Guidelines for Writing Papers and Reports

The communication of our work to other researchers, students and supervisors is one of the most important aspects of our research, and writing should be given due consideration and attention. This paper presents guidelines and best practices for students on writing reports and papers in an academic two-column IEEE conference format. First, we present the main purposes and layout of a scientific paper: How to clearly state the research questions, explain the methods applied, provide relevant results and data, critically discuss the results and draw the conclusions. Second, we show how to correctly include symbols, equations, figures, tables and captions. Third, we provide several pointers for reader-friendliness, language and the precise application of strict conventions in the academic world, while giving examples of what is appreciated and what is discouraged. We suggest students to carefully go through this document in the early stages of their projects, before they start writing their reports.