Blackbook vs Project Report: What Is the Difference?

Key takeaway

A blackbook documents something you built. A project report documents something you studied. If your project has code in it (BSc IT, BSc CS, BCA, MCA, engineering), you write a blackbook in the technical structure. If it is a study with no coding (BMS, BCom, BAF, BBA, MBA, arts, science, law, most school projects), you write a project report in the research structure.

In Mumbai, students call both of them "the blackbook", because both are bound in a black cover. The contents are not the same.

Side by side

	Blackbook	Project report
The project	A working system or app	A study of a topic or an organisation
Typical courses	BSc IT, BSc CS, BCA, MCA, BE, BTech	BMS, BCom, BAF, BBA, MBA, BA, BSc, LLB, Class 10 to 12
Chapters	7	6 to 8
Core chapters	System design, implementation and testing	Research methodology, data analysis and interpretation
Figures	UML, ER, sequence and class diagrams, Gantt chart	Bar, column and donut charts, SWOT matrix
Evidence	Code, test cases, screenshots	Survey tables, interview, questionnaire
Usual length	70 to 100 pages	45 to 80 pages
Ends with	References, glossary, user guide	Bibliography and annexure (questionnaire)

What a blackbook contains

A technical blackbook follows the system from idea to result:

1. Introduction: background, objectives, purpose and scope
2. Survey of technologies: the stack you used and why
3. Requirements and analysis: problem definition, requirements, planning with a Gantt chart
4. System design: modules, database schema, ER, class, activity and sequence diagrams
5. Implementation and testing: how it was built, test cases and results
6. Results and discussion: reports, screens and a user guide
7. Conclusion: limitations and future scope

More in Final Year Project Report Chapters and the UML diagram guide. You can read a complete one on the sample blackbook page.

What a project report contains

A research project report follows the study from question to answer:

1. Introduction: background, statement of the problem, objectives, hypotheses, scope and limitations
2. Review of literature: what earlier studies found, and the gap yours fills
3. Research methodology: research design, sample, data sources, tools
4. Profile or field study: the organisation or sector you studied, often with a SWOT analysis
5. Data analysis and interpretation: one table and one chart per question, each with an interpretation
6. Findings, suggestions and conclusion
7. Bibliography and annexure: your sources and the questionnaire you used

There is a complete one, with its charts, on the sample project report page, and the format is covered in the BMS project report format guide.

Which one should you write?

Ask one question: is there code in the project?

• Yes, I built a system, website or app. Write a blackbook.
• No, I studied a topic, a market or a company. Write a project report.
• A bit of both (for example a data analysis project with a small script): follow what your guide and your department's format say. When in doubt, the research structure with an added "tools used" section is the safer choice for a commerce or science department.

Your college's guidelines come first. If your department has issued a format, follow it chapter for chapter.

Getting it written

BlackBook asks which of the two you are making before anything else, then writes it in that structure: a blackbook with its diagrams, code and test cases, or a project report with survey tables, charts and a questionnaire. Sample numbers are marked for you to replace with your own data, and sources are never invented. Read what is written, correct it, and make sure you can explain every chapter in your viva.