Technical Report format for the course ME 490

1. PRESENTATION
1.1 Precision and Consistency: Every effort must be made to avoid unwarranted repetitions, padding with irrelevant
material. Further, the report must be self consistent in the use of symbols, abbreviations, spellings and punctuation.
Once chosen, the same must be used throughout. lso, the pattern of presentation must be uniform in every detail right
through the thesis.
1.! Chapters: "he basic material of the report shall be presented in the form of chapters, each carrying an appropriate
and specific title which must convey the scope of its content. separate chapter on #eview of $iterature is not
mandatory. "he chapters will be serially numbered using rabic numerals.
1.% &ntroduction: "he first chapter shall be titled as &ntroduction which will 'a( introduce the research problem
presenting the current state of relevant )nowledge 'b( define the scope and ob*ectives of the investigation and 'c(
describe the contents of the report preferably chapter+wise.
1., $ast Chapter: &t is strongly recommended that the last chapter of the thesis or each part be devoted to conclusions
and to highlight the specific contributions made along with the scope for further research. "he summary of the wor)
may also be combined with the conclusions.
1.- ppendi.es: &t is important that the presentation must ensure utmost continuity in the theoretical discussions, in the
description of e.perimental results and in their interpretations. /ence, lengthy derivations and voluminous tables,
charts and figures which are li)ely to disturb the smooth flow for the reader must be presented in the appendi.es.
. SE!"EN#E
"itle page: "he title sheet shall be the first page and it shall conform to the specimen.
bstract: &t is the condensed version of the report, useful for documentation purpose. &t should contain aim of the
wor), methods used, and important results obtained and ma*or conclusions. "he write up should be self contained and
list of references need not be there. "he abstract should occupy ma.imum one page in +, si0e, typed in one+and+half
space. "he bottom line should contain )ey words which could be used for documentation.
Contents: "he content shall follow the abstract and indicate the page numbers of the chapters, sections, sub+sections,
appendi.es and references. "he numbers and titles of all the items must be clearly entered with the page numbers
against them. &t is recommended to give separate lists of figures, tables, appendices etc. after the "able of Contents.
1omenclature: 1omenclature will follow the contents. &ts purpose will be to define all the symbols, abbreviations,
2ree) or $atin letters, superscripts etc.
"he Chapters: "he chapter 1+ &ntroduction shall follow the previous item. Chapter ! and the subse3uent chapters will
follow in the usual se3uence.
#eferences: #eferences shall follow the last chapter or the appendi.es, if there are any. #esearch papers, reviews,
treaties, web sources and boo)s shall be listed therein in the alphabetical order. "he te.t citation appears where the
material to be cited is presented. "hey will be placed within the brac)ets appropriately in the te.t citing the author
name and the year without a comma in between. 4se the first author5s name followed by 6et al.7 in citations for
publications with three or more authors. 8hen the researcher is part of the sentence, only the year need to be put inside
the brac)ets. 3uic) guide to common types of referenced material is as follows:
9ournal #eferences
&nclude year, volume, issue and page numbers
:tahl, ;.C., 8olfe, #.8. and <egel, =. '!>>,(. 6&mproved analysis of timber rivets connections.7 J. Struct. Eng.,
1%>'?(, 1!@!+1!@A.
<oo)s
&nclude author, boo) title, publisher, the publisher5s location and chapter title and inclusive of page numbers 'if
applicable(
Badeh, $..'1A?1(. 6 Possibility theory and soft data analysis.7 Mathematical frontiers of the social and policy
sciences, $. Cobb and #.=. "harall, eds., 8estview, <oulder, Colo., CA+1!A.
Cotton, F.. '!>>%(. Chemical applications of group theory, =c=ilan, $ondon.
Conference Proceedings and :ymposiums
&nclude the sponsor of the conference or publisher of the proceedings and the location+city and state or city and
country.
2arrett, ;.$. '!>>%(. 6 Coupled analysis of floating production systems.7 Proc., Int. Symp. on Deep Mooring Systems,
:CE, #eston, Da., 1-!+1C@.
#eports
:ame as for boo)s, as above. For reports authored by institutions: spell out institution acronym on first use and follow
with acronym in parentheses, if applicable. &f subse3uent references were also authored by that same institution, use
only the acronym. For reports authored persons, include the full institution name and its location.
8eb Pages
&nclude author, copyright date, title of 6page7, web address and date on which the material was downloaded.
<ur)ha, $.P. '1AA%(. 6 hyperte.t history of multi+user dimensions.7 MUD history, http:EEwww.ccs.neu.edu ';ec. -,
1AA,(.
C;+#O=
&nclude authors, copyright date, titles, medium and producerEpublisher and its location
$iggett, 9.. and Caughey, ;.. '1AA?(. 6 Fluid statics.7 Fluid mechanics 'C;+#O=(, :CE Press, #eston, Da.
"hesis and ;issertations
&nclude authors, copyright date, title and the name and location of the institution where the research was conducted.
1ote that some institutions use specific terminologyF for e.ample, 6doctoral dissertation7 rather than 6Ph.;. thesis7.
:otiropulos, :.1. '1AA1(. 6 :tatic response of bridge superstructures made of fiber reinforced plastic. 6 =. "ech thesis,
8est Dirginia 4niv., =organtown, 8. Da.
4npublished =aterial
4npublished material is not included in the references but may be cited in the te.t as
follows: '9ohn :mith, personal communication, =ay 1C, 1A?%F 9. :mith, unpublished internal report, February !>>%(.
$. TE#%NI#A&
%.1 Paper: "he report should preferably printed on , si0e bond sheet.
%.! "yping : "he typing shall be in standard letter si0e i.e. font si0e 1! of "imes 1ew #oman, 1.- spaced on one side of
the paper only. "he chapter number and title shall be three spaces between them. "he number and title of a section in
bloc) capitals will be placed on the left. "he number and title of a sub+section will not be in capital and placed on the
left.
%.% =argins: Each typed sheet will bear the margin shown here. $eft 1.-
G
, top 1.-
G
, right 1
G
and bottom 1
G
.
%., <inding: 8hile submitting, the report will be bound through soft binding with blue cover and blac) font. "he front
cover should be as per specimen . "he front cover will carry the title of the thesis in !! font si0e gold letters properly
centered at the top. &n the middle, the full name of the candidate shall be typed in 1C font si0e gold letters. t the
bottom, the name of the department, the &nstitute name, month and the year of submission, all in capitals and in
separate lines and in 1C font gold letters.
%.- 1umbering :ystem: "he chapters will be designated by rabic numerals, Chapter 1, Chapter ! H etc. "he
sections of a chapter will be numbered using decimal type notations, e.g., %.! refers to the second section of chapter %.
:imilarly, the sub+sections will be numbered using two digits after the decimal. lternatively, the same may be
numbered as %.!.,. ;ecimal type notations will be used for numbering the figuresEphotos, charts, tables and drawings
in a chapter. E3uations may also be numbered in decimal type notation within the brac)ets. Figure %.! refers to the
second figure in chapter %. :imilarly, "able ,.!, chart %.% etc. ppendi.es will be numbered with capital #oman
numerals, e.g. ppendi. &, ppendi. && H..etc.
"he pages carrying the "itle sheet and c)nowledgements will not be numbered. One set of small #oman numerals 'i,
ii, iiiH( will be used for numbering the "able of contents, $ist of Figures, $ist of "ables, $ist of ppendices and
1omenclature. "hese will be typed at the bottom centre of the page.
"he pages of the chapters, the appendi.es and the references will be designated by one set of rabic numerals '1, !,
%Hetc(. "hese will be typed on the bottom centre of the page. Pages carrying figures, charts, table etc. will carry
appropriate page numbers. "he page number of the first page of contents, the first page of each chapter including the
conclusions need not be typed as is often the practice.
:pecimen : "itle :heet
" & " $ E
'&n capital letters(
#eport
:ubmitted in partial fulfillment of the re3uirements for the course
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'eneral (ui)elines*
. Full and complete attribution of sources is central to professional academic integrity. ll sources of
information and materials that contribute to the research and writing of your report must be properly
ac)nowledged. :tudents are responsible for consulting with faculty advisers as they prepare the
report to ma)e sure that citations and ac)nowledgments are complete and accurate. :ources that must
be cited include, but are not limited to:
1. language or wording either ta)en directly or paraphrased from another source, whether published
or notF
!. concepts, interpretations, techni3ues, methods, test instruments or procedures borrowed or
adapted from another wor), whether published or notF
%. charts, graphs or figures borrowed or adapted from another source, whether published or notF
,. photographs, films, recordings, digital material or other images from another sourceF and
-. ;ata, surveys or results of any )ind from any other in3uiry or investigation.
<. ll !- *ournal articles must be from peer reviewed 3uality 9ournals in =echanical Engineering
only, covering ;esign, =anufacturing+=aterials, =echatronics, "hermal+Fluid Engineering, and
&ndustrialK Opearations Engineering related areas in =E(.
C. ll *ournal articles must be published during the last three years only ' i.e. year !>>A, !>1> and !>11
only(
;. Enclose in bound form the most relevant *ournal articles 'minimum five( based on which you have
prepared your research report.
E. Only blac) and white emblem of 1&"J is to be used on the title sheet.
F. ;o not leave any Figure, "able, Chart, Photograph, ppendi., E3uation etc. without an appropriate
number corresponding to the chapter in which they are described.
2. Preface, c)nowledgment, ;eclaration, ;edication etc. for the report are not necessary.
/. "he materials presented in the report must be coherent, self contained and addressed to professionals
belonging to any discipline of engineering and not limited to =echanical engineering only.
&. #eports not conforming to the above format will be summarily re*ected and such candidates will be
awarded grade FF for the seminar course.