Report Instructions

many students are far too too colloquial
use a more developed and higher level of language, replace simple generic terms with specific terms
avoid using the following terms: done, even though, although, a lot, meaning, owing, that is, ...
for example, replace done with "carried out", "executed", "investigated", "implemented", "performed"
carry out a search on your document for the above words, and ensure you eliminate these from your document unless absolutely essential

avoid using the following terms: this, their, these, them, it
all students are expected to have used the "find" feature for the above and to have eliminated these words (there are a few cases where use is appropriate)
never use general extensions such as "and so on", "etc", "so on and so forth"
it is OK to repeat a term if it allows you to be specific

"the fact that"

"an interesting point"

"it is worth noting"

"due to the fact"

"it is important to consider"

"on the other hand"

"some would say"

"in other words"

"in reality"

"this is indeed"

"when looking at"

avoid words that mention earlier statements, the reader is intelligent, they know what you have written previously

"as discussed above"

"as noted earlier"

"as mentioned earlier"

we are intelligent we can see your graph, do NOT describe graphs or figures in the text

rather make a statement and then just add "..., Figure X" at the end of the sentence

do not use "as shown in Figure X", "it can be seen in Figure X"

SVO=subject-verb-object
example "The graph shows that X is larger than Y." subject=the graph, verb=shows, object=x and y
the subject can be a noun, pronoun, adjectives or descriptive phrases that go with these
a pronoun refers to people, I, you, he, she, we, they
an adjective qualifies, defines, modifies a noun, for example: big, unique, old
adverbs (consequently, clearly) apply to a whole sentence or clause and can be used to start a sentence
conjunctions or connectors link two elements (clauses) in a sentence, there are two types
ones that cannot come at the start of a sentence (for, and, nor, but, or , yet, that)
ones that can come at the start of a sentence, but please avoid doing so (if, unless, also, provided, as, because, since, therefor, although, though, after, before, while)
the above preface a subordinating clause, ie a clause that clarifies, expands or explains the meaning of the main clause
do NOT start sentences with: as, although, while, because
you can start sentences with: nevertheless, therefor, however
of course, this is English, the rules can-be and are broken at times, but not by you!

read your sentences carefully, in isolation, is it true?
for example a common mistake is "ILs exhibit unique properties" this is NOT true there is no single property that is unique to ILs, but "ILs exhibit a unique combination of properties" is true.

make sure that when you say "A therefore B" in a sentence that A and B are EXPLICITLY connected
sentence construction NOT "due to B, A" but YES to "A due to B"

students have a tendency to start in the middle of an explanation and not set up the problem
start from the beginning explain the problem or concept from scratch
it might be helpful to imagine you are explaining the concept to an UG, who knows nothing about the problem

do not write "comment ... as shown in Figure X", rather format this as "comment, Figure X"