REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS Abridged version 2011 2 Table of contents 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 3 2 Academic writing .............................................................................................................. 4 3 Report structure ................................................................................................................ 7 3.1 Front matter .............................................................................................................. 8 3.2 Body of the report .................................................................................................... 10 3.3 End matter ................................................................................................................11 4 Report layout ................................................................................................................... 13 4.1 Formatting of text and page layout ......................................................................... 13 4.2 Typographic visualisation ....................................................................................... 13 4.3 Illustrations ............................................................................................................. 14 4.3.1 Tables ............................................................................................................... 15 4.3.2 Figures and images .......................................................................................... 16 4.3.3 Formulas and equations .................................................................................. 18 5 Compiling the lists of source material and persons ....................................................... 20 6 References ....................................................................................................................... 22 6.1 In-text citations ....................................................................................................... 22 6.2 List of references ..................................................................................................... 25 7 Finalising the report ........................................................................................................ 32 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 34 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 Document layout according to SFS standard APPENDIX 2 Project report structure APPENDIX 3 Internship report APPENDIX 4 Travel report www.savonia.fi 3 1 Introduction These instructions have been developed for thesis writing and reporting at Savonia University of Applied Sciences. They are applicable to all written assignments, theses and reports in all degree programs and study fields at Savonia UAS. The instructions were originally developed by lecturers Pirjo Suhonen and Pirkko Tenkama in connection with their development work of the thesis process in 2009 – 2010. At Savonia UAS all reports are written in compliance with the requirements of SFS standards (Finnish Standards Association SFS; SFS 2487, SFS 5342 and SFS 5831). Moreover, the principles of academic writing and the copyright law are followed. The reports consist of the following parts: a cover page drafted in accordance with Savonia’s graphic guidelines, an abstract if necessary (in theses and extensive reports), a table of contents, the main content in accordance with the assignment, in- text citations and references to the source material in compliance with the copyright regulations, as well as a list of appendices. Study assignments and especially thesis commissions can involve trade secrets, business innovations or other confidential information depending on the commissioning organisation’s interests. All confidential information is excluded from the report published to the general public. If required, the commissioning organisation or company can be provided with a separate, additional summary which is only mentioned in the report. These instructions provide a model suitable for reports written in compliance with SFS standards. The document layout in accordance with SFS standards is attached in Appendix 1. In addition, some examples of more special report structures are enclosed: a project report (Appendix 2), an internship report (Appendix 3) and a travel report (Appendix 4). www.savonia.fi 4 2 Academic writing At Savonia UAS, reports are written according to the principles of academic writing and scientific practice. Simple clarity and coherence are characteristics of good text. The text in reports is compact and follows the grammatical rules. The ideas and the statements are presented in logical order. The text in reports follows specific linguistic and structural principles, which facilitates both the writing process and the reading and understanding of the text. In reports, subject matters are introduced in a certain order. The general way of structuring the text is presented in Chapter 3. The logical structuring of the subject matter is reflected in the table of contents as well as in the structure of the chapters and the paragraphs. The sequence of sentences in a paragraph should convey ideas closely connected to each other. The sentences, in turn, should consist of grammatically correct clauses and phrases. In general, long and complicated sentences should be avoided. The scientific writing process necessitates the use of prior work of other researchers, but it should follow copyright regulations. In addition, accurate scientific analysis requires supportive data such as examples and specimen. The content of a report is considered to be the product of the writer mentioned on the cover page unless indicated otherwise by the use of references. A report conveys an informative message to the reader. The reader should understand the message in such a way as originally disclosed by the writer. Therefore, it is of essential importance that the writer’s conclusions and arguments can be verified by the reader going through the same thought processes and repeating the same measures as well as checking the references given by the writer. The facts and arguments presented in a report must be substantiated; the mere presenting and stating of prior existing knowledge is not sufficient. This calls for a critical and transparent approach to the subject matter. The writer’s own views should be combined with the prior knowledge of the specific subject matter in the study field. The reader should be able to distinguish the writer’s opinions clearly, and all eventual arguments and opinions should be well-founded. (Luukka 2002, 19–21.) Report writing necessitates an objective and unbiased attitude to the subject matter except for the studies involving creative expression, in which cases a subjective approach can be applied. Furthermore, objectivity calls for special accuracy and careful and critical use of reference and other material. According to good scientific practice, a large variety of unbiased source material is included in reports regardless of the writer’s own bias. Original sources make up the primary source of data. All sources that are used should be adequately reliable and scholarly acknowledged in the study field. Sources such as electronic data whose origin is unreliable or cannot be accurately traced should be reviewed critically. On www.savonia.fi 5 the other hand, a reference can sometimes be omitted if the material can be regarded as basic knowledge in the scientific field in question. The writing process should always follow the principles of good scientific practice. There should be no question as to whose ideas, results, conclusions or argumentations are presented. When source material (books, newspaper articles, experts, the Internet) is referred to, the referenced text should be rephrased, i.e. the matters / ideas should be expressed in the writer’s own words. All references must always be included accurately in the report. The reference instructions are given in Chapter 6.1. When an in-text citation refers to web content, the writer should print out the pages or copy and save the material as a file. In addition, the date when the web content was accessed should be indicated to prove that the reference data in question was available on the date of retrieval. Thus the material that might have been removed or modified can be accepted as reference. Direct quotations can be used in the text for some exact definitions, for the citations of a person who has been interviewed or for the citations of open-ended questionnaire data. The quotation is written in italic typeface and inserted in quotation marks. Original materials produced by other writers (drafts, pictures, figures, drawings, structural pictures, charts, maps, statistics, programs) are submitted with reference information, and the permission to use the material in question has to be obtained always. According to the Copyright Act (404/1961), direct quotations and other original data (for example pictures) can be used in scientific papers such as theses. The quotation has to follow good scientific practice and conventions. There are no exact rules regarding the length of the quotation, but the decisive aspects include - the purpose of the quotation - the relevance of the quotation considering the scope of the study. Plagiarism “is to present someone else’s research plan, manuscript, article or text, or parts thereof, as one’s own”