TM470 is different to other computing and IT modules. The most significant differences is that the aim of the project module is to show off your skills and abilities, and build on what you have studied in earlier modules.
The module team have introduced some changes at the start of the February 2025 presentation. One of their really welcome changes is that they have now introduced a recommended ‘draft structure’ for each of the assignments. Interestingly, this template can also be applied to everyone’s EMA submissions too.
A notable difference between TM470 and other modules is that all assignments assess all the learning outcomes from the module, but at a different level of intensity.
What follows is my own version of the module team’s TM470 TMA and EMA template, and continues from an earlier blog post entitled TM470 Project report structure. Some of the sections outlines here will, of course, be more appropriate in some TMAs rather than others. In the early TMAs, some of the sections will not have very much in them. All project reports should have a similar structure, but they will differ substantially in terms of content. Every project will have a different ‘project work’ section, which will have a structure that will reflect the tasks identified in your project plan.
I do ask everyone to number each top level section, other than the opening table of contents and the closing summary of references. The reason for this is that numbering makes it easy to provide cross references between each of the sections without having to write too many words.
Before summarising the suggested structure, I have three tips for students:
1. Ensure that your report is as readable as possible (but do make sure it remains a formal report). The project marker may be unfamiliar with the subject that you are writing about. Take time to set the scene and explain concepts that may be unfamiliar to a reader.
2. Do have a look through the OU Skills for Study resources (OU website). In particular, I’m a fan of The Good Study Guide which you can find through the OU study booklets page (OU website). The Good Study Guide offers some really helpful advice about researching and writing.
3. Think of the project report as a ‘technical narrative’, or a ‘technical story’. It is also a story that can contain other narratives. There is a story about your planning, a story about your reading, a story about what has been done, and what has been learnt. Make your technical story as interesting as you can.
Onto my suggested structure (which has been developed from official guidance from the module team). Within the structure, I also highlight how each section relates to each of the module learning outcomes:
Project Title
Begin with a title page where you give your project a short and descriptive title. A good rule is: no more than 10 words, but ideally around 6. Present the title in the Word Title Heading style. Underneath the title, do leave your name and your student number.
This first page links to the following learning outcome:
LO2 (Project Goals) Identify and refine the goals and content of your project which should be within the area of your chosen specialist route, if applicable.
Contents
The next page should share a table of contents. Don’t spent the time creating one by hand; get Word to create one for you. You can do this by using the Word in built header styles to indicate the start of every section and subsection. You can then create a table of contents by pressing on the table of contents button that is located within the references menu. (The exact location of this feature may vary depending on the version of Word that you’re using). In addition to being able to create a table of contents page, using the Word in built headings also enables you to use the document navigation tool, which can be really useful when your project gets larger and more complicated.
A well structured table of contents relates to the following learning outcome:
LO7 (Communication) Communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions clearly.
1. Introduction
In this first opening section of your report, write a really short introduction to the whole of your project. Try to summarise it in a couple of sentences. Then, provide the reader with a pointer towards what they can expect to see in the next sections. This will ‘prime’ them for what is coming up in the next section. You might also want to allude to what you have achieved, but don’t tell them everything; this is presented in the next sections.
Although this section is the first section the examiner will read, this will be perhaps one of the last sections you will write. When you’ve finished writing your project, it is a good idea to loop back to make sure it continues to reflect the aims and objectives of your project.
This section speaks to the following learning outcome:
LO2 (Project Goals) Identify and refine the goals and content of your project which should be within the area of your chosen specialist route, if applicable.
2. Problem description
In this section, go into a bit more detail about what your project. You might want to explain a bit more about the project context or setting. Background information will help the EMA examiner to understand what your project is all about. In some ways, think of the opening sections of the report as a ‘spiral’, where you gradually lead the examiner towards the detail of what you’ve done. In some way, you’re teaching the reader about your project.
LO2 (Project Goals) Identify and refine the goals and content of your project which should be within the area of your chosen specialist route, if applicable.
3. Planning and resources
The module team section call this section Resources and Planning. I personally feel that it reads better if it is the other way round. My motivation for this is that before you use something (your resource), you need to know what you’re going to be doing with it (your plan). Admittedly, this heading does break my implicit rule of including an ‘and’ into heading titles, which I really hate (an ‘and’ almost suggests that there needs to be more than one heading), but it does relates to two learning outcomes, which are:
LO3 (Determining resources, skills and activities needed) Identify, list and justify the resources, skills and activities needed to carry out the project successfully. Identify and address any associated risks.
LO9 (Planning and organising work) Plan and organise your project work appropriately, and keep systematic records of plans, progress and outcomes.
In the previous section, you’ve told the examiner what you’re going to do. This section is all about how you’re going to do it. Since sharing detail about your project plan is important, it is a good idea to split this section into a number of subheadings.
3.1 Project Model
A suggestion is to begin by telling the examiner about the project model you’ve chosen. Do have a look at the module materials about this, and what this means. In other words, you could use this section to summarise the project planning approach that you have chosen. A good approach is to present a table to show that you have thought about the various advantages and disadvantages of each of the different approaches, concluding with a decision about which module you have chosen, and why it has been chosen.
3.X Resources, skills, activities, risks, plan…
What might follow is a series of subsections about resources that you need, skills, potential risks to the project, and also something about this high level plans. Do say something about what you’re going to be doing, and also what tools you might have used to decide on what you’re going to be doing and when.
What I always like to see is a list of resources that are needed or will be used, a very high level list of activities (perhaps presented in the form of a table), another table that considers the risks to your project, and then a detailed Gantt chart. The structure of your Gantt chart should reflect your project model. If you use an iterative approach, this should be visible within the structure of your plan.
4. LSEPI and EDI
Legal Social Ethical and Professional Issues (LSEPI) and Equality Diversity and Inclusion are important in TM470. As future Computing and IT professionals, it is important to be mindful about the impact of a project or development on wider society, and any implications it might have. Also, if a project involves working with people to uncover requirements, it is important that you treat everyone in an ethical way. The module team offers a bit of guidance about this topic, but for further inspiration it might be a good idea to have a quick look through the British Computer Society Code of Conduct (BCS website). The Association of Computing Machinery code of ethics also offers some helpful principles.
EDI is intrinsically connected to LSEPI. If you’re developing an app or a software system, you need to consider its users. This might mean making it as accessible as possible for users of assistive technologies, for example. There is a link here to UK legislation, such as the equality act.
I’ve historically recommended that LSEPI and EDI sections are presented early on in the project report. I’ve even been recommending that it should occur before the literature review section (which follows), but I accept this might well be a moot point. My argument is: if significant LSEPI and EDI issues that relate to your project, you need to read about them properly, which means adding to your literature review. Adding them on the end does make it feel as if they are a bit of an afterthought, but I know that certainly isn’t the intention.
Here's the learning outcome for this section:
LO10 (LSEPI & EDI) Identify and address the legal, social, ethical and professional issues (LSEPIs) and the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) concerns that may arise during the development and use of computing and IT systems. Include project approval form as Appendix 1.
5. Literature Review
The project team call this section ‘Account of Related Literature’. I prefer the simpler ‘literature review’.
This section is all about showing the examiner what you have read or studied, and how this has influenced the project work that have done. There are different ways to structure a literature review. Two ways are: by theme, or by time. In other words, by the subjects that you have read about, or the order in which you have read things. I always prefer thematic literature reviews since they enable the writer to adopt a more critical approach. This means you can more directly and easily compare and contrast different opinions from different sources.
In this section, do try to reference as widely as possible. Do take the time to reference other modules you have studied (including textbooks and module blocks), any technical textbooks you might be using in the next section, and also do a bit of digging into the OU library (which all students have access to).
Fellow tutors have offered the following guidance: “show you understand the importance of a source; show you recognize the limitations of your sources; show how the literature has influenced the direction of the project and informed your thinking, and show how the literature has justified decisions”.
Here are the learning outcomes that are demonstrated in this section:
LO4 (Gathering, analysing and evaluating information) Gather, analyse and evaluate relevant information to complete the project successfully.
LO6 (Making effective use of information) Make effective use of a variety of information sources including the internet, demonstrating awareness of the credibility of the source.
6. Project Work
I used to call this section ‘account of project work’, but I think a heading with two words is better.
This is one of the most important sections of the report. It shows the examiner what you have done during the course of your project. It should ideally be a series of case studies that presents a narrative (story) of what you have done, and should relate back to the plan that you have described. To structure everything, it is a good idea to separate everything out into a series of subheadings; one for each mini case study.
Drawing on comments from fellow TM470 tutors, the examiner needs to get a feel for the project as a whole, the solution you created, and whether you solved the problem. Importantly, this section should demonstrate your technical and presentation skills, and should be concise.
If you have a project where you have generated a lot of materials, such as interview scripts, survey results, source code, or diagrams, you need to make a choice about what goes in this section, and what you choose to put in an appendix. One way to answer this question is to ask yourself: is this an example of my best work? If so, put something in this section.
Again, here are the learning outcomes:
LO1 (Understanding Technical Concepts) Demonstrate and apply a systematic understanding of the fundamental technical concepts and principles relevant to your project.
LO11 (Analysing and solving a practical problem) Analyse a practical problem and devise and implement a solution which should be within the area of your chosen specialist route, if applicable, building on, and extending, the knowledge and skills developed throughout your earlier OU studies and experience.
7. Review and Reflection
I think the module team call this heading ‘personal development’ which feels a bit general for what it is.
By the time you get to this section, you would have prepared a plan, have done some research, and have carried out some project work. This section is all about telling the examiner what you have learnt from the experience of running your project.
To help you to begin to answer this question, think of those “WH” questions: what, how, when, and why? Ask yourself the following questions: Did you follow your plan? Did you learn the right thing, and the right time, to solve the right problem? How did what you learn help or hinder your project? Also, how did you expand on your level 3 studies?
The more thoughtful your review and reflection section appears, and the more that you appear to have learnt by completing the project, the more evidence there will be that you have obtained some of the TM470 learning outcomes.
LO5 (Critically reviewing approach so far) Critically review how you have tackled the project.
LO8 (Learning Independently) Learn independently and reflect on what has been done, with a view to improving skills and knowledge.
8. Summary
I’ve received a query from a student who was asking what was supposed to go in the epilogue. Rather than an epilogue, I recommend that students to write a short summary. A suggestion is: offer a reminder about what the project was all about, what project model was chosen, summarise what has achieved, and then to share three things that have been learnt by completing the project. Your final summary should mirror the introduction section.
This short final section speaks to the project goal learning outcome, the outcomes which relate to technical work, and the review and independent learning outcomes.
References
In academic reports, there is always a references section, but sometimes there can also be a bibliography. I understand that a bibliography is ‘stuff that has been read that have more generally informed the project’. Being vaguer isn’t necessarily helpful when it comes to good academic practice. My recommendation is to ditch a bibliography section, and only have a references section. A references section should present what resources you use.
Clear referencing is really important. One of the aims of this section is to enable the examiner to find an original source, report, textbook, or anything else that has helped you with your project. A useful principle that I’ve heard is ‘anything in the world can be referenced one way or other’. If you’ve used a tip that you’ve found on a website, a bit of software, or an idea from a module, you should reference it.
Make sure that you present everything in alphabetical order, and mention dates of publication. If you’re unsure how to format any resource, book, paper, technical report, or bit of software, do refer to the CiteThemRight website.
Appendix 1 - Project Ethics Checklist
Every project should have an appendix 1 section, which is a copy of an email sent to your tutor that gives ethical approval for your project. A recommendation is to copy/paste the email into this section. The simplest approach to sharing it is probably the best.
If the aim of your project changes, part way through your project, you should always submit a new ethics form. You should include the latest approval email you have received, but you might also want to share earlier versions if it is appropriate to do so. This relates to LO10, which is all about LSEPI and EDI.
Appendix 2 - Project Log
When working on your project, I recommend that all students create a project log. This could take different forms. It could be notes saved in a Word document, notes in an actual paper based notebook, or it could be an email summary sent to your tutor every couple of weeks; these emails could be combined together to form a log of all the work that you have been carrying out. Providing this appendix gives further evidence to support your achievement of LO5. Plus, you can refer to your log in your reflection section.
Appendix 3 - Original Gantt chart
As you make progress on your project, a recommendation is to regularly review your project Gantt chart. It is likely it will change; some of the risks that you have previously written about may (or may not) have materialised, and you may have to adjust your schedule. To help with your reflections, a strong recommendation is to keep a copy of your original Gantt, which you can share as an appendix in your final report. Sharing two Gantt charts will give you something to talk about in your reflection and summary sections. Providing this appendix provides further evidence to support LO5 and LO9.
Further Appendices
A project report can have any number of appendices in addition to the three that are suggested. You can use an appendix to share supplementary materials to help the examiner to get a feel for what you’ve done during the course of your project.
There are no hard and fast rules about how many appendices you should have since every project is different. You might use them to show excerpts of source code, diagrams, consent forms, and data that you might have collected during the course of your project. Whatever works best for you. You should, however, always reference each appendix from within the body of the report, just to make the examiner aware that this may be an important part of your report.
Although you must try to limit your project report to 10k words, there is no limit to how many additional words you can provide within the appendices (but the module team does encourage everyone to be reasonable).
Give your appendices a letter, as well as a title. The letter is for cross referencing. The title is, of course, for the reader.
Final points
All these sections of your project report address a really important learning outcome, which is:
LO7 (Communication) Communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions clearly.
When it comes to writing your project report, a really important tip is: make it an interesting read. Whilst this will not, on its own, lead to a higher EMA score, an interesting and readable EMA will help the examiner to relate all the learning outcomes to your submission.
Acknowledgements
You can include an acknowledgement section in your project report, along with a glossary if you feel it is appropriate to do so. In this post, I would also like to acknowledge Alexis Lansbury, TM470 module team chair, and fellow TM470 tutors for their help and advice.
