CSCI 6838 Capstone Projects
Guidelines For Final Reports

by K. Yue, last modified: July 2010

This document describe the general requirements and format of the final report for the capstone project course. The guidelines for final reports change every semester. Although you may consult previous technical report for references, do not use the exact template as each project is different.

I. General

Each team must submit a final technical report for its project at the end of the semester. You should assume that your readers to be general computing professionals who are interested in computing technologies but do not necessarily know much about the project.

Note the difference between powerpoint slides and a technical report. Presentation slides need not be complete as the presenter can elaborate further during the presentation and the audiences may ask questions. On the other hand, a final report needs to tell the entire story by itself. Thus, for examples, pure bullet forms requiring further explanation do not work well with technical reports.

Figures and tables must be numbered, labeled and clearly presented. Information that is not directly applicable to the discussion in the report should be placed in the appendices. Other items that can be placed in the appendices include UML diagrams, detailed computations, generated output, source code, etc.

Although it is obvious, make sure to check your grammar and spelling. A poorly written document implies that the software is also poorly written. Proofread all documents (and use the spelling checker) prior to submitting the final report. Like any technical writing, it is common for your final report to undergo several major and minor revisions.

Examples of good technical reports.

II. Final Report Layout

• No hard copy is needed . Send a software copy in MS Word format through email.
• Use 1-inch margins on all sides.
• Use "times roman" font
  • Body of text: size 12
  • Section headings: size 12
  • Main headings: size 14
• Use full margins, not left-justified margins.
• Do not use extensive page headers and footers.
• Use double spacing.
• Sections and subsections should be numbered, for example, 1, 1.1, 2.3.1, etc.
• Make sure to label every figure and table.
• References are placed in alphabetical order by the first author's last name. When citing a reference in a document, enclose the corresponding number for the reference in square brackets, e.g. [1] and [3,4,6]. Include only references that are cited in the body. Limit your references to 12.

III. Final Report Contents

The narratives of your final report (sections 4 to 7 below) must not be more than 14 pages. Source code, screen shots and other less important details can be included in the appendices.

Your technical report should have the following components.

1. Cover Page

• Project title
• Name of the instructor
• Name of the mentor
• Names of the team members (in alphabetical order)
• Semester and year at the bottom (e.g., Fall 2010)
• Report date

2. Abstract

This is a concise executive summary of the project, describing the problem, the design, implementation and evaluation of the solution prototype and recommendations for future enhancement.

3. Table of contents

• List sections, subsections and appendices along with page numbers.
• Listing of table and figures.
• Make sure page numbers are right justified.
• The page number use Roman number in lower case.

4. Narratives

Your technical report should include the following contents:

(a) Introduction and background

This section introduces the problem, its significance, context and specifications, existing current work and related problems. It also gives an overview of the solution described by the report. This section starts as the first page of the narrative.

(b) Technical body

The format or content may depend on your project. Think about the background of your readers to present a compelling story that they may learn from.

(c) Conclusions and Further Direction

This section describes whether, according to the team, the project is successful or not and a summary of the supporting reasons. It also includes a summary of the recommendations for future enhancements.

5. References

This section includes all references cited in the technical report body. You should use established reference formats, such as those by IEEE or ACM. Limit your citations to 12.

6. Appendices

This section includes all appendices. You may include selected documentation's, UML diagrams, project timeline, source code, user guides, manuals, etc.

There should be at least two appendices:

Appendix A . Project Management and Team Information

This appendix briefly describes the development process and the development team including:

• Team roles and role assignments: e.g. team leader, Webmaster, librarian, dba, developer, technical writer, etc. A team member may take multiple roles.
• Schedule: timetable, deadlines and deliverable.
• Software metric analysis (optional): included planned and actual man-hour of activities; analysis of team member log books, etc.

Appendix B: Major tasks and contributions

The detailed percentage breakdown of each team member's contribution on every major task must be included in this appendix. This is a very important input for grading and there should be team consensus about the breakdown.