Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment ENGG3500 Managing Engineering Projects. Formatting and Style Specifications for ENGG3500 Reports (2018) By Dr. Michael D. Netherton (Version date: Tuesday 11th September 2018) THE UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT www.newcastle.edu.au 1. Introduction In this course, and in your working life, you can find many books and documents that will help you use the written word to communicate your thoughts; one such book is "A Guide to Writing as an Engineer" (Beer & McMurrey 2014). This book specifies what components are usually required for formal reports; such Cover Letter (often called a transmittal letter), an Introduction, Background and Literature Review, etc. That said, in this specification document, the focus is on the presentation of what you actually produce; in other words, what should your ENGG3500 reports look like? In short, they should look exactly like this document. You may think, at first, that spending time making sure your report is presented in a particular (and perhaps arbitrary) manner is an unnecessary burden. However, you should have no doubt that the "look and feel" of your written communication will always be used (rightly or wrongly) by your future employers, clients and peers as a measure of your engineering professionalism. Indeed, many companies have very strict specifications about how reports are to appear if they are to be sent out under the company's letterhead; and rightly so, as the reputation of an organisation can be damaged if it releases documents that don't look like they're from that organisation, or worse, if documents look as if they've been "thrown together" at the last minute, even though the information within may be first-class. This document provides guidance on two aspects of how your ENGG3500 reports are to "look and feel"; in that, you are to use specified forms of: (1) document-formatting, and (2) text-styles. Of course, there is significantly more detail you will need to consider when publishing your final document; however, focussing on these two aspects is a start, and your grade for your ENGG3500 Reports will (in part) depend on how well you adhere to these specifications. ENGG3500 (2018), Formatting and Style Specifications (Version dated 11 Sep 2018).docx Page 2 of 9 2. Document Formatting 2.1 Page Layout Each page of is to be A4 size, have a portrait orientation and have 2.54 cm margins on each side, top and bottom. 2.2 Tables If you include any data in your document, then it is to be placed into a Table, and, if you use a table then you must refer to it from somewhere within your text, and before the Table is shown. Each table is to be sequentially numbered with its caption in italics; an example is shown below at Table 1. The Table itself must be centred on the page. The table number and caption is located above the table and aligned to the left side of the page. All information within a table is to be centred, with major headings in bold. The specifications for any table's lines are: All lines are to be solid black. Major horizontal lines are at the top and bottom of the first row and the entire table. Similar data sets are to be separated by minor horizontal lines, with no horizontal lines within similar data sets and there are to be no vertical lines, at all. Major lines are of 2.25 point thickness with minor lines of 1 point thickness. Table 1. An example table containing random inspection data. Fuel-system components inspected, by date: Date: Wing tanks: Main pump: Cut-off switch: Bleed valve: No 29 March No No No 30 March Yes Yes Yes Yes 02 April Yes Yes Yes Yes 03 April No No Yes Yes 04 April Yes Yes Yes Yes ENGG3500 (2018), Formatting and Style Specifications (Version dated 11 Sep 2018).docx Page 3 of 9 2.3 Figures Any image, drawing, photograph, etc, is considered a figure, and, if you place any figure into your document then you must appropriately refer to it from somewhere (and nearby) within your text. • If you don't (or can't) write something in your text about a figure, then you should remove that figure, as you must not assume the reader will automatically understand the figure's relevance. Each figure is to be sequentially numbered with the caption in italics; an example is shown below at Figure 1. A figure's number and caption is located underneath and is centred on the page. The caption should be a sentence, meaning that it begins with a capital, and ends with a full-stop. Velocity Streamine 2 1.147e-001 13+000 5 753-000 834+000 3.533-002 ANSYS ANSYS Pressure 5.083--001 4.465e+001 3.954-001 3.235+001 2.626+001 2.005-001 1.394-001 7.793-000 1644-000 -4.505+000 1.065-001 -1.680+001 2.2550-001 2.910-001 +1.535-001 -4.140-001 -4.735-001 -5.3694-001 -5.9840-001 Figure 1. Wind load-pressures on a high-rise structure at Honeysuckle Drive, Newcastle. 2.4 Equations Any equation (if used) must be referred to within the text, and before the equation occurs. Equations are centred, 1.5 line spacing, sequentially numbered (with the number in brackets at the right hand margin), and every element sequentially explained, as per Eqn. (1) below: E = M × c² where: E = Energy M = Mass c = the speed of light (1) ENGG3500 (2018), Formatting and Style Specifications (Version dated 11 Sep 2018).docx Page 4 of 9 2.5 Appendices If your work contains a significant amount of supplementary data (that is not, of itself, crucial for the flow of your report's “argument”) it may be appropriate to include this supplementary information within an appendix. You should be extremely careful that you do not “Argue-from-the-Appendix”; which means that the reader should not be required to go to your annex to get a full understanding of what you are attempting to communicate. If your appendix only contains lots of additional information (that you have appropriately referred to from your text) this is fine; so, if you think of an appendix as simply a “data-store”, then you will be OK. The specific formatting requirements for any appendix are the same as your report. ENGG3500 (2018), Formatting and Style Specifications (Version dated 11 Sep 2018).docx Page 5 of 9/n Housing Crisis in Australia: Challenges, Solutions, and Policy recommendations in terms of Construction. Open Ended Project: Write a 40-page report explaining your research, Solutions, Current Construction market role, and Government Policies, Explain Sustainable Construction Techniques that could be adopted in Australia. And also recommend any one of the construction methods that can be useful to address this issue in Australia. The line space should be 1.5 Files attached- 1) Report instructions 2) Sample report