Students often feel that the Work Report is something best left to the end of the term; during the term, they wish to give first priority to the job at hand. It has been ISG's experience that leaving the Work Report to the end has been unsatisfactory. Here are a few reasons:
A suggested timeline follows:
Choosing a Topic is the hardest part. ISAs often struggle with a topic because it is different than a job where they are assigned a particular task or programming project. There are a variety of directions that an ISA may choose. Here are a few, along with some topics that have been written by past ISAs:
Caution: Think narrow! The single biggest problem that ISAs have with work reports is that they choose a topic that is far too broad for the length of the report. The result is a report with no depth, and one that is of no value to anyone. You will do a much better job if you choose a topic that is very narrow in focus.
Your ISC may have a particular topic that may be beneficial to them. In addition, talk to your fellow ISAs to see if they can inspire your topic! Maybe you and a fellow ISA can share an idea, and each focus on a different aspect of the same topic.
The Co-op Student Manual has information about work reports that detail the expectations your report must meet. The Online Writing lab at Purdue can give some assistance with grammar or with style, such as the APA style.
It is a requirement of the University of Waterloo that all research involving human participants which is conducted by its faculty, staff and students must be reviewed and receive prior ethics clearance through the Office of Research Ethics (ORE). This requirement is outlined in the University of Waterloo Statement on Human Research.
David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Tel: 519-888-4567 x33293
Fax: 519-885-1208
Contact | Feedback: isg@cs.uwaterloo.ca | David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science | Faculty of Mathematics
Last modified: Thursday, 10-May-2012 16:28:06 EDT
