Technical Report Writing

o Significance of Report Writing

o Structure of Report Writing
o Layout of Report Writing
o Precautions in Report Writing
“Technical writing conveys specific information about
a technical subject to a specific audience for a specific
purpose.The words and graphics of technical writing
are meant to be practical: that is, to communicate a
body of factual information that will help an audience
understand a subject or carry out a task.”
Preliminary Pages
o Title page
o Abstract
o Introduction
o Review of literature
o Methods
o Result and Discussion
o Conclusion
o Referencing
o Appendix
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o Title page contents:-

• The Title of the report

• The Authors Name
• The Course Name
• The Date of submission

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o State the topic of the report
o Gives the most important finding of the
research
o State the conclusion of the research

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o It Clears the background of topic
o It sets the purpose of report
o It clears Technical Background necessary
o It describe a brief outline of structure of
report
o Compare and contrast different authors'
views on an issue
o Show how your study relates to previous
studies
o To relate your findings to previous knowledge
and suggest further research
o It describe the type of study design
o It organizes the information logically
o It conveys the information in most effective
way
o It presents the result in most appropriate
form
o Result may be presented in form of table or
graph
o It compares the result to other studies
o It summaries the report
o It describes the objective of report
o The two parts to referencing are:-

• citations in the text of the report

• a list of references in the final section
o Basic Layout – Each chapter starts with a new page,
title, and chapter number.
o Margins – Use standard margins.
o Graphs & Tables – Put their explanation under them.
o Paragraph – Arrange and organize your information
in logical paragraph.
o Numbering – Use the enumerated decimal numbers
to number sections of your write-up.

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o Formula – All formula should have numbers with
reference to their chapters. For example,
f (t )    2tet dt
 t2
(2.1)
t1

o Tables – Each table has a number and if many tables

appear in a chapter, use the decimal numbering.
o Figures – Any non-text materials are figures and
should be numbered. All the figures have concise and
short information.
o Figures should be close to the related text
information.
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o Appendices – Include appendices at the end of the
report but give a reference in the table of content.
o Graphs – Have a Title, Axes name, Legends, and
Units for the graph. The graph numbering is either
with an integer or decimal value and is placed under
the graph.
o Lines – Use smooth lines to plot your graph. Use
different line colors for comparison or repeating the
same experiment with different methods.

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o Literature List – Cite the author initial, last name and
a number in the [ ] for your reading research.
o Page Number – Indicate the page number of the book
that you obtained the information.
o Journal articles – Authors, Article title, Place, Name
of the journal, Number, Year, Volume number, First
and Last page of the article are quoted in between
brackets.

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The four C’s:
o Clarity -- it is easily understood by your intended
audience
o Comprehensiveness -- all of the necessary
information is present
o Conciseness -- it is clear without excess verbiage
o Correctness -- it is grammatical and follows
conventions
o While determining the length of the report
o Abstract terminology and technical jargon should be avoided
o Charts, graphs and tables may be used for the results
o The layout should be well thought out and must be
appropriate
o Free from grammatical mistakes
o Appendices should be enlisted in respect of all the technical
data in the report.
o Bibliography of sources consulted is a must & necessarily
be given.
o Index must be prepared and appended at the end.
Examples are:
o Google, Bing, Yahoo
o Google hacks/scripts (filetype, intitle, inurl, site)
o Journals (ex: Emeraldinsight.com, DOAJ.org, HighWire.stanford.edu)
o Scitopia.org
o Scirus.com
o Wolframalpha.com
o RSS readers – (Pageflakes.com)
o Newsgroup (Google Groups, Yahoogroups)
o Filesharing – Bittorent.com, Furk.net, Mininova.org
o Social site – Facebook, Myspace, Friendster
o Youtube.com, Metacafe.com etc.
o Reference, bibliography – Bibme.com
o Documents related to the project / work currently being done
o Free Ebooks – Hongkiat.com - 20-best-websites-to-download-free-e-
books. OPPapers.com – Research Papers and Essays
In spite of all that has been stated above, one
should always keep in view the fact report-
writing is an art which is learnt by practice and
experience, rather than by mere doctrination.
Thank you