• Title

• Abstract or Summary

• Objective

• Results

• Significance

• List of contents

• help your reader find specific information in the report quickly

• a list of headings with corresponding page numbers

• each section to be given informative subheadings

• Introduction

• Why is the report being written?

• What kinds of information does it contain?

• How is the problem being approached?

• For whom is the report being written?

• Background ( Historical/ Technical)

• Purpose

• Methods of investigation

• General plan in developing the solution

• Scope

• Limitation

• General plan of the report

• Main body of the report

• describes the subject matter- the real content of the report

• methods and materials: answers ‘What did I do?’, ‘How did I do it?’, and ‘What did I
do it with?’

• findings or evidence: present your evidence

• should be organised logically

• using tables, diagrams or graphs to make information more easily

understood

• Contains several sections

• matter divided into topics & sub topics

 • Substantial matter under each topic / sub topics

• Detailed analysis / interpretation

• Conclusions

• arise naturally from the evidence presented in the previous sections

• major inferences drawn on the basis of analysis

• for eg., statements on what has happened, what the situation is and what might
happen may be included

• not to include any new information that does not appear in the main body of the
report

• Recommendations

• suggestions for future course of action

• follow on logically from the conclusions- based on them

• a brief statement of what should or should not be done

• Glossary

• explanations of the technical terms if the audience is unfamiliar

• Arrangement in an alphabetical order

• References

• material you have consulted (printed, or other media sources -e.g. books, journals,
videos) as a list of references

• the most commonly accepted method is the Harvard system ( in social sciences)
which you are already familiar with

• Appendix