What is a report?

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 374.

Writing

In Engineering, one of the major forms of communication is the technical report. This is the conventional format for reporting the results of your research, investigations, and design projects. A report is a document that presents information about an issue or investigation concisely and impersonally, in a clearly structured format. There are many different types of report to suit different purposes. Reports must always be: accurate, concise, clear, and well structured.

Most technical reports include the parts listed below. However, you may be required to include or exclude specific sections.

· Title page (It carries the title, date, author's name and position, and distribution list.)

· Table of Contents (The contents of short reports may be shown on the title page - or not at all.)

· Introduction (It gives the background to the report, and shows why it was necessary. It usually states the objective of the report.)

· Body of the report (It contains your detailed facts and findings, shows how they were arrived at, and indicates the inferences to be drawn from them.)

· Conclusions (Here you draw out the main points of your report and present a considered judgment on them.)

· Recommendations (In a good report, the reader is carried along by the argument, so that by the time he reaches the end, he'll need no further convincing.)

· Appendices (Some reports need detailed supporting information, or perhaps information that only some readers need.)