Practical Work reports
The Practical Work component of the Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Master of Professional Engineering measures your ability to complete a formal written engineering report.
How many report intakes are there in a year?
There are two report one-week-long intakes each year, one in March and one in August. They correspond the two graduation ceremonies each year that are six months after the report intake.
For example, if you plan to attend the September Graduation, you must submit your final practical work report that will let you reach the minimum cumulated 800 hours in total, during the March report intake of the same year. If you wish to attend the May Graduation, then you must submit your last report during the August report intake in the previous year (six months earlier).
As long as the final report is submitted at least six months before the intended graduation, students have the flexibility to submit their report in any of the report intakes.
Please note that students may register their practical work and get their hours signed off by their supervisor at any time during the year. It is only the submission of the report must take place during the two report intakes and their subsequent re-submission period.
When is the next practical work report intake?
Submission dates for the practical work report(s) for the August intake are between Monday 5 August (8.30am) to Monday 12 August (5.00pm) 2024. Reports must be submitted to the Practical Work portal before the deadline.
Important – if you wish your report(s) to be marked on time:
• We strongly recommend that you read and use the Practical Work Process Manual. This manual has step-by-step instructions along with screenshots of the process from start to finish.
• Ensure that your supervisor correctly signs off on your hours before submitting your report(s). You may verify if your supervisor has successfully signed off your hours when you login to the Portal. If you submit your report without your hours being correctly signed off, your report will be pushed back to you without being marked.
• More importantly a report “uploaded” is not the same as “submitted”. Only a submitted report can be assigned a marker. If you have successfully submitted your report(s) you should be able to see the Marking Progress Stars from your log in. If you don’t see the Marking Progress Stars then it means your report is not submitted so that naturally your report cannot be marked. Please consult Practical Work Process Manual on how to submit (or re-submit) a report
All students who intend to graduate in May 2025 must have their final practical work report in for marking by the above mentioned due date.
When will I receive my result?
You will see the grade for your report(s) posted on the Practical Work portal anytime on Monday, 14 October 2024
Resubmissions
If your report is not up to standard, you will be required to revise and resubmit according to the following guidelines:
Students who will be completing their academic requirements at the end of Semester Two 2024 (or before) and others intending to graduate in the May 2025 Graduation, will need to submit their revised report(s) between Wednesday 16 (8.30am) October and Monday 11 November 2024 (5.00pm).
Students who will not be completing their academic requirements at the end of Semester Two 2024 will be asked to resubmit their report(s) in the following intake period (March 2025 with dates to be announced in February).
What should my report include?
You should assess your experience as an intern fully. Think of your report as a document that presents the maximum insight into what it was like to work at the company, and how you contributed to all your tasks. A new intern who reads your report should have a major advantage if they were to do an identical work internship to yours.
Confidential information
You are not obliged to explain any final outcomes of the work performed, so your report should be able to achieve an ‘A’ grade without the need for revealing confidential information. However, we do recognise the increased difficulty of report writing where the work outcomes cannot be mentioned for context.
In the case of non-disclosure agreements, discuss this with your employer. There may be areas of your work that can be included in a general sense. If not, you can request that the marker signs a confidentiality agreement, provided that your employer finds this acceptable.
It is possible to fail the report due to not reporting enough of one’s internship experience. This varies according to the number of hours claimed for any one report. It is important that when writing the report, you attempt to cover the full extent of your experience with the sections detailed below. If a report is lacking in comprehension or content, the report will be considered incomplete.
Length and major sections
Markers assess hundreds of reports each year. They can easily spot when a student has attempted to cover the bare minimum and mistakenly substituted comprehensive content with mere summaries of work outcomes. As the student, there is no way of requesting an arbitrary page number requirement for the report, as each student’s writing capabilities vary in terms of comprehension, relevant detail and clarity, all of which contribute to whether the scope/content is relevant enough and adequate for the grade given.
You can report your experience in active voice, unlike most professional reports. Your report must not be more than 25 pages long. It should contain the following sections.
Title page
The title page contains your name, department, name and address of your employer, dates of the work period, date of report.
Summary
A brief summary (no more than 300 words) of the whole report; nature of organisation, type of work done, skills learned, conclusions drawn.
Acknowledgements
To thank the people who have assisted you in your work and made an impact on your overall work experience.
Table of Contents
Section headings and corresponding page numbers. List of figures, list of tables: figure/table numbers and titles, corresponding page numbers.
Introduction
This section should be an overview of the overall report, and include a brief introduction to the company, your role during the period which you've worked, the work you've undertaken and what you learned out of the entire experience.
Early sections: Company information
These appropriately titled sections could include information on:
- Layout of workplace or plant
- Staff organisation structure and number of employees engaged in various work
- General comments on buildings, plant layout, technical facilities and amenities for staff
Middle section: Your work experience
Appropriate titles should be used for this section. You should provide a full description of the work you undertook and any other activities observed.
Reflective appraisal [COMPULSORY]
In this section you should critically appraise or evaluate your learning/knowledge gained within the practical work experience. This could include your impressions about the organisation and its performance. It would also be appropriate to comment on the skills you have developed and the lessons learnt in relation to professional engineering practice.
Please note that your reflective appraisal must be at least one page in length.
Conclusions
Summary list of conclusions drawn, skills learned. Conclusions should be drawn on your entire work experience, and not any particular project(s) carried out.
Bibliography and/or appendices
If needed.
FAQs
Find answers to frequently asked questions students have about practical work reports.
Exemplars
Master of Professional Engineering (MPE) students are welcome to refer to the exemplar for Civil and Structural Engineering.