Writing up

Writing up your report is an exercise in following a specific style guide, as you would have to do for a published paper.

Formatting

Your report must conform to the following specification:

• Use IEEE Transactions double-column style, with single line spacing
  • Templates for Latex and Microsoft Word can be found the IEEE template selector here :
    • To obtain a zip file of the, e.g. LaTeX, template files select:  Transactions, Journals Letters > IEEE/ACM Transactions on Audio, Speech, and Language Processing > Original Research > LaTeX
  • If you are using LaTeX (very strongly recommended), use the bare_jrnl.tex template.
  • Follow the style as closely as you can, including the in-text citations and references.
  • Replace the author name on the first page with your exam number + wordcount, and omit the author profile and photograph on the last page.
  • Include the abstract and index terms.
  • Your report should have the same format as the PDF versions of published papers: Example 1; Example 2; Example 3.

You should ensure that figures and graphs are large enough to read easily and are of high-quality (with a very strong preference for vector graphics, and failing that high-resolution images). It is recommended to use single-column figures as far as possible. However, a small number of large figures or table may be included at full page width, spanning both columns, if they are at the top or bottom of a page.

Length

• Word limit: 5000 words
  1. including: headings, footnotes, words within figures & tables; captions
  2. excluding: numerical data within figures and tables; references
• Page limit: no limit enforced, but typical papers will be 7 or 8 pages long
• Figures, graphs, & tables: no limit on number (but excessive or unnecessary ones may impact your mark in the “Scientific writing” category)

The word limit is a hard limit. The markers will simply not read anything beyond these limits, and your mark will only be based on what they read.

Originality

The rules on originality for this assignment are strict, so that you have to explain everything your own way. That will help you learn better. The rules are stricter than for most academic journals, and that is intentional.

These rules are not designed to trick you or catch you out. They are designed to make you focus on your own understanding of the material.

All material (including text, figures, graphs, plots, tables, etc) must be your own original work. You must not include (even with proper attribution) any material from other sources.

These are not acceptable:

• Using a figure from another paper, or one of your own from a previous assignment
• Quotes, even if properly marked as such and with attribution
• Citing something without reading it (e.g., because you found it referenced in some other source)

whilst the following are acceptable:

• Your own explanations, in your own words, of concepts and ideas from other sources (with appropriate attribution of whose ideas those are, typically by citation)

I encourage you to ask for clarification on the private forums, if you need it.

Marking scheme

You must read the structured marking scheme (this document has been updated for 2023-24) because it will help you focus your effort and decide how much to write in each section of your report.

Then design a structure for your report that is consistent with the marking scheme, but do not simply copy the marking scheme sections as your headings because that is not the best structure.

 A well-structured report will be awarded marks under “Scientific writing”. Making the relationship between your report structure and the marking scheme clear will help the marker find all the places they can give you marks.

Submission

• do not include your name or student number anywhere in your report
• submit a single document in PDF format via Learn; the file name must be in the format examnumber_wordcount.pdf (e.g., “B012345_4672.pdf”)
• state your word count on the first page of the report (e.g., “wordcount: 4672”)

Your work may be marked electronically or we may print hardcopies on A4 paper, so it must be legible in both formats. In particular, do not assume the markers can “zoom in” to make the figures larger.

Recommendations

You should also check out the writing tips provided for the Festival exercise from Speech Processing – they apply equally well here – and please use the forums to obtain general advice on scientific writing.

Tips on writing

Related forums