Sample Report Formats

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• Sample Report Formats

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Research Article

• Front matter
• Title
• Abstract

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• Body
• Introduction
• Background
• Theory
• Experimental section
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusions

4

• End matter
• References and notes

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Proposal

• Front matter
• Letter of Transmittal
• Title page
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures and Tables

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• Body
• Introduction
• Identify overall issue or problem
• State key technical issues
• State objectives
• Technical Approach

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• Theoretical context
• Method/experimental design
• Analytical approach
• Management Requirements

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• Timetable, resources, etc.
• Work Plan
• End matter
• Bibliography or references
• Resumes
• Appendixes

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Consulting Report ("White Paper")

• Front matter
• Title
• Abstract or executive summary

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• Body
• Introduction
• Developed sections appropriate to subject and
  audience

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• End matter
• References
• Appendixes

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Design and Feasibility Report

• Front matter
• Title
• Abstract

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• Body
• Introduction
• Issue

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• Problem statement
• Background
• Criteria (noted in order of importance)
• Additional issues and considerations
• Possibilities
• Recommendation with comparison of alternatives
• Detailed description of recommended option
• Conclusion

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• Action recommendations
• Issues to resolve
• End matter
• References
• Appendixes

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• Writing a Research Report

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Standard Research Report Components

• Scientific and technical research reports
  generally follow a conventional format that
  includes
• a title,
• an abstract,
• a reference (or Literature Cited) section and
• the components of the IMRAD structure.

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The IMRAD structure

• Introduction answers "why?"
• Methods answers "when, where, how, how much?"
• Results answers "what?"
• And
• Discussion answers "so what?"

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Writing Process

• No writing process works universally
• whatever enables you to start and
• continue productively is fine.
• Consider what routines actually produce writing
  rather than procrastination, and do those.

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Sample Writing Process

• Prewriting
• Make notes, scribble ideas
• start generating text,
• drawing figures,
• sketching out presentation ideas.
• Ignore neatness, spelling, and sentence
  structure--get the ideas down.
• Analyze audience and purpose to focus your
  writing.

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Writing

• Start with whatever section is easiest to write.
• Skip around to different sections as needed.
• Keep writing.

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Revision

• Work on content first, then structure, and then
  style.
• Keep focused on your main purpose
• communicating,
• reasoning, and
• presenting clearly.
• Ask for comments from people who will offer
  useful critiques.
• Circle back to prewriting as needed.

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Editing

• Check all data for accuracy.
• Review everything for grammatical, mechanical,
  and usage errors.

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• Writing well is a complex and recursive process
• few writers start with their title and write
  their text in order.

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• You should start writing whatever sections seem
  easiest
• you can even start all sections simultaneously
• write the section headers at the tops of clean
  sheets of paper, and
• prewrite whichever section appeals to you at any
  time.

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• Whatever process or starting point you choose,
  start now, so you have chance to revise and
  refine your work.

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• Guidelines and Suggestions

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Title

• informative and specific
• concise
• understandable

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Abstract

• offers complete but very selective summary of
  most significant ideas and information
• uses clear, precise wording (pare down text and
  increase precision through successive revisions)
• accurately reflects the paper's organization,
  emphasis, and content on a very small scale

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Introduction

• Focuses on the overall issue, problem, or
  question that your research addresses.
• Provides sufficient context and background for
  the reader to understand and evaluate your
  research, including appropriate visual aids
  (drawings, etc.)

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• Defines specialized terms
• introduces acronyms and
• non-standard abbreviations.
• Develops the rationale for your work
• poses questions or research problems and
• outlines your main research focus.

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• Introduces your work
• the nature and scope of your research,
• your hypotheses or objectives (may also include
  the rationale for your method selection and the
  potential significance of your work).

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Methods

• This section includes enough detail that readers
  can trust the results and potentially reproduce
  them.
• It is written as a process description, not as a
  lab manual procedure.

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• Be precise, complete, and concise
• include only relevant informationno
• unnecessary details,
• anecdotes, excuses, or
• confessions.

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Sample Components of Methods Section
Materials Methods
exact specifications and quantities of experimental materials detailed experimental procedures
organism identifications genus, species, strain sources special characteristics techniques for tracking functional variables (timing, temperature, humidity, etc.)
specific equipment and software analytical techniques assays, equations, statistical strategies
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• With all the detail, the section must be very
  well organized to make sense to the reader and to
  allow easy reference.
• Headers help to create a sense of order and
  coherence.

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Results

• Organize logically and use headers to emphasize
  the ordered sections.
• Report don't discuss or interpret.
• Findings are matters of fact
• interpretation fluctuates with perspective,
  opinion, and current knowledge.
• Reasoned speculation belongs in discussion
• important facts and objective observations that
  are unambiguously true belong in results.

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• Illustrate and summarize findings
• organize data and emphasize trends and patterns
  with appropriate visuals.
• Integrate visuals with text
• the text offers claims and general statements
  that the visual details support.

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• These are some of the qualities of a good Results
  section
• relevant data
• clearly stated observations
• meticulous organization
• appropriate visuals with required labeling (e.g.
  titles, captions)
• efficiently correlated text and visuals (no
  repetition, useful correspondence)
• accuracy

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Discussion

• This section offers your interpretations and
  conclusions about your findings.

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• The Discussion reflects your main intellectual
  contribution
• This is your chance to demonstrate your ability
  to
• synthesize,
• analyze,
• evaluate,
• interpret, and
• reason effectively.

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• Your readers are looking for well-supported
  opinions, not for leaps of fancy or mere
  repetitions of your findings,
• so you will need to think carefully about your
  findings in order to draw conclusions that are
  neither too narrow nor too broad.

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• The following list offers content options and a
  possible sequence

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• Interpret your results
• evaluate,
• analyze,
• explain the significance and
• implications of your work
• generalizations that you can draw from your
  results,
• principles that you support/disprove,
• conclusions about theoretical and/or practical
  implications.

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• Explain key limitations
• questions left unanswered,
• major experimental constraints,
• lack of correlation,
• negative results.

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• Discuss agreement or contrast with previously
  published work
• explain the significance of the corroboration or
  disjunction.

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• Offer general conclusions, noting your reasoning
  and main supporting evidence.
• Recommend areas for future study and explain your
  choices.