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If you have been notified that your sponsor requires a bound, printed copy of your final report, you will need to follow the formatting requirements found in this section. You should create all your artifacts in compliance with these formatting standards so that you do not have to change formatting in a rush at the conclusion of your project.

Arfitact templates that meet these requirements in both Microsoft Word and LaTeX format are available on your Box drive in the Class Documents/Templates folder.

For printed reports, we recommend using the LaTeX template for creating stage approval package even if you are not using LaTeX for creating your artifacts. The template provides an easy way to combine all of the PDF files and automatically create a bookmarked Table of Contents. Your pod instructor will provide help for you as you use the LaTeX template.

Most artifacts will be normal-size artifacts, which can contain both text and graphics, but comfortably fit on letter-size (8.5×11 inch) sheets of paper. Normal artifacts must have the following formatting:

• Normal-size artifacts are single-spaced and double-sided.
• Margins are appropriate for binding: 1.5 inches on the inside, and 1 inch on the top, outside, and bottom.
• Artifacts should be legible when printed on a black and white printer.
• Page numbers (starting with 1) should be included in the artifacts. If desired, you may prefix the page number with the artifact ID. Page numbers can be omitted on single-page artifacts.
• For convenience in compiling artifacts in PDF form, it will be easiest if you make sure each artifact has an even number of pages, with a blank page added at the end if necessary. The LaTeX{} template automatically adds the blank pages.
• Because of the expense of color printing, you should plan to print most of your artifacts in black and white. In general, make sure that black and white prints of your artifacts are legible. It is appropriate, however, to have electronic copies in color.

Oversize artifacts can contain text or graphics, but need to be printed on larger-than-normal paper. Oversize artifacts should be printed on ledger-size (11×17 inch) paper. If you need an artifact that is too large for ledger-size paper, talk with the Capstone office for help. Use the following formatting for oversize artifacts:

• Oversize artifacts are single-sided.
• Except for engineering drawings, leave a 1.5 inch margin on the left, and a 1 inch margin on the top, right, and bottom.
• Engineering drawings should use a B-size drawing template or format. Keep all of your drawing elements well-away from the edges of the drawing frame. The drawing frame is allowed violate the margin requirements.
• Oversize artifacts are all printed in black and white.
• Printed copies of oversized artifacts will be folded as shown below.

Required folding for B-size drawings and other oversize artifacts in bound reports