you analyzed the documents the company gave you access to. You must explain how you analyzed the interview data in the recordings. You must explain how you analyzed the quantitative data you collected from the company databases. If you will be using hypothesis testing you have to describe which tests you used, confidence level, assumptions,
• Method 1: XXX
• Method 2: XXX
• …
3.4 Data Quality
Here you must discuss the quality of the data collected. You should also explain which measures you took when applying the methods in order to boost the validity and reliability of your study. It is suitable to discuss about internal and external validity as well as about reliability.
4 Results
In this chapter you shall report your findings, i.e., the results of your work. Depending on what you have done, this chapter can be structured in different ways. Consider structuring the results research-question wise. In this case, it becomes clear that you have answered the research questions. Another possibility is to structure the results according to the methods used in the thesis work. In any case, it is important that you present your results accurately without expressing an opinion or judgement. That you will do in the next section.
Graphs and tables are used to facilitate interpretation of the text. Figure 1 below is an example of cross referencing, which renders it possible to move a figure. Include a figure where you think it will facilitate understanding. It is crucial that there are references to all figures and tables in the text. Note that figure text is written below the figure and table text is written above the table. There should be a full stop after a figure text but no full stop after a table text. Remember also always to introduce and refer to tables and figures in the running text. Figures and tables provided in the report must be of good quality and readable. If you work with the design of products/system, you must describe the product/system you have designed. You must also analyse its functions regarding what you originally had conceptualised. Link your findings to the purpose in order to show how you have solved the problem based on your research questions. Use illustrations to emphasise particularly interesting areas/details that are of importance to the product.
Figure 1. Applicable figure text.
5 Discussion and conclusions
In this chapter you tie up the sack.
5.1 Discussion of findings and contributions
Here you discuss your results and evaluate them regarding your purpose and your research questions. Here you should reflect on your results and relate them to what other authors have written about it. Sometimes your results will be in line with previous theory and sometimes they will disagree. Make sure to re-use a large part of the theory you reported in the theoretical background. A helpful suggestion to achieve a stable structure in the discussion of your findings, which will also help you keep the main thread of your report, is to begin by restating your purpose and then start from your research questions as headlines in this section. In this way it will become clear that you have answered your research questions and achieved the purpose of your report.
5.2 Discussion of method
Here you discuss your choice of method and course of action as well as the inherent strengths/weaknesses you experience in this regard. Discuss how well you think you have achieved your objective regarding your purpose and your research questions through your choice of method and course of action. What worked well/less well? What could you have done better? How well have you met the requirements of validity and reliability?
5.3 Conclusions
Under the heading Conclusions you briefly summarise the main points. Finally, you should suggest how the work could be further continued/developed.
6 References
There are different ways of writing references. If you have chosen to refer to (author, year) in the running text, the reference list shall look like this:
The advantage of this way of writing references is that the reader does not have to turn over the pages backwards and forwards to consult the reference list as you do with numbered references.
If you prefer to use numbers in square brackets in the text, the references must be listed in numerical order in the reference list in the following way:
The second reference is to a web page. The date in brackets indicates when you last accessed the web page with your browser.
References are best listed in alphabetical order. Use bookmarks to facilitate for Word to automatically keep track of them.
7 Appendices
Appendix 1 Text defining the appendix
Appendix 2 etc.
Every appendix added to the report shall be numbered in accordance with this list.