Step-by-Step Instructions for the Perfect Final Report Format

At university I was told that the presentation of an assignment could make a difference of up to 20% which is huge! So present your work in the correct style and format. These may even be listed in the requirements.

Draft Report to Final Report

You have finished writing your report and improved it by drafting several copies. Spelling, punctuation and grammar checks have been made, references correct and everything seems great. Now lets format the assignment.

Assignment Text

Make the body text look good with a good, consistent font, and consistent spacing. In MS Word we use the paragraph option to format the text.

In the text formatting we use one style then modify that style, so for example, the body text can be highlighted and styled to ‘normal text’. The right-click the mouse on the normal text option and modify the style to your requirements.

Suggestions for the style include the size of the text (e.g. 11), the font (e.g. Times New Roman) and the spacing, before and after (0pt), and the overall spacing (e.g. multiples, 1.5). The spacing can be found in the paragraph option.

Before you Start

files – instructions, completed report example, text, figures, references
YouTube video – how to format a report in Word

Open the file for the text
Copy the text into your own report (Word) document and save regularly
Complete each stage for each part of a whole report

Stage 1

Format the text & headings

Open the text word document and copy the text into your document
Select all of the text (Crtl+A) and click on the ‘Normal’ style in ‘Styles’
- Right-click the mouse whilst over ‘Normal’ style in ‘Styles’ then select ‘Modify …’
- Check (or change to) the following values:
- Calibri (Body) size 12 font
- Select ‘Format’ (box in the bottom left) and Paragraph…
- Multiple 1.15
- Before 0pt
- After 8pt

Select the report title ‘A Survey … School in Thailand’

Centre and change text size to 20 ( font is Calibri(body))

Select the ‘1. Introduction’ heading

Right-click the mouse whilst over ‘Heading1’ style in ‘Styles’ then select ‘Modify …’
Check (or change to) the following values
- Calibri (Body) size 18 font
- Bold and Black color
- Select ‘Format’ (box in the bottom right)
- and Paragraph…
- Multiple 1.15
- Before 12pt
- After 12pt
Select Related Work heading and click on the Heading 1 style
Save the document on the desktop with your name – use ‘Save As‘

Select the heading ‘study methods’ and click on the Heading1 style
Select all the headings (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and click on the Heading1 style

Stage 2

Format the sub headings

Select the ‘3.1 Research Questions’ heading and select the Heading2 style
Right-click the mouse whilst over ‘Heading2’ style in ‘Styles’ then select ‘Modify …’

Check (or change to) the following values
- Bold and Black color (same Calibri (Body) size 12 font)
- Select ‘Format’ (box in the bottom right) and Paragraph…
- Multiple 1.15
- Before 2pt
- After 0pt
Repeat for the other ‘heading2’ headings (3.2 Survey Instrument & 3.3 Sample)

Select the text in section 3.2 survey instrument from ‘Use and preference of technology’ to ‘Two open questions … translation needs.’
Select the Numbering button in ‘Paragraph’ (1, 2, 3)
With the text still highlighted change the ruler (above the document) so the top marker is set on 0.25 (¼) cm and the bottom is set on 1 cm (see figure right).
Save the document

Stage 3

Insert a table & chart and complete the sections

Open the stage 3 and report table word documents and the report chart excel file from Teams
Copy the text in stage 3 and paste it in your report
Select all of this text (Crtl+A) and click on the ‘Normal’ style in ‘Styles’
Select the headings and click on the Heading1 and Heading2 styles

Note: figure legends are underneath the figure, table legends are above the table.

Copy & paste the table from the table document to your report (above 3.3. section)
Copy & paste the chart from the chart document to your report (above figure 1)
Make the ‘Figure 1’ legend italic
Save your document

Note: indenting paragraphs can make your report easier to read and look better

Indent paragraphs by selecting each paragraph in each section (not the numbered text!)
If you prefer – keep each first paragraph in each section, without an indent.
Using the ruler (above the document) move the top marker to 1.25 cms.
The first paragraph in the introduction is never indented

Page Numbers

Select the insert menu & go to the Header & Footer section
Click Page Number, choose Bottom of Page & plain Number 2 (the second option)
Make the ‘f’ uppercase in “in figure 1 we compare the results”, change to Figure 1

Stage 4

Insert references (manually)

This file has the reference information, the citations in the report text and the bibliography / reference section. Copy & paste the reference text from this word document.

Insert the reference section:

Go to the end of the document
Add a section heading called ‘References’ – style Heading 1 (don’t give it a section number)
Insert the references (as below)
Indent the references – use spaces to make it look better

Krejcie R. and Morgan D. (1970) Determining Sample Size for Research Activities, in the Educational and Psychological Measurement, issue 30, pp 607-610. [Online] Available from http://research-advisors.com/tools/SampleSize.htm [Accessed 9 Nov 2014]
Scheafler R., Mendenhall W., Ott R. and Gerow K (2012) Survey Sampling, 7th edition, International edition, Cengage Learning, Canada
Trochim W. (2006) Probability Sampling [Online] Available from: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampprob.php [Accessed 9 Dec 2014]

Insert the citations in the text:

Go to the following sentence (in section 3.3)
Stratified random sampling involves dividing a population into homogeneous subgroups and then taking a simple random sample in each subgroup
Insert the following citation at the end of the sentence

(Tromchin, 2006)

Go to the following sentence
Stratification may produce a smaller bound of error of estimation when there are homogenous groups
Insert the following citation at the end of the sentence

(Schefler, Mendenhall, Ott, & Gerow, 2012)

Go to the following sentence
The sample from each establishment is calculated using the Krejcie and Morgan sampling method
Insert the following citation at the end of the sentence

(Krejcie & Morgan, 1970)

return to the 9 stages of completing an assignment

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