There is some writing-related advise I have found myself giving over and over to many of my thesis students (as well as some doctoral students) — so I decided to write a writing FAQ rather than dozens of individual emails. A few comments before we get started:

I expect that this will become some sort of living documents, with me adding tips and refining what’s already there based on my ongoing supervising experience.

Changelog:

26–07–21: added that this text assumes usage of Latex, added some more FAQs

Outlining

Your outline is the skeleton of your report. It’s the structure that holds everything together, and if your outline is confusing there isn’t much the rest of your text can do to fix it. Hence, it pays to put a little love and thought into what you describe where.

On Floats (Figures, Tables, etc.)

“Floats” are all the things in your thesis that aren’t text, such as figures, tables, algorithms, code snippets, interview quotations, etc (not all of them are strictly “Latex floats”, but you get the idea).

This will be a somewhat long section, since many students struggle with how to use floats effectively in their reports.

Important Overall Stylistic Tips

A general theme of the following tips that relate to writing style (this section and next) is that you should strive for consistency.

Stylistic Nitpicks

Here follows a longer list of smaller, detailed comments. They aren’t individually very important, but they add up to give your report a professional look and feel.

Writing Mechanics

This isn’t about your report text per se, but I felt it useful to also add some words about how to actually do the writing, and what tools to use.

Supervisor Interactions

Finally, some tips about how to effectively collaborate with your supervisor (or any other person whose job is to give you feedback, but not do the work for you).