Transcript Slide 1

Common mistakes in a report
Hints on doing it correctly
Table
• Centre column headings
• Make columns just wide enough, with
different width for criteria column
Table
Never make headings from table columns into
Heading2 or Heading2
Table
Format all tables
in a document
the same, i.e.
line spacing,
paragraph
spacing, font
style and size
Table
Align text in narrow columns left, never fully
justified
Table
Align table with body text, not like this
Table
Keep table inside page text boundaries, not
like this in the margin
What is wrong with the table?
Indentation
Indent so that
all text begins
at the same
place
Footnote
• Do not set a footnote on a heading
• Body text under headings must be on the
topic of the headings, not this gumph
Headings
Body text under headings must be on the
topic of the headings, not this waffle
Footnote
End sentence with a point or full stop
Font
Use same font for Table of contents and Table
of figures, not this mish mash of font styles
Font
• Format whole document with same font
• Modify headings so they are same font as
body font
• Format text as colour only if printing in colour
Bullets
Bullet lists
Information
Explain or discuss
the table and the
chart, do not
expect the reader
to decipher the
tables and charts
Introduction
Discuss what is coming, all the topics which
are in the headings
What should be in the Conclusion?
Text
Start paragraph with most important
sentence, i.e. do not bury it in the body
What is wrong with the font?
Text
Start paragraph with important meaningful
word, not ‘It’
Captions
Give meaningful captions to figures and tables,
not these meaningless captions
Headings
Present text in the order of the heading, not
like this example
Cross referencing
Cross reference
tables and
figures in the
body of the text