Review

Checklist for Seminar Students - Report

Length: Between 10 to 15 pages.

Structure: abstract, introduction, 3-5 sections, summary, and references

Introduction:

Background (context).

The goal of the report.

General idea: To understand the topic and explain it to others, rather than
solve a research problem.

Sections:

The structure should logically follow the reports aim.

Every section and its name should be coherent and understandable.

The content should not assume the reader is familiar with the topic.

Summary:

Should briefly summarize the report and provide conclusions.

The length should be about half a page.

References:

There should be at least 4 to 5 references, preferably related articles or
books.

No Wikipedia references they are good as a general source of
knowledge, but not good for technical and/or scientific documents.

The references should be presented in a consistent format with similar
pieces of information (e.g., Proceedings always spelled out or
abbreviated, all references should include page numbers if there are
available or unless you reference an entire book).

Language:

Spelling mistakes should be eliminated.

Consistent capitalization should be used:
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c2_p11.html
https://webapps.towson.edu/ows/capitalization_rules.htm

Figures and tables:

Descriptive, clear, and understandable captions the reader should be
able to get an idea about the figure or the table from the caption.

Every figure or table should be clearly explained and discussed, either in
the text or sometimes in the caption.

If copied from other sources, figures and tables should be cited
appropriately:
Figure X. Descriptive phrase that serves as title and description (caption).
Reprinted [or adapted] from Title of Article, by Author(s), Name of
conference, proceedings, or journal, Year, Page number [citation number].

Figures should be readable and in high-enough resolution, so that they
are readable when a report is printed on a paper. If working with Latex,
prefer vector graphics.

Citations:

Claims, ideas, explanations, and results from other sources should be
clearly cited.

Citing the same source multiple times while explaining the same idea
should be avoided.

Review Checklist for Seminar Students - Slides

Language-related:

Spelling mistakes should be eliminated.

Consistent capitalization should be used:
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c2_p11.html
https://webapps.towson.edu/ows/capitalization_rules.htm

Usually 30 slides should be enough. It can be up to 35, but students should be
aware of presentation time constraints.

First slide is the title slide: topic title, name, and date

Each slide should have a number.

Present messages and avoid long sentences so that the audience is not
distracted and is able to listen to the speaker.

Avoid too small font and too many bullet points in one slide.

Avoid dark color on dark background. If possible, avoid dark background
altogether it almost always makes printed slides unreadable and wastes
printer toner.

Structure, not strict, but as a general guideline:

Introduction.

Table of contents or agenda.

Have a single thread, a story, throughout the slides.

Use examples and figures, if applicable.

Summary in the end.

Figures:

If copied from other sources, figures and tables should be cited
appropriately:
Figure X. Descriptive phrase that serves as title and description (caption).
Reprinted [or adapted] from Title of Article, by Author(s), Name of
conference, proceedings, or journal, Year, Page number [citation number].

Figures should be readable and in high-enough resolution. If working
with Latex, prefer vector graphics.