Organizing Your Technical Report

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Organizing Your Technical Report
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How to organize?

• Is it possible to under-organize?

Yes!
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Consider a report organized this way

• Introduction (pages 1-5)
• Experimental setup and discussion results (pages
  6-55)
• Conclusions (pages 56-59)
• References (pages 60-62)
• Is this helpful?
• NO!!!

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• Imagine that you need to find some information on
  how the experiment was set up so that you can
  duplicate it.
• You have to search through the whole of section
  2!!!
• You may not be happy.
• This is not a successful report.

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More

• Is it possible to over-organize?

Yes!
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Consider this

• Within section 2 on experimental details
• 2. Experimental details
• 2.1 Wiring used in experiment
• 2.1.1 Color of wiring used in experiment
• We used red and blue wiring for this experiment.
• This is TOO MUCH DETAIL!!!

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Consider your report (100W report, senior or MS
thesis)

• Introduction
• Background/Literature review
• Experimental details
• Results
• Conclusions

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• The Introduction section will typically be
  O(2-3) pages in which you briefly outline the
  purpose and nature of your project.

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• In the Background section, you provide the
  readers (remember to characterize your readers!)
  with enough background information to understand
  your study.
• The amount of background information depends on
  the reader!
• Do you need to explain all the details of oceanic
  circulation in order to discuss El Nino?
• This section provides a context for your study.

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• Exampleyou are simulating (with a computer
  model) the growth of snow flakes.
• You must first outline what we need to know about
  snowflake growth.
• Perhaps lab experiments show growth rates more
  rapid than is observed, and your study will
  explain the discrepancy.
• Thus, you outline observations, and previous
  simulation results.

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• Examplecontinued...
• You explain what numerical results have already
  been obtained by other workers (perhaps including
  yourself).
• You explain any discrepancies (simulations versus
  observations) for the reader.
• There are different styles for doing
  thisWednesday!

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• In the section on Experimental Details, you
  explain the details of your work, i.e., how you
  did your study.
• Computer modeling? Explain/describe the model.
• Lab experiments? Explain/describe the
  experimental setup.
• Data analysis? Explain/describe the data where
  its from, what was measured etc.

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• In the section on Results section, you give
  your results (duh!)
• In this section, you will have figures, tables
  etc.
• Not only do you explain what you found, but also
  you explain the significance.
• This finding supports the hypothesis that

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• Finally in the Conclusions section, you
• Summarize your findings
• Explain their significance
• Mention shortcomings of your work
• Suggest ideas for future studies

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How to structure the information

• Put the important information at the start of the
  section or sentence.
• In a detective story, its opposite!
• You list the clues and THEN the conclusion.
• This is how I like to write, and its WRONG, as I
  found out!
• In your document, you state the conclusion and
  THEN the clues.

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How to structure the information

• Organize information in a logical and consistent
  manner.
• Examples(page 6)
• Problem-solution approach
• First state the problem, then state the
  solution, and then provide the logic.

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How to structure the information

• Global-local approach
• We generally use this approach in our field
• Start with the big picture
• Narrow down to your specific (little) area
• On Wednesday, I will hand out examples

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• Global-local approach
• Exampleyour study involves El-Nino-induced
  snowfall increases in the Colorado Rockies.
• Explain what El Nino is.
• Describe all El Nino effects worldwide.
• Describe impacts on precip.
• Describe impacts on snowfall.
• Describe impacts on snowfall in CO.

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• Three tasks for today ? Wednesday
• Fix the headings task.
• Propose some headings task.
• Editing task.