Checklist - CHE596-015 Technical/Policy Reports
1. Is the text right-justified? Do not double-space the text.
2. Does it include page numbers?
3. Did you eliminate large amounts of unused (empty/white) space in the document (condense
the content)?
4. Did you use text boxes for your figures with the text wrapped around them?
Insert...Text Box...Simple Text Box
[Type a quote from the document or
right click on the edge of the box...Format text Box:
the summary of an interesting point.
Color and Lines...make the box color white
You can position the text box
(i.e., no box around the text box)
anywhere in the document. Use the
Layout...click on Tight
Layout...click on Advanced...set the alignment Text Box Tools tab to change the
formatting of the pull quote text box.]
that you wish to use (make sure that it is
relative to Margin)
...try this on the text box to the right
5. If you are inserting a degree symbol, did you use the correct one (i.e., °)? (highlight
this...then click on Symbol...more Symbols...to see which one this is...the other symbols
which look like a degree symbol cause grief to journal editors when reformatting text)
6. Does EVERYTHING (except the page numbers) fit within the margins? (1 inch on all
sides)...to set margins, click on the gray portion of the ruler at the top of the page (if this is
activated)
7. Do not use "I", "we", "us", etc. for the writing. Use the 3rd person and ensure that the
grammar is correct (some allowance is made for this if English is not your native language).
Spellcheck the entire document. Helpful links:
http://schools.fwps.org/kilo/teachers/smclaugh/skills/thirdperson.htm
http://abacus.bates.edu/~ganderso/biology/resources/writing/HTWgeneral.html
http://www.oup.com/us/samplechapters/0841234620/?view=usa
8. Do all figures have a suitabley high resolution? ...and are they suitable sized (i.e., text is
readable)?
9. Is all of the text the same (specified) font type and size?
10. Do not capitalize every word in a figure caption (and all figures need a caption). Do not bold
the text for a figure caption, except for the figure name (i.e., Figure 2. Xxxxx). Do not center
the text for a figure caption (fully justify (left and right) the text instead).
11. If you use abbreviations/acronyms, the abbreviation/acronym should be given in parentheses
after the full name when the term is first mentioned. Thereafter, only the
abbreviation/acronym should be used in the subsequent text.
12. Do not use SLANG or conjunctions (i.e., don't , can't, doesn't, etc.).
13. Do not quote information unless it is essential to do so (i.e., you are quoting something that
someone said for some reason)..instead, technical content should be paraphrased. Do not
copy text (this is plagarism)...not referencing something correctly may be a different form of
plagarism (taking credit for something as your original work, when it is not).
14. Reference all appropriate information...including your figure content (at the end of the
caption). Indicate where figures came from. If they are from a website...indicate which
website (with a suitable reference). References must be superscripts, placed AFTER the
punctuation...do not put spaces between the reference numbers. ALL references documents
must be referenced in the text and must be added in consecutive order. ALL full references
must be placed at the end of the document (not at the bottom of the individual pages).
Reference Format
Use the following as a guide:
http://courses.chem.psu.edu/chem431/ManuscriptFiles/QuickRefGuide2.pdf
For journal abbreviations, please use:
http://scieng.library.ubc.ca/coden/
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