IT Report Requirements

All students doing Industrial Training will need to hand in a report at the end of each IT stint. This must be done no later than 30 days after the completion of each IT stint even if you intend to work with the same or different employer next vacation.

The report must be a properly structured document of roughly 2000 to 3000 words (less if you only spent a short time with the company or if this is a second stint with the same company). Students should discuss the content of the report with their work supervisor to ensure that the report does not contain confidential material.

The report will be read by the IT-Coordinator who will assess it based upon your personal account of the work undertaken (ie your personal experience). Although some technical detail will be required in order to gauge the complexity of the work undertaken, the IT report is not meant to be a technical or user manual of the product; our primarily interested in your experiences, your interaction with others and what you've learnt.

If the report and the work undertaken is acceptable, you will be credited with the number of IT days you've claimed for in the report (note however that this is capped at 30 days for Internal IT). Where required, a reduction to the number of IT days claimed may be imposed if the work undertaken is deemed unsuitable by the IT-Coordinator. Alternately the report may in some situations be rejected if what you've written about does not adequately describe your experiences; in this situation, you'll be asked to rewrite the report for re-submission (ideally you should seek advice from the IT-Coordinator before resubmitting the report).

To complete the report, it must include a Cover page, an Employment Record form and a Student Evaluation form (PDF versions of both forms may be found here). In addition, you must also include a photocopy of a payslip or your employment contract showing that you have been paid for your work. Finally the report must be handed into the CSE School Office during normal business hours. No report will be accepted without the attached payslip/employment contract and the above mentioned forms.

Once submitted, all questions as to the status of the report should be directed to the Student Office and not to the IT-Coordinator.

Reminder, you will not be allowed to graduate if you do not complete 60 paid working days of Industrial Training.

How to write an IT report

This guide has been written to assist students with writing reports required for the Industrial Training program. Reports that are fluently written, clearly legible, well-structured and comprehensive have a higher likelihood of success than reports that do not have these characteristics.

The Report Style is characterized by the use of headings for sections, and by the use of Arabic or Roman numerals or letters of the alphabet to indicate the levels of importance of the sections. In contrast, the Essay Style is characterized by continuous prose, marked only by the divisions into paragraphs and chapters.

Reports for Industrial Training must use the Report Style.

1.  Preparation

It will be helpful if you make notes of each project as you undertake the work. Even better is to keep a diary in which you make daily records. Discuss the content of your notes or diary with your work supervisor to ensure that these details do not contain company confidential material.

2.  Mechanical details

Reports must be typed (ie word-processed). Legibility is very important since work that is not legible cannot be assessed be sure to chose a font and a font size that makes your report easy to read. Times New Roman, or Times, 12-point is one example of a suitable font and size, but any easily read font and size will do.

Reports may be single-spaced (acceptable) or double-spaced (preferable) by leaving one full-size line blank between each line of type or writing on the page.

Reports should be roughly 2000 to 3000 words long (less if you only spent a short time with the company or if this is a second stint with the same company).

A margin of 3 cm to 4 cm should be allowed on the left-hand side. A margin of 3 cm should be allowed on the right-hand side and the top and bottom of the page.

Writing should be on one side of the page only to leave space for comments by the marker (ie do not print on both sides of the page). All pages must be numbered.

Each report should include:

1. A title page;
2. A table of contents, showing sections with headings;
3. An introduction outlining the Company, its products, the section/department in which you worked, and the Company's organizational structure (showing the section where you worked);
4. A section detailing projects or responsibilities on which you worked, with one-subsection for each project or responsibility. Each sub-section should describe the tasks you were given to do; any contributions you may have made; and the approximate time period spent on each project/responsibility. Each sub-section should contain a separate sub-sub-section outlining the hardware used and another describing the softwareenvironment;
5. A section describing formal training you received;
6. A section in which you relate your work experience to your studies;
7. A conclusion which summarizes the report.

The report must be submitted within 30 days of completing your work experience.

3.  Writing the Report

Prepare a plan and follow it, revising it where necessary. Use a spelling checker carefully. When writing about the projects you have completed, make sure you use the first person with active verbs - that is, use the word "I" and verbs which indicated what you actually did. For example:

• "I was extensively involved in all aspects of Java development for the project...";
• "My very first task was to rewrite... I obtained the requirements from ... ";
• "I was responsible for...";
• "I developed an application which..."

Do not use the third person ("we") or the passive voice ("the project required") as these styles do not make it clear exactly what your contribution to the project was.

If you don't know what sort of verbs to use, these 250 verbs will give you a starting place.

Show your work supervisor a copy of your report and discuss the content to ensure that confidential material is not disclosed.

Bibliography

Jongeling, S.B. (Ed) (1996) Referencing Guide (4th rev. ed.), Perth: Edith Cowan University, Office of Research and Development and Division of Academic Services.