Report Quality Check

“The only kind of writing is rewriting.” - Ernest Hemingway

If you’re my student, please run this checklist before you send a draft or book a feedback meeting. It is not about my personal style preferences—it is about making your work easy to read, easy to verify, and easy to evaluate.

AI tools (e.g., Grammarly, ChatGPT) can help with clarity and revision, but you are responsible for the final text, claims, and evidence.

Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation

Make sure that:

  • Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are correct, and you consistently use an academic tone.
  • In LaTeX, you use quotes correctly (use `` for opening quotes and '' for closing quotes; see guide).

Writing Math

For math writing, you can refer to the classic Dimitris P. Bertsekas’ Ten Simple Rules for Writing Mathematics (pdf):

  • Organize in segments. Break the text into short, self-contained units (definition, lemma, proof, intuition), each with one job.
  • Write segments linearly. Order segments so the reader only needs what you have already introduced.
  • Consider a hierarchical development. Start with the main idea/results, then add layers of detail, proofs, and edge cases.
  • Use consistent notation and nomenclature. Use one symbol/term per concept and avoid overloading notation across sections.
  • State results consistently. Present assumptions and conclusions in a uniform structure so statements are easy to scan and compare.
  • Do not underexplain or overexplain. Give enough guidance to follow the argument, but avoid filling space with trivial steps.
  • Tell them what you will tell them. Preview where the argument is going and recap what the segment achieved.
  • Use suggestive references. Point back to equations by meaning (not only numbers) to keep the narrative coherent.
  • Consider examples and counterexamples. Use small examples to build intuition and counterexamples to justify assumptions.
  • Use visualization when possible. Use figures/diagrams when they can communicate structure faster than text.

Also, when writing in LaTeX, consider the following:

  • All variables are in italics and their super/sub labels are regular (straight) text. For example, \(x_{ij}\) (x_{ij}) implies variable \(x\) is indexed by variables \(i\) and \(j\) whereas in \(x_\mathrm{total}\) (x_\mathrm{total}) “total” is a label.
  • For numbers, follow the UT English style guide (e.g., thousands separators and decimal points; see guide). To format numbers automatically in LaTeX, see the siunitx package.

Document Structure and Layout

Make sure that:

  • Your text is structured using many levels of headings (see the APA Style heading guide).
  • All section titles are descriptive, providing enough context to quickly grasp the structure of the document via the table of contents (TOC).
  • Pagination is correct for front, body, and back matter (see guide).
  • Lists (in-paragraph or vertical) are adequately formatted to improve clarity (see guide).

Visuals

Make sure that:

  • Figures are high quality. Prefer vector formats (.pdf, .svg) for diagrams when possible.
  • Tables are readable, consistently formatted, and explained in the text (see LaTeX table guide and APA tables guide).
  • Diagrams (e.g., flowcharts in draw.io) follow basic design rules (clear direction, consistent symbols, minimal clutter).
  • Pseudocode includes clearly specified inputs and outputs (see an example guide for LaTeX algorithms).
  • Captions are descriptive and self-contained (see guide).
  • Figures use legends and labels so the meaning of colors and symbols is unambiguous.

Citations

  • All citations are clickable links to their respective bibliography entry (see guide).
  • In-text citations are used appropriately for narrative and parenthetical citations (see in-text citation guide and Natbib styles).

Referencing

  • All references to figures, sections, and tables are clickable links to these items (see guide).
  • All terms and acronyms have been 1) defined before they were used and 2) added to the glossary (see guide).
  • In text, references to document elements are all capitalized (e.g., Figure 1, Table 1, Section 1, Chapter 1).
  • Use a reference manager and keep all in-text references consistent (see guides for Word and LaTeX bibliographies).

Thesis Confidentiality

  • Confirm you are not disclosing confidential information in the abstract, conclusions, figures, or appendices.
  • If your thesis is company-related, follow the confidentiality guidance in Thesis Guidelines before you submit or present anything.

General

  • Avoid apologizing for constraints (time, data, access). Instead, justify your scope and explain the choices you made.
  • Be transparent about limitations and discuss how they affect interpretation, validity, and generalizability.
  • Finish each chapter with a short summary that states the key takeaways and sets up the next chapter.
  • Be careful with “false friends” between Dutch and English. For example, “so-called” often implies skepticism in English; use it carefully.