Guidelines for Report Formatting

1. Page Page should be of A4 size

2. Font Times New Roman, 12 or

Book Antiqua, 11 or

Calibri, 11

A larger font (14) can be used for headings.

3. Justification The whole document must be fully (left + right) justified.

4. Spacing The body of the report should have 1.5 line spacing. Longer quotations
should be single-spaced and separated from the text by indenting.

5. Margin Default margin for all reports is 1” in all four sides.

You may submit the softcopy of your report with above-mentioned

margin, however, when Internship report & Thesis paper has to be
submitted in binding format (hard copies to the department), left margin
should be at least 1.25” instead of 1”.

6. Paragraphs and Paragraphs must be separated by blank line and be justified in nature, or
Sections by indenting the first line of a new paragraph by five spaces. However, if
the paragraph follows a new section heading, the first line is not indented.

Besides, extra blank line before and after every section and subsection
should be used.

While developing a paragraph, try to maintain a length of around 150

words, which actually increase the readability of your writeup.

7. Headings & All headings and their subheadings should be properly formatted
Subheadings according to standard numbering format.

8. Tables and All tables and figures in the text must be numbered and should always
figures have a heading. The number and heading of a table are placed above the
table or figure and place the source of the contents at the bottom of those
figure or tables.

When you refer to the table in the main text, use the number of the table:
e.g. Table 1 shows the test scores of the three groups.

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9. Appendices Appendices can be used to include material that is not directly relevant to
the main content but needs to be referred to in the text. For instance, if
your study is based on a questionnaire or (semi)structured interviews, the
questionnaire or interview plan must be included in the appendices.
Appendices must have a heading and they must be numbered.

10. Highlighting For highlighting or emphasis, use italics. Bold print can also be used for
clarity if necessary.

11. Color For a formal and professional look, a black & white report submission is
preferred. However, with permission of course teacher limited standard
color could be added in different headings only.

12. Footnotes Endnotes and footnotes should be used sparingly. If you do use notes,
they should be placed at the bottom of the page using smaller font size
(10) and single-spacing.

13. Punctuations, Use correct punctuation marks. Spelling and grammar should be accurate
Spelling and throughout the report.
Grammar Check

14. Page Page numbering should be visible from the first page of the introduction.
Numbering Previous pages such as the abstract and contents are counted but are not
given visible page numbers.

However, the title page is not counted. Page numbering continues until
the end of the document, including the bibliography and appendices. Place
the page number at the center/right on the bottom of the page.

In this regard, the page numbers should be started with 1 from the first
page of chapter 1. All the pages before the first chapter should be given
Roman numbers (i, ii, iii, etc.)

15. Word Limit This provision is subject to the freedom of course teacher. S/he can
suggest specific world limit or not.

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Do's and Don'ts" of Formal Academic Writing
Do’s

• Label all figures, tables, graphs, code etc. If it doesn’t have a label, it can’t be referred to in
text, and if it isn’t referred to it shouldn’t be in report.
• Define all relevant terms, especially any “jargon” you wish to use
• Do say exactly what you mean using precise word choices and giving specific information to
support proposition.
• Do tell reader something new about the subject. Say something significant and important.
Do not blather on. Say something thoughtful and intelligent. This will usually require some
brainstorming, list making, outlining, and other prewriting.
• Do start off with a clear statement of the main idea. Make sure the first paragraph leaves a
good first impression, fluent writing, and no mechanical errors.
• Do ensure readability of paragraphs, by limiting to eight lines in each written paragraphs,
and a strong topic sentence.
• Do vary sentence structure. Readers get tired when they read a series of lengthy sentences
with multiple clauses. Similarly, they feel rushed by a series of short, terse sentences. As
much as possible, vary the length and construction of your sentences.
• Do use consistent tenses. Present tense is most common in academic papers, and should be
used when referring to written texts. Future tense is almost never used. Exception: past tens
e is used in history papers and in reference to experiments done in the past.

Don’ts

• Do not use contractions (like "don't, wouldn't, shouldn't" etc.). Spell out both words fully
e.g. "do not," "would not," "should not," etc.
• Do not use the words "really" or "very" to try to emphasize a point (e.g. it was "really, very"
important.) These are almost always unnecessary filler words in spoken language and the
written sentence will sound better without the unneeded redundancy (e.g. "It was
important.")
• Do not use first person pronouns ("I", "we," "me," "us," "my," and "our"). Most readers
know who is writing the paper, so you do not ever have to refer to yourself. Do use page
numbers and a title.
• Do not use archaic terms. “Thus” and “alas” are not terms utilized in common English and
should not be used in your academic paper!
• Do not use slang. Though academic writing should use common English terms, it is not
casual writing.
• Do not use clichés. Be careful –clichés are easy to use. For example, “too little, too late”
seems full of meaning, but it is considered vague and cliché in an academic paper.
• Avoid overused “scholarly” phrases. Never write “In this paper I will ...” You are writing the
paper and will clearly do something. There’s no need to say you will do something – just do
it! And never write “In conclusion ...” This is an overused transition to the conclusion. The
reader should know they are at the conclusion of your paper based on the content of the
concluding paragraph.

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