Graduate Independent Study - Final Report Format
The final report should contain this general information, in this order:
- Title Page
- Abstract
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Contents
- Body
- Bibliography
- Appendices
Note: We bind the copies of your final report for you. You should not bind the printed copies that you submit in any way other than binder clips or rubber bands.
The final report is bound with a soft tape binding, using a front cover that has a rectangular hole cut in it to show part of the title page of the final report. Therefore, the exact positioning of the information on the title page is important. Please use the title page template (Word format) to create the title page of your IS final report.
The abstract is a one or two paragraph summary of the contents and purpose of the final report. The abstract should be on a page by itself. You may choose to follow your abstract with an optional acknowledgements page, in which students typically thank anyone who provided help with their Independent Study project. The table of contents follows the acknowledgements and indicates the specific page numbers of the chapters and/or sections of the entire document.
The body of the final report consists of the main contents. The manner in which this information is organized will vary from project to project. Consult your advisor regarding the specific organization for the body of your project's final report. Providing an outline of your report early for your advisor to critique is a good way to stay on the right track. Usually the body is subdivided into chapters (or at least major sections) and subsections. Often an early chapter of the report body contains the background of the project and information synthesized from appropriate literature. Most of the report body will detail the work conducted by you. The main body of the report should cite references from your bibliography as appropriate.
Following the main body of the report, provide a complete bibliography of all references that contributed to your project. Your advisor may instruct you to use a particular format for your references; otherwise you may use any reasonable bibliography reference format that you'd like as long as you are consistent.
Finally, include any appendices that are appropriate. Appendices generally contain important but tangential information, such as the raw data collected during an experiment, or tables of statistical analysis, or quick reference guides for technologies important to the project.
In general, you should not include large amounts of source code in your final report, even as an appendix, unless your advisor requests it. You may include snippets of code in the main body of your document as you discuss particular issues. You may also give references to online versions of your software.
There is no particular length requirement for your final report. Do not attempt to pad the document with extraneous information. The length of the report will vary greatly depending on the project. Consult with your advisor and focus on the content of the report; the length will take care of itself.
The detail formatting issues for the body of the report should be reasonable and consistently used. Your advisor may have particular requirements. Otherwise, here are some general guidelines:
- Body text is single spaced using a 12 point Serif font
- First line of paragraphs are indented
- Paragraphs are separated by 6 point spacing
- Left and right margins of 1.25 inches
- Top and bottom margins of 1 inch
- Pages numbers are centered at bottom of page
- Chapters begin on a new page
- Section headers in bold, left justified
Your advisor may prefer that you double space your document for review purposes, but the final report submitted for binding should be single spaced.