5	Completion of the external project

5.1	The report

The report is the actual completion of the assignment and is therefore an essential component of the external project. It should contain a summary of the observations and experiences during the assignment, and it is hoped that by organising all your information you will get a better insight into your assignment. The report will also function as the basis for an effective evaluation discussion. Thus, the report will be the justification of your activities during your external project for both yourself and others.

Because writing a good report is not easy, some general suggestions are given below. Please, before leaving take note of the advice from your programme about writing a report.

Preparation and gathering information

Consider what must be mentioned in the report at the start of your assignment. You could prepare a (provisional) table of contents. This will give you something to hold onto in order to gather information in a meaningful way. Ask for information at your work place, and do not be afraid to ask your colleagues, mentor and other supervisors questions. For example, you could ask for an annual report or a company brochure.

Keep a logbook in which you note, on a daily basis, what has happened and what you have done.

Content

A report can consist of the following parts:

·	A title page (with the title of the report, the name of the author, date and company name)

·

Preface

·

Summary

·	Table of contents

·	Table of symbols and definitions

·	Introduction (motivation for the assignment, structure of the rest of the report)

·	Essence of the report:

In the core of the report you describe the technical / scientific content of the assignment: what did you do and how, what are the results, conclusions and recommendations. You can use the following plan as a guideline:

o	Definition of the problem

o	Work plan / research method used

o	Analysis / research results

o	Conclusions

o	Recommendations

·	Literature table

·	Possibly: appendices

·	Some programmes like to see a short description of the employer, plus a reflection on your own functioning within the organisation.

It is obvious that the report must be unambiguous and well presented, and you should take care to group relevant pieces of information together. Divide the text up into paragraphs and put supplementary information into appendices. Explain specialist terms and illustrate the text with figures and tables. As an approximate guide, the report should be about 30 pages long, excluding any appendices.

If possible show your mentor and possibly your UT supervisor the rough (draft) version of your report. It is better to get their suggestions and/or comments before you present them the final version of the report.

Finally, rather than trying to write the report in one go; spread it out over a longer period. When you distance yourself once in a while, you will be able to look more critically at your report and improve certain aspects. We advise you to start planning/writing as soon as possible, and you should aim to try and get it finished during the last week of your external project. Before you leave the organisation, try to hand in the report to your mentor, and also to arrange an evaluation meeting.

More information

More extensive information about how to write a report and what belongs in which chapter, you can find in the book ’Leren Communiceren’ from M.F. Steehouder (Wolter Noordhof Groningen).

5.2	Confidentiality of the report

In principle the report is in the public domain, and as such all persons interested can read it. However, in some cases the employer regards the information in the report as confidential. This means that the report will not become public. In this case the mentor or another employee needs to contact the co-ordinator or the UT supervisor, so as to agree to another procedure about finalising and evaluating the external project.

5.3	Evaluation of the external project with the mentor.

In some cases the employer appreciates it if you give a short presentation about your research and its results. You can discuss this with your mentor. Furthermore, it is important to have an evaluation meeting with your mentor at the end of your external project, as they can comment on your work and attitude. Ask your mentor to fill in the professional assessment form about your performance (see 4.3 and appendix 3). This form can be used by your UT supervisor and/or your co-ordinator for the final assessment.

5.4	Assessment of the external project

Hand in your report to your supervising lecturer and co-ordinator (or in duplicate to your co-ordinator, depending on the programme rules) as soon as possible after returning to the university. Note that your report must be submitted within three months after the end of your external project. If there are special circumstances preventing you from achieving this deadline, you should contact your UT supervisor lecturer and co-ordinator.

The assessment of your external project will be performed by the UT supervisor or the co-ordinator. Ask your co-ordinator about how this is done for your programme.

For the assessment, the following points are taken into account:

·	the assessment by the mentor.

·	(technical) scientific aspects of the assignment.

·	(prove of) critical observation and process of information.

·

report.

In some of the programmes the assessment of the mentor is regarded as important as or even more important than the assessment of the UT supervisor. In other faculties the company assessment is only taken as an indication for your grade. In all cases the co-ordinator will be able to inform you about the procedure.

If the assessment of the external project is a pass, you will receive your grade notification.

5.5	Rounding off the external project with your co-ordinator

During an interview with the co-ordinator, you discuss your experiences on the basis of the categories given in the evaluation form appendix 4 (or in the programme specific forms) plus the assessment of the mentor and/or the UT supervisor.