Co-op Work Term Report

Guidelines for All Other Co-op Programs

An essential part of any work experience is effective communication of the motivation, methodology and results of
that work to others. All organizations, whether in the academic or business world require the ability to communicate
clearly and effectively and a major aspect of this communication is done in the form of report writing. A work term
report is intended to present some relevant aspect of the work you have done and the contribution you have made to
that work. The subject of your report depends on your specific job situation. Within the context of Co-operative
Education, the work term is not complete until a work term report has been submitted.
Every student must submit a work term report every work term. A work term is 4 months in length.
Deadlines
Please see main Work Term Report Inventory page for details on submission deadlines.
Getting Started
Interim Reports:
Students in Engineering (excluding Industrial Design and Architecture), BIT, Computer Science, Mathematics and
Statistics programs may write an interim report. This option is only available if your continuing work term will be
identical to your current work term, i.e. you will be doing the SAME job (same company, employer, location, job title).
Students in all other programs must submit a full co-op work term report for every work term.
The interim report should include:
an overview of the work the student is doing for the entire work period
progress made to date
expectations for the remainder of the work period
The report should have:
a cover page
a cover letter addressed to the Faculty Co-op Advisor
The report should be:
two pages
single spaced
Full reports:
1. Purpose
A Work Term Report must be submitted for each 4-month Work Term and must receive a grade of SAT. In order to
be eligible to receive the co-op designation on hi/s her, students must complete all required work term reports. The
purpose of the work term report is to effectively communicate the work term experience in a written format.
2. Evaluation
Work term reports are graded by members of the faculty as either satisfactory (SAT) or unsatisfactory (UNS) based
on conformance to structure, style, grammar, and quality of the written content. The grade does not reflect the quality
of the work performed during the placement, but rather is a measure of the quality of reporting on the placement.
3. Considerations
The following should be avoided in the report (and will result in an unsatisfactory UNS grade):
Writing your work term report as a user manual.
Using a story telling or anecdotal approach. (e.g. My supervisor, Mr. Jones, needed the software done by Friday
afternoon so I worked very hard to get it done on time.")
Report Adaptation: There may be some instances where the employer requires a report as part of the regular duties
of the job. To be accepted as a work term report the material must be restructured to conform to the structure given
below.

Confidential Reports: It is recommended that students choose topics and material which exclude any information of a
proprietary nature. The supervisor must review the content of the report prior to submission. If the report is deemed
non-proprietary, the supervisor will need to complete the Work Term Report Release form (available through the coop website) before the report will be graded. If the supervisor determines the report is proprietary, the supervisor
must send an email to co-opprogram@carleton.ca to inform the Co-op Office that the report is confidential, and will
be evaluated by the employer. The Co-op office will then email the required documents, and relevant deadlines.
4. Structure
All work term reports must have the following format:
Cover letter
Cover page
Executive Summary
Acknowledgments (if applicable)
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Organizational Context
2. Work Experience
2.1. Nature of the work
2.2. Experience
2.3. Challenges and solutions
3. Reflections on Work Experience
3.1. Contributions
3.2. Relation to academic studies
3.3. Career Development
4. Summary
5. References
6. List of Abbreviations (if applicable)
7. Glossary (if applicable)
8. Appendix (if applicable)
4.1 Cover Letter (1 page)
Each work term report must be accompanied by a cover letter addressed to your Co-op Faculty Advisor. This letter
must be typewritten, single spaced and follow the standard format for a cover letter (look online for examples).
The cover letter must contain the following information:
Your name and student number
The CO-OP course code and work term report number (first, second, etc.)
Name of employer, name of supervisor (including initials and department)
Position held
Whether the report is part of a continuing work placement with the same employer.
Title of report(s) submitted
Relationship between work performed and the submitted documents (if any extra documents submitted)
Acknowledgment that the report adheres to the guidelines set for work term reports.
Acknowledgment of assistance and statement that the report is your own work.
You can also use the letter to pass on any further information regarding the work term or the report.
4.2 Cover Page (page 1)
The first page of your report will be a title page (cover page) and should list the following information:
Employer
Work Term Report number (1, 2, 3, etc.) and course code (BUSI 3999, SYSC 3999, etc.)
Title of report
Name and student number of author
Connect email address of author
Name of manager or supervisor, including initials and department
4.3 Executive Summary (page 2)
The second page of a full report is the executive summary. The summary allows a reader to get a quick idea of what
is in the report without having to search through the main text. In 150-200 words, the summary should briefly present

the context, the project/duties, contributions, and reflections. This material is separate from the body of the report and
any relevant material should also be included in the body of the report.
4.4 Acknowledgments (page 3)
Include credit for use of copyrighted material, acknowledgment of significant assistance and contributions received,
etc. For example: "I would like to thank my supervisor, Ms. Rachel Rashid, for all her help during my work term."
4.5 Table of Contents (page 4)
The table of contents lists principal headings as they appear in the report (including appendices, if applicable)
together with the page numbers on which the headings appear. It should not list preceding pages, or itself (i.e. the
Table of Contents is not listed in the Table of Contents).
The remainder of the report should occupy 5 10 pages.
4.6 Introduction (1 page)
Describe the structure of the report (1 paragraph). Describe the purpose of the report along with a brief summary of
its major components.
4.6.1 Organizational Context (2-3 paragraphs)
Describe your work environment. Give your organizations name and location. Describe its major activities (e.g. what
it researches, what products it produces, what responsibilities it holds). Describe the reporting structure and
hierarchy, starting with your immediate supervisor. Where appropriate consider the larger ecosystem -> that of
regulators, competitors, suppliers, customers, etc.
4.7 Work Experience (3-5 pages)
The nature of the report will depend on activities or tasks performed during the work term. These typically can be
categorized as one of the following:
Duties consisted of one or two well defined projects done during the term. The report should be centered on a
detailed account of the projects.
Duties consisted of many small projects done during the term. The report should be centered on the more important
tasks and briefly describe the others.
The work was not clearly project-based but consisted of some consultation and a variety of duties. Focus on things
such as a description of the aspects of the job, position held within the organization, and some of the problems
solved. Avoid making the report into a day-by-day diary. Instead concentrate on the main contributions to the
company or department operations and any major tasks completed or contributed to.
In very rare occasions, the nature of the work makes the topic of a report difficult to choose. Meet with your co-op
faculty advisor to discuss the problem and identify a potential topic for you to report on. Come prepared with a list of
suggestions. Agreement for this must occur early in the term and be accompanied with an outline approved by the
faculty advisor.
4.7.1 Objectives
Describe the purpose of the work. State the problem, motivation, background/related work, aims and specific
objectives associated with the work, and how this fits into the organizations requirements.
4.7.2 Experience (activities, duties)
Describe your activities and/or duties. Give a clear description of the approach/methodology involved and what
tasks/duties were executed. Explain the technical environment and/or nature of the work including the instruments,
tools, software that you used when relevant. If applicable, discuss approaches finally chosen and indicate the
outcomes and results achieved. Refer to diagrams, tables etc. as required.
4.7.3 Challenges and Solutions
Describe problems encountered and approaches taken to solve them. Sometimes things dont go according to plan
heres your chance to identify such events and talk about the process by which the problems were tackled, whether
successfully or otherwise.
4.8 Reflection on Work Experience (1-2 pages)
A key part of the CO-OP experience is that you think about the bigger picture; how has this work experience
enhanced your skills and what do you think your main contributions were to the organization? How does it relate to
your academic studies? How has it influenced your overall career options?

4.8.1 Contributions
Summarize your contributions. To what extent did your work contribute to the organizations mandate?
4.8.2 Relation to academic studies
Relate the co-op work experience to your previous academic studies. Describe the learning you gained from co-op
work which cannot be obtained in the classroom. What additional course work would have better prepared you for the
work experience?
4.8.3 Career Development
Indicate the main lessons that you learned in during your co-op experience. Discuss how the co-op experience has
influenced your future study and career objectives. Describe your experience, what you learnt and/or accomplished.
4.9 Summary (2-3 paragraphs)
Provide a summary of what was achieved during the work term. Describe the most interesting issues dealt with in
your work. Talk about possible future use of your work and recommend possible future directions in which your work
might be taken by your successor. Finally, include personal reflections.
4.10 List of Abbreviations (optional)
Abbreviations are shortened forms of a word or phrase and include acronyms.
4.11 Glossary (optional)
A glossary is an alphabetical list of terms that are either neither introduced, uncommon or specialized.
4.12 References (1 page)
When writing a report of any kind, is it essential to give credit to others whose works you are referencing. If you use
someone elses idea, you should indicate the appropriate source. It is essential to cite all sources of information in the
text.
4.12.1 Reference Format (*name* of reference format needs to be specified here)
Where references appear in the text, they appear as numbers in line with the text (not as superscripts) in square
brackets. Punctuation falls outside of the bracket. References should be numbered sequentially as they appear in the
report.
For example,
Smith [4, 6] has demonstrated
From 1985 until present [1], [5, 6], [7-13]
as found by Brown [1] and Smith and Jackson [14]
Jackson et al. [15]
Note: where three or more authors are listed, use the last name of the first author followed by et al.
References should be listed in the reference section according to their number in the following format:
[1] A. Misra, I. Finnie, On the size effect in abrasive and erosive wear, Wear 65 (1981) 359-373.
[2] J. A. Williams, Engineering Tribology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994, p.468.
[3] G. W. Stachowiak, Numerical Characterization of wear particle morphology, in: I.M. Hutchings (Ed.), New
Directions in Tribology, Mechanical Engineering Publications Ltd., Bury St Edmunds, pp, 371-389, 1997.
The information from a website can be cited with the reference provided directly in the context:
Deloro Stellite Inc. has provided materials to solve industrys most demanding conditions (http://www.stellite.com).
Note: personally acquired information should be referred to as "private communication".
Note: if an author is not listed, cite as Anon.
4.13 Appendices
An appendix is supporting material that is relevant to claims made in the report, but should cannot appear in the
report as it is verbose or would disrupt the flow of information in the report. In this respect, an appendix may contain
tables of statistical information, programmatic code, user manuals. All appendices must be referred to in the body of
the report and their value must be highlighted relative to the point(s) being discussed. Each appendix should have a
title. Designate appendices alphabetically e.g. Appendix A, Appendix B, etc. All tables and figures in an appendix
should be designated using the appendix letter e.g. A figure in appendix A should be preceded by "A-".
5. Style
Work Term Reports are single-spaced.

 Visual material should generally be integrated into the text and should have clear captions.
Page numbers should be included on the lower right corner of the page.
5.1 Footnotes
Footnotes should be used when you wish to make a comment which would otherwise break the flow of the text. In the
text, symbols should be used to designate footnotes. The symbol should be placed at the upper right of the
appropriate word in the text, and at the beginning of the footnote. Thus the following sentence might appear. "The
test showed that the algorithm produced adequate results".
Footnotes should be typed single-spaced at the bottom of the page. The footnote should start with the symbol used in
referencing it. If there is more than one footnote on a page, successive footnotes should follow without line-spacing;
they should be indented at the beginning. Above the footnotes, a line extending one and a half inches from the left
margin should be placed.
5.2 Figures
Figures are used to graphically illustrate textual information contained within the report. All figures must be described
in the body of the report and their value must be highlighted relative to the point(s) being discussed. Figures should
be consecutively numbered (e.g. 1, 2, 3 or A-1, A-2, A-3 in appendix A). Concise captions detailing the nature of the
figure should be centered below figures. The word "figure" should be capitalized. If there is more than one line in the
caption, the additional lines should be typed single spaced. For example:
FIGURE 1: This miniature pressure transducer originally developed to measure absolute pressure on helicopter
blades is finding application in medical instrumentation
If included, photos should be of suitable quality. Crop or mask out insignificant detail.
5.3 Tables
A Table is an ordered arrangement of rows and columns that provides a listing of data pertinent to the report. All
tables must be described in the body of the report and their value must be highlighted relative to the point(s) being
discussed. Tables should be consecutively numbered (e.g. 1, 2, 3 or A-1, A-2, A-3 in Appendix A). Concise captions
detailing the nature of the table should be centered atop and the word "table" should be capitalized. If there is more
than one line in the caption, the additional lines should be typed single spaced, as follows:
TABLE 1: Evaluation of new procedure for screening raw material into the plant

When feasible, design tables for reading in an upright position (not sideways). Break lengthy, complicated tables into
separate smaller ones. Combine related tables on single sheets when they will fit comfortably.
5.4 Equations
Equations are mathematical expressions used to represent the relation between quantities. Equations should be
typed in the standard (Microsoft Word) format. Symbols used for the first time should be explained. Number all
equations which are part of a series or which are referred to in the text using consecutive Arabic numerals (1, 2, 1-1,
1-2, 2-1, etc.). When used, the equation numbers should be enclosed in parentheses and placed in the lower right
corner of the equation. Align the equation numbers.
5.5 In-text Citation of References, Figures, Tables, and Appendices
All references, figures, tables and appendices must be cited in the text. Use A-1, Fig. 1, Table 1, and Eq. [1] to
cite appendices, figures, tables, and equations in text. Tables, figures and appendices should be arranged in the
sequence of citation in the text (e.g. Table 1 will be the first table cited in the text).
5.6 Source Listings
Listings of working programs usually are not included but if they are they should be in the appendices. Where
possible, keep the listings upright and not sideways. Use smaller print if necessary.