The criteria for the final written report are as follows:
A word count of 12000-15,000 from page 1 of the introduction to the final page of the conclusions;
Arial Font size 11 and 1.5 spacing;
Text justified;
Chapter headings Arial Bold 14;
Section headings Arial Bold 12.
The report should include:
Cover – please ensure that your name, date and project title are printed on the front cover according to the template on canvas MSc School of Eng and Env project title page-1.docx download
Back cover – black card or paper.
Numbering – standard practice is to start numbering the pages with Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, vi …) up to the first chapter. The first page of the first chapter is then page 1.
Abstract – summarises your entire project and can be done within 3 paragraphs and should not be more than 1 page. The first outlines the question(s) you have asked, the second paragraph states how you have tried to answer those question(s) and the last gives the conclusion. It should be written in the 3rd person without any citations to references.
Acknowledgements – this is the only section that can and should be written in the 1st person
Contents page(s) – with numbered chapters and sub sections
List of Figures – this includes diagrams and photographs
List of Tables
List of Appendices
Introduction– this is an overall introduction to the topic you are concerned with and outlines briefly the main issues of the dissertation, three sections are suggested:
a broad review which puts the dissertation into its wider context;
a succinct argument for the significance of the problem to be considered;
an outline of the thesis, which links together the elements of the work and shows how the problem was approached.
Literature review – please do update this section with any further reading you have done since it was assessed
The following sections may have alternative titles and may be grouped together depending on the type of dissertation you are carrying out.
Methodology – description of the type(s) of methods used for the research with an indication as to why these methods were chosen.
Results – presentation of the results gained in a systematic format.
Analysis – critical analysis of the results with respect to the project objectives.
Discussion – this should discuss your dissertation relating back to the literature review
Conclusion – this is a short section detailing briefly the conclusions of your report and should fall into three sections:
a brief restatement of the original problem, seen now in the light of what has been learned;
an answer to the essential question: ‘What has been achieved?’;
a discussion of the main avenues of potential future work.
References – it is essential that references are cited in the text as (Author, Date) and then listed at the end of the dissertation. The University standard is the Harvard
Appendices – these are for extra work referred to in the text, but not placed in the text.
Figures and Tables – should be explained and referred to within the text, as well as placed where the reader requires them. Figures usually have their captions below and Tables have their captions above. Make sure they are cited correctly. If it is a direct copy of the original then cite e.g. (From Shepherd, 2009), if you have adapted or redrawn the original the citation is e.g. (After Shepherd, 2009) and if it is entirely your own work then use (By Author, 2015).
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