Writing Formal Reports

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Writing Formal Reports
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General writing suggestions -- 2 most critical
concepts

• Logical flow
• Brevity

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General Writing -- Logical flow

• Each paragraph discusses only one major topic
• Lead sentence of each paragraph introduces the
  topic
• remaining statements merely expand and/or modify
  the first
• Critical elements of the topic appear in first
  sentence
• Smooth transition provided by last sentence of
  paragraph or 1st sentence of next paragraph

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General Writing -- keep it brief

• Parenthetically refer to figures
• Place excessive details in appendices

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Sections of formal reports

• Cover/title page
• Table of contents
• list of illustrations
• Figures and Tables
• Summary
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusions
• Appendices

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Title page

• project title
• your name
• clients name
• date of submission

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Table of contents

• Make it very readable
• use contents page to reveal report emphases
• Include sub-headings but consider leaving out
  low-level headings
• List appendices
• Use parallel form in all entries
• proofread carefully

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Summary

• put it on one page
• avoid technical jargon
• include important conclusions and recommendations
• avoid references to the report body
• use paragraph format
• write the summary last

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Introduction

• State your purpose and lead-in to subsections
• include a project description
• include scope of information
• outline precise objectives of the study
• A list or table may be appropriate
• Consider including information on report format
• end the introduction with a short description of
  the report format.
• Give readers a brief preview of the main sections
  that follow

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Methods

• Provides description of the experimental design
  and/or design process, and details of the
  approach
• Provide enough information so that an independent
  investigator/engineer can repeat the work.
• Cite other methodology when available
• Place excessive detail in appendices

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Results

• Contains only information bearing on the
  questions raised.
• Begin each paragraph with a clear statement of a
  key result.
• Should only state facts

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Discussion

• Move from facts to opinions
• Use headings and subheadings
• Use listing to break up long paragraphs
• Use illustrations for clarification
• Place excessive details in appendices

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Conclusions

• Comprehensive description
• sometimes in the form of list of key points
• An expansion of the executive summary
• summary only states most important points
• conclusions will state all relevant points
• Include
• Conclusions
• Recommendations

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References

• Brand RA, Huiskes R Structural outline of an
  archival paper for the Journal of Biomechanics,
  Journal of Biomechanics 341371-1374, 2001
• Pfeiffer WS Technical writing A practical
  approach, 5th edition. Upper Saddle River, New
  Jersey Prentice Hall, 2003

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Assignments

• Reviewer Write a concise summary of your
  critiques
• Author Write a response to the reviewer