hubeiqiao/tim-project-skills/tim-project-guide

TIM Project Report Guide

What This Skill Helps With

Use this skill when you are writing, revising, or reviewing a Carleton University Technology Innovation Management (TIM) project report and need help with structure, formatting, chapter expectations, or research-method guidance.

Ask for this skill with prompts like

Use the exact skill name $tim-project-guide in your prompt. Include whether your work is a project or thesis, your program, the chapter or section you need help with, and any supervisor-specific constraints if you have them.

• Use $tim-project-guide to check whether my TIM report structure is correct.
• Use $tim-project-guide to help me write the Introduction chapter for my TIM report.
• Use $tim-project-guide to review my abstract against the TIM requirements.
• Use $tim-project-guide to compare my literature review plan against the guideline.
• Use $tim-project-guide to evaluate my completed TIM report.
• Use $tim-project-guide to run a compliance audit on my TIM report before submission.

Source and Scope

This skill summarizes TIM project guideline materials for report formatting, report structure, research-method templates, and the project-versus-thesis distinctions that appear in the source materials. Use it as a working guide for TIM report assistance, then verify any final institutional requirements against the latest course or supervisor instructions.

Source documents synthesized:

1. Carleton University Formatting Guidelines
2. Guidelines to Write a TIM Project Report (newer version, preferred)
3. TIM Project Report Guideline (older version, for reference)
4. Research Method Templates

Note on guideline versions: Where the newer and older guideline documents differ, this skill documents both versions and recommends confirming with your supervisor. Key differences are flagged inline.

1. Formatting Rules

Paper and Font

• Standard white printer paper, 8.5" x 11"
• 12-point standard font (no fanciful typestyles)
• One-sided printing only
• Double-spaced text throughout
• Footnotes and long quotations may be single-spaced
• Spacing may vary on table and figure material

Margins

• Left: 1.5 inches (binding margin)
• Top, Right, Bottom: 1 inch each
• Margins may be wider but never narrower

Pagination

• Preliminary pages: Small Roman numerals (ii, iii, iv...)
• Title page = implied "i" but the number is NOT printed
• Number all other preliminary pages
• Body text: Arabic numerals starting at 1
• Continues consecutively through text, illustrations, bibliography, and appendices to the last page

Title Page Requirements

For TIM projects (NOT thesis), the required statement is:

"A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of [degree] in Technology Innovation Management"

Where the degree is one of:

• Master of Applied Business Analytics in Technology Innovation Management
• Master of Digital Transformation and Entrepreneurship in Technology Innovation Management
• Master of Engineering in Technology Innovation Management
• Master of Entrepreneurship in Technology Innovation Management
• Master of Technology in Technology Innovation Management

For thesis projects, the statement is instead:

"A thesis submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of [Master of Applied Science / Master of Science] in Technology Innovation Management"

Title page layout (top to bottom):

1. Title (clear wording, reflects the subject; avoid Greek letters, abbreviations, formulas, symbols)
2. "by"
3. Student name (first name last name order, must match Carleton registration)
4. Required statement (project or thesis version as above)
5. "in"
6. Program name (official name from graduate calendar, NOT department name)
7. "Carleton University"
8. "Ottawa, Ontario"
9. Copyright: (c) [Year] [Student Name]

Abstract

• Single paragraph, maximum 150 words
• Must cover exactly 5 elements:

1. Problem addressed or gap to fill
2. Client served
3. Deliverables/outcomes to produce
4. Method used to produce deliverables
5. Contribution (expected impact of results)

• No undefined abbreviations, no literature review findings, no in-text citations
• Write the abstract BEFORE writing the report; update frequently throughout

Illustrative Material

• Use standard 8.5" x 11" pages unless strong reasons for larger
• No text or figures on backs of pages
• Coloured illustrations allowed; avoid black backgrounds (poor scanning)

Table of Contents, List of Tables, List of Figures, List of Appendices

Heading styles are the foundation — use them from day one. Apply Heading 1 for chapter titles, Heading 2 for sections (1.1, 2.3, etc.), and Heading 3 for subsections. Never format a heading by manually changing font size and bolding — always use the built-in heading styles. This single habit makes everything below work automatically.

Create the ToC once, early:

• MS Word: References > Table of Contents > insert an automatic style
• LibreOffice Writer: Insert > Table of Contents and Index

The ToC is a permanent element of your document. You do not recreate it; you update it.

Use Insert Caption for all tables and figures. This auto-generates the List of Tables and List of Figures via the same References > Insert Table of Figures dialog. Never type "Table 1:" or "Figure 3:" by hand.

Never type ToC entries manually. If a heading does not appear in the ToC, the fix is to apply the correct heading style — not to type the entry into the ToC.

Final step before submission — update all fields:

1. Select all (Ctrl+A / Cmd+A)
2. Update fields (F9 on Windows; Cmd+Option+Shift+U on Mac; or right-click any field > Update Field)
3. For the ToC specifically: right-click > Update Field > "Update Entire Table"

This single action refreshes the ToC, List of Tables, List of Figures, List of Appendices, all cross-references, and all caption numbers. Do this as one of your very last steps before generating the PDF for submission.

2. Report Structure

Getting Started

The guidelines recommend this preparation sequence:

1. Write the abstract first — update frequently as you make progress (from both guidelines)
2. Draft the four starting points for Ch1 before writing the chapter: purpose, deliverables, contributions, audience profiles (from both guidelines)
3. Draft the four starting points for Ch3 before writing it: research design, method table, data acquisition plan, data analysis plan (from both guidelines)
4. Build the Table of Contents structure early using heading styles (from both guidelines)
5. Use the report shell as a structural starting point — each chapter starts on a new page with the required section headings (from both guidelines; see scripts/generate_shell.py)

Example reports for reference (if available in your Guidelines directory):

• Guilherme Barbassa (MEng, 2024) — Product-Market Fit Analysis
• Naznoosh Mohammad Zadeh (MEng, 2025) — CRA project

Preliminary Pages (in order)

1. Title page (implied "i", not printed)
2. Abstract (required)
3. Acknowledgements (optional)
4. Table of Contents (required; auto-generated recommended)
5. List of Tables (required)
6. List of Figures (required)
7. List of Appendices (required)
8. Glossary of Terms (optional; placed last, immediately before Ch1)

Glossary format (if included): Alphabetical list with three columns:

• Term
• Definition (concise, contextualized)
• Source (citation with page number)

Note on Glossary of Terms: The newer guideline ("Guidelines to Write") includes the Glossary of Terms as an optional preliminary page placed immediately before Chapter 1. The older guideline ("TIM Project Report Guideline") does not mention a Glossary of Terms in the preliminary pages. If you plan to include a glossary, confirm with your supervisor that it is appropriate for your project.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Introduces topic, provides context, states objectives, deliverables, contribution, and importance.

Sections:

1. Introductory remarks (preamble) - follows chapter heading with no section number:

• The client
• The problem being solved or gap being filled
• Reasons for choosing this topic
• Importance of the topic
• Previous attempts to solve the problem
• Insights from scholarly literature

1. 1.1 Objective - what the project accomplishes
2. 1.2 Deliverables - bulleted list; 2-4 typical; provided in Ch4; must support the objective. (From newer guideline: deliverables should be consistent with those of the G0 slide deck and the SAR.)
3. 1.3 Relevance - relevance to client and client manager; evidence of interest; potential value
4. 1.4 What is known and not known - state of current knowledge (theory and practice); emphasize peer-reviewed research
5. 1.5 Contribution - how the project advances knowledge
6. 1.6 Overview of method - brief overall statement of the method
7. 1.7 Organization of the report - one informative narrative paragraph (not a bulleted list)

> Common mistake: "One informative narrative paragraph" means exactly ONE paragraph — not one paragraph per chapter and not a bulleted list. A single flowing paragraph that walks the reader through the report structure.

1. 1.8 Summary - brief recap of the chapter's key points; transitions to Chapter 2 (recommended from practice; not explicitly listed in either guideline for Ch1, but listed for Ch3–5)

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Summary of published research by scholars and experts. NOT a forum for personal opinions.

Purpose:

• Present review question(s) that shaped the review
• Summarize and critically evaluate the literature
• Apply lessons and insights to the project
• Describe the review process and methodology
• Identify limitations and how the project addresses gaps

Review Questions should:

• Conform to a framework (e.g., PCC - Population, Concept, Context)
• Be clear and concise
• Be answerable by the literature
• Impact deliverable content or development process
• Help deliverables address client pain or create value
• Help understand or implement the results of your project

Structure (two approaches):

Approach A - By stream (traditional; described by the newer guideline as used by "many strong projects"):

1. Summary table of literature review (row per stream, columns for highlights and citations)
2. Method used to identify articles
3. One section per stream
4. Chapter summary

Approach B - By review question (use when the project organizes the literature review around specific review questions and the answers from the literature):

The guideline describes this structure:

1. Introduction — Provide background, explain the review's objective, and clearly define the client's problem. Present the review question(s) using a framework like PCC.
2. Methods — Define your criteria for studies, including study types, participant groups, and expected outcomes. Explain the search methods (databases, keywords) and data collection strategies.
3. Results — Present findings, cite the studies, and assess the risk of bias. Summarize and synthesize the results, breaking them down into their core components.
4. Conclusion — Summarize the main findings and how they relate to your project's objectives.
5. Summary — Provide a clear, brief overview that allows the reader to understand the core content without reading the entire chapter. Reflects the structure of the chapter. Avoids personal opinions or interpretations.

Practical extensions for formal scoping/systematic reviews: When the project involves PRISMA/PRISMA-ScR reporting, consider expanding Approach B with these additional elements (derived from practice, not from the guideline text):