Workshop IIPreparing the Report

A D Kennedy27 January 2010

Contents

• Status• Scope• Depth• Audience• Format• Assessment• Questions?

Status“Where should we be now?”

• Groups chosen and had some meetings• “Consultant” (supervisor) contacted • Topic chosen• Scope considered• Tasks allocated• Work plan being implemented• Outline in progress

Deadlines

• Workshop III “Giving an oral presentation”– 14:00 Wednesday 10th March, JCMB Lecture Theatre C

• Reports– e-mail Abstract to Teaching Office by Friday 12th March– Hand-in date is Friday 19th March– Physics projects to be handed in at JCMB– Astro projects to be handed in at the ROE

• Presentations– Tuesday 23rd/Wednesday 24th March– Location to be announced

Scope of Report“How broad should we make it?”

• Overview: reviewing whole subject area• Explanation of a technique: more detail, aim to

explain a specific thing• Future look: broader again, some examples• Critical Assessment/recommendations: mainly

Group Project• Project could be combinations of these. • Decide on scope early and stick with the plan

Depth of Report“How much detail should there be?”

• Overview: broad coverage, not in depth• Explanation of a technique: technical details and

background• Future look: current status and vision, light on

details• General rules:

– Narrow scope– Do not concentrate on details– Mathematics to a minimum (no more than needed)– Diagrams and sketches are useful

Audience“What is the appropriate level?”

• Most important: remember readership– Target report at your peers– General physical science background– New Scientist/Physics World/Scientific American level

• General physical scientists do not– Know what the “Standard Model” is – Accept “fractal dimension” as a normal measure

• Simple language where possible

Format“What should the report look like?”

• Report must be “camera ready”– Word processed to self-consistent style– Figures in appropriate places

• LaTeX users: there is a template in – http://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/~wjh/tex/– Gives correct format, page size, font…

• Non LaTeX users– Main text 12 pt Roman or Times– L/R Margins of 30 cm– Top/Bottom margins of 20 cm– Citations by superscript numbers

Electronic Media“Can we hand in web pages?”

• Acceptable if (and only if) they are relevant– Provide in convenient form (standard file formats on

CD)– Give instructions if necessary

• Likewise for videos, animations, etc.• Markers will not be happy if they have to

go to a lot of effort to view material– Especially if it is not relevant– You want the markers to be happy!

References: What to Cite“Can we reference Wikipedia?”

• Beware “the wisdom of crowds”• Probably not a good idea to cite Wikipedia as

– It is not a primary source– But it often contains good references, so not a bad place

to look initially

• Review articles– Scientific American/Physics World/Physics Today are

probably appropriate at this level– Physics Reports/Reviews of Modern Physics

References: How to Cite

• Citing the Web– Nie M. (2006) The Pedagogical Perspectives of Mobile Learning.

Available online: http://www2.le.ac.uk/projects/impala/documents, (Retrieved: 29th January 2009).

• Consistent referencing style– [135] W. L. Jorgensen and C. J. Swenson, Optimized intermolecular

potential functions for amides and peptides. Hydration of amides, J. Am. Chem. Soc.,107, 1489—1496 (1985).

Assessment “How is it marked?”

• Assessment for– Content– Structure, readability and level– Layout and presentation

• Include minutes of your meetings• Double marked• Submission deadlines:

– Late penalties 5% per day– Not likely to benefit by missing the deadline

Abstract and Title

• Short and to the point (50 words) • Plain text – no formatting characters

– Title of report– Group Members– Supervisor’s Name

• e-mail Abstract to Teaching Office by Friday 12th March

Questions?