TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING

TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING

In Engineering, one of the major forms of communication is the technical report. This is the conventional format for reporting the results of research, investigations, and design projects.  In the workplace, managers, clients, and the construction engineers responsible for building the designs read the technical reports.  The ability to produce a clear, concise, and professionally presented report is therefore a skill that should be developed to succeed both at college and also for future career prospects.

While reports vary in the type of information they present (for example, original research, the results of an investigative study, or the solution to a design problem), all share similar features and are based on a similar structure.

Features of reports (General Engineering Report-writing Guidelines)

Reports:

1. Are designed for quick and easy communication of information
2. Are designed for selective reading
3. Use sections with numbered headings and subheadings
4. Use figures and diagrams to convey data.

Basic structure of a report

  A report usually has the following components:

       Title page

       Summary

       Table of Contents

       Introduction

       Middle sections with numbered headings (i.e., the body of the report)

       Conclusions

       References

       Appendices

Document Structure

A major difficult task is achieving good structure from the start. It is mixed by many thoughts, which sort out the logical progression of the document. Failure in this effort will result in repeated structural changes at a later stage. The key to achieving both good structure from the start and summarizing the large data into a brief one lies in the contents list. 

The following page lay-out tips should be followed

     

     Font              : Times New Roman or Arial

     Font Size      : 12 size for descriptive text

                          : 14 size for titles

     Margins        : 1 inch on all sides

     Page size      : A 4

The contents list

The contents list is a summary of the chapter and section headings, together with a page index, and is normally written when the document is already complete. The contents list is the place in the document, where overall structure can be examined. Organization of the contents list is necessary. The level of detail should go down to sub-subsections, where the final level contains one key idea. Each paragraph should be titled. Laying out the contents list is not easy. A badly structured document leads to disinterest and will be very difficult to correct at a later stage.

Logical Structure:

Logical structure should unfold like a story, as the reader progresses through the document. This is achieved by going from the general to the specific matter, with the background material preceding the technical description. This leads logically to the conclusions. For example, consider a good joke. It has the structure as shown below.

In this case, the punchline is the set of conclusions. Everything should support the conclusions and naturally lead up to them. This should be remembered when constructing the contents list. A typical technical report has the following progression:

Report structure

From the hierarchical structure in the contents list each paragraph has to be written as an independent entity, observing the relationship between different sections. In the contents list section numbers can be assigned to the different document sections, making cross-referencing simple.

Chapter Order:

With a technical document, it is often beneficial to write the technical chapters first (the core material) leaving the introduction, discussion and conclusions until the end. This will help even if some results are not available at the time of writing the document. Even if all the results are available, writing the introduction in the end helps to have a better viewpoint of the document.

Appendix material

Generally, appendices should contain relatively standard derivations and lists of parameter values. In particular, the appendix section should not contain:

• All the figures corresponding to the document. Ideally these should appear alongside the appropriate text, or else after the references in a separate section.
• Photocopies of data sheets.
• Any material which is crucial to the continuity or flow of the `story' in the main technical sections.

As with the main document sections, all appendices should be numbered one after the other, in order to allow referencing from the text.

Typical Report Sections:

Depending on the nature of the document, it may have the following sections:

Title page

With name, affiliation, date, etc.

Dedication

To a friend, family member, or loved one

Declaration

That the material in the report is the author's own work

Acknowledgement

To those who have helped or influenced the work

Contents list

Which lists items with appropriate page references,

Abstract

Which summarises the report contents

Introduction

Which introduces the work, provides the motivation and outlines the work

Main technical chapters

Which documents the core technical work

Conclusions

Which may also identify appropriate future work

References

This acknowledges reference to the original source or quotes of other authors

Appendices

Contains references to the text.

Writing Style

Writing style is the most individual aspect of a report, which helps in readability, professionalism, objectiveness and impact of a report. All reports should be written in the third person i.e., as an observer. Terms such as “The experiment was performed ...”' should be used. The document must be apt to allow understanding by the target audience. Examples of target audiences are shown below.

Example of target audiences

Report type Target audience Final year project report Engineers not specifically experts with your project area M. Tech/PhD thesis Researchers familiar with the subject area, but not necessarily with your approach Research paper Researchers familiar with the approach, but not your specific results

Failure to point the level correctly will also result in failure to communicate ideas and the reader will be bored.   The general appearance is with poor spelling. The document has to be properly Spell-checked, Grammar checked and punctuated with word processors. Bold or Italics should be used for emphasis instead instead of capitals.

Justification and rationale

Each idea presented should establish some basis for motivation and any assumptions made must be justified. Enough information should be provided to allow the reader to access the source of the material. Conclusions must conclusive.

Multimedia and Visual Balance

A technical report can contain information in a variety of forms such as text, figures, tables, block diagrams and equations to communicate results. Each figure should be numbered and titled, so that it can be referenced from the text. Equations with proper numbering should also be used where ever possible. All notations used must be defined with proper variables. The document must be professional and free from grammatical and spelling mistakes.