National University of Science and Technology (NUST)

Department of Environmental Science and Health

P.O. Box AC 939, Ascot, Bulawayo
Tel: +263-9-282842/289557/288103/288413: Fax: 286803

Format for Industrial Attachment/Work experience

Report Write-up and other Relevant Information

NB: Two loosely bound copies of the final report shall be submitted to the Department
for the final assessment within two (2) weeks of the end of the lecture period for the
second semester of the academic year. Orals (Vivas) will take place before the final
submission of the report. Other regulations pertaining to the assessment of the report are
laid down on page 131 of the 2001/2002 Yearbook. The mark allocation is as follows:
50% continuous assessment; 40% final report assessment and 10% oral presentation.

Report and typing font size

The report may range between 30 and 60 pages at one and half line spacing on 12 points
New Times Roman font.

General Layout
The following may be considered as the general report layout:
 Cover Page
 Abstract
 Acknowledgements
 Table of Contents (to include list of diagrams, list of figurers, list of maps, list of
plates, list of tables, etc)
 Main Text (in chapters)
 Conclusions
 References
 Appendices

Cover Page
The cover page should capture data such as:
 Title of the report e.g., Report on Industrial Attachment: June 2002 – May 2003.
 Name of student
 ID number

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 Name of university and department
 Name of academic supervisor
 Name of industrial supervisor
 Date of submission
 Where applicable, a company logo etc

Abstract
A summary of not more than 350 words on major issues and addressed in the report.

Acknowledgement
It is in line with good academic and professional practice for one to indicate those that
gave their support towards the successful production of the work (report).

Main Text
The main text can be put under three (3) major, chapters (sections/units), vis-à-vis:
 Introduction and Attached company profile. In the introduction, the existence of the
report must be justified, thus, why the report etc. Items such as the company mission
statement, vision, mission and history can be featured in this chapter etc.
 Inventory of work done, problems encountered and solutions: Student to summarise
work done during the attachment period. NB: At time one may have covered various
major distinctive aspects in various departments/section that may need to be documented
as separate chapters.
Summary and conclusion

Report presentation
Before submitting the report the candidate should ensure that:
 All typing errors have been corrected;
 Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and choice of language are worthy of an
undergraduate report.
 In text citations and quotations as well as the final referencing is done properly using a
standard modern format.

The report should be typewritten, or prepared using computer based text processing
software and must be printed on one (1) side of the paper in not less than 1.5 line spacing
on size A4 paper (297mm x 210mm) bond paper.

The draft copy of the report must be submitted to the industrial supervisor for correction
and authorization. Two final copies should be submitted to the department.

Binding
At the time of submission for examination, a report should be bound in a loose-leaf form
so that any corrections, which may be required following examination of the report, can
be easily inserted. A temporary binding must be strong enough to prevent damage to the
report during the ordinary course of handling and postage. It is therefore advised that
students submit spiral bound copies.

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Report Title
There is no requirement for formal approval of a report title. It is assumed that the title
will be selected after discussion with the supervisor.

Diagrams, figures, maps, tables, plates etc

These should be properly referenced in the text and preferably appear after the reference
to them has been made in the text. They should have a title at the top and possibly the
source art the bottom e.g.:

Table 1.2: Accidents at Work 1999-2001

Accident 1999 2000 2001

Gas explosions 3 4 1
etc

Source: NSSA, 2002

A 1.2 would indicate that it is table two (2) in chapter 1 and a 2.2 indicates that it is table
two (2) in chapter 2 etc.

Citation, quoting and referencing

All sources from which information has been derived, sources of quotations, and
authorities for statements of fact and opinion must be clearly, concisely and accurately
cited, quoted and referenced in any scholarly work. There are no hard and fast rules
concerning the manner in which one prefers doing it. However, whatever is done needs
to be standard and modern. A good example may be going through a most recent journal
in one’s field of study and adapt the formats. The references and the style of referencing
should be collected and decided early enough, otherwise a great deal of time will be
required to compile references accurately.

NB: It must be noted that references are not equivalent to bibliography. References
indicate those sources only used during the preparation of the report. This is what the
department requires. Bibliography incorporates relevant sources of information including
both those that have been used in the preparation of the report and those that were not
used. The Department does not require a bibliography.

Departmental style of citation, quoting and referencing

It should be noted from the onset that citation and quotation are in text activities whereas
referencing is the end of report activity.

When citing a sources in the text, there should be the author’s surname, year of
publication and page(s) from which the information is being taken. When it is a
quotation, it will be the same format. The difference lies in the extracted information will
either be indented of put in quotation marks.

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When referencing, one starts by the author’s surname, initials(s), year of publication and
edition, title, publisher and place of publication. This varies as to whether the source is a
book, journal, newspaper article, authored chapter in a book or conference proceeding
etc. these variations can be discussed individually by the academic supervisors if further
clarification is required.

Below are listed some examples of referencing from various sources:

Textbook with single author

Chatfield C. (1980) The Analysis of Time Series, 2nd edn, Chapman and Hall, London.

Textbook with two or more authors

Horowitz P. and Hill W. (1996) The Art of Electronics, Cambridge University Press, New
York.

Journal Article
Alcala J.R. and Zheng J. (1995) “Real Time Frequency Domain Fibreoptic Temperature
Sensor”. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 42, 471-475.

Chapter in Edited book with chapter authors

Marcus B.C. and Nemo A. (1992) “Estimation of total solar radiation from cloudiness in
Spain” in Winchester F., Yu S., and Major K. (Eds), Global Solar Radiation, Vol. 2, pp.
1393-1399, Raven Press, New York.

Pages in Proceedings
Beber J. (1987) “ Medical Instrumentation in Zimbabwe” in Proceedings of Medical
Technology Worldwide Congress, 22-24 June, Harare, Johnston K. (Ed), pp. 123-127,
Jongwe Press, Harare.

Unpublished work
Lewis F.M. (1997) “pyrogas from Biomass”. Paper presented to Conference On
Capturing The Sun Through Bioconversions, Washington, D.C

Report write-up
It will be advantageous to have an ongoing exercise in report writing. The last days of
the attachment period should be therefore reserved for the final compilation of the report.
One should not wait to compile everything at once. One is also encouraged to consult the
academic supervisor and report on progress.