Week 5 : COMMUNICATION FOR WORK PURPOSES

Lesson 3

a. Describe a technical report.

b. Explain the importance of writing a technical report.
c. Enumerate the structure of a technical report.

Technical Report

A technical report is described as a written scientific document that conveys

information about technical research in an objective and fact-based manner. This
technical report consists of the three key features of a research i.e. process, progress,
and results associated with it.

Importance of Writing a Technical Report

1. Efficient communication
Technical reports are used by industries to convey pertinent information to upper
management. This information is then used to make crucial decisions that would
impact the company in the future.

2. Evidence for your work

Most of the technical work is backed by software.

However, graduation projects are not. So, if you’re a student, your technical report
acts as the sole evidence of your work. It shows the steps you took for the research
and glorifies your efforts for a better evaluation.
3. Organizes the data
A technical report is a concise, factual piece of information that is aligned and
designed in a standard manner. It is the one place where all the data of a project is
written in a compact manner that is easily understandable by a reader.

4. Tool for evaluation of your work

Professors and supervisors mainly evaluate your research project based on the
technical write-up for it. If your report is accurate, clear, and comprehensible, you
will surely bag a good grade.

How to Write a Technical Report

Approach
When writing a technical report, there are two approaches you can follow,
depending on what suits you the best.

Top-down approach- In this, you structure the entire report from title to sub-
sections and conclusion and then start putting in the matter in the respective
chapters. This allows your thought process to have a defined flow and thus helps
in time management as well.

Evolutionary delivery- This approach is suitable if you’re someone who believes

in ‘go with the flow’. Here the author writes and decides as and when the work
progresses. This gives you a broad thinking horizon. You can even add and edit
certain parts when some new idea or inspiration strikes.

Structure
A technical report must have a defined structure that is easy to navigate and
clearly portrays the objective of the report. Here is a list of pages, set in the order
that you should include in your technical report.

 Cover page- It is the face of your project. So, it must contain details like
title, name of the author, name of the institution with its logo. It should be
a simple yet eye-catching page.

 Title page- In addition to all the information on the cover page, the title
page also informs the reader about the status of the project. For instance,
technical report part 1, final report, etc. The name of the mentor or
supervisor is also mentioned on this page.

 Abstract- Also referred to as the executive summary, this page gives a

concise and clear overview of the project. It is written in such a manner
that a person only reading the abstract can gain complete information
on the project.
 Preface– It is an announcement page wherein you specify that you have
given due credits to all the sources and that no part of your research is
plagiarised. The findings are of your own experimentation and research.

 Dedication- This is an optional page when an author wants to dedicate

their study to a loved one. It is a small sentence in the middle of a new
page. It is mostly used in theses.

 Acknowledgment- Here, you acknowledge the people parties, and

institutions who helped you in the process or inspired you for the idea of
it.

 Table of contents– Each chapter and its subchapter is carefully divided

into this section for easy navigation in the project. If you have included
symbols, then a similar nomenclature page is also made. Similarly, if
you’ve used a lot of graphs and tables, you need to create a separate
content page for that. Each of these lists begins on a new page.

 Introduction- Finally comes the introduction, marking the beginning of

your project. On this page, you must clearly specify the context of the
report. It includes specifying the purpose, objectives of the project, the
questions you have answered in your report, and sometimes an overview
of the report is also provided. Note that your conclusion should answer
the objective questions.

 Central Chapter(s)- Each chapter should be clearly defined with sub and
sub-sub sections if needed. Every section should serve a purpose. While
writing the central chapter, keep in mind the following factors:

Clearly define the purpose of each chapter in its introduction.

Any assumptions you are taking for this study should be mentioned. For
instance, if your report is targeting globally or a specific country. There
can be many assumptions in a report. Your work can be disregarded if it
is not mentioned every time you talk about the topic.
Results you portray must be verifiable and not based upon your opinion.
(Big no to opinions!)

Each conclusion drawn must be connected to some central chapter.

 Conclusion- The purpose of the conclusion is to basically conclude any
and everything that you talked about in your project. Mention the findings
of each chapter, objectives reached, and the extent to which the given
objectives were reached. Discuss the implications of the findings and the
significant contribution your research made.
  Appendices- They are used for complete sets of data, long mathematical
formulas, tables, and figures. Items in the appendices should be
mentioned in the order they were used in the project.

 References- This is a very crucial part of your report. It cites the sources
from which the information has been taken from. This may be figures,
statistics, graphs, or word-to-word sentences. The absence of this section
can pose a legal threat for you. While writing references, give due credit
to the sources and show your support to other people who have studied
the same genres.

 Bibliography- Many people tend to get confused between references

and bibliography. Let us clear it out for you. References are the actual
material you take into your research, previously published by someone
else. Whereas a bibliography is an account of all the data you read, got
inspired from, or gained knowledge from, which is not necessarily a direct
part of your research.

Style
Let’s take a look at the writing style you should follow while writing a technical
report:

 Avoid using slang or informal words. For instance, use ‘cannot’ instead of
can’t.
 Use a third-person tone and avoid using words like I, Me.
 Each sentence should be grammatically complete with an object and
subject.
 Two sentences should not be linked via a comma.
 Avoid the use of passive voice.
 Tenses should be carefully employed. Use present for something that is still
viable and past for something no longer applicable.
 Readers should be kept in mind while writing. Avoid giving them instructions.
Your work is to make their work of evaluation easier.
 Abbreviations should be avoided and if used, the full form should be
mentioned.
 Understand the difference between a numbered and bulleted list. Numbering
is used when something is explained sequence-wise. Whereas bullets are used
to just list out points in which sequence is not important.
 All the preliminary pages (title, abstract, preface..) should be named in small
roman numerals. ( i, ii, iv..)
 All the other pages should be named in Arabic numerals (1,2,3..) thus, your
report begins with 1 – on the introduction page.
 Separate long texts into small paragraphs to keep the reader engaged. A
paragraph should not be more than 10 lines.
  Do not incorporate too many fonts. Use standard Times New Roman 12pt for
the text. You can use bold for headlines.

Proofreading
If you think your work ends when the report ends, think again. Proofreading the
report is a very important step. While proofreading you see your work from a
reader’s point of view and you can correct any small mistakes you might have
done while typing. Check everything from content to layout, and style of writing.

Presentation
Finally comes the presentation of the report in which you submit it to an
evaluator.

It should be printed single-sided on an A4 size paper. double side printing looks

chaotic and messy.
Margins should be equal throughout the report.

Please see separate file : Example Short Technical Report

Please access file in the LEAP during f2f classes.

https://blog.bit.ai/technical-report/

https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/techreports

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9780470950043.app4