CS - Design Step 8: Design Report

Prepare a design report in accordance with the guidelines discussed in this page about the following principles:

1. Appropriate Organization

2. Follow Writing Guidelines

3. Write in 3rd Person

4. Passive voice

INTRODUCTION

The Design Report documents the final design. It enables someone unfamiliar with a design to figure out how it works, evaluate it, build it and reproduce it. It is the final step in the design process. This page summarizes the organization of the report and provides some writing guidelines.

ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT

Like the oral design defense, the organization of a design report follows the steps of the design process (see Table 28.1). The report begins with a concise statement of the "Problem Definition," in the student's own words.

The "Design Requirements"should begin with a short paragraph describing the design strategy. Then, list all performance requirements, for example, "Must have a top speed of I ft/s"; "Must deposit at least six ping-pong balls"; and "Must be able to steer."

Almost all the content of the "Conceptual Design" section should be available from previous milestones. Section 3.1 of Table 28.1 presents the sketches of your alternative design concepts and briefly describes

how each one works. Section 3.2 of Table 28.1 presents your decision matrix and uses the matrix as a vehicle to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each concept. Section 3.3 of Table 28.1 indicates the concept you selected and gives your rationale.

The "Detailed Design" section describes the design that appeared at the final performance evaluation. New detailed drawings have to be prepared. Place these new drawings in Section 4.1 of Table 28.1, along with text describing the operation and main features of the final design. Describe the overall design first, and then zero in on the details of special features. Include digital photographs of your machine. To create Section 4.2, retrieve the results presented at the oral design defense and add text. Section 4.3 is primarily a summary of the joining methods used.

The results of the performance tests are summarized in the "Performance Evaluation" section. Describe how your machine fared, being as quantitative about it as you can. Also, compare performance predictions to actual results.

The "Lessons Learned" section is an opportunity to reflect back on the design experience. Write it in the form of three paragraphs, with each paragraph dedicated to answering one of the following questions: (l) How would you redesign your machine to improve performance? (2) What general lessons did you learn about the design process? and (3) What general lessons did you learn about teaming?

WRITING GUIDELINES

Use double spacing to leave room for instructor comments. Use the section and subsection headings of Table 28.1 and boldface them so that they stand out. Finally, figures should be embedded within the text (rather than placed at the end of the report) for ease of reference. In addition,

1. Be concise.

2. Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence that expresses the theme or conclusion of the entire paragraph. The reader should be able to overview the entire report by reading just the topic sentences.

3. Generate high-quality concept drawings and detailed drawings to pass the "flip test." The first thing the instructor does before reading the report is to flip through the pages to examine the figures. The figures are the instructor's first impression of the report.

4. Give each figure (i.e., drawing, graph, etc.) a figure number and a self-explanatory figure caption, for example, Fig. 3: Decision matrix. Figures should be numbered consecutively and referenced from the text using the figure numbers. For example, "The results of the comparison are summarized in the decision matrix of Figure 3."

5. Use a spelling checker. Spelling mistakes cause the reader to question technical correctness.

6. Employ page numbers both in the text and in the table of contents.

TECHNICAL WRITING IS "IMPERSONAL"

Technical writing is always done using an impersonal writing style. This style is limited to using the passive voice, third person pronouns, and impersonal "things" rather than people as subjects of sentences.

In a sentence with an action verb, the subject of the sentence performs the action indicated by the verb, and the sentence is in the active voice. If the subject of a sentence is acted upon by the verb, the subject is passive, and the sentence is in the passive voice. So, in a sentence using active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed in the verb. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb.

In technical writing, we do not use the active voice. The passive voice is always used in writing technical and laboratory reports because the person writing is not important (passive) but the process or principle being described is important. Examples of appropriate passive and inappropriate active voice sentences in technical writing are shown in Table 28.2.

Technical writing also only uses third person pronouns. Examples of the correct third person and incorrect first person pronouns are shown in Table 28.3.

Finally, impersonal items rather than people are subjects of sentences in technical Table 28.4.writing. Examples using impersonal rather than personal (people) as sentence subjects are shown in Table 28.4

Grading Criteria

• Is the report complete?

• Does it pass the flip test?

• Is the writing style solid?

• Is it clear how the design works?

• Could someone unfamiliar with your machine manufacture it from the drawings and information in the report?