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A Guide to Writing a Technical Report

Technical report format – how to apply it
When it comes to the writing of a technical report, the format is very important because it is
unique from other reports in that it carries technical information. A technical report contains
technical information which should be planned well. You need to understand all the structure to
achieve your objective. A technical report should contain the following:

The title page

The title page comes first when you write your report. The title page contains the title of the
report the date and the institution details plus supervisor. This first page is also referred to as the
cover page. It is good to note that the content of the title page does not add up to the word count
of your report. The title is a separate entity when it comes to word count, so you should not
include it on your word count.

Introduction

In the introduction, you are supposed to highlight the main aims of the paper to the reader. Let
the reader understand the purpose of you writing the report. You can also comment on the flow
of the report so that the reader can know what to expect. You should avoid copying the
introduction given in the lab hand out and instead come up with your own.

The summary

In summary, you need to write an overview of the whole report including the results and
conclusions made.
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Experimental details

This is the part that you need to state every detail of the experiment starting from the equipment
that you used to the procedure for the test. This section can be omitted if the report did not
involve an experiment at all.

Results and discussions

This is where you are expected to explain the results that you obtained from your experiments.
You should give a clear explanation so that the reader cannot ask themselves any question on
your results.

The body

The body is the most important part of your report because it carries your content. You should
introduce small subheadings in your report as per the point being put across. This will make your
work look more presentable as the reader will be guided with this subheading what point you are
talking about.

You can also place your points in number form or list so that it becomes easier for your reader to
understand what you are talking about. You should also separate your points to avoid bringing
confusion in your work; each point should be under its subtopic.

Conclusions

When it comes to the writing of your conclusion what you need to do is write a summary of the
main points in the body of your report and wrap it up.

In conclusion, you also need to use words that suggest you are concluding your work to prepare
the reader psychologically, that you are about to finish. Remember also that the conclusion
should be short and precise avoid a lot of stories in your concluding paragraph, spare all the
stories for the body of your report.

Recommendations
The recommendation usually comes after the conclusion. In the recommendation, you are
supposed to suggest solutions to the challenges that are there in the body. This is where your
opinion is welcomed.

Reference
In the reference, you need to list all the materials that you used in your research. You may have
quoted some text somewhere, so it is at this point that you need to list it so that it does not
become a plagiarized work. When you write the reference, you acknowledge that the content that
you used is from a certain source.

Bibliography
A bibliography is more like the reference but in a bibliography, you can go ahead and list the
sources that you did not use in your research, but they may be useful in the explanation of your
content. Mostly bibliography usually contains sources that can be used for further reading on the
topic.

Acknowledgements
In this section, you are supposed to list all the people that helped you in coming up with your
report. This includes even those that proofread your work to make sure it is well written. This is
a way of appreciating the effort of other people in your work.

Appendices
You may have used other materials to put across your points in the report such as graphs or
diagrams but are not necessarily required in the report. This is the place where you should
mention them.

After writing your report, the next thing is presenting it. Writing a report is not enough, you need
to have adequate skills on how best to present your report. A presentation is important because it
determines the final outlook of your work.

Below are some of the standard presentation guidelines:

  Script – the report should be printed on an A4 paper on one side. You should note that the
hand-written report is not accepted when it comes to the technical report.
 Page numbers – while numbering your pages the title page and the summary is an exception.
You should number the pages that contain the content.
 Margins – you should use a margin of at least 2.54cm all round.
 Binding – when joining your report, you can staple it at the top left if it does not comprise of
many pages. If the report is too long, then it is good to bind it so that all the pages may be joined
well.

For a standard report, you should use font size 12 and style Times New Roman because it is
legible and clear. You should also use a spacing of 1.5 or 2 depending on the instructions given
by your supervisor but make 1.5 your default value.

How to write a technical report and where to start

Having understood the structure of a technical report and how to orientate everything we can
now look at how to come up with the content and write it.

The first thing that you should do before you write your report is assembling all the sources that
may be useful in creating content for your report. You can get all this in the library, notes or even
in different educational websites and blogs.

You should list down the topics and ideas of what your report is to cover randomly. After listing
them arrange them by classifying those that relate with each other to the same group.

After arranging the ideas, you need to write it roughly into small subheadings. This is the rough
outline of how the report should appear.

The next step is writing the first draft. At this point, you only need to write the body inclusive of
the headings and subheadings to the end. Include the number of reference material that you wish
to use.

After you have completed with the first draft, you need to revise it to pinpoint where changes
need to be done. At this point, you should ensure that your report contains all the necessary
information. You should also consider the reader here so that if it’s a professional report, it
portrays the qualities of a professional report. While revising you also need to ensure that all the
objectives have been ascertained in the report as per the topic is given.

While writing your report, you may need to use some diagrams or graphs to make the reader
understand what you are talking about. Technical information is best put across by use of other
means other than word, so you need to know the right format for this diagrams and tables to
ensure success in your work. Below are some of the guide on how to oriented various appendices
in your report:

 Graphs – your graph should be well labelled to avoid confusion of the variables. When it comes
to graphs, you can use pie charts and even bar graphs to indicate the trend of what you are
analyzing.
 Diagrams – for the diagrams you should draw simple diagrams, and they should appear after or
before the content you are discussing so that the reader can be able to understand its relation.
 Tables – tables are used for summary purposes. A table can help you list points and explain
them in brief which helps the reader go through everything in a brief summary. You should also
number your tables for easy reference in your work.
 Mathematics – while writing a technical report that involves some analysis, it is better to use
mathematics because it makes the analysis easier and convenient.

If you need help with writing a technical report, take a look at these writing services:

Tips on writing a good technical report

1. For you to have a good technical report, you should avoid overusing different fonts in your work
because it makes it fussy. You should use different fonts to pinpoint an idea that you want the
reader not to miss on it.  You can also use underlining and bolding to serve the same purpose.
2. Use of headings and subheadings is also important because it plans your points. The reader is
able to understand different points when you categorize them into small headings and sub-
headings. The reader may happen to have so little time with your report, and this will make
them want to scheme through the major points, so when you have these headings, you make
their work easier.
3. You may use content that does not belong to you while writing your technical report; this will
entail proper in-text citation to avoid unoriginality in your work. It is good to know how to cite
just as I have mentioned. After citing the source in your content proceed and list the source in
your reference list. To avoid plagiarism, you should also try to use your own words while
explaining points do not copy everything word by word because it may turn out to be plagiarized
and you will be penalized. If you fail to citeyour content, it is assumed to be your content t,
failure to which it is said to be plagiarized and this is a big offence which is punishable.
4. You should also be cautious about the information that you obtain from the internet, ensure the
sources of information for your report is credible. Sources such as Wikipedia are not reliable and
therefore should not be used as your reference. Some of the reference materials that are
credible include approved books, articles and journals. You can determine whether a source is
credible by looking at the author and their work, a good author will always have positive reviews
for all their writings.
5. The final step in your report writing is proofreading your work to ensure everything reads well.
Proofreading also helps to avoid spelling and grammatic errors which are common mistakes that
are unavoidable. When you proofread your work, you will also discover points that are missing
in your report which are essential in that topic and you can make necessary adjustments.
6. While writing your summary, you should be keen on the length so that it does not go beyond
300 words. A summary should not be too long because it will make the reader tired while
reading it, it should be short and to the point. The purpose of the summary is usually to give the
 reader a brief overview of what you are going to cover in the technical report. The reader should
have that rough idea in mind of what to expect so that when they go through it, it becomes
easier to understand the points.

Technical report example

It is good to go through different examples of the technical report written by other authors
because it builds you skill on presentation of points. Different people will always have different
ways of presenting their work, so when you read these samples, you get equipped with different
formats to use that when it comes to your own, you will always choose the best that fits your
topic.

It is also good to have a template for a technical report with you before you proceed to write
yours so that it guides you on the arrangement of your work.

Further reading:
 How To Write A Powerful Dialogue

 What is Visual Rhetoric

 Some Ideas How to Avoid Common Pitfalls in Writing

 Short Explanation How To Write A Hypothesis

 Why You Need Creative Writing Prompts and Where to Find Them

 Tips How To Write A Response Paper

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