Transcript Lecture5: How to write your project documentation

Lecture 5: Writing the Project Documentation
Part III
Data Presentation
 Types of data you may need to present:
 Surveys and Questionnaires
 Software test results
 Algorithm speed trials
 Analysis and Design tools
Data Presentation
 Describing such data using text and paragraphs,
makes your report ‘dry’ and not easy to interpret
 While using pictures, charts, diagrams and other types
of graphics, will give the report more attractive look.
 “Picture worth a thousand word” but, if it is not a
correct picture, it won’t worth any, and on the contrary
it may damage your report, so be aware.
Data Presentation – Charts and
Graphs
 All figures and tables included in your report should
be labeled with a number and a short description
 The most common method is to label each figure and
table using serial numbers prefixed by the current
chapter number
For example: “Figure 1.4” refers to figure number 4 in
chapter 1
Data Presentation – Charts and
Graphs
 You can label a table and a figure with the same
number, as long as each one is prefixed with either
“Figure” or “Table”
Example: “Figure 2.8” and “Table 2.8”
 Be consistent, don’t change the way you present a table
or a figure from one chapter to another
Data Presentation – Charts and
Graphs
Questions to ask about included diagrams:
 Both diagrams and tables:
 ‘Does it have a brief but clear and descriptive title?’
 ‘Are the units of measurement clearly stated?’
 ‘Are the sources of data used clearly stated?’
 ‘Are there notes to explain any abbreviations?’
 ‘Have you stated the sample size?’
Data Presentation – Charts and
Graphs
Questions to ask about included diagrams:
 Diagrams:
 ‘Does it have clear axes labels?’
 ‘Are bars and their components in the same logical
sequence?’
 ‘Is more dense shading used for smaller areas?’
 ‘Is a key or legend included (where necessary)?’
Data Presentation – Charts and
Graphs
Questions to ask about included diagrams:
 Tables:
 ‘Does it have clear column and row headings?’
 ‘Are columns and rows in a logical sequence?’
Data Presentations – Common
Mistakes
 Never include figures or tables just to show off, they
should support certain arguments you make within the
text and/or to clarify, in diagrammatical way, the data
represented in the report. (Unnecessary inclusion of
graphics)
 Using wrong type of charts to represent data.
 Wrong usage and scaling of charts
Other Data Presentations
 You may need to present your data in other types of data presentations,
such as Program listing, designs, photographs, ..etc. The following tips
might need you in this presentation:
 Try to keep figures and listing in one page. If code listings spread
over several pages then you should consider moving the listing to an
appendix and include any short extracts (of interesting algorithms)
in the main body of your report
 Consider alternative ways of presenting diagrams. For example,
rather than including several figures showing the evolution of a
system’s interface design, you could include a photograph showing
the preliminary sketches of your design.
 Present pseudo code and designs in boxes rather than ‘floating’
among the text.
Writing Abstracts
 The function of Abstract: Summarize briefly the
nature of:
 Your research project
 Its context
 How it was carried out
 and what its major findings were
Writing Abstracts
 Why it is important?
 The abstract provides the reader with an overview of
your project and is the basis on which many readers will
decide whether or not to read your report at all.
Writing Abstracts
 Recommendation:
 Your abstract should be concise (preferably no more
than one half page long), clear and interesting.
 Your report’s abstract should be one of the last things
you write, when you actually know what you have
achieved and what the content of your report is.
 Avoid using references in your abstract as the reader will
not necessarily wish to search through your report to
find them or be familiar with the author(s) you have
cited.
Writing Abstracts
 Abstract Components:
 Context: introduces the topic area in which your project
resides; it can include coverage of related topics and
issues, and generally sets the scene for the reader so they
can comprehend your project’s subject area.
 Gap: What is the missing in the real environment or in
the previous research that you want to fix
 Contribution: what does your report contain that fills
the gap you have identified or what your report contains
in relation to the context you have discussed
Writing Abstracts – Example 1
Abstract
With the increasing interactions among companies, their suppliers and
customers, the need for management of the flow of products, material
and information is increasing, which created the concept of the Supply
Chain Management. SCM is an old concept implemented to create
integration between these entities for many years ago, but with the
emergent of e-business and the widespread of internet technologies, the
activities and processes of SCM have been enhanced. This paper gives
short description of the concept of SCM, with its two models, Upstream
and Downstream. Two case studies are discussed within these concepts.
And finally, the impact of e-business evolution on the processes of both
models of SCM is discussed.
Context
Gap
Contribution
Writing Abstracts – Example 2
Abstract
The main concerns for organizations managements include hiring highly
qualified personnel and retaining highly performed employees. Data mining is a
young and promising field of information and knowledge discovery. In this
research, Data mining is used to build a model to predict the potential turnover
of employees. To build the model, the CRISP-DM methodology was adopted to
build a classification model to predict the possibility of turnover. Decision tree
method was mainly chosen for this task where several classification rules were
generated. To evaluate the model, data were collected from different IT
companies and three experiments were conducted. The experiments showed that
several factors affect the potential of turnover. The experiments provided fair
accuracy in some cases showing that several factors affect the potential of
turnover. As a final conclusion we recommend to enhance and use the model in
the hiring process of employees and to keep those who think to leave the
organization.
Context
Gap
Contribution