How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the
Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies
HOW TO WRITE A REPORT, ESSAY, OR THESIS AT THE INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORT
AND LOGISTICS STUDIES
Requirements and guidelines for structure, layout, attachments, binding, referencing, and
the issue of plagiarism
JOHN ROSE
Professor
The Institute Of Transport and Logistics Studies
The University of Sydney
AND
PETER STOPHER,
Professor
The Institute Of Transport and Logistics Studies
The University of Sydney
3 February 2012
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How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This document provides a set of requirements, guidelines, and suggestions to help staff and students in the
Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies to prepare papers, reports, essays, and theses. It covers content
and structure, layout requirements, headings, titles, lists, capitalisation, the referencing system, and binding. It
also provides some rules and hints on improving writing. The document also contains a fairly complete
treatment of exactly how to apply Harvard Referencing, according to current standards.
John Rose and Peter Stopher
3 February 2012
Page ii
How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the
Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................... ii
1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 3
2 FORMAL REQUIREMENTS and content .................................................................................................... 3
2.1
Document Sections and structure ....................................................................................................... 3
2.1.1 Cover page ...................................................................................................................................... 3
2.1.2 Marking criteria sheets ..................................................................................................................... 4
2.1.3 Document header information ......................................................................................................... 4
2.1.4 Executive summary, Synopsis or Abstract ...................................................................................... 4
2.1.5 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................ 5
2.1.6 Table of contents ............................................................................................................................. 5
2.1.7 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 5
2.1.8 Main body/text ................................................................................................................................. 6
2.1.9 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 7
2.1.10
Reference list ............................................................................................................................... 7
2.1.11
Appendices .................................................................................................................................. 7
2.2
Document formaTting .......................................................................................................................... 7
2.2.1 Document title .................................................................................................................................. 7
2.2.2 Headings .......................................................................................................................................... 7
2.2.2.1
Level 1 Headings ..................................................................................................................... 8
2.2.2.2
Level 2 Headings ..................................................................................................................... 8
2.2.2.3
Level 3 Headings ..................................................................................................................... 8
2.2.2.3
Level 4 Headings ..................................................................................................................... 8
2.2.2.4
Level 5 and subsequent headings ........................................................................................... 8
2.2.3 Text .................................................................................................................................................. 8
2.2.4 Appendices ...................................................................................................................................... 9
2.2.5 Pagination ........................................................................................................................................ 9
2.2.6 Cross Referencing ........................................................................................................................... 9
2.2.7 Bullets and Numbering .................................................................................................................... 9
2.2.8 Tables and Graphs ........................................................................................................................ 10
2.2.8.1
An Example of How to Present a Table ................................................................................. 10
2.2.8.2
An Example of How to Present a Figure ............................................................................... 10
2.2.9 Equations ....................................................................................................................................... 11
3 IMPROVING REPORT WRITING .............................................................................................................. 11
3.1
Spelling and Grammar ....................................................................................................................... 11
3.2
Punctuation ........................................................................................................................................ 11
3.3
Opening a Sentence .......................................................................................................................... 12
3.4
Constructing a Sentence ................................................................................................................... 12
3.5
Some Specific Word Uses ................................................................................................................. 12
3.6
Language ........................................................................................................................................... 14
3.7
Latin Phrases ..................................................................................................................................... 14
3.8
Numbers in Text ................................................................................................................................ 14
3.9
Metric Values ..................................................................................................................................... 14
3.10 Use of Future and Past Tenses ......................................................................................................... 14
4 Harvard Referencing System ..................................................................................................................... 14
4.1
STEPS INVOLVED IN REFERENCING ............................................................................................ 15
4.2
IN-TEXT CITATIONS......................................................................................................................... 15
4.3
Multiple Authors ................................................................................................................................. 16
4.4
More Than One Work by the Same Author ....................................................................................... 16
4.5
No Author ........................................................................................................................................... 16
4.6
Reports where an AGENCY is the author ......................................................................................... 17
4.7
Secondary Sources ........................................................................................................................... 17
4.8
Personal Communication and E-Mail ................................................................................................ 17
4.9
Websites ............................................................................................................................................ 17
4.10 HOW TO CREATE A REFERENCE LIST ......................................................................................... 17
5 Plagiarism ................................................................................................................................................... 18
6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 18
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How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies
References ........................................................................................................................................................ 18
APPENDIX 1: EXAMPLES OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 20
A.1.1
Books ............................................................................................................................................. 20
A.1.1.1 Book with a single author ........................................................................................................... 20
A.1.1.2 Book with two or three authors .................................................................................................. 20
A.1.1.3 Book with more than three authors ............................................................................................ 20
A.1.1.4 Book with an editor .................................................................................................................... 20
A.1.2 Chapter in a Book ................................................................................................................................. 20
A.1.2.1 Article or chapter in a book ........................................................................................................ 20
A.1.2.2 Article or chapter in a book (no author) ..................................................................................... 20
a.1.3 Journal Articles .................................................................................................................................. 20
A.1.3.1 Journal article in print ................................................................................................................. 21
A.1.3.2 Electronic journal article ............................................................................................................. 21
A.1.3.3 Full text from an electronic database: ........................................................................................ 21
A.1.3.4 Full text from a CD-ROM (BPO): ............................................................................................... 21
A.1.3.5 Full text from the Internet (not from a scholarly electronic database) ....................................... 21
A.1.4
Government and Parliamentary Publications ................................................................................ 21
A.1.4.1 Acts of Parliament ...................................................................................................................... 21
A.1.4.2 Australian Bureau of Statistics Bulletin ...................................................................................... 22
A.1.4.3 From AusStats ........................................................................................................................... 22
A.1.4.4 Census Information .................................................................................................................... 22
A.1.4.5 Government Reports ................................................................................................................. 22
A.1.5
E-Mail Discussion Lists and World Wide Web............................................................................... 22
A.1.5.1 E-Mail discussion list ................................................................................................................. 22
A.1.5.2 World Wide Web ........................................................................................................................ 22
A.1.5.3 World Wide Web page: .............................................................................................................. 22
A.1.5.4 World Wide Web page (no author): ........................................................................................... 22
A.1.5.5 World Wide Web page (no date): .............................................................................................. 23
APPENDIX 2: Academic dishonesty: Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Report ...................................................... 24
A2.1 What NOT to do ................................................................................................................................. 24
A2.1.1
You should not do the following: ................................................................................................ 24
A2.1.2
You should not do the following: ................................................................................................ 25
A2.1.3
You should not do the following: ................................................................................................ 25
A2.1.4
You should not do the following: ................................................................................................ 25
A2.2 What you SHOULD do....................................................................................................................... 26
John Rose and Peter Stopher
3 February 2012
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How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies
1
INTRODUCTION
The layout and overall presentation of a paper, report, essay, or thesis in the logistics and transport
management programs at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS), part of The University of
Sydney Business School, as well as general work undertaken at ITLS, is an important component of the
overall training process. We all know that a report that is well set out adds value to the final product. In the
marking criteria in units of study, marks are often awarded for presentation. Thus, marks will be awarded for
following these guidelines, and marks will be deducted for not following them. It is, therefore, important to
study and make use of what is described herein.
For those who are preparing reports for research projects, papers to be submitted for publication, and theses
for examination, the material in this document will assist you in preparing a clear and easily read document.
Clear and unambiguous writing is essential for all such documents. There are a number of style books
available, such as Turabian (1973) and A manual of style (1974). The rules and recommendations herein are
largely consistent with such sources.
The presentation used in these guidelines illustrates how all reports, papers, essays, and theses should be
prepared for any Unit of Study in Transport or Logistics Management, any research project, or any research
degree, with regard to structure, attachments, and referencing. This does not apply to take-home
examinations, nor to papers for journals that specify their own manuscript requirements. From time to time a
unit of study coordinator may require some slight variations. You will be advised in the Unit of Study outline for
the course if this is to occur.
2
FORMAL REQUIREMENTS AND CONTENT
The formal requirements in terms of the structure that a document should follow will depend upon whether the
paper to be submitted is a report, essay or thesis. In this section, we outline the structure of each type of
document that students are expected to follow. For papers being submitted to journals, the writer should
follow the requirements of the journal. In this section, we describe the various parts that may be included.
2.1
DOCUMENT SECTIONS AND STRUCTURE
Before outlining specific requirements for alternative assignment types, the following section presents
information that is germane to the requirements of all assignments submitted whilst at ITLS. Described are
various sections that may be required as part of an assignment submission, whether it be a report, essay, or
thesis. Students and staff are expected to familiarise themselves with these obligations and ensure that all
documents submitted follow the relevant requirements as directed.
2.1.1
Cover page
The University of Sydney Business School requires all written documents that constitute part of a Unit of
Study’s assessment structure be submitted via Turnitin. The submission portal for an assignment will be
located within the Unit of Study’s blackboard website. Once submitted, Turnitin will provide a report to the
academic grading the assignment as to what material in the submitted document has been sourced
elsewhere, including other assignments submitted in previous years. Turnitin will not exclude material
contained in a document’s cover page and as such, the use of the Business Schools electronic coversheet will
provide a false positive in terms of plagiarised material detected. Students should use a generic cover page
similar to that used within this document including the students Student Identification (SID), Unit of Study
name and code, the assignment number and/or name, and the semester and year of submission.
For assignments not submitted via Turnitin, a coversheet must be provided. The coversheet forms are located
at the following link: http://sydney.edu.au/business/currentstudents/forms under the heading “Individual
assessment cover sheets” and “Group assessment cover sheets“.
Students submitting a thesis are required to follow the format guidelines set out by The University of Sydney.
The cover page of a thesis should include:


The Title of the Thesis;
your name;
John Rose and Peter Stopher
3 February 2012
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How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies



2.1.2
The following statement: ‘A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor/Master of Philosophy’;
The Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, The University of Sydney Business School, The
University of Sydney; and
The month and year submitted.
Marking criteria sheets
Marking criteria sheets should not be included as part of any assessment submission handled via the Turnitin
portal. If a Unit of Study coordinator requires submission of a marking criteria sheet, they will organise an
alternative electronic submission portal.
2.1.3
Document header information
As part of any Turnitin submission, all documents must provide the following information in the header.


2.1.4
Individual assignments: include your SID in the header on each page of the document. Do not
include your name.
Group Assignments: the Group name and SID of all group members, separated by a comma, must
appear in the header of each page of the document. Do not include any student names.
Executive summary, Synopsis or Abstract
All reports submitted for grading at the ITLS should include either an executive summary or a synopsis.
Essays will generally require following a different structure to reports and will typically not require an executive
summary. The executive summary or synopsis should appear after the title page and before the table of
contents. At no time should the executive summary or synopsis be merged with the introduction into a single
section. The length of the executive summary or synopsis may vary depending on the complexity of the
report, ranging from one paragraph in length to an entire page, or in some cases, several pages. A good
executive summary or synopsis will not be more than a page in length.
In terms of content, the executive summary should include a summary of all of the key points covered within
the document. The concept behind an executive summary is that the reader can quickly determine if the
content and any arguments presented within the document are logical and that any recommendations made
can be followed without the need to read further. As such, the executive summary should include a summary
of all parts of the report including any recommendations made by the writer(s) of the report. A synopsis will
contain the same information as an executive summary; however it will generally be shorter in length.
A thesis will generally require the use of an abstract rather than an executive summary or synopsis. An
abstract will typically contain much of the same information as an executive summary or synopsis; however, it
should be more academic in writing style. The abstract should outline the general topic area of the thesis, the
contribution of the thesis as well as the main findings. The abstract should in general be kept as short as
possible, being no more than a page or two in length.
Although there does not exist a single way to write and present an executive summary, synopsis, or abstract,
the goal is to disseminate information in an easy to understand manner to the reader. One way to do this
might be to break the information into different sections including background information, results and
conclusions. An example of a synopsis written in this way might look as follows. Note that this is simply an
example, and you are best to ask the unit of study co-ordinator about their preference for presenting
information in an executive summary or synopsis.
Background Hopeless City has a population of 30,000 people and is dissected by the Beck
River. Currently, there exists a single bridge crossing allowing travel between the North and
South of the city. Hopeless City council has requested a report examining the impact of traffic
flows from the development of a second bridge crossing. Further, the local council is planning a
commercial development in the South of the city that will attract further trips to that district and is
concerned about the effects on traffic circulation and public transport use in the area. This report
presents the results of a study undertaken to examine the future traffic patterns and public
transport use based on the possible building of the second bridge crossing as well as
commercial development in the South of the city.
John Rose and Peter Stopher
3 February 2012
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How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies
Results Results from a four step model are shown highlighting the likely impact and network
wide benefits that will accrue from the construction of a second bridge crossing over the Beck
River, as well as the development of a technology park in the south of Hopeless City. A
multinomial logit (MNL) model is estimated on data collected from a household travel survey
diary. The results from three scenarios are presented. Firstly, the results of the MNL model
suggest a slight mode shift away from car travel towards public transport if the second bridge is
constructed and the commercial development does not take place. Under this scenario, the car
mode share is predicted to decrease from 90 percent to 84 percent whilst the market share for
buses will increase from four percent to six percent and the train share from six percent to 10
percent. If the technology park is constructed but a second bridge crossing is not, then the car
market share is predicted to rise to 94 percent with the bus and train shares decreasing to two
and four percent respectively. Finally, if both the bridge and commercial development take
place, the car market share is predicted to decline to 80 percent with the bus and train shares
increasing to nine and 11 percent respectively.
Conclusions The analysis based on empirical data, indicates that Hopeless city can maximise
social welfare by building the second bridge crossing across the Beck River as well as allowing
for the construction of a technology park in the South of the city. It is therefore recommended
that the council allow both projects to proceed.
2.1.5
Acknowledgments
Where someone other than the student, or a member of the student group has contributed to some aspect of
the document, whether it be in some analysis that has taken place, assistance with collecting data, assistance
correcting grammar or spelling, or in writing the document, their contribution should be acknowledged.
Acknowledgments should not only include the person’s name, but also list the specific contribution that that
person made to completing the report. Acknowledgements where required should follow immediately after the
executive summary, synopsis, or abstract.
2.1.6
Table of contents
All reports should include a table of contents containing chapter headings, section headings, and subsection
headings. In addition, if appropriate, there should be a separate list of tables and list of figures. The table of
contents, list of tables, and list of figures should include the page numbers on which each entry is to be found.
The Table of contents should always follow an executive summary, synopsis, or abstract, or
acknowledgments if any exist.
As with a report, immediately after the acknowledgements section, a table of contents containing chapter
headings, section headings, and subsection headings should be included in the thesis. In addition, if
appropriate, there should be a separate list of tables and list of figures. The table of contents, list of tables,
and list of figures should include the page numbers on which each entry is to be found.
Essays will typically not include a table of contents. Nevertheless, students are requested to contact their unit
of study co-ordinator to clarify whether this is the case or not.
2.1.7
Introduction
For reports, the introduction should follow immediately after the table of contents. The introduction of a report
should state why the report is being written and should be written with the target audience in mind. The
introduction should clearly state what the purpose of the report is and what problem or problems are being
addressed within the report. An introduction should also provide background material on the topic being
discussed. The length of an introduction to a report will depend on the problem being analysed and the
degree of background information required by the Unit of Study Coordinator. You should consult your Unit of
Study Coordinator or any instructions provided as part of the course as to their expectations regarding the
level of detail to be provided in the report to be submitted.
The first section of an essay after the title page will generally be the introduction. The introduction of an essay
should act as an orientation for the reader, providing a brief general statement that initiates the reader into
the topic, demonstrating how the specific topic or question being addressed relates to wider issues, the unit of
study or to the discipline field in general. Next a thesis statement should be provided consisting of a
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How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies
concise response to the essay question being addressed. Finally, the introduction of an essay should
outline the arguments to be presented in the essay. As such, the introduction of an essay can be thought
of as starting with an outline of the general area or setting within which the essay topic sits before narrowing in
terms of reference to the specific question being addressed. As with the introduction to a report, there is no
set length for an essay introduction, although one would generally anticipate that the introduction to an essay
will be longer than that of a report.
The introduction of a thesis will be somewhat different to that of a report or essay, both in terms of scope and
content covered. Although different supervisors may have their own views on what should be covered in a
thesis introduction, a good introduction will cover four main aspects. First, a good thesis introduction will
provide a brief overview of the general topic area. Second a thesis introduction should outline why the
problem is sufficiently of interest to warrant examination. This should include a statement outlining the
motivation of the thesis. Third, the introduction should explain how the thesis contributes to the literature.
Finally, the introduction should outline the remainder of the thesis, including the section structure. The
introduction should be short and succinct, being no more than 10 pages long, although the author should aim
for an introduction of approximately six pages where possible.
2.1.8
Main body/text
Following the introduction will be the main body of the report. This section will include any analysis undertaken
as part of the assignment and provide detailed text related to the central tenet of your report. The main body
may be broken down into subsections depending on the assignment. Typically, assignment instructions will be
provided either in the Unit of Study outline or on Blackboard. Some unit of study co-ordinators will provide a
list of required outputs or suggestions for section headings alongside the percentage that each section is
worth. Such a list might form the basis of a marking criteria document, or be outlined in either the Unit of
Study outline or on Blackboard. Independent of where it is made available, the marking criteria for all
assignments should be made available to students prior to the assignment submission date. If the marking
criteria have not been provided, then students have the right to request one.
An example marking criteria that might be provided to students follows.
1. Details of methodology used. (10 percent)
2. Correct estimation of mode choice model. (10 percent)
3. Correct application of the mode choice model to derive the mode choice splits for the
application area. (10 percent)
4. Correct application and interpretation of the gravity model, including the construction of the
generalised cost matrices. (5 percent)
5. Analysis of transport flows over the current bridge (prior to construction of the second
bridge). (10 percent)
6. Analysis of transport flows on both bridges once the new bridge is built. (10 percent)
7. A measure of the number of trips by mode under both bridge scenarios. If you wish to
discuss travel time impacts that is fine, but the main emphasis is on how the new bridge is
predicted to change mode splits rather than on travel times. (1 percent)
8. A discussion of the benefits, if any, of the new bridge in terms of increasing public transport
usage. (17 percent)
9. A critical assessment of the methodology you have used. As appropriate you should identify
areas that could be improved if more time and resources were available for the analysis.
Where areas for improvement are noted, suggestions about the type of improvements that
could be made should be included. (17 percent)
10. Students follow instructions outlined in the How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the
Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies document. (10 percent)
As well as giving an idea about what is expected, the marking criteria will also provide students with a guide
as to what should be covered in the main section of the report document, and indeed, might suggest what
section headings one could use. Further, the percentage breakdowns may provide clues as to the amount of
time and space that should be devoted to each section within the report. For example, spending one page in
an eight page assignment on reporting the number of trips by mode in the above example would be largely
disproportionate to the weighting that section has been given in the grading of the assignment. Indeed, the
above would suggest that more time and space should be devoted to aspects eight and nine in the above list.
The overall length of the main body, however, will depend on the type of assignment and the word limit set out
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How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies
by the unit of study co-ordinator.
The main body of an essay will differ to that of a report in that typically an essay will be either one continuous
stream of work not broken into subsections, or will have fewer subsections than a report. This is because an
essay will typically have a single research question that is being addressed, however sub-sections may be
used if the answer to the research question is multifaceted. The use of sub-sections will aid greatly in the
grading of the essay, as it will make it clear to the grader what has been covered in the essay. As such,
students should not avoid the use of subsections in an essay simply for the sake of doing so.
The main body of a thesis will differ to that of a report and essay in that the main body will typically be broken
into different chapters with each chapter broken into different sections. Although the specific chapters will
differ in terms of the topic and type of thesis being written, it is common to include specific chapters devoted to
a literature review, methodology used, data collected and analysed, the analysis employed, results and a
discussion surrounding these results, and conclusions.
2.1.9
Conclusions
The conclusion should highlight the main points raised as well as suggest areas for further research if
applicable. Sometimes the conclusion can have two sub-sections, one for findings and another for
recommendations. Whilst much of the material in this section may repeat earlier work, the conclusion section
represents an important element of an assignment. Even though the material may be covered elsewhere in
the document, it is important that this section be re-written and is not simply cut and paste from earlier
sections.
2.1.10 Reference list
After the conclusions are presented, a reference list should be provided. At ITLS, a reference list is expected
and not a bibliography. The difference between a reference list and a bibliography is that the former lists only
material that has been cited in the document itself whereas the latter lists any relevant material that has been
read as part of the assignment, even if it is not cited. The reference list should follow the Harvard Referencing
system (see Section 4 and Appendix 1 on referencing).
2.1.11 Appendices
The last section of any assignment should be any appendices that are required for the assignment.
Appendices may include technical details that are not covered in the main part of the document or other
relevant information from external sources that are referenced in the main text of the document. Model results
may also be presented in an Appendix. Note however that material placed in an appendix must be discussed
in the main body of the document. That is, no material should be placed in an appendix that has not been
referenced at least once in the main body of the report, essay, or thesis.
2.2
DOCUMENT FORMATTING
In this section, we discuss the specifics of formatting, including how to present tables, figures and headings.
This document itself is based on the Generic Report Template provided by The University of Sydney and
follows the requirements that both students and staff are required to follow.
2.2.1
Document title
The title of a document is to be flush with the left margin, in 12 point type, bold, and all in capitals. Sub
headings in the title should be 11 point type, bold, with only the first letter of the first word in capitals, and flush
with the left margin. A heading should have at least two blank lines beneath it, before any other text. It should
use the same typeface as the rest of the document.
2.2.2
Headings
A report, paper, or essay should not normally use more than three levels of heading, although a thesis may
use up to five or even six levels. There is also a separate title format that should be used on the title page.
These formats are given in this section.
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How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies
2.2.2.1 Level 1 Headings
The first level heading should be numbered with a single Arabic numeral, with no full stop. It should be in bold
and 12 point Arial font. The heading title is separated from the number by a tab of no more than 0.63 cm. and
is in all capitals. The heading is flush with the left margin. Refer to the main section headings contained in this
document. One blank line should be left between the preceding text and the heading. Similarly, a single blank
line should be left between the heading and the preceding text.
2.2.2.2 Level 2 Headings
The second level heading should be numbered with the section number, followed by a full stop, and then the
subsection number, as in 2.1 or 3.5, etc. It should be in bold and in the same size font as the body text. The
heading title is again separated by a tab of no more than 0.63cm. from the heading title, with the entire title
capitalised. The heading is flush with the left margin, is preceded by one blank line, and the text of the section
follows immediately under the heading. A single blank line should be left between the heading and the
preceding text.
2.2.2.3 Level 3 Headings
The third level heading should be numbered as a sub-subsection, as in 2.2.2. It should be in bold and the
same point size as the body text. The heading title is separated by one tab of not more than 0.63 cm. from the
heading title, and the title should be in lower case except for the first letter of each important word. The
heading is flush with the left margin, is preceded by one blank line, and the text of the section follows
immediately under the heading. A single blank line should be left between the heading and the preceding text.
2.2.2.3 Level 4 Headings
This level of heading should normally not be used in papers, reports, or essays. When it is required, it is
numbered as a sub-sub-subsection, as in 2.2.2.3 and is both italicised and in bold. The heading title is again
separated by one tab of not more than 0.63 cm. from the heading number, and the title has all significant
words capitalised, and the rest in lower case. The heading is flush with the left margin, is preceded by one
blank line, and the text of the section follows immediately under the heading. A single blank line should be left
between the heading and the preceding text.
2.2.2.4 Level 5 and subsequent headings
If a further heading level is required, it is not numbered, but appears as a bold heading on the same line as
the first line of the text in the sub-sub-sub-subsection. It is followed by a full stop. Significant words in the
heading are capitalised.
2.2.3
Text
Unless requested specifically by the Unit of Study co-ordinator, all text must in all cases use single spacing.
All paragraphs must begin flush to your left-hand side margin, with no indentation. The only indentation
allowed is for quotes, which must be centred on the page. The remaining text will be in normal typeface using
Arial font. Some unit of study co-ordinators will request Garamond or Times New Roman font be used, for
example in courses with many mathematical or statistical equations, in which a font like Times New Roman is
preferred. Unless specified however, Arial font is to be used. The University of Sydney template on which this
document is based suggests that ten (10) point be used for size. Unless another size font is specifically
requested by your Unit of Study co-ordinator, you should use this size font. Under no circumstances should a
font size smaller than 10 point be used.
All paragraphs should be left aligned and not justified, so that each line adjusts its length according to the
words in the line. Within a paragraph, leave only one space after any punctuation marks (comma, full stop,
colon, semi-colon, exclamation mark, question mark). In times past, when documents were prepared on
typewriters, with non-proportionally spaced typefaces, it was correct to leave two spaces between the end of a
sentence and the beginning of the next sentence. With proportionally-spaced fonts on word processors, this is
no longer correct.
John Rose and Peter Stopher
3 February 2012
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You should leave a line between paragraphs, and one line between the end of a section and the heading of
the next section. A single blank line is left between a heading and the commencement of the text within a
section.
2.2.4
Appendices
Each Appendix is to be numbered consecutively from 1. The Appendix must be given a heading in uppercase
letters, in 12-point size, using the same font as the body of the document. Each appendix should have a title,
which is also in the same type as the word APPENDIX, and is preceded by a colon and one space. The
Appendix title is to be centred between the left and right margins and the top and bottom margins on a
separate page, with the text of the appendix following on the next page. The Appendices to this document
demonstrate this format. Page numbers should NOT be re-started for each appendix, but should be
continuous through the document.
2.2.5
Pagination
All pages must be numbered commencing with the first page after the cover. Pages between the cover and
the main section should be numbered using roman numerals (ii, iii, iv etc.). The cover counts as page i, but its
number should not appear on it. From the main section onwards, Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4 etc.) are
appropriate, with numbering restarting at 1 for the first page of text following the front matter.
2.2.6
Cross Referencing
Cross-referencing relates to references to tables, figures, appendices, chapters, and sections of the
document. In all cases, when reference is made to a specific part of the document, the name of that part
should have an initial capital letter. Thus, reference to a specific table would appear in the text as “as shown in
Table 2.2…”, while reference to another section would appear as “This is discussed in more detail in Section
3.3…”. NEVER refer to “…the Table below…” or “…the previous Figure…”. ALWAYS refer to tables, figures,
appendices, chapters, and sections by number.
2.2.7
Bullets and Numbering
Bullet lists should use one of the standard bullets available in the word processing software that you are
using. Each bulleted phrase should end in a semi-colon, except the last one and the one before it. The
penultimate (last-but-one) bullet should end with a semi-colon and the word “and”. The last bullet should end
in a full stop. The exception to this is where there are multiple sentences for some or all bullets. In this case,
all bullets must be at least one complete sentence and must end in a full stop. Bullets should be indented by
0.63 cm. from the left, and the text should start 1.27 cm. from the left margin. There should be no blank lines
between bulleted items, but there should be one blank line before the first bullet and one after the last bullet. If
you require multiple levels of bullets, the bullets at each level should be distinctly different from one another,
e.g., using ●, ○, ▪ , for successive levels. This is an example:

First-level bullet;
o Second-level bullet;
 Third-level bullet; and
 Fourth-level bullet.
Numbered lists should follow a similar format. Numbers should be Arabic numerals, beginning with “1” for the
first item. Each number should be followed by a full stop. Numbers should be 0.63 cm. from the left margin,
and the text should begin at 1.27 cm. from the left margin. There should be no blank lines between numbered
items, but there should be a blank line before the first item and after the last one. Punctuation at the end of
each numbered item follows the same rules as for bullets. The numbered list in Section 2.1 shows an example
of this layout. For numbered lists that involve multiple levels, the format is to use Arabic numbers for the first
level, lower case letters for the second level, lower case Roman numerals for the third level, etc. An example
is shown here:
1. First-level number;
a. Second-level number;
i. Third-level number; and
1. Fourth-level number.
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2.2.8
Tables and Graphs
Diagrams, graphs and tables must be labelled with their title and number according to the section number. For
example, Table 3.1 Evidence on Elasticity of Demand and Table 3.2 Fare Statistics for Public Transport.
Tables must fit entirely on a page. They should not generally go over two pages (although there may be
exceptions). All table captions must be above the table. All figure captions must be below the figure. All
captions must be left justified and should be in boldface. In captions, capitalise the initial letter of each
significant word, as shown in the examples above.
Reference MUST be made in the text to each table or figure included in the document. The text reference
must ALWAYS PRECEDE the table or figure. In referring to a table or figure by number, capitalise the initial
letter of the word “Table” or “Figure” (see 2.2.6 Cross-Referencing).
2.2.8.1 An Example of How to Present a Table
The following is an excerpt from Cooper et al. (2012) and demonstrates how a table should be presented
within a document.
“Given the qualitative nature of the non-price attributes, the possibility of non-linearity in the
marginal utilities between levels needs to be considered. Typically, such nonlinear relationships are
represented using one of two data coding structures, these being dummy coding and effects
coding. Dummy coding utilizes a series of 0s and 1s to relate each attribute level of the original
variable to the newly created columns. Table 1 demonstrates the dummy coding concept for the
information attribute used in the current experiment (see Hensher et al. 2005, p.144 for a review of
the dummy coding process employed here).”
Table 1: Example dummy coding
Information attribute levels
Everyday
Every 7 days
Every 14 days
Every 31 days
Every 90 days
Original code
0
1
2
3
4
Everyday
1
0
0
0
0
Dummy Code
7 days
14 days
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
31 Days
0
0
0
1
0
2.2.8.2 An Example of How to Present a Figure
The following is an excerpt from Cooper et al. (2012) and demonstrates how to present a figure within a
document.
“For each respondent, the attributes of the last alternative represented the status quo situation. In
total, respondents were asked to review 12 choice tasks each. An example choice screen is shown
in Figure 1.”
Price of the
Enforcement
Package
Number of
Inspectors
Information
Able to report
your
neighbour
Package 1
$5 per year
1 per 8 000
households
Every 14
days
Yes
Package 2
$50 per year
Every 7 days
No
Which enforcement
& education
package would you
choose?
Neither
John Rose and Peter Stopher
1 per 5 000
households
1 per 10 000
Every 90
households
days
Figure 1: An example of a stated choice screen
$0 per year
3 February 2012
No
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How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies
2.2.9
Equations
When formulas or equations are added to a report, it may often be wise to use a serif font (like Times New
Roman) instead of a sans-serif font (like Arial) throughout the entire report (also for text), as it is easier to
distinguish between variables in a serif font, e.g., upper case i (I) and lower case ell (l) are identical in Arial.
One should try to avoid using multiple letters for a single variable or function name, e.g., use c instead of cost,
as multiple letters could be confused with a multiplication of multiple variables. Similar to tables and figures,
displayed equations are typically centered and have a number for reference placed between round brackets
justified to the right, for example:
N
f ( N )  1   xi   xi2 .
(1)
i 1
Such a displayed equation can be referred to as Equation (1). All variables, functions, indices, etc. need to be
in italics, while numbers, brackets, and punctuation are in normal font type. In order to insert a formula or
equation, insert an object and choose Microsoft Equation or MathType Equation Editor (if available). Formulas
can also be used inline without a caption, such as f ( x)   x   x2 . All equations, being inline or displayed,
should be treated like any other text object, hence, punctuation rules like comma’s, periods, and capitalisation
of letters should be applied as normally. As an example, consider all the punctuation in the following text and
equation, noting that there is a comma after x  0 and ‘where’ does not start with a capital.
The absolute value of x can be defined as
if x  0;
 x,
x 
 x, if x  0,
(2)
where x is any number, while  denotes the absolute value operator.
3
IMPROVING REPORT WRITING
3.1
SPELLING AND GRAMMAR
Make sure that all documents you produce, unless specifically for publication in another country, have the
default language set as “English (Australia)”. Please use Australian spelling, unless specifically told to do
otherwise. All reports must either be put through a word processing speller or carefully hand checked for
spelling or typographical errors. It may be useful to get someone else to proofread the document before
submitting the assignment. Indeed, if English is not your first language, it is advisable that you have someone
whose first language is English first read the document before you submit, noting that if you do so, then they
should be given acknowledgement for their work, unless they are a member of the group submitting the
assignment. It is advisable however that you do not have someone else in the class read the assignment for
you or your group, as this will open you up to claims of plagiarism if they copy any of your work.
ALWAYS read through your paper, report, essay, or thesis before giving it to someone else. You will be
surprised how many errors you will find.
We now go on to outline additional information that may assist you in preparing written material.
3.2
PUNCTUATION
There seems to be a great unwillingness to use commas. These should be used to separate thoughts in a
sentence, and to put into sentences places where one would normally pause, if saying the sentence aloud. It
is also important to put commas around phrases that modify a noun. A comma is not used before the word
“and” when it is used to connect two thoughts, or two items in a list. If there are three or more items in a list, or
three or more ideas in a sentence, then there should be a comma preceding the final “and”. An exception is
when “and” is used in two different ways, as in: “models of behaviour, and land use and transport.” In this
case, there should be a comma preceding the first “and”, but not the second, so that it is clear that we are
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talking about “models of behaviour” and “models of land use and transport”. A good test on correct use of
commas is to read the sentence without a section that is marked off by commas. If the sentence still makes
sense, then the comma use is correct.
Don’t forget semi-colons. These should be used to separate two or more somewhat disjoint thoughts that are
included in one sentence, or where commas might be used in a list, but there are subordinate phrases with
commas separating them within the list members. Generally, “and” should not be used following a semi-colon,
although occasionally this will be necessary in a list.
Such words as “however” should usually be followed by a comma, and may often be preceded by a comma.
For example, the word “but” should not be used to start a sentence, however, the word “however” may be so
used.
Words and phrases used to introduce a sentence, as in “Generally”, “Therefore”, “In effect”, “As a result”, etc.
should be followed by a comma. This also applies to words like “To date”, or phrases like “In a global context”.
Abbreviations should normally include full stops. Of particular note in this regard are e.g., and i.e., both of
which should contain two full stops and be followed by a comma. Each of these is an abbreviation of two Latin
words, the first of which means “for example” and the second of which means “that is”. If written out in their
English form, there would normally be a comma, following the two-word phrase.
Remember that etc. is an abbreviation. It is from the Latin, et cetera, meaning “and the rest”. It should always
be followed by a full stop, but only one, even if it is the end of the sentence. Also, it should be preceded by a
comma, because it is almost always the last in a list. Do not use both e.g., and etc. in the same phrase. If you
use e.g., then it is clear that this is only an example, so we do not need to be exhaustive and include all the
rest.
Questions should not usually be used in a report or paper, as in “How would one design a survey?” Instead, if
it is necessary to pose a question, it should be transformed to a statement as in “It may be asked how one
would design a survey” or as in “The following describes how one would design a survey.” Thus, question
marks should rarely, if ever, occur in a technical document. Similarly, exclamation marks should rarely, if ever,
be used in a technical document. Their use is primarily in novels, dramatic renderings, and personal
communications, such as e-mails and letters.
One-sentence paragraphs should be avoided. They are frequently used in journalistic writing, but are
unacceptable in other formats. Exceptions may be the sentence preceding or following a list.
3.3
OPENING A SENTENCE
Do not use “and”, or “but”, or “so” at the beginning of a sentence. In place of “But”, the word “However” may
be used; in place of “So”, the word “Thus” may be used. If “And” seems to be called for, then reassess if this
should be a new sentence, or consider using “In addition” or “Also”, both of which should be followed by a
comma. Another sentence opening that should be avoided is “As well”, which should rather be “In addition” or
“Also”.
3.4
CONSTRUCTING A SENTENCE
With probably almost no exceptions, a sentence must have a subject, a verb, and an object. A sentence that
fails this test is not a sentence, but may be a phrase. Such a phrase must be part of a longer sentence.
3.5
SOME SPECIFIC WORD USES
a. Data – this is a plural Latin word and should be followed by a plural verb. I.e., data are used to
describe the situation, not data is used to describe the situation. However, note that the word
“information” is singular. Thus, “information is provided”.
b. Since – although this word can be used to indicate a lapse of time and also “for the reason that”, it is
preferred that it is used only for time lapse and is avoided in cases where it means “for the reason
that”. In these cases, “because” is preferred.
c. As – like since, this word has multiple meanings. When used meaning “for the reason that”, it is
preferable to use “because”. This makes it clearer, and the sentence usually reads better.
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d. Possessive forms – generally, inanimate objects should not have possessive forms, e.g., “the road’s
slope”. It should be “the slope of the road”. Only people and animals for the most part can possess
things.
e. Contractions – forms like wasn’t, isn’t, don’t, can’t, etc. should not be used in scientific writing. Spell
out the full form, as in was not, is not, did not, cannot, etc. (Note, also, that cannot is one word.)
f. Split infinitives – this is placing an adverb between “to” and the rest of the verb, as in “to better
understand”, or “to boldly go”. Please avoid this – it is grammatically incorrect. These two should be
“to understand better” and “to go boldly”. Sometimes, the adverb can be moved even further away
from the verb, to make the sentence read comfortably and clearly. It is a good principle to attempt to
avoid putting adverbs between the subject and the verb, because this often leads to confusion as to
which word is being modified.
g. That and Which – whenever possible, use “that” in preference to “which”. There are many instances
where “which” appears to work quite well, but where “that” makes the sense clearer. Use “which” only
where “that” cannot be used. Also, it is usual that ‘which’ will need to be preceded by a comma, while
‘that’ will not.
h. Transport and Transportation – it is an Americanism to add “ation” on the end of words that are
perfectly acceptable without it. Let us stick to the British version of such words. Here, in Australia,
transportation has a very specific meaning, and should be used only in that context. Everything else is
“transport”!
i. Past and Last – “last” means the ultimate. Therefore, “the last year” means there will never be
another year. If this is not the intended meaning, then the word “past” should be used, as in “the past
year”.
j. In order to – this can generally be replaced with “to”.
k. Both – the issue here is that when the word “both” is used, it must be followed with an “and”, but not
an “as well as”. So, it is correct to say “Both my bother and my sister…” but incorrect to say “Both my
brother as well as my sister…”. It would, however, be acceptable to say “My brother, as well as my
sister, …”
l. Alternative and Alternate – the word “alternate” is often misused where “alternative” is meant.
Alternate is a verb meaning to occur by turns, or is an adjective (generally before a plural noun)
meaning every other or alternating, as in alternate days (meaning every other day) or alternate joy
and misery (meaning changing between these two emotions). Alternative means availability as
another choice, offering a different approach, or any of two or more possibilities. The two words are
NOT interchangeable, and it is incorrect to use the word ALTERNATE when meaning a choice among
two or more possibilities.
m. Between – it is incorrect to say “between 20 to 100”, but correct to say “between 20 and 100”. Do not
shorten this to “between 20-100” which would be read as “between 20 to 100”.
n. Hyphens and Dashes – these are frequently misused or not used at all. It is useful to use a hyphen
when using two or more words to make a compound adjective, as in “a highly-regarded expert”.
However, remember that you would not hyphenate these words when they stand alone as in “He was
highly regarded in his field.” Also, numbers that are spelled out should be hyphenated, as in “twentyfour hour day”. Dashes, on the other hand, can be used in place of brackets or two commas, or in
place of a colon. These should be typed as two hyphens “--”, with spaces either side, and MSWord
will normally replace these two dashes with a long dash, known as an “en-dash”. Use of this – two
hyphens – as a replacement for brackets or commas is shown in this sentence. It is used throughout
this section in place of a colon.
o. Therefore, however, and hence – these are useful words to connect the thought of one sentence to
another, and to qualify a phrase in a sentence. However, they cannot substitute for “and”. “Therefore”
and “hence” must be used with and, when occurring at the beginning of a phrase in a sentence,
unless they follow a semi-colon. For example, “Contents of both these standards are very similar
however, the former standard is more difficult to comprehend at first glance.” is incorrect. It can be
written correctly as either: “Contents of both these standards are very similar; however, the former
standard is more difficult to comprehend at first glance.” or as “Contents of both these standards are
very similar. However, the former standard is more difficult to comprehend at first glance.” An example
with “hence”, where “and” could be used is, incorrectly: “Nowadays, the public are more involved in
decision making processes hence, the public requests transport data from specific agencies.”
Correctly, this could be written: “Nowadays, the public are more involved in decision making
processes, especially in terms of new transportation infrastructure and, hence, the public requests
transport data from specific agencies.” A semi-colon could also have been used following the word
“infrastructure”.
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3.6
LANGUAGE
MSWord has the language “English (Australian)”. This should be the standard for all documents we create,
unless specifically requested otherwise. A paper prepared for a British publisher should use “English (U.K.)”,
while a publication being sent to a U.S. publisher should use “English (U.S.)”. You may need to re-set the
default language on your computer.
3.7
LATIN PHRASES
In general, it is preferred to use italics for Latin phrases, such as ceteris paribus, or et al. Please note, with the
latter (which is an abbreviation of et aliter, meaning and the rest), that there is a full stop after “al”, but not after
“et”. Abbreviations, such as e.g., i.e., and etc. although derived from Latin are NOT italicised.
3.8
NUMBERS IN TEXT
Numbers under ten should ALWAYS be written out in full in text, except when they are used as names, e.g.,
“…in Section 5…”, or in reference to “person 4”. Decimal numbers should ALWAYS be shown in numerals.
Numbers between ten and one hundred should also normally be written out in text, however, there are
different opinions about this. If a number is used as the first word in a sentence, it MUST be written out in
words. It is incorrect to begin a sentence with a number in numerals. The alternative is to rephrase the
sentence so that the number is no longer the first word. For example:
“Twelve point is preferred for size, and certainly no smaller than 10 point.”
OR
“The preferred size is 12 point, and certainly no smaller than 10 point.”
The percent sign (%) should be used in tables, but the word percent or percentage should be spelled out in
text. When referring to monetary values, such as, $100,000, the dollar sign should precede the number, and
the number should be written in Arabic numerals. The word “dollar” is not spelt out.
3.9
METRIC VALUES
According to the standards adopted in Australia, speeds should be shown as km/h, not as kmh or kph. Note,
also, that convention requires no full stops in this, even though it is two abbreviations.
3.10
USE OF FUTURE AND PAST TENSES
It is incorrect to refer to sections of the paper that follow in the future tense. Thus, to say “…the models
developed in this research will be discussed in the next section of this paper…” is incorrect. By the time the
reader is reading this, the discussion has already been written. Therefore, the correct tense should be the
present tense, as in “… the models developed in this research are discussed in Section 5 of this paper…”
The only time that a future tense would be appropriate is if the writer is describing something that is
anticipated to be done in the future, but, as of the time that the reader will receive the document to read, has
not been accomplished. For example, it may be appropriate to use a future tense in describing research that
might be done in some future, but not yet initiated, research project.
In the same way, it is not correct to refer to an earlier section of the paper in the past tense, as in “…this
theory was discussed earlier in Section 2 of this paper…” Again, the discussion is now there and should be
referred to in the present tense, as in “…this theory is discussed in Section 2 of this paper…”
4
HARVARD REFERENCING SYSTEM
All material used in preparing a document should be correctly cited. Failure to cite a reference correctly may
result in accusations of plagiarism. All references should appear in the text immediately after the material that
was prepared using an external source. There should be no footnotes for references or notes at the end of the
document. They are unnecessary. You certainly do not need them for referencing once the Harvard
referencing system is adopted. Referencing must be of the Harvard referencing style. Details of this
referencing style are provided in Appendix 1. Additional information on the Harvard Referencing system can
John Rose and Peter Stopher
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be found here: http://sydney.edu.au/business/learning/students/study_research_writing/academic_writing or
here: http://blackboard.econ.usyd.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_20_1.
Quotes, which should be kept to a minimum, should also be in italics and should finish with reference to the
source and page number(s). For example
“From 2000 to 2005, the federal government offered a $2,000 tax deduction for the purchase of
any hybrid vehicle, beginning with the 2000 model-year Honda Insight. Under the Energy Policy
Act of 2005, the deduction was converted into a tax credit in January 2006.” (Gallagher and
Muehlegger 2011).
The references in the reference list must be listed alphabetically. Each reference must be listed once only.
Only those references that are cited in the text must be listed, other than in a separate bibliography, when one
is called for. A more detailed treatment of this topic is provided in the following section whilst examples of
correct referencing styles are given in Appendix 1.
4.1
STEPS INVOLVED IN REFERENCING
The following steps should be followed to develop a list of references for any paper, report, article, thesis, etc.
1. Note down the full bibliographic details, including the page number(s) from which the information is
taken.
a. In the case of a book, “bibliographic details” refers to:
i. Author/editor;
ii. Year of publication;
iii. Title;
iv. Edition;
v. Volume number;
vi. Place of publication; and
vii. Publisher as found on the front and back of the title page.
viii. (Not all of these details will necessarily be applicable.)
b. In the case of a journal article, the details required include:
i. Author of article;
ii. Year of publication;
iii. Title of the article;
iv. Title of the journal;
v. Volume and issue number of the journal; and
vi. Page numbers.
c. For all electronic information, in addition to the above, you should note the date that you
accessed the information, and the data base name or web address (URL).
2. Insert the citation at the appropriate place within the text of the document (see examples below).
3. Provide a reference list at the end of the document, in alphabetical order of the first authors’ last
names (see examples below).
4.2
IN-TEXT CITATIONS
When citing references within the text of an assignment, use only the family name of the author, followed by
the year of publication. Page numbers MUST ALWAYS be included for quotations in the text, but should not
otherwise be included. Otherwise, only the author name and date should appear.
…The theory was first propounded in 2009 (Van Rijnsoever and Castaldi 2009)…
OR
…The theory was first propounded by Van Rijnsoever and Castaldi (2009)...
BUT
…The theory
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“…was first propounded by Van Rijnsoever and Castaldi in 2009…” (van Rijnsoever, Farla, and Dijst
2009)
When referring to two or more texts by different authors, separate them with a semicolon (;):
Empirical evidence first appeared within the literature in the late 1970s and early 1980s (Hausman
1979; Dubin and McFadden 1984).
ALTERNATIVELY
Empirical estimates were first obtained by Hausman (1979) and later by Dubin and McFadden (1984).
4.3
MULTIPLE AUTHORS
If there are two or three authors on the title page, cite the family names in the order in which they appear and
place the word “and” between the last two names:
(Dubin and McFadden 1984)
OR
(van Rijnsoever, Farla, and Dijst 2009)
If there are more than three authors, the in-text citation only shows the name of the first, followed by et al.
(meaning “and others”). For example, a work by Hensher, Stopher, Bullock, Alsnih, and Jiang is cited as
follows:
(Caussade et al. 2005)
OR
Caussade et al. (2005) have found that …
4.4
MORE THAN ONE WORK BY THE SAME AUTHOR
If the works are all published in different years:
(Hensher 2001; 2004)
OR
Hensher (2001; 2004) has shown that …
If the same author has published two or more works in the same year, then they are distinguished by
attaching a lower case letter of the alphabet to the publication date. The order is determined by the
alphabetical order of the titles, ignoring words such as “the”, “an”, and “a”. For example:
More recently, (Hensher 2006a) demonstrated...
Subsequent research showed that ... (Hensher 2006b).
4.5
NO AUTHOR
When a work has no author (including legal materials or some materials found on the internet), or if the author
is anonymous, the in-text citation consists of the first few words of the title, followed by the year. Do not use
Anon or Anonymous. However, you should italicise the title:
This survey technique is considered superior (Guide to good survey practice 1999) …
OR
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How to write a report, essay, or thesis at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies
In the Guide to good survey practice (1999), it is stated that …
4.6
REPORTS WHERE AN AGENCY IS THE AUTHOR
In some instances, the author of an article or text might be an agency or organisation rather than an individual
person. In the text, the name of the agency is cited alongside the year. For example:
The Department of Transport (2004) found that...
4.7
SECONDARY SOURCES
A secondary source is one where one author refers to the work of another. It is generally preferred that you
consult the original source and cite it. However, there are times when the original cannot be accessed for
various reasons, requiring citation of the secondary source. In this case, provide both authors’ names. For
example:
Hensher (cited in Caussade et al. 2005) reported …
OR
(Hensher, cited in Caussade et al. 2005)
However, in such cases, only the reference to Hensher would be included in the reference list. The details
about the publication by Stopher, in this case, should not be included in the reference list.
4.8
PERSONAL COMMUNICATION AND E-MAIL
Personal communications may include letters, memos, conversations (in person and telephonic), faxes, and
personal e-mails. Do not include these in the reference list, because they cannot be traced by the reader. Be
sure to obtain permission to use them first.
When interviewed on 24th April 2011, Professor David Hensher stated …
OR
It has been stated that these models are useful (D. Hensher 2011, pers. comm., 24th April).
If the e-mail is from an electronic discussion list, the citation will be similar; however, a reference to the
archive location or to the e-mail of the discussion list should be included, as indicated in the next section.
4.9
WEBSITES
If you cite a specific document on the web or page of a web document, then follow the author/date
conventions presented in this appendix, and provide a complete reference in the list of references, as
discussed in the following section.
In order to cite an entire website in the text of your paper, give the address in brackets:
Metacrawler (http://www.metacrawler.com) is a meta search tool used for conducting …
When your statement does not refer to any specific page or part of the site, no entry in the list of references is
required.
4.10 HOW TO CREATE A REFERENCE LIST
A reference list contains only those books, articles, etc. that are cited in the text. A list that contains relevant
sources of information on the topic of the paper, which are not cited in the text, is a bibliography. A
bibliography is normally included only when specifically requested for a particular assignment.
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The reference list is arranged alphabetically by author. When multiple works by the same author are
referenced, these should appear in date order, beginning with the oldest references and progressing to the
most recent. If more than one reference with the same author and year is included, a lower case letter of the
alphabet is attached to each year of publication, with the order of reference being determined by the
alphabetical order of the titles, not by the order in which these are referenced in the text.
Where an author appears both alone and with co-authors, all references to single-authored works appear first,
and then are followed by those with co-authors, arranged alphabetically by the last name of the second
author. The same rule applies with respect to co-authored papers with the same set of authors and published
in the same year, as for the case with a single author with multiple works in the same year.
Where an item has no author and is cited by the opening words of the title, it will appear in the alphabetical
list, based on the first significant word of the title (i.e., ignoring words such as “The”, “A”, and “An”). The
Harvard style requires the second and subsequent lines of the reference to be indented, so as to highlight the
alphabetical order. Entries in a reference list are NOT numbered.
5
PLAGIARISM
Broadly speaking, plagiarism can be defined as knowingly presenting another person's ideas, findings or
written work as one’s own, by copying or reproducing them without due acknowledgment of the source.
Plagiarism may involve copying the work of another student, or it may involve paraphrasing or copying a
published author’s text or argument without giving a reference or due acknowledgment. Plagiarism constitutes
an offence and will be treated as such. It is strongly recommended that students familiarise themselves with
the Plagiarism policy of the University of Sydney, see:
http://www.usyd.edu.au/ab/policies/Academic_Honesty_Cwk.pdf
While it is important to fully acknowledge all sources that were used in the preparation of the report, at the
same time excessively listing references of only marginal value is not desirable. All references which have
been used to obtain quotes must be cited. You should be reminded that excessive quoting is not desirable,
nor is excessive reproducing of material from other sources, either as a direct copy or a paraphrase.
It is now policy within the University of Sydney Business School that all written assignments be submitted
using Turnitin. This is software that is specifically used to locate and detect plagiarism. As such, plagiarism is
easily detected and hence it is in the best interests of students to avoid even the slightest hint of plagiarism
where possible. Additional information on how to avoid plagiarism is provided in Appendix 2.
6
CONCLUSION
A well presented and structured report adds a great deal of value to the final product, because it shows the
author has taken the effort to organise his or her thoughts, and develop a coherent and logical analysis of the
subject. A product is only as good as it is perceived – a conceptually sound and pleasing paper, with correct
spelling, word usage, and grammar, is the most persuasive evidence of quality.
REFERENCES
A manual of style, 1974, Fifth Impression, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Caussade, S., Ortúzar, J. de D., Rizzi, L.I. and Hensher, D.A. 2005, ‘Assessing the influence of design
dimensions on stated choice experiment estimates’ Transportation Research part B, vol. 39, no. 7, pp. 621640.
Cooper, B., Rose, J.M. and Crase, L. 2012, ‘Does anybody like water restrictions? Some observations in
Australian urban communities’, Australian Journal of Resource Economics, vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 61-51.
Department for Transport, 2004, Assessing the Impact of Graduated Vehicle Excise Duty – Quantitative
Report. Department for Transport, London.
Dubin, J. and McFadden, D. 1984, ‘An Econometric Analysis of Residential Electric Appliance Holdings and
Consumption’, Econometrica, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 345-362.
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Gallagher, K.S. and Muehlegger, E. 2011, ‘Giving Green to get Green? Incentives and consumer adoption of
hybrid vehicle technology’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, vol. 61, no. 1, pp.1-15.
Hausman, J. 1979, ‘Individual Discount Rates and the Purchase and Utilization of Energy-Using Durables’,
Bell Journal of Economics, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 33-54.
Hensher, D.A. 2001, ‘The valuation of commuter travel time savings for car drivers in New Zealand: evaluating
alternative model specifications’ Transportation, 28, 101-118.
Hensher, D.A. 2004, ‘Accounting for stated choice design dimensionality in willingness to pay for travel time
savings’, Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, 38, 425-446.
Hensher, D.A. 2006a, ‘Revealing differences in behavioural response due to the dimensionality of stated
choice designs: an initial assessment’, Environmental and Resource Economics, 34, 7-44.
Hensher, D.A. 2006b, ‘How do respondents process stated choice experiments? attribute consideration under
varying information load’, Journal of Applied Econometrics, 21, 861-878
Hensher, D.A., Stopher, P. and Bullock, P. 2003, ‘Service quality––developing a service quality index in the
provision of commercial bus contracts’, Transportation Research Part A, vol. 37, pp. 499–517.
Turabian, K.L. 1973, A manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations, Fourth Edition, The
University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Van Rijnsoever, F.J. and Castaldi, C. 2009, ‘Perceived technology clusters and ownership of related
technologies: the case of consumer electronics’, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and
Technology, vol 60, no. 2, pp. 381–392.
van Rijnsoever, F.J., Farla, J. and Dijst, M.J. 2009, ‘Consumer car preferences and information search
channels’, Transportation Research Part D, vol.14, no. 5, pp. 334-342.
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APPENDIX 1: EXAMPLES OF REFERENCES
A.1.1
BOOKS
Bibliographic details are arranged in the following order:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Author/editor(s);
Year of publication;
Title of book;
Edition of book;
Publisher; and
Place of publication.
For books, only capitalise the first word of the title.
A.1.1.1 Book with a single author
Kish, L. 1967, Survey sampling, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
A.1.1.2 Book with two or three authors
Louviere, J.J., Hensher, D.A., and J.D. Swait. 2000, Stated choice methods: analysis and
application, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
A.1.1.3 Book with more than three authors
Include all of the authors in the reference list, in the order in which they appear on the title page. There is no
other difference from the previous case.
A.1.1.4 Book with an editor
Hensher, D.A. (ed.), 2001, Travel behaviour research: the leading edge, Pergamon, Elsevier
Science Ltd., Amsterdam.
A.1.2 CHAPTER IN A BOOK
Bibliographic details are arranged in the sequence:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Author of article/chapter;
Year of publication;
Chapter or article title;
Editor(s) of the book;
Title of book (first word only capitalised);
Publisher;
Place of publication; and
Article or chapter page numbers.
A.1.2.1 Article or chapter in a book
Stopher P. and Zmud, J. 2001, ‘SP applications’, in D. Hensher (ed.), Travel behaviour
research: the leading edge, Pergamon, Elsevier Science Ltd., Amsterdam, pp. 299-308.
A.1.2.2 Article or chapter in a book (no author)
Solving the Y2K problem, 1997 in D. Bowd (ed.), Technology today and tomorrow, Van
Nostrand Reinhold, New York, p. 27.
A.1.3
JOURNAL ARTICLES
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Bibliographic details are arranged in the following order:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Author of the journal article;
Year of publication;
Article title;
Title of journal;
Volume;
Issue number; and
Article pages.
If electronic: “Retrieved” statement, giving the day, month, year, and then the name of the database or the
URL. For journal titles, capitalise every significant word. For the article title, capitalise only the first word.
A.1.3.1 Journal article in print
Kitamura, R. 1990, ‘Panel analysis in transportation planning – an overview’, Transportation
Research Part A, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 401-416.
For a journal article in print with no author – enter under the article title. Note that this journal has no issue
number.
“Anorexia nervosa” 1969, British Medical Journal, vol. 1, pp. 529-530.
A.1.3.2 Electronic journal article
The rules for citing electronic journal articles are the same as for print; simply add a “retrieved” statement, in
this format:
Retrieved: day month, year, from database name.
A.1.3.3 Full text from an electronic database:
Madden, G. 2002, ‘Internet economics and policy: an Australian perspective’, Economic Record,
vol. 78, no. 242, pp. 343-358. Retrieved: 16 January, 2012, from ABI/Inform database.
A.1.3.4 Full text from a CD-ROM (BPO):
La Rosa, S.M. 1992, ‘Marketing slays the downsizing dragon’, Information Today, vol. 9, no. 3,
pp. 58-59. Retrieved: 16 January, 2012, from UMI Business Periodicals on Disc, CD-ROM.
A.1.3.5 Full text from the Internet (not from a scholarly electronic database)
Sopensky, E. 2002, “Ice rink becomes hot business”, Austin Business Journal, 11 October,
2011. Retrieved: 16 January, 2012 from
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2002/10/14/smallb1.html
A.1.4
GOVERNMENT AND PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS
A.1.4.1 Acts of Parliament
Most Acts have a short formal title that can be used for citation purposes. The first time you cite the Act, give
this short formal title, in italics, exactly and in full. In subsequent references, give the title in roman type and
omit the date. For example:
The Environmental Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act 1974 … [later referred to as] the
Environment Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act …
Specify the jurisdiction either in the text, (e.g., Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act 1995 prohibits…) or place an
abbreviation of the jurisdiction in brackets after the date, (e.g., the Equal Opportunity Act 1995 (Vic)
prohibits…).
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A.1.4.2 Australian Bureau of Statistics Bulletin
Print copy of the bulletin:
Australian Bureau of Statistic 1999, Disability ageing and cares: summary of findings, cat. no.
4430.0, ABS, Canberra.
Note, when the author and publisher are the same (as is often the case with government publications), you
can abbreviate the organisation in the publisher section of the reference. In the above example, “Australian
Bureau of Statistics” becomes “ABS”.
A.1.4.3 From AusStats
Australian Bureau of Statistics 1999, Disability ageing and cares: summary of findings, cat. no.
4430.0. Retrieved 14 October, 2011, from AusStats database.
A.1.4.4 Census Information
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001, Census of population and housing: B01 selected
characteristics (First release processing) postal area 6050. Retrieved: 20 November, 2011, from
AusStats database.
A.1.4.5 Government Reports
Resource Assessment Commission 1991, Forest and timber enquiry: draft report, vol. 1,
Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
A.1.5
E-MAIL DISCUSSION LISTS AND WORLD WIDE WEB
A.1.5.1 E-Mail discussion list
Remember, if this is a personal communication, you only need to reference it in the text. This is described
under personal communications in section 2.5. If available from an archive on the Web:
Little, L. 2002, “Two new policy briefs”, ECPOLICY discussion list, 16 April. Retrieved: 13
November, 2011, from
http://www.askeric.org/Virtual_Listserv_Archives/ECPOLICY/2002/Apr_2002/Msg0003.html
If from a list without a web archive, add the e-mail address:
Lawton, K. 2003, “HH Trip Rates”, TMIP discussion list, 6 November, 2011. Retrieved 17
November 2011, from TMIP-L@listserv.tamu.edu
A.1.5.2 World Wide Web
As far as possible, direct the reader to the exact source of the information. Be sure to get the URL (web
address) correct – try copying and pasting from your browser into your word processing program to avoid
making typographical errors.
A.1.5.3 World Wide Web page:
Dawson, J., Smith, L., Deubert, K. and Grey-Smith, S. 2002, “S” Trek 6: Referencing, not
Plagiarism. Retrieved: 31 January, 2012, from
http://lisweb.curtin.edu.au/guides/studytrekk/strek6.html
A.1.5.4 World Wide Web page (no author):
Leafy seadragons and weedy seadragons 2001. Retrieved: 13 November, 2011, from
http://www.windspeed.net.au/~jenny/seadragons/ .
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A.1.5.5 World Wide Web page (no date):
University of Sydney, (n.d.) Retrieved: 16 October, 2002, from http://www.usyd.edu.au.
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APPENDIX 2: ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: DOS AND DON’TS OF WRITING A REPORT
This appendix demonstrates how you should and should not write a report. The main aim of the document is
to highlight some of the things that Universities suggest are academically dishonest actions, which may
potentially get you into trouble. To demonstrate the right and wrong ways of writing a report, we have taken
work from Hensher, Stopher and Bullock (2003). We will be using the abstract of the article in our
demonstration that is reproduced in Figure A2.1.
Figure A2.1: Hensher et al. (2003) article
Over the next few pages, we will show you how not to present information that can be found in this article.
After we demonstrate how not to summarize this information, we will show you how you could go about using
this article in your work.
A2.1
WHAT NOT TO DO
In the following pages, we will show you what you should avoid doing in using the information that can be
found in Hensher, Stopher and Bullock (2003).
A2.1.1 You should not do the following:
The measurement of service quality continues to be a challenging research theme and one of
great practical importance to service providers and regulatory agencies. The key challenges
begin with the identification of the set of potentially important dimensions of service quality
perceived by passengers, current and potential. We then have to establish a way of measuring
each attribute and identifying their relative importance in the overall calculation of satisfaction
associated with existing service levels. Once a set of relevant attributes has been identified, this
information can be integrated into programs such as monitoring and benchmarking, and even in
contract specification. This paper, building on earlier research by the authors, investigates ways
of quantifying service quality and comparing the levels within and between bus operators. The
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importance of establishing suitable market segments and the need to scale the service quality
index for each operator to make meaningful comparisons is highlighted.
Here, we have taken the entire text and copied and pasted it. This is not our work, but rather the work of
Hensher, Stopher and Bullock. We don’t deserve the credit for this work as we did not write it. Worse yet, we
haven’t even bothered to acknowledge that this is someone else’s work.
A2.1.2 You should not do the following:
“The measurement of service quality continues to be a challenging research theme and one of
great practical importance to service providers and regulatory agencies. The key challenges
begin with the identification of the set of potentially important dimensions of service quality
perceived by passengers, current and potential. We then have to establish a way of measuring
each attribute and identifying their relative importance in the overall calculation of satisfaction
associated with existing service levels. Once a set of relevant attributes has been identified, this
information can be integrated into programs such as monitoring and benchmarking, and even in
contract specification. This paper, building on earlier research by the authors, investigates ways
of quantifying service quality and comparing the levels within and between bus operators. The
importance of establishing suitable market segments and the need to scale the service quality
index for each operator to make meaningful comparisons is highlighted.” (Hensher, Stopher and
Bullock 2003)
Whilst better than the previous attempt, in that we have indicated that this is someone else’s work, using large
sections of other people’s ideas and words will not convince us that you have understood what it is that you
are trying to communicate to us. Whilst it is fine to quote someone else, for research reports, you should only
quote one or two sentences, and then only use one or two direct quotes throughout your entire document.
A2.1.3 You should not do the following:
Understanding service quality levels is important for organizations given that it is the service
levels, which directly affect consumers of the goods and services of these organizations. The
measurement of service quality continues to be a challenging research theme and one of great
practical importance to service providers and regulatory agencies. The key challenges begin
with the identification of the set of potentially important dimensions of service quality perceived
by passengers, current and potential.
The first sentence is ours, but the second is copied and pasted from the original text written by Hensher,
Stopher and Bullock (2003). We did not write it, so we do not deserve credit for it. It was not our idea nor is it
our words. Further, we have failed to acknowledge that this is not our words or ideas. Whilst you may think
that this is better than the first “don’t” we showed, you would be wrong. Theft is theft. It doesn’t matter whether
you steal the tire off a car or the whole car, you are still stealing. Doing this will get you into the same amount
of trouble as stealing the whole paragraph.
A2.1.4 You should not do the following:
Understanding service quality levels is important for organisations given that it is the service
levels, which directly affect consumers of the goods and services of these organisations. The
measurement of service quality continues to be a challenging research theme and one of great
practical importance to service providers and regulatory agencies. The key challenges begin
with the identification of the set of potentially important dimensions of service quality perceived
by passengers, current and potential (Hensher, Stopher and Bullock 2003).
Again, the first sentence is ours but the second is not. This is better than the previous “don’t” but again, we
have not used our own words but those of someone else. This is also stealing and will probably result in a
failing grade also.
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A2.1.5 You should avoid the following:
Understanding service quality levels is important for organisations given that it is the service
levels, which directly affect consumers of the goods and services of these organisations.
Nevertheless, many organisations have great difficulty in measuring the levels of service that
they offer. A good starting point for many firms is to begin by identifying the appropriate set of
attributes related to the organisation’s services on offer that should be measured.
Everything in the above paragraph is written in our own words. Nevertheless, whilst the first sentence comes
from our own ideas, the ideas from the second sentence arose because we read Hensher, Stopher and
Bullock (2003). Had we not read this, we probably would not have had the idea. Therefore, we should
acknowledge that this idea came from someone else, not us. Remember, you will not get into trouble by over
referencing, but you will get into trouble by under referencing.
A2.2
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO
In the following pages, we will show you what you should do in using the information that can be found in
Hensher, Stopher and Bullock (2003).
A2.2.1 This is acceptable:
Understanding service quality levels is important for organisations given that it is the service
levels, which directly affect consumers of the goods and services of these organisations. “The
measurement of service quality continues to be a challenging research theme and one of great
practical importance to service providers and regulatory agencies. The key challenges begin
with the identification of the set of potentially important dimensions of service quality perceived
by passengers, current and potential” (Hensher, Stopher and Bullock 2003).
Here we have used a direct quote from Hensher, Stopher and Bullock (2003), and have properly
acknowledged doing so. You can do this, but we would expect not more than one or two direct quotes
throughout a report. Whilst this is acceptable, it would be better if you summarized this in your own words as
well as referenced where the idea came from.
A2.2.2 This is better:
Understanding service quality levels is important for organisations given that it is the service
levels, which directly affect consumers of the goods and services of these organizations.
Nevertheless, many organizations have great difficulty in measuring the levels of service that
they offer. A good starting point for many firms is to begin by identifying the appropriate set of
attributes related to the organisation’s services on offer that should be measured (Hensher,
Stopher and Bullock 2003).
Here we have used our own words as well as acknowledged that the idea was not our own but came from
someone else. This will not only NOT get you into trouble, but will get you much better grades than everyone
else. We could also do the following, which is just as good.
Understanding service quality levels is important for organisations given that it is the service
levels which directly affect consumers of the goods and services of these organizations.
Nevertheless, many organizations have great difficulty in measuring the levels of service that
they offer. Hensher, Stopher and Bullock (2003) suggest that a good starting point for many
firms is to begin by identifying the appropriate set of attributes related to the organizations
services on offer that should be measured.
John Rose and Peter Stopher
3 February 2012
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