INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO DO ASSIGNMENT 1

(AND ANY OTHER RESEARCH REPORT)

Note: Spacing between headings and text in this guide are not exactly equivalent to what you need
to use in your report but are presented to highlight important points. Specific guidelines for line
and heading spacing are described below.
1. INTRODUCTION
Every introduction needs to include four paragraphs or types of information.

In order, the four types of information that belong in an introduction include:

1) Why do we care (or the problem statement)? Explains the importance of the problem or issue
you are going to write about. The first paragraph should follow the inverted triangle principle:
start with a broad statement and become more detailed until finally identifying the specific
problem that the paper addresses. The purpose of the first paragraph is to interest the reader in the
paper, to clearly identify for the reader what the paper will address, and to quickly bring the
reader to the edge of knowledge in the field the paper addresses (Russel & Morrison 2003). The
paragraph should end with the general problem addressed by the paper. To have the greatest
impact, the first sentence should be broad in scope and should attract the readers attention.
2) What do we know (or the literature review)? Uses the literature to explain the state of knowledge
around the issues brought up in part 1. This section could be one or more paragraphs, depending
on the complexity of the issue you are addressing and how many component parts it has. Over the
course of this section, we want to move from general aspects of the issue to more specific ones.
By the end of the section we want to be able to lead into the next section, the knowledge gap.
3) What dont we know (or the knowledge gap)? Again, uses the literature but in this case to
highlight our gaps in knowledge. This section should identify gaps that you will help to address in
your report. You can think of think of this as the boundaries or limits of the knowledge you
described in part 2.
4) What are you going to do (or your aims and objectives)? Need to demonstrate how these will
help fill in some of the knowledge gaps identified in part 3. Also, this is the first place you should
mention your study site.

Your introduction for this assignment should identify a problem, knowledge base and knowledge gap
for a potentially global (but at least Australian/south-east Asian) audience. In the first 3 components,
do NOT refer to your study site as this immediately limits your potential audience to only those
people who live there. Do mention, however, your study site in your aims and objectives paragraph.
Tell the reader that you are going to address a global or regional problem by investigating an issue
for a particular place (e.g., Melbourne). An example of a good introduction highlighting these
different components is provided in Table1.

Every sentence and paragraph in the first two of these sections needs to be sourced (referenced)
except for introductory or summary sentences that are based on the referenced material that precedes
or follows them. Generally speaking, the knowledge gap (part 3) section should also be referenced
but for people who dont have complete mastery of the literature, this can be difficult so you can get
away without references in this assignment. No references are needed in the aims and objectives
paragraph as this is all about your team and the work you will do.
Table 1. An example of a strong introduction. Source: Adams, A.J., 2017.
Guidelines for evaluating the suitability of catch and release fisheries: Lessons
learned from Caribbean flats fisheries. Fisheries Research, 186: 672680.
2. SITE DESCRIPTION
A site description is where you tell us about where you are working and everything we might need to
know about that place and the people who live there.

As you are NOT an expert on the site for this assignment, every sentence/paragraph needs a
reference as you will undoubtedly get your information from other sources. However, in this section
I am not too concerned about where your information comes from (and you almost certainly will
NOT find journal articles to help you write this section). So here, and here only, it is OK to reply on
grey literature and web sites to assist you.

The site description needs to include information such as:

the area (how big it is);
population (number, increasing/decreasing and rate);
climate (temperature and rainfall)
other information relevant to your topic (e.g., water use, budget).

Every site description also MUST have a site map. This needs to include a north arrow and scale
bar and must be sourced if it is not your own. As this report has a potentially global audience, your
site map needs to place your study area into a regional (Where is it in the globe? What Country is it
in?) and local (Where is it within the Country? What is its proximity to national landmarks people
might know (e.g., a major river or capital city?) context (as most people on Earth wont know where
your site is). An example of a site figure that includes: 1) a scale bar, 2) a north arrow, and 3) a
global and local context is provided in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Location of the Narran Lakes ecosystem (a) within

Australia; (b) within the Condamine-Balonne catchment.

NOTE: This figure does not have a source because it was drawn by me. You only need to source
images that are not your own!
NOTE: Using the approach demonstrated in Figure 1 of a composite figure that uses (a) and (b) parts
to show two scales of data is a useful one you can use. Composite figures can include as many sub-
figures as you like (each designated by a separate letter) as long as it fits onto a single page. Make
sure that in your Figure caption you have a title for the figure.

3. INDIVIDUAL SECTIONS (YOUR NAME AND STUDENT NUMBER)

As an individual within the group (denoted by including your name and student # next to the relevant
topic heading in the report) you will choose (in consultation with your group to avoid repetition) one
aspect of greywater and write 1000-1500 words about this aspect.

Each individuals section must include no fewer than eight references, no more than 25% of which
may come from the grey literature.

Your individual section MUST NOT include any reference to your study site. This is to be a section
written for a general global audience that describes your topic area in terms suitable for a non-expert
audience.

Requirements:
Each individual section heading must include your name and student number in parentheses
as indicated above. Sections without these details will be penalised.
Every sentence/paragraph needs to be cited as this section is about scientific facts not
opinions. There should be numerous citations within each paragraph, NOT just one reference
at the end of a paragraph.
Combine, synthesise and interpret the work of others and create something new from it
(i.e., dont just tell the reader what one paper says, then what the next paper says).

Some proposed topics for your individual sections include:

1) Domestic greywater treatment systemsWhat are they? How do they work? Different types?
How much do they cost? What can the water be used for? Give examples. etc.

2) Environmental greywater treatment systems (e.g., wetlands)What are they? How do they
work? Different types? How much do they cost? What can the water be used for? Give examples.
etc.

3) Treatment in wastewater treatment plantsExplain the processes of water treatment (each stage
and what each stage accomplishes). What is the difference between primary, secondary, and tertiary
treatment? What class of water comes out from each level of treatment (but dont give detail on the
classes or water use as someone else will do that)? What is the state of the art in treatment? etc.

4) Dual reticulation systemsExplain how dual reticulation systems work. How are they
connected? What can the water be used for? Focus on examples of places these types of systems
have been used. What did they accomplish? How much do these systems cost? Are they equally
practical in both new and existing developments? etc.

5) Greywater classes and usesWhat are the different classes of greywater post-treatment. Link
back to the treatment plant group by identifying which treatment levels result in which classes of
water. Link to the dual reticulation group by identifying which classes are suitable for that use. Focus
on non-potable uses for other classes. What is greywater most often used for (e.g., agriculture)? etc.

6) Health issues and other risksLink back to the classes group by identifying the health issues and
risks associated with each class (but dont define the classes as this will have already been done
elsewhere). What are the possible consequences of improper treatment or contact with greywater of
different classes? Give examples of health issues that may have occurred? How bad are the risks?
How do we educate people about the risks? etc.

7) Integrated water cycle managementThis topic would come first. Your job is to set the stage for
all of the others who will come after. What is integrated water cycle management? Why is it
important? How does greywater fit into it (but dont give all the details about greywater as others
will do this)? How can a comprehensive consideration of the water cycle improve the urban
condition? etc.

4. DISCUSSION
The discussion needs to set out your combined proposed strategy. This section should focus on your
study site. Compare and contrast your proposed strategy to those attempted elsewhere and evaluate
the performance of your strategy based on observations from elsewhere. You must include references
related to each point you make.

Your discussion should open with a restating of your problem statement/knowledge gap and what
you have done to address this.

If you are not including all of your individual strategies in your final proposal, tell the reader why the
strategies you are not proposing wont work (BUTDO THIS BRIEFLY).

FIVE COMPONENTS for your combined final strategy needs to be presented and explained to the
reader:
1 What it is
e.g., installing residential solar panels on every home
2 What it will accomplish
e.g., a 50% reduction in demand for energy supplied from the grid
3 What it will cost and/or who will pay
e.g., systems will need to be purchased by individual households but will be
supplemented by government rebates
4 How it will be implemented
e.g., installations will be mandatory for all newly built homes and will become
mandatory for existing homes phased in over a ten year period
5 What difficulties might arise and how will you overcome these
e.g., households resist and remove the government in the next election before the
changes can take effect

5. CONCLUSION
A conclusion is a brief summary of your findings. It should NOT contain references or citations.

FIVE COMPONENTS need to be included:

1 Restatement of your aims and objectives
2 Proposed solutions and their benefits (or how you have met your objectives)
3 Potential problems
4 Consideration of what remains unknown
5 Statement about what you think needs to be done next

6. ABSTRACTS OR EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES

You do not need to do either of these for this report. However, if you choose to include one it must
be done correctly. These are summaries of the entire report. The only difference between an
Abstract and an Executive Summary is length. An abstract is about 300 words; an executive
summary can be between 500-1000 words.
SIX COMPONENTS are required in an Abstract or an Executive Summary:
1. Problem statement
2. Knowledge gap
3. Aim of the study
4. What you did in the studystudy design
5. What you foundyour results or proposed strategy
6. What it all means

An example abstract is provided below.

ABSTRACT EXAMPLE
In ecology, disturbance theory has largely centred on the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, which
posits that systems subject to an intermediate level (or frequency) of disturbance will be the most
biologically diverse (COMPONENT 1). Interestingly, although the definition for disturbance
includes the notion of disruption to both physical and biological systems, the explanations for why
intermediate levels of disturbance would result in the greatest biological diversity have been entirely
ecological and no mention is made of physical systems or processes and their potential links with
heightened biological diversity (COMPONENT 2). This study seeks to determine if the intermediate
disturbance hypothesis applies to physical flood disturbed systems, in this case floodplain soils
(COMPONENT 3). A series of 104 soil samples were collected along a flood disturbance gradient
defined by: a high frequency flood zone (HF) that inundates at least once in every 5 years; an
intermediate frequency flood zone (IF) that inundates at least once every 10 years; and a low
frequency flood zone (LF) that floods no more than once in every 17 years (COMPONENT 4). For
soil each sample, 20 physical and geochemical soil properties were determined and subject to a series
of univariate and multivariate statistical tests to determine if soil variability differed between flood
zones (COMPONENT 4 continued). The results of this study show that the intermediately disturbed
soils are indeed more variable than soils from the other two zones (COMPONENT 5). This is
significant as it necessitates an expanded view of what generates the high diversity in biological
systems that undergo intermediate levels of disturbance to include the notion that heightened
biological diversity in intermediately disturbed sites may be a function of a more diverse physical
template that gives rise to a greater range of habitat niches (COMPONENT 6).

COMPONENT numbers added here for your understanding. They are NOT included in an abstract.

7. REFERENCES
The reference style used in this report is not the Harvard Style. If you use the Harvard Style for this
report you will be penalised. Three Reference List examples are provided at the end of this section.

You must follow the referencing style described below:

1 hanging indent separates your references (0.5 cm hanging indent);
2 alphabetical order for all references in Reference List;
3 Reference List is placed at the end of your report as a numbered section (analyse
Reference List example in section 23.1 of this document);
4 group references, write in a separate reference list and number subheading (analyse Group
Reference Lists in section 23.2 of this document);
5 individual references, write in a separate reference list and number subheading with name
and student ID # (analyse Individual Reference Lists in section 23.3 of this document);
5 Scopus references are appropriate peer-reviewed references;
6 reputable scientific publishers (e.g., Elsevier, Wiley, Springer, Blackwell, Oxford or
Cambridge University Press, Freeman, Arnold, McGraw Hill and others) articles are
appropriate references;
 7 grey literature includes only published reports from government agencies or reputable
research organisations (like the CSIRO). If these do not have an author, the author will be
the agency and the publisher will be the agency. If it DOES NOT have a publication date it
is NOT a valid reference. A factsheet is also NOT a valid reference;
8 websites are NOT valid references except in special circumstances;
9 images from reputable (e.g., government) websites can be used but must be sourced. Use
a footnote style to include the http: address of the image at the bottom of the page (or the
following page if necessary) on which the image is contained (and a superscript number at
the end of the figure caption to identify the footnote) but DO NOT also include the web
address in the Reference List (analyse image example in section 19 of this document);
To insert a footnote go to the references tab and click on insert footnote (refer to example
in section 18 of this document);
10 include only information provided in the examples below (i.e., do not include date viewed
or website information in the references). The reference list arrangement should look like
this with hanging indents;

The referencing style for this report is as follows:

Journal article example: includes authors (Rayburg, S., and Thoms, M.), year (2009). Title (A
coupled.) (note that only the first word is capitalised). Journal Title (in italics and not
abbreviated), volume (40): and page numbers (364-379).

Note: do NOT include issue numbers. If you do you need to do it for every journal and for many
its very hard to find.
Rayburg, S., Thoms, M., 2009. A coupled hydraulic-hydrologic modeling approach to deriving a
water balance model for a complex floodplain-wetland system. Hydrology Research, 40: 364-379.

Book example: includes authors (Brierley, G.J. and Fryirs, K.A.), year (2005). Title (Geomorphology
and River..) (note that the first letter of every word is capitalised and the title is in italics). City
where published (Oxford), country where published (UK): publisher (Blackwell Publications).
Brierley, G.J., Fryirs, K.A., 2005. Geomorphology and River Management: Applications of the River
Styles Framework. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publications.

Conference proceeding example: includes authors (Morrison, T., Rayburg, S., Allery, C.,
Atiquzzaman, M.), year (2011). Title (Understanding the flow..) (note that only the first word is
capitalised). Conference or Conference Proceedings Title (Balance and Uncertainty.) (note that
the first letter of every word is capitalised and the title is in italics). Publisher (Engineers Australia),
City where conference was held (Brisbane), page numbers (2886-2892).
Morrison, T., Rayburg, S., Allery, C., Atiquzzaman, M., 2011. Understanding the flow pathways
through the Macquarie Marshes, NSW. Balance and UncertaintyWater in a Changing World,
Proceedings of the 34th IAHR World Congress. Engineers Australia, Brisbane, 2886-2892.

Edited book chapter example: includes authors (Thoms, M., Rayburg, S., Neave, M.), year (2007).
Title (The diversity and assessment.)(note that only the first word is capitalized). Editor Name (A.
Gupta)(note that in the case, the editors initial comes first, then their last name followed by the word
(ed.) in parentheses or (eds.) if there are more than one), Book Title (Large Rivers)(note that in this
case all words are capitalized and the title is italicized). City of Publication (Chichester), Country of
Publication (UK): Publisher (John Wiley & Sons), page numbers (587-605).
Thoms, M., Rayburg, S., Neave, M., 2007. The diversity and assessment of a large river system: The
Murray-Darling, Australia. A. Gupta (ed.), Large Rivers: Geomorphology and Management.
Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, 587-605.
Grey literature report example: includes authors (Anderson, J.R.), year (1993). Title (State of the
Rivers.) (note that all words are capitalized and italicised). City of Publication (Brisbane),
Country of Publication (Australia): Publisher (Department of Primary Industries).

Note: In some government or consultancy reports (that are downloadable pdfs so they are real
reports), the author(s) are not specified. For these cases, use the organisations name as the
authors. The rest of the referencing style will remain the same. That means that the organisation
will typically be both the author and the publisher. If there is no date of publication, then what you
have is not a grey literature report and it should not be referenced using this style.
Anderson, J.R., 1993. State of the Rivers Project. Report 2. Implementation manual. Brisbane,
Australia: Department of Primary Industries.

Web site example: includes author/editor or compiler (Geoscience Australia), year of the most recent
version (2012). Title (Australian Mines))(note that in this case all words are capitalized and the
title is italicized), viewed Day Month Year (viewed 10 October 2012). <URL including the full
location details>. (Note: just using the site details is not sufficient.)

Note: For this assignment, it is ok to use web references for images only but you are required to
include them as footnotes, not in the reference list. This is provided here to show you to reference
a website the way you might use for other assignments.

Geoscience Australia, 2012. Australian Mines Atlas. Viewed 10 October 2012.

<http://www.australianminesatlas.gov.au/>.

The reference list arrangement should look like this with hanging indents.

7. REFERENCES
Connell, J.H., 1978. Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science, 199: 1302-1310.
Davis, S.R., Brown, A.G., Dinnin, M.H., 2007. Floodplain connectivity, disturbance and change: a
palaeoentomological investigation of floodplain ecology from south-west England. Journal of
Animal Ecology, 76: 276-288.
Death, R.G., Winterbourn, M.J., 1995. Diversity patterns in stream benthic invertebrate
communities: the influence of habitat stability. Ecology, 76: 1446-1460.
Ferreira, L.V., 2000. Effects of flooding duration on species richness, floristic composition and forest
structure in river margin habitat in Amazonian blackwater floodplain forests: implications for
future design of protected areas. Biodiversity and Conservation, 9: 1-14.
Fox, J.F., 1979. Intermediate-disturbance hypothesis. Science, 204: 1344-1345.

The value and trustworthiness of sources can be assessed as:

Very high (these should be the majority of your references)
Journal Articles;
Other Peer-Reviewed Publications, e.g., books, book chapters and conference proceedings;

High (these are ok to use in moderation)

Academic Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications, e.g., text books, book chapters and conference
proceedings;

Moderate to High (these are ok to use in moderation)

Reports from Reputable Organisations such as Government agencies or NGOs these should
have an author (in some cases this will be the agency) and a date of publication and MUST be
a downloadable file or published document not just information on a webpage;
Moderate (these are ok to use ONLY in your site description)
Government Websites, e.g., the UN, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology;

Low to Moderate (these are ok to use ONLY in your site description)

Websites of Reputable Organisations With No Clear Vested Interest, e.g., EWB;

Low to Very Low (these are ok to use ONLY for images)

All Other Websites.

7. REFERENCES
7.1 REFERENCES (GROUP)
Connell, J.H., 1978. Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science, 199: 1302-1310.
Davis, S.R., Brown, A.G., Dinnin, M.H., 2007. Floodplain connectivity, disturbance and change: a
palaeoentomological investigation of floodplain ecology from south-west England. Journal of
Animal Ecology, 76: 276-288.

7.2 REFERENCES (SCOTT RAYBURG, 123321)

Death, R.G., Winterbourn, M.J., 1995. Diversity patterns in stream benthic invertebrate
communities: the influence of habitat stability. Ecology, 76: 1446-1460.
Ferreira, L.V., 2000. Effects of flooding duration on species richness, floristic composition and forest
structure in river margin habitat in Amazonian blackwater floodplain forests: implications for
future design of protected areas. Biodiversity and Conservation, 9: 1-14.
Fox, J.F., 1979. Intermediate-disturbance hypothesis. Science, 204: 1344-1345.

8. CITATIONS
In-text citations can come either before or after the text they refer to. In both cases, it needs to be
clear that all of the material comes from the same source. This is done by using continuation or
bridging statements. Whenever a new source is used, a new citation needs to be included.

When talking about the work of others dont use terminology such as: Rayburg (2010) states or
Rayburg (2010) said ... This is a very weak writing style that implies that the authors did not actually
do anything; they are just giving their opinions. Rather use terms like investigated, examined,
studied, found, or theorised.

However, it is also not correct to write: Rayburg (2012) investigated that greywater is a good means
of reducing potable water use.

This is NOT what Rayburg (2012) investigated.

Rather, you might write: Rayburg (2012) investigated the benefits associated with domestic
greywater treatment systems in Melbourne. He found that greywater is a good means of reducing
potable water use.

So, 1st tell the reader what the study was about, then tell the reader what conclusions or results
you want them to know about.

8.1 CITATION BEFORE TEXT

Here is an example of a citation inserted at the start of text. This style of citing is called AUTHOR
PROMINENT writing. It should be used about of the time. This style should not be used in most
cases as it tends to result in laundry lists. This is when you just have one paragraph per study,
listed one after the other, with no synthesis or obvious reason for presenting the information. It
inhibits your ability to tell a good story, which is what writing anything is all about.

Examples of single citation at the start of text:

One author
Rayburg (2012) investigated the reasons why students do poorly on written assignments. He found
that, in most cases, it was because students failed to follow instructions.

Two authors
Rayburg and Neave (2012) investigated the reasons why students do poorly on written assignments.
They found that, in most cases, it was because students failed to follow instructions.

Three or more authors

Rayburg et al. (2012) investigated the reasons why students do poorly on written assignments. They
found that, in most cases, it was because students failed to follow instructions.

Each example has a link between the two ideas; in this case the He or They connects the two
sentences together so the reader knows they both came from the same source and the use of the term
investigated to talk about the research.

8.2 SINGLE CITATION AFTER TEXT

Here is an example of a citation inserted at the end of text. This style of writing is called
INFORMATION PROMINENT writing. It should be used about of the time. Why? Because the
document you are writing is about you, your ideas and the story you are trying to tell. You should be
using sources to tell this story and so we want the paragraphs to be ones that you construct for your
specific purposes. When you simply provide lists of authors and the work they did, there is typically
no story to follow and no obvious reason why the information is being provided. Paragraphs should
be about ideas, not other people studies. The best paragraphs will include multiple sources in them,
each selected to support the story you want to tell and the idea you want to get across in the
paragraph.

Examples of single citation at the end of text:

One author
Many students do poorly on written assignments. This is because students often fail to follow
instructions (Rayburg, 2012).

Two authors
Many students do poorly on written assignments. This is because students often fail to follow
instructions (Rayburg and Neave, 2012).

Three or more authors

Many students do poorly on written assignments. This is because students often fail to follow
instructions (Rayburg et al., 2012).

Each example has a link between the two ideas; in this case the word students is repeated in
both sentences which serves to connect the two sentences together so the reader knows they both
came from the same source.

8.3 MULTIPLE CITATIONS AFTER TEXT

Sometimes, you want to cite more than one reference for an idea. This is always done at the end of
text. When you have two or more citations, always list them chronologically (oldest first) and
separate them using semi-colons.

Example of multiple citations at the end of text - in chronological order:

Many students do poorly on written assignments. This is because students often fail to follow
instructions (Rayburg and Neave, 2010; Rayburg, 2012).

8.4 CITATION FOR A WEB REFERENCE

As previously mentioned, the use of web sites is limited to government sites for data only except in
special circumstances. Follow the standard author date citing method (with the author being the
agency). For example, to cite the Bureau of Meteorology for climate data, you would do the
following:

Example of web citation at end of text:

The average temperature for Melbourne, Australia is 21.2oC (Bureau of Meteorology, 2012).

9. HEADINGS AND SUBHEADINGS

Headings should only be used to segregate large blocks of information. If you have only a paragraph
of information on a topic it does not warrant its own heading.

There is a required heading style for this report.

Primary headings need to be formatted as below with a number followed by a period and the text
bold and all in capitals.

Example of a primary heading:

2. SUSTAINABILITY

Secondary headings follow on from primary headings. They help to clearly define sub-topics within
the larger section.

Example of a secondary heading:

2.1 SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES

Avoid using tertiary headings, but if you do need to they are similar to secondary headings but
without bold.

Example of a tertiary heading:

2.1.1 SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

The words in the heading are not part of the text. This means that you cannot start writing your
paragraphs without telling the reader, in the first sentence in a section, what the section is about. The
heading does not do this for you. Compare the correct and incorrect examples below.

2.2 COMPACT FLUORESCENTS

Compact fluorescent light bulbs are superior to traditional bulbs in that they use much less energy
while producing a similar amount of light.

INCORRECT example of a heading and text:

2.2 COMPACT FLUORESCENTS
This type of light bulb is superior to traditional bulbs in that it uses much less energy while
producing a similar amount of light.

When two headings of different levels follow one another, it is good practice to include some text
between the headings. There are a few exceptions to this rule but generally you cannot go wrong by
including text between headings while you can make a mistake if you do not do so.

CORRECT example of a primary and then a secondary heading:

2. SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES
There are many different sustainability strategies that could be adopted by a household to improve
their green credentials. Amongst these are greening their energy use, using sustainable transport
options and improving their household waste management. Each of these strategies will be explored
further in the following sections.

2.1 SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

Improving the sustainability of energy use in the household can have a huge impact on the
environment while also helping to reduce household costs by lowering energy bills.

INCORRECT example of a primary and a secondary heading:

2. SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES
2.1 SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
Improving the sustainability of energy use in the household can have a huge impact on the
environment while also helping to reduce household costs by lowering energy bills.

In the first example, the text between the headings is used to: 1) tell the reader what the section is
about; 2) provide a list of things (or topics) that support the ideas that the section is about and that
will end up being described in the following sections (each of the topics I list here would typically
then have their own unique sub-headings below in the same order in which I list them, hence why the
next sub-section is about sustainable energy as this is first in the list; and 3) tie things up with a
concluding statement that leads into the sub-sequent sections. This way of linking a main heading
with sub-headings works well as the minimum number of sentences we need to have a paragraph is
three, and this gets us to that required minimum while also being instructive to the reader.

In the second example, there is no bridging between the headings. Remember, the headings are not
actually part of the text so we get straight into Sustainable Energy with no idea why or without any
indication of what is coming next or how it will all fit together.

10. FIGURES AND TABLES

In this assignment (and for most you will encounter at university or in the professional world) you
need to follow certain rules about what figures and tables need to look like and how they are inserted
into the text. These include:
1) every figure and table MUST be discussed and referred to by name in the text (always);
2) no figure or table should appear in the report before the text that discusses or refers to it (always);
3) every figure and table that is not your own MUST be sourced (always);
4) the format of figure and tables is set out below, you must follow this format (for this unit);
5) every figure and table must have a title (e.g., Figure 1 or Table 1); as this is a proper noun when
referring to these in text you must call them by that name (Figure 1 not figure 1 or fig 1)(always);
6) every figure and table must also have a caption (i.e., a descriptive statement) that is sufficiently
detailed so that the reader knows what the figure or table is about without reading any supporting
text. Any acronyms or symbols used in the figure or table also need to be defined. For example,
for Figure 1 the caption is the text beginning with Multidimensional scaling (always);
7) no font in a figure or table can be smaller than 8 point font, if it is too small to read you should not
be using the figure (always);
8) blurry or low quality figures or tables should not be used (always);
9) if taking a table from an external source, recreate the table in the correct table style and source it to
its origin, dont just copy a picture of the table and include it (except for very large tables with lots
of text)(for this unit);
10) tables and figures should always be centred on the page with no text to their left or right
(always).

Example of an in-text table reference with the table or figure name up front (this is the same as the
AUTHOR PROMINENT way of citing sources):
Table 1 compares sediment size characteristics for the different reaches of the Embarras River. It
shows that most sediment size variables are not statistically different between reaches.

Example of an in-text table reference with the table or figure name at the end of the text (this is the
same as the INFORMATION PROMINENT way of citing sources):
Most sediment size characteristics are not statistically different between reaches of the Embarras
River (Table 1).

Table format example (always label tables above)

Table 1. Mann-Whitney U results comparing discrete sediment size

variables between bedforms and reaches. Table values represent the p
value for each comparison.
Reach
STR v STR v STR v MS v MS v Sv
MS S HS S HS HS
D10 0.962 0.324 0.004 0.325 0.006 0.063
D50 0.133 0.794 0.129 0.040 0.002 0.263
D90 0.001 0.255 0.852 0.003 0.020 0.827
Mean 0.185 0.489 0.268 0.043 0.047 0.608
Mode 0.008 0.009 0.014 0.975 0.782 0.753
# modes 0.001 0.003 0.036 0.353 0.734 0.454
D90/D10 0.023 0.084 0.329 0.491 0.894 0.845
D75/D25 0.008 0.558 0.467 0.011 0.007 0.670
Note: values in bold are statistically significant at the 0.05 level. STR = straight reach;
MS = mildly sinuous reach; S = sinuous reach; HS = highly sinuous reach.
All figures and tables (along with their captions) MUST be confined to one page. If you have a table
too long to fit on one page you need to split it into two tables. Each needs its own title and caption.
An example of how this needs to look is provided below. BOTH TABLES include the same caption,
column headings and notes. The second table has a slightly different title (Table 1. cont.) which
means Table 1 continued) and its own unique data or table entries. If the table was not your own,
both Tables would need to be cited using Author, Date or footnote styles.

Table 1. Mann-Whitney U results comparing discrete sediment size

variables between bedforms and reaches. Table values represent the p
value for each comparison.
Reach
STR v STR v STR v MS v MS v Sv
MS S HS S HS HS
D10 0.962 0.324 0.004 0.325 0.006 0.063
D50 0.133 0.794 0.129 0.040 0.002 0.263
D90 0.001 0.255 0.852 0.003 0.020 0.827
Mean 0.185 0.489 0.268 0.043 0.047 0.608
Mode 0.008 0.009 0.014 0.975 0.782 0.753
Note: values in bold are statistically significant at the 0.05 level. STR = straight reach;
MS = mildly sinuous reach; S = sinuous reach; HS = highly sinuous reach.

Table 1 cont. Mann-Whitney U results comparing discrete sediment size

variables between bedforms and reaches. Table values represent the p
value for each comparison.
Reach
STR v STR v STR v MS v MS v Sv
MS S HS S HS HS
# modes 0.001 0.003 0.036 0.353 0.734 0.454
D90/D10 0.023 0.084 0.329 0.491 0.894 0.845
D75/D25 0.008 0.558 0.467 0.011 0.007 0.670
Note: values in bold are statistically significant at the 0.05 level. STR = straight reach;
MS = mildly sinuous reach; S = sinuous reach; HS = highly sinuous reach.

Figures
When you are creating your own figures, you will often use excel to do so. Excel is setup to create
horrible figures. DO NOT use default Excel settings to create graphs. An example of a default Excel
graph and the problems with it is provided below along with guidance (and an example) of how to
make appropriate graphs.
Figure format example (always label figures below and include an appropriate citation if the
figure is not your own)

Figure 4. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) plot produced using all 20 soil

variables. Arrows indicate the results of a principal components analysis (PCA).
Only those variables with an r value greater than 0.85 (in the PCA) were plotted.

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11. GENERAL RULES
There are a number of additional things you need to know to be an effective writer for this unit, in
other units and in your professional life. These are listed below:
1) dont write in the first person. Keep an objective tone to your work. This means you need to
remove any reference to yourself (i.e., no references to we or I);
2) QUOTES ARE NEVER ACCEPTABLE, always paraphrase the work of others (your job is to
interpret and synthesise, not copy);
3) a sentence is not a paragraph, neither are two sentences. The minimum paragraph length is three
sentences;
4) if what you are wiritng is not your own unique idea (never been done before) or common
knowledge (everyone in the world would know this) every sentence/paragraph must be
cited/sourced. None of you are expert enough in either science or engineering to authoritatively
make any statements about these fields and this is a scientific report not an opinion piece;
5) dont leave empty spaces on any page; each successive section should follow on immediately
from the preceding section not on the next page. Any more than six single spaced lines of space at
the bottom, top or middle of a page is considered too much;
6) this rule also applies to the insertion of figures and tables, these do not need to immediately follow
the text that refers to them, they can come several pages later, so organise your figures and tables so
that text can fill in the spaces between, leaving no large gaps;
7) when writing a numbered list, the format used in this list is correct (including a colon before the
list, lower case letters after every number and a semi-colon after each numbered point except for the
last which ends in a period;
8) for example is abbreviated as e.g., not as eg;
9) abbreviate that is as i.e., not as ie.;
10) numbers less than 10 without units should be written in words (e.g., seven girls walked 7 km to
school not 7 girls walked 7 km to school);
11) double spaces between sentences is an old punctuation form, used with typewriting but not with
word processing. It is no longer considered correct punctuation;
12) its is only a contraction, i.e., short for it is. There is no such thing as a possessive form of its. If
you find yourself writing its, actually sound it out. Does it is fit in the sentence? If not, then you
mean to use its.

12. OTHER FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS

For this unit only, a few additional formatting requirements are presented below:
1) all text should be Times New Roman, 12 point font and the line spacing should be single spaced;
2) a hard return with a single line space should be present between paragraphs;
3) page numbers should be on every page at the bottom centre of the page;
4) use the Moderate margin setting under the Page Layout tab (see Figure 43);
5) both margins should be justified (i.e., text aligned along both the left and the right margins). For
example:

This alignment form is correct:

The provision of feeding and breeding habitat areas within the Narran System is highly variable in
space and time. In the Narran Lake, feeding habitat reaches a low inundation level peak, and then
declines with increasing flow levels. This corresponds with a shift from a centrally located and
continuous feeding area to a more linear and fragmented feeding area that is localised along the lake
boundary. As the lake continues to fill, feeding habitat again increases as lake overflow areas are
inundated.

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This alignment form is incorrect:
The provision of feeding and breeding habitat areas within the Narran System is highly variable in
space and time. In the Narran Lake, feeding habitat reaches a low inundation level peak, and then
declines with increasing flow levels. This corresponds with a shift from a centrally located and
continuous feeding area to a more linear and fragmented feeding area that is localised along the lake
boundary. As the lake continues to fill, feeding habitat again increases as lake overflow areas are
inundated.

Figure 5. Screen grab illustrating how to set your

margins for the report.

13. UNITS
The following is the correct way to use and format units:
The following three units have no space between them and the number they are attached to:
Dollars $50,000
Degrees 25oC
Percent 35%

ALL other units have a space between them and the number they are attached to. Examples:
35 m not 35m
35 metres not 35metres
27 cm2 not 27cm2

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Use the subscript and superscript functions in Word (highlight the number or letter and right click
your mouse, choose font and you will see a tick box for subscript and superscript) to put units in their
appropriate place. Examples:
cm2 not cm^2
CO2 not CO2

If your unit includes a component in the numerator and another in the denominator, those
components in the denominator should be written with a negative superscript and a space should be
inserted between the two units. Examples:
metres per second is written as m s-1 not as m/s or ms-1
kilometres per second squared would be written as km s-2 not km/s^2 or kms-2

14. EQUATIONS
It is acceptable to use relevant equations in text. When you use an equation, however, it always needs
to have an equation number. This is similar to the name of a figure and allows you to refer to the
equation by name (or number) in the supporting text. In addition, the parameters in the equation must
always be defined (with their unit of measurement) immediately following any equation.
An example of an equation with supporting text is provided below:

Discharge in rivers is computed using the continuity equation (Eq 1). The continuity equation is
given as:

D = W*d*V (Eq 1)

where D is the discharge in m3s-1, W is the width in m, d is the depth in m and V is the velocity in
ms-1.

15. ADDING A FOOTNOTE

Figure 6. Screen grab illustrating how to insert a footnote.

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16. HINTS AND TIPS for inserting Images, Figures and Tables
Use a table to ensure images/figures/tables are correctly positioned, captions are the appropriate
size and remain with the image. Insert a table with two rows and one column (refer below).

Next, paste your image/figure/table into the top cell as an image as illustrated in Figure 6.

Figure 7. Screen grab

illustrating how to paste
your figure into the table as
an image.

Next, in the bottom table cell, type your Figure title and caption. Then, shrink the left or right
boundary of your table to fit the picture. Finally, click the table grab icon in the top left corner of the
table so the whole table is selected and choose to centre the figure on the page and turn off all table
boundaries. Once finished, your figures should look like those contained in this document.

In Word always create one more row than needed for data and column headings. Leave the bottom
row empty for a figure and the top row empty for a table. Once the image/table is pasted, highlight
the empty row, right click and select Merge Cells. Type your figure/table title and caption in this
row. This ensures proper spacing and text and image stays attached.

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When creating tables in word, always create one more row than you need for the data and its column
headings. Leave this row empty and make it the very first row in the table. Once you have finished
the rest of the table, highlight this empty row and right click and select Merge Cells. Now, type
your table title and caption in this row. This ensures that Table headings are properly spaced and stay
attached to your tables. You can click into or examine Table 1 in this document for an illustration of
how this should look when done.

17. IMAGE EXAMPLE

Figure 8. An example of a residential solar panel installation1.

In the footnote at the bottom of the page insert the superscript number and write the Reference
information (see section 18 Adding footnotes). The reference does NOT go in the Reference List.

18. PLAGIARISM
What is Plagiarism? Simple answer, it represents academic misconduct. SO, IF YOU PLAGIARISE
YOU WILL GET A 0% FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT AND FAIL THE COURSE, NO
EXCEPTIONS OR EXCUSES. If you do it again, in another unit or for another assignment (so you
become a repeat offender) you will likely be thrown out of the university and banned from further
study for at least three years. If you think its ok to plagiarise or you think you will get away with it,
THINK AGAIN. If you have doubts about my resolve on this issue, ask previous students whether or
not I take the issue seriously and what has happened in the past to plagiarisers in my units.

At this stage, I am hoping you have decided that plagiarism is a really, really, really dumb idea and
are wanting to know as much about it as you can so you can make sure that neither you (nor anyone
on your team) is guilty of it. Why do I mention your team? AS A TEAM ASSIGNMENT,
PLAGIARISM IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF EVERYONE IN THE TEAM. IF YOU SUBMIT
PLAGIARISED WORK WITH YOUR NAME ON IT, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHETHER
ANOTHER MEMBER OF YOUR TEAM WROTE THAT SECTION YOU WILL ALL FAIL
THE ASSIGNMENT AND THE UNIT. IT IS EVERYONES RESPONSIBILITY TO CHECK
THE WORK TO MAKE SURE IT IS NOT PLAGIARISED!!!!

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 Better ideas than plagiarising!

What is plagiarism?
1) Rewriting someone elses script without quoting the source
2) Rewriting someone elses script as if it is your own
3) Cutting and pasting internet materials
4) Taking verbatim writing from another source whether cited or not
5) Publishing someone elses result(s) without permission
6) Reproducing someone elses figure or table without quoting the source
7) Piecing together a piece of work by taking small bits of writing from others and assembling it
in a different way (patchwork writing)

Plagiarism can be sub-divided into DELIBERATE and ACCIDENTAL plagiarism (Figure 9). The
first, deliberate plagiarism is when you are fully aware of what you are doing but you do it anyway.
Accidental plagiarism occurs when one thinks they are doing the right thing but they simply are not
aware of how to do things correctly. BOTH FORMS OF PLAGIARISM WILL RESULT IN
THE SAME PENALTY, IGNORANCE OF THE RULES IS NO EXCUSE!

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 Figure 9. Types of plagiarism?

In this unit (and most others you will take here at Swinburne) we use a tool called TURNITIN to find
plagiarised material. Every written submission MUST be submitted via TURNITIN. TURNITIN will
then search its enormous database to find matches for what you have written. If matches occur, I (or
your other instructors) am able to see where the original material came from and what was written by
the original authors. There is no place to hide. If you take writing from others, TURNITIN will
detect it and you and your teammates will fail the assignment and the unit. Figure 10 shows some
common forms of plagiarism and whether or not TURNITIN can detect them. NOTE: TURNITIN
cannot detect uncited figures, tables or text if the words in that text are uniquely yours. BUT,
using other peoples figures, tables or ideas without sourcing them is STILL PLAGIARISM.
TURNITIN wont find this, but I will!!!

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Figure 10. Plagiarism and the ability of TURNITIN to detect it.

Knowing that you will be severely penalised for plagiarism, why would you do it? Every semester
students do, and every semester they get caught. Figure 11 highlights some of the motivations people
have for plagiarising. These generally fall into three categories: ignorance, attitude, and pressure.
None of these is going to change my mind when you get called into my office after being caught and
are asked to explain yourself. If you are caught, you will be sanctioned, the university will be
notified about what occurred and you will put yourself at risk (if you are a repeat offender) of never
completing a university degree.

Figure 11. Why do students plagiarise?

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Hopefully, now we:
understand what plagiarism is;
recognize that plagiarism is wrong; and
want strategies to make sure we dont plagiarise.

If not, please reread the section on plagiarism!

There are a few strategies we can use to avoid plagiarism. These include:
1) citing every figure, table and idea that is not our own;
2) paraphrasing the work of others;
3) summarising the work of others.

Lets take a closer look at these three strategies.

1) The first point should be self-explanatory, cite EVERYTHING. The only exceptions are: your
own ideas and things that are common knowledge. So, what is common knowledge? This means
things that everyone knows. So, you dont need to cite the fact that the Earth is the third planet from
the sun. We all pretty much know that and we dont need to find an authoritative reference to prove
that it is a real fact.

2) Paraphrasing is where we take a sentence, small group of sentences or a paragraph from another
source and rewrite it in our own words (Figures 11). A paraphrase is not simply taking an existing
sentence and changing a few words. This is still plagiarism and is one of the most common forms of
plagiarism. A paraphrase MUST be a completely different sentence with unique grammar, words
and sentence structure. As an example, have a look at the sample TURNITIN report presented in
Figure 12. This report demonstrates substantial plagiarism that would result in failure for the unit. In
the report, the colour coding represents words that are verbatim (exact copies) of those from another
source. If we focus in on the first sentence (the green one numbered 41) the sentence is almost
exactly copied from another persons work. You will note the student attempted (and I use that word
loosely) to paraphrase (or at least hide their plagiarism) by changing Ground water (from the

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original text) to Groundwater in their text. They also added the word of where it had not
occurred previously. I get to see both sentences, the students and the original and its clear this
sentence is plagiarised. In total, there are eight plagiarised sentences in this example. See if you can
identify them all.

How to paraphrase
1) Read through the passage you want to paraphrase carefully; you may need to read the text
more than once! Ensure that you have a deep understanding of the material you have read (you
should be able to put away the original text and explain to someone else what the source was
trying to say.
2) Identify the main idea(s) from the passage and make sure you include them in your paraphrase.
3) Set the original text aside and try to write your own sentence about the main idea(s) the
original author was trying to express (this step is critical, if you are looking at the original text
and trying to change it just enough to not plagiarise, you will almost always plagiarise, there is
no just enough!).
4) When you are creating your paraphrase you need to reword, rephrase and restructure. It is not
enough to do only one or two of these.
5) Once you are done, check your paraphrase against the original text to make sure that your
sentence looks and sounds nothing like the original but that the idea(s) are preserved.
6) Include a citation at the beginning or the end of the sentence. Just because you paraphrased, the
idea(s) are someone else's and the paraphrase must be cited.

Figure 12. Paraphrasing.

Another way to look at paraphrasing is the approach of Tammy Guy Harshbarger. Tammy explains the
paraphrasing method in the following way.

When paraphrasing: (some general rules to follow)

Dont copy the original sentence
Dont use too many of the original words
Dont change the meaning of the original sentence
Dont leave out important information

The process of paraphrasing: (how to do it)

Identify grammar structures and key words

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 Change grammar structures
Change words
Change word order

Grammar structures: (what she means by grammar structures, remember, these need to change)
independent and dependent clauses
word forms: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
clauses: adjective, noun, and adverb clauses
phrases: prepositional phrases, participial phrases (reduced clauses)
verb phrases: active voice and passive voice, phrasal verbs
connecting words: coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions,
conjunctive adverbs
transitional words and phrases

Reporting verbs: (an excellent list of verbs you can use to talk about the work of others)
affirm, allege, argue, assert, assume, believe, explain, claim, complain, conclude, contend,
demonstrate, describe, discover, discuss, emphasize, estimate, examine, explore, find, illustrate,
imply, indicate, inform, maintain, mention, note, observe, predict, present, presume, point out,
propose, recognize, recount, reveal, report, say, show, state, stress, suggest, suppose, suspect, tell,
verify

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Figure 12. A sample TURNITIN report highlighting extensive plagiarism.

3) The third strategy for avoiding plagiarism is summarising. Some rules for summarising can be
found in Figure 39. Unlike a paraphrase, a summary is a VERY BRIEF synopsis of a persons work.
Have a look at the two examples of movie plot summaries. I am guessing you know straight away
what movies these are. You can tell even though none of the sentences in the summary are anything
like those used in the movies themselves.

If you effectively use these three strategies and take advantage of TURNITIN you will be safe
from plagiarism. NOTE: YOU WILL HAVE THE OPPRTUNITY TO PUT DRAFT
SUBMISSIONS THROUGH TURNITIN BEFORE YOU SUBMIT FINAL VERSIONS OF
YOUR ASSIGNMENTS. YOU WILL SEE THE SAME TURNITIN REPORT I SEE. IF YOU
DONT KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR, ASK A MEMBER OF STAFF. THIS IS YOUR
OPPORTUNITY TO ENSURE EVERYONE ON THE TEAM FOLLOWED THE RULES.
REMEMBER, IF THEY DID NOT, YOU ARE EQUALLY CULPABLE AND EVERYONE
ON THE TEAM WILL FAIL, NOT JUST THE ONE WHO DID THE PLAGIARISM!

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 Figure 39. Summarising (Author, Date
or Footnote).

22. WHY DID YOU PUT ME THROUGH THIS!!!!

Although everyone listens, speaks and writes every day, few people realise how important these
communication skills are. Engineers in particular tend to emphasise technical and mathematical
skills more than communication skills, not realising that they cannot be effective in their jobs if they
are poor listeners, speakers and writers.

More than 80% of employers but less than 60% of students believe that writing is a critical skill for
employment!!!

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Why I put you through this is to introduce you to many important ideas about how to be an
effective writer (not just for this unit but for EVERY unit where you need to write) and will
also outline the REQUIREMENTS about how a professional report should look. If you learn
these skills and learn them well your job prospects will significantly improve!

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Thats the end of the guide. Congratulations! If you read and learn everything in here, you are well
on your way to being an excellent writer!

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