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EBS1F2012:GuidelinesforProjectReports
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FrontMatter
Coverortitlepage
Thecovershouldindicatethereporttitle,thenamesoftheauthors,thedateonwhichthereport
wassubmitted,andtheorganizationinwhichthereportwasprepared(i.e.,Departmentof
BiologicalandAgriculturalEngineering,UniversityofCalifornia,Davis).Thereporttitleshouldbeas
straightforwardaspossible.Titlescanoftenbeimprovedifyoueliminateinessentialdetail.

Abstract
Informativeabstractsaretypically150200wordslong;theypresentmethods,results,conclusions,
andrecommendationsinconciselanguage.Abstractsaremostprofitablydraftedafterthereport
hasbeenwritten.

TableofContents
TheTableofContentsshowsthekeytopicsandtheorganizationofyourreport.Includeprimary
andsecondaryheadings.Headingsprovideastructuraloverviewofthedocument.Theymaybe
usefultoyouwhenorganizingandrevisingyourdocumentaswellastoyourreaders.

ListofFiguresandListofTables
Ifyouhavetwoormoretablesorfigures,provideaseparatelistforeachwithfullcaptions.
Sometimes,relocatingillustrationsorwritingmoreinformativecaptionscanhelpwiththe
presentationoffindings.YoumayalsowanttoincludeatableofNomenclature,especiallywhen
usingmultipleequationsandnumerousparameterorvariabledefinitionseventhoughtheyare
definedatpointoffirstuseinthetext.

Acknowledgements
Usethissectiontothankanyindividuals,companies,organizations,orothersthatyouwouldliketo
acknowledgefortheircontributionstoyourteamssuccess.

ReportBody
Introduction/Justification
Theintroductiontoaprojectreporthasthreefunctions:(1)definestheproblemaddressed,often
includingareviewoftheliteratureabouttheproblem;(2)statesexplicitlytheobjectivesofthe
presentwork;and,(3)summarizestheconclusionsofthework.Besuretocitereferencestoother
work.

Theory(orBackground)
Outlineessentialconcepts,modelsand/orequationscentraltoyourstudy.Providecitationstothe
sourceswheretheoriginalinformationwaspresented.

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TheseguidelinesareadaptedfromChapter13ofParadis,J.G.&Zimmerman,M.L.TheMITGuidetoScience
andEngineeringCommunication.2
nd
ed.MITPress:Boston,2002.

ProjectDesign
Includeadescriptionofyourdesignprocessandthefinaldesigndevelopedforyourproject.Include
AutodeskInventordrawingsofcomponentsanddesignassemblies.RefertotheProjectGuidefor
moreinformationonwhattoincludeinyourdesigndescriptionandnarrative.

ExperimentalSection(orMethodsandProcedures)
Intheexperimentalsectiondescribethetools(instrumentation,equipment)andprocessesthat
enabledyoutomeetyourstatedobjectives.Clarityandaccuracyarepriorities.Anoverviewhelps
thereadersgraspthepurposeandscopeofyourwork.Complexproceduresaremosteffectively
describedwhentheyarearrangedindiscretesubsections.Considerprovidingdrawingsorother
illustrationsthatsuccinctlypresentyourexperimentalapproach.

Results
Allthepartsinthereportleaduptoaconciseresultssection.Iftheresultsareeasilyunderstood,
discusstheminoneortwoparagraphs.Usefigures,tables,orgraphstopresentdata.Donot
simplynotethatdataaregiveninafigure,table,orgraph.Instead,explaintheimportantpointsin
thetrendsshownintheillustrationsortables;emphasizethesepointsinthefigurecaptionsand
text.

Referencestofiguresandtablesshouldbeparentheticfollowingadescriptionofwhatthedataor
theillustrationmean,e.g.,Theconcentrationdeclinedtoanearsteadyvalueafter20s(Figure2).
AvoidtheuseofphrasesorsentencessuchasFigure2showstheconcentrationovertime.Use
standardabbreviationsforunits(e.g.,sforseconds).UseSIunitsconsistently.Dualunits(SI
followedbyconventionalunitsinparenthesis)maybeusedwhenconsideredhelpful.Ifa
measurementistakeninconventionalunits,reportthesefirst,thentheSIvalueandunitsin
parenthesis.

CostAssessment
Itemizealltheteamsexpensesincompletingtheprojectandgivethetotalcost.Iftheshop
providedservicesinfabrication,estimatethenumberofhoursspentbyshoppersonnelandadda
costcategoryforshoptimeexpensedat$60perhour(thisislowincomparisontomanycommercial
shops).Thiscostisoutsidethe$100budgetstipulatedatthebeginningoftheprojectandislargely
includedforyourbenefittoprovideanindicationofexternalcostsoftheproject.Ifyoureceived
subsidiesofotherkinds(e.g.,giftsofmaterials),reporttheminthisexternalcostcategoryaswell
andmakeanestimateofthemonetaryvalueifthesubsidywasotherthandirectcash.

Alsoprovideanestimateofwhattheteamthinksitwouldcosttobuildafullscalecommercialunit
basedonyourprototypedesignorareviseddesignbasedonyourtestresultsandrecommended
designimprovements.Commentontheperceivedmanufacturabilityofyourdesign,thatis,how
easywoulditbetoimplementyourdesignincommercialapplication?Pointoutanyperceived
complexitiesthatmightmakeitmoreexpensiveordifficulttomanufacture.Ifyouhave
recommendationsforhowtoovercomethesedifficulties,listthem(seesectionbelowon
Recommendations).

Discussion
Thissectioninterpretsandevaluatestheresults.Makesuretodiscusstheoriginalobjectivesfrom
theintroduction.Expandonthemostimportantfindingsfirstandnotesignificantdiscrepancies.
Notesaboutthereliabilityofyourfindingsshouldbeincluded.Ifyouidentifyerrorsinyourown
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work,youcanlendcredibilitytoyourdiscussionbynotingthem.Tofullydevelopadiscussion,
compareyourresultswithothersources.Alsodiscussthepotentialforpracticalapplicationofyour
design,includingresultsfromyourcostestimatation.

Conclusions
Aconclusionrestatesthemajorfindingsandsummarizesresultsinrelationshiptotheoriginal
problem.Aconclusiondrawsoutgeneralizationssupportedbytheresults.Conclusionsmay
suggestapplicationsforresearchresultsorconnectwithotherscientificissues.Conclusionsmaybe
combinedwithrecommendations.

Recommendations
Thisisoftenaveryimportantsectioninengineeringreports.Youmaysuggestdirectionsforfuture
research,development,orimplementationrelatedtoyourfindings.Recommendationsmaybe
combinedwithconclusions.

TeamNormsandStatementofIndividualTeamMemberResponsibilities
Provideastatementattheendofyourreportbutbeforeyourlistofreferencesclearlysummarizing
theteamnormsthatwereagreeduponatthestartoftheprojectandlayingouttheresponsibilities
assumedbyeachmemberoftheteamandtheworkaccomplishedbyeachmemberincompleting
theproject.Ashortparagraphforeachteammembershouldbesufficient,butbespecific.This
sectionreplacestheseparateLessonslearnedreportmentionedintheProjectGuide.

CitationstoReferencesandListofReferences
Precisionwithbibliographicformallowsyouaswellasyourreaderstofindyoursourcearticles.
Specificformatmayvarydependingontheguidelineschosen.Formattingguidelinesforcitationsare
providedinaseparatedocument.Besuretociteallreferencesinthebodyofyourreport
anywhereyouareusinginformationfromothersources.Ifyounumberthelistofreferencesatthe
endofthereport,youmayusethenumberwithinparenthesesorbracketsinthetexttocitethe
reference,e.g.(1)or[1].Otherwise,usealastname(s)anddatestyleasspecifiedintheASABE
guidelines,e.g.(Name,date);(Name1andName2,date),(Name1,etal.,date),thelatterused
wheretherearethreeormoreauthorsonthereference.

AddasectionattheendofthereportbutbeforetheappendicesentitledReferencesandlistall
thereferencescitedinthetext.UsefulldetailinlistingthereferencesasspecifiedintheASABEor
otherstandardreferenceguide.

Appendices
Appendicescontaininformationthatistooextensive,detailed,orspecializedtoincludeinthebody
ofthereportwithoutinterferingwiththereading.Theyoftenincludeextendeddescriptionsof
methodsandlengthycomparativedata.Effectiveappendixesarenotadumpinggroundfor
leftoverdata;theyarethelocationforyourmostcomplexandspecializeddata.Makeexplicit
connectionsbetweenthebodyofthereportandtheappendices.Ifyouareappendingmultiple
typesofinformation,createmorethanoneappendix.Identifyeachbyaletterandatitleand
includeinthetableofcontents,forexample:
AppendixA.SiteMaps
AppendixB.EquipmentSpecifications
AppendixC.Minutesofteammeetings/brainstormingsessions
AppendixD.Handsketchesofdesignconcepts
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AppendixE.Rawexperimentaldata(butnotmassiveprintoutsofdatabestpresentedand
archivedthroughelectronicmediasummariesofsuchdatashouldbeincludedinthetext
ingraphicalortabularformat)