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Guideline to Writing in Engineering

Prepared by B. McCabe

1. Guidelines
You must read the guidelines in the following website before you submit any reports or
assignments to me: http://www.ecf.toronto.edu/~writing/handbook.htm
(For more general information, see http://www.ecf.utoronto.ca/~writing/)

It covers plagiarism, referencing techniques, FAQ, and writing tips; of particular interest are
plagiarism, citations, and referencing. References are provided to help readers find your
information sources; therefore, they must be complete. References are presented in alphabetic
order by the first authors last name. Citations are in the text, and give a short form of the
reference. It does not give you the right to copy another persons words.

A bibliography is a general reference source, such as a textbook, where general ideas are
presented but not specifically cited in the text.

Remember! Web sites are generally poor references because:


Their longevity cannot be guaranteed. Websites appear and disappear at will. Find out if
the information is available in print, and reference that instead.
Their credibility cannot be guaranteed; they are not peer-reviewed. Anyone can put
anything on the web. Reading it on a computer screen does not make it true.

All references must be cited in the text.


All Tables and Figures must be discussed in the text. Simply inserting them is not sufficient. It is
not the role of the reader to interpret your results.

2. General Organization of Reports


You should have the following sections, as appropriate:
Title Page
course number and name
title of paper
your name and student number
date
Certification Statement (as below)
Executive Summary
Table of Contents, List of Tables and Figures
Introduction to the Problem
Objectives
Methodology
Literature Review
Your Model/Experiment/Hypothesis
Your Discussion, Analysis, and Results
Conclusions and Recommendations
summary of results
refer back to objectives and show how they were met (close the loop)

3. Certification Statement
Include and sign the following statement; place it on the page immediately after the title page.

I hereby certify that I am thoroughly familiar with the contents of this


project/ assignment/ essay/report: it is substantially my own work, I have
referenced all my sources of information, and I am the sole author.

Signature, Printed name, Date

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Hints on using Microsoft Word
Prepared by B McCabe

There are several functions in MSWord that can help you automate repetitive and annoying
formatting in your technical documents.

1. Headings
At the start of your document, set the style for headings. Headings are for defining sections of
your paper. For example:

1 HOW TO USE H EADINGS IN MSW ORD


1.1 The use of Headings
1.2 The advantages of Headings
1.2.1 Better organization
1.2.2 Reduce numbering errors

Format the headings using Format, and then Style in the menu. Set the format of the numbering,
the fonts (Arial, size 12, bold, or underlined etc.) and the paragraphs (spacing) for each of the
heading levels. Note that once the numbering is set, it automatically sets it for the lower levels as
well, so you don't have to repeatedly set it for each heading level.

Once it is set up, create headings by either choosing the heading level in the Style box in the
toolbox area (it probably says Normal now) or by using the green arrows in the toolbox.

2. Captioning Figures and Tables


Under Insert, Caption in the menu, there is a selection of types of captions that can be inserted
into the text. Remember captions for tables go above the tables, and for figures, go below the
table. They look like this:
Figure 1: This is a Test
You can format the caption in the same dialog window by changing the font size, the numbering
scheme, or the wording.

3. Referring to Tables and Figures


To refer in your text to the figure of table that you have captioned, insert a cross-reference. The
menu path is Insert, Cross-reference. It will ask whether you are referring to a numbered items,
table, figure etc, and whether you want to use the entire caption or just the label and number. I
always use only the label and number, and I always switch off the Insert and a hyperlink function
because it causes problems during editing. When you insert the cross-reference, it is always
linked to the caption. That way, if you add figures or tables or remove them earlier in the
document, the numbering will automatically be corrected.

Don't forget that each figure or table must be referred to and discussed in the text before the table
or figure appears in the text.

4. Table of Contents
Finally, to create the Table of Contents use Insert, Index and Tables. Click the tab Table of
Contents, choose the style, and insert it. This will automatically scan the document for headings
and compile the headings and their pages into a Table of Contents. Table of Figures will scan the
document for Figure Captions and do the same. There is no problem with wrong page numbers,
etc. HOWEVER, if you add figures or headings, you must update the Table of Contents by
clicking a right mouse button and choosing Update field.

This section is taken directly from: http://www.writersblock.ca/tips/monthtip/tipjul97.htm, and


reproduced here for your convenience. The remainder of the site is very good
(http://www.writersblock.ca/tips/a-tips.htm), and it is worthwhile spending an hour going through it.

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5. Paragraphs
The start of each paragraph should be distinguished with a blank line and/or a tab indent. This
document is using blank lines. Note that a blank line is not required immediately after headings,
depending on the style you use.

6. Sentence Endings one space or two?


Since the beginning, spaces in handwriting or carved print moulds were dictated by the writer's or
carver's perception of what was appropriate. When moveable type became the chief method of
printing, all word spaces were created by inserting at least one standard space sort (unit of metal
type) between words. When the compositor neared the end of each line, more space sorts would
be uniformly added to the existing spaces until the line was filled (justified).

Early typewriters essentially affixed a set of character sorts to mechanical arms that could be
struck, one at a time, against a sheet of paper. These typewriters, being unable to know which
character had just been struck and, therefore, unable to "decide" how far to move the carriage,
required monospace characters: that is, characters that each occupy exactly the same horizontal
space on the page. Popular widths included Pica (10 characters per inch) and Elite
(12 characters per inch).

The visual effect of typewritten monospace characters was different from the proportional effect of
moveable type. Monospace periods, being centred in the chosen character width (one-tenth or
one-twelfth of an inch), were now set relatively far from the final word of each sentence. In
typewritten texts, one space between words was fine, but two spaces seemed necessary to
counter the apparent break between the final word of the preceding sentence and its period.

Typewriters were gradually adapted to print proportional characters, but trained typists, with their
deeply ingrained skills, retained the habit of inserting two spaces between sentences. As
newcomers were introduced to keyboarding, they also picked up the habit.

To be strictly accurate, only one standard word space should be inserted between the end of one
sentence and the start of the next; however, several factors affect how the spaces appear in the
composed text, such as the specific font being used and its implementation by the font designer.

The issue of spacing between sentences should therefore be settled for individual jobs, not
applied across all projects as a standard. The choice will depend on the choice of font, the choice
of publishing tool, and the overall aesthetic effect. If readability won't suffer, only one space
should appear between sentences; if readability is an issue, two spaces can be used. Whichever
choice you make, ensure that it is implemented uniformly throughout the text.

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