Work term report support: 4 helpful tips | Co-operative Education

It’s nearing the end of your co-op work term. You have probably come across different challenges, successes, and, hopefully, have learned a few valuable lessons along the way. Now it’s time for you to reflect on these experiences. As I’m sure a lot of you already know, you need to write a few work term reports in order to receive your co-op degree. So, without further ado, let’s get to writing!

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Tip #1: Understand the requirements of your report

Before you start writing about your experiences and the work you’ve done this term, it’s important that you are first taking some time to familiarize yourself with the guidelines/requirements that you need to follow. You will be expected to follow a certain structure for your work reports (e.g., title page, table of contents, etc.). First know what you will need in your report, and then move forward. This can help you remember things as you’re writing.

I know that it can be tempting to jump right in and just start writing, but coming from personal experience, reading over or even just skimming through these requirements right from the start will benefit you greatly in the long run.

Note: Each faculty/program has their own set of requirements for work term reports, so make sure to visit your faculty or program’s website to learn more about your work report specifications.

Here is an example of requirements for students in the Faculty of Mathematics:

List of requirements for the Faculty of Mathematics at Waterloo. With the title "Work report guidelines & structure". With paragraph below reading, "Your work term report should be around 1,500 to 2,000 words, double-spaced using 12pt font and written in the third person informal, standard English. Please avoid the use of contractions and remember to spell-check and proofread your work before submission. Remember to use headings and subheadings to structure your report and avoid the use of underlines and large blank spaces between sections. Use block format and follow the Formatting Booklet to ensure your report is formatted correctly. Remember to retain an electronic copy as the Faculty of Mathematics expects you to be able to make corrections on campus." Found below this information is the subheading, "Students should structure their report in the following order", following a bullet list that includes, 'Title Page', 'Letter or Memorandum of Submittal', 'Table of Contents', 'List of Figures, if appropriate', 'Executive Summary', 'Introduction', 'Analysis', and 'Conclusion'.

Tip #2: Choose your theme & make an outline

Ahead of making any sort of outline, you need to choose a topic, something that you want to focus on throughout your paper. After your topic has been selected, create an outline of your report. An outline can help you keep your material in order, organize your thoughts, and ultimately give you better direction in your writing!

I remember back in high school, every time I would write an essay, I always thought making an outline was a waste of time, but the extra effort does actually make it much easier for you later down the road. Having an outline will allow you to build a strong structure for your report and will most likely save you from getting writer's block.

If you're not sure on what topic to choose for your report, chat with your employer or supervisor!

Tip #3: Let’s DEAL with it

Through the professional development (PD) courses I have taken in the past, I came across the wonderful acronym “DEAL”, which stands for Describe, Examine, and Articulate Learning. The DEAL model is basically a step-by-step guide that helps with reflective writing, and is a great one to use when sharing your co-op experience!

1. Describe: Give an overview of your experience. Explain in detail what you have been working on this co-op term using the 'Five Ws' (Who? What? Where? When? Why?). You don't need to share every single experience, you can just highlight that ones that you think were significant!

2. Examine: Dive into your experiences even more here. Identify what you have done using any of the following categories (choose ones that fit your experience): personal growth, civic learning, and academic enhancement.

3. Articulate Learning: What have you learned? How did you learn it? Why is it important? What will you do with this learning moving forward? Talk about your goals here, and the actions that you will be taking to make sure that you are improving and progressing from what you have learned. Detail is very important to have in your work term reports.

This model will allow you to cover all of the main points and keep your work comprehensive.

Tip #4: Double-check everything

At this point, you’ve got everything organized and have finished putting together your report, but you’re not done quite yet. It’s now time for you to look over your work and make sure everything is organized and that you are not missing anything. Here is a little “general” checklist to help you get started:

There are no spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes.
Are you using the correct tone throughout your report?
All of the necessary sections have been included (e.g., Introduction, body, conclusion, etc.).
Did you get another person to review and edit your work?

Always make sure to take a look at the rubric that is provided as well. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from working on multiple assignments and work term reports, it’s that the rubric is your key to getting a good grade. Compare you work to the rubric, because that’s what they are looking at when marking these reports.

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Closing remarks

Remember, your work report should focus on YOUR experiences. I know it can be difficult to just start, and if you’re like me and procrastinate all the time, it’s not the most fun. However, there is a plus side to all of this. Writing these work term reports after each of your co-op terms can help you improve your written communication skills, and really put into perspective what you’ve done in those four months of working. Not only that, but work term report awards are offered in some departments as well, where you have the chance to receive a cash prize! I guess you could say, all of that time and effort will actually “pay” off. You can do this!

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About the author

Fatima Muni

Social Media Campaign Coordinator

Fatima Muni is an Arts and Business co-op student at Waterloo and is currently completing her second co-op term at the University of Waterloo, as a Social Media Campaign Coordinator for Co-operative and Experiential Education (CEE). One of the main projects she is working on this term is writing blogs for the Co-operative Education blog page. To date, she has written about helpful co-op tips and student co-op experiences, and continues to write more blogs to share information that can benefit other co-op students! Feel free to check out Fatima's LinkedIn.