Style and content

It is common in academic and industrial research to produce an interim report about half way through a piece of project work. Such a document details the progress to date and outlines the strategy that will be adopted to ensure that the project is completed successfully and on time. Typically, a milestone report is read by both technical and business managers. It should therefore contain details of technical issues, but must also be well presented and clearly written. The reader will need to be convinced that the work is worthwhile and is likely to result in an interesting and/or useful outcome.

You are required to write a technical milestone report (TMR) conforming to the following rules:

• the length of your TMR must not exceed 6 A4 pages, including diagrams, references, appendices and all other content elements. A penalty of up to 50% may be applied for exceeding the page limit;
• use 12-point font, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins all round;
• the title, author’s name and a summary should appear at the top of the first page, with the main text continuing. No special coversheets are required
• You may find the CUED Guide to Report Writing helpful. You may ask your supervisor to comment on an early draft, though make sure you allow plenty of time for this by preparing the draft well before the submission deadline.

Assessment

The technical milestone report will be assessed against the following criteria:

• professionalism of presentation;
• motivation for work;
• clarity of explanation of the work that has been completed;
• achievement in the project so far;
• quality of structure and detail in the plan for future work.

Feedback

Students should take the opportunity to receive feedback from supervisors on technical writing in preparation for the final report. This should happen in a regular supervision or, at the latest, at the Lent mid-term progress review meeting. Students should take to this meeting a copy of their TMR and the feedback they received from the supervisor and assessor.