TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING (MCE 214) LECTURE NOTES

A technical report can be described as a written scientific document that conveys information about
technical research in an objective and fact-based manner. It usually consists of the three key features of a
research i.e process, progress, and results associated with it. Some common areas in which technical
reports are used are agriculture, engineering, physical, and biomedical science.

Purpose of Technical Reports

The purpose of writing technical report is to communicate or present information gained through a
process of technical or experimental work. It is the written work products to present facts and conclusions
about designs, experiments, and other projects. It includes research about technical concepts and often
includes visual depictions of designs and data. Other common purposes are:

 To convince the reader of something. For example:

o to convince a government agency of the effect of a particular course of action

o to convince a client that your solution will fulfill their needs
o to convince the public that a proposed project will bring benefits

 To persuade the reader to do something. For example:

o to persuade a government or council to adopt a particular course of action

o to persuade a client to choose one design over another
o to persuade an organization to partner with your company on a project

 To inform the reader about something (usually for a further purpose). For example:

o to provide a government department with information they will base policy on

o to instruct other engineers who will work from your plans
o to present the outcomes of a project to stakeholders

Uses/Functions of Technical Reports

A technical report can be used for the physical description of a new machine, the steps in a particular
process, or the results of an experiment. For example: A writer not only describes two sites for a factory
but also persuades readers to accept one of them as the best i.e. to prove your point. The document that
achieves these purposes is called technical writing. Functions of Technical Writing also includes the
following points:
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. Examples
of such technical reports include proposals, regulations, manuals, procedures, requests, progress reports,
emails, and memos.

2. Evidence for your work

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Technical report serves as the sole evidence of work carried out by the student. It shows the steps
you taken 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 

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.

TYPES OF TECHNICAL REPORTS

Technical-background report: This type of technical report provides background on a topic. For
example, solar energy, global warming, CD-ROM technology, a medical problem, or U.S. recycling
activity. However, the information on the topic is not just for anybody who might be interested in the
topic, but for some individual or group that has specific needs for it and is even willing to pay for that
information. For example, imagine an engineering firm bidding on a portion of the work to build a
hemodialysis clinic. The engineers need to know general knowledge about renal disease and the
technologies used to treat it, but they don't want to have to go digging in the library to find it. What they
need is a technical background report on the subject.

Instructions: These are probably the most familiar of all the types of reports. Students often write backup
procedures for the jobs they do at their work. Others write short user manuals for an appliance,
equipment, or program.

Feasibility reports: Another useful type of report is one that studies a problem or opportunity and then
makes a recommendation. A feasibility report tells whether a project is "feasible"--that is, whether it is
practical and technologically possible.

Recommendation A recommendation report compares two or more alternatives and recommends one

(or, if necessary, none).

Evaluation An evaluation or assessment report studies something in terms of its worth or value. For

example, a college might investigate the feasibility of giving every student an e-mail address and putting
many of the college functions online. The same college might also seek recommendations on the best
hardware and software to use (after the feasibility report had determined it was a good idea).

Primary research report: Primary research refers to the actual work someone does in a laboratory or in
the field--in other words, experiments and surveys. You may have written a "lab report," as they are
commonly called, for one of your previous courses. This is a perfectly good possibility for the technical
report as well. In this type of report, you not only present your data and draw conclusions about it, but
also explain your methodology, describe the equipment and facilities you used, and give some
background on the problem. You can modify this type by summarizing other primary research reports.
For example, you could report on the research that has been done on saccharine.

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Technical specifications: In this report type, you discuss some new product design in terms of its
construction, materials, functions, features, operation, and market potential. True specifications are not
much on writing--the text is dense, fragmented; tables, lists, and graphics replace regular sentences and
paragraphs whenever possible. Thus, specifications are not a good exercise of your writing abilities.
However, you can write a more high-level version--one that might be read by marketing and planning
executives.

Proposal: This kind of reports writes about a brilliant idea and the reason for it. A proposal is a method
of persuading the reader to agree with the reader’s point of view or accept his suggestion. It is a
systematic, factual, formal and persuasive description of a course of action or a set of
recommendations/suggestions.

Business plan/ prospectus. If you are ambitious to run your own business, you can write a business
prospectus, which is a plan or proposal to start a new business or to expand an existing one. It is aimed
primarily at potential investors. Therefore, it describes the proposed business, explores the marketplace
and the competition, projects revenues, and describes the operation and output of the proposed business.

Policies and procedures for organizations: This type of reports are designed to determine and influence
all major decisions, actions and activities that are within the boundary set by the organization. Policies
address important issues such as what constitutes acceptable behaviour by employees. Procedure-
sequence of step to be followed in consistent manner such as how the organization will respond to any
policy violation.

Methodology and Sequence of Writing a Technical Report

The methodology describes the procedures or processes followed when writing a report to meet the
objectives of the report.
Before writing a report the following areas must be looked in to;
Make up your mind regarding the message you want to convey
Try to define the likely audience: Technical audience. Non-technical, e.g., general public. Taking into
account the audience’s limitations and the message you want to convey, choose an appropriate outline
The following are the components of a technical report;

1. 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.

2. Dedication

This is a short sentence, in the middle of a separate page, in which the report is dedicated to a family
member, friend or acquaintance. It may be left out and is seldom included in short technical reports. It is
more suited to theses.

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3. Acknowledgements

In this section, other people or organisations that were directly involved in the execution, presentation and
financing of the project or report are acknowledged, such as technicians, typists and institutions that
provided money or made facilities available.

4. Table of Contents

The table of contents must begin on a new page. The page is provided with a heading, such as “Contents”
or “Table of Contents”, followed by a list of the three main levels of headings and their page numbers.
Journal papers do not have a table of contents.
The first item in the table of contents should be the first heading that appears after the table of contents,
for example List of Figures. Front matter that precede the table of contents are not listed. Appendices
must be listed, each with their title and starting page.

5. List of Tables and List of Figures

These lists, arranged according to the table and figure number, each begin on a new page and indicate the
relevant page number in the right-hand column. The titles of tables and figures must be descriptive
enough so that a specific figure or table can be identified in the list and must correspond to the title used
for the figure or table in the text.

6. List of Symbols and Abbreviation

• The list of the symbols that are used must begin on a new page. The list is arranged in the following
sequence: All the ordinary symbols are listed first, followed by the superscripts and then the
subscripts. Finally, the auxiliary symbols, for example overbar and underscore for vectors and
averages or accent marks for time-dependent components, are listed. The following order must be
used within each of these groups: Firstly all the Roman letters (in alphabetical order, with the capital
letter of each symbol before the small letter, for example “A” followed by “a”, followed by “B”);
Then all the Greek symbols (in the order of the Greek alphabet, capital letters before small letters);
• Finally, the symbols that begin with numbers, in numerical order.

Units should preferably not be given in the nomenclature section, as the symbol represents a physical
property that is independent of the system of units.
7. ABSTRACT
Abstract is a short summary of 100 to 150 words. It must summarise the contents and most important
findings so that the reader can decide whether he/she wants to read the rest of the report. A few
guidelines for the abstract are given below:

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• The abstract is not an introduction to the report. It often provides no background information.

• Every word is important. Limit the use of words that do not convey important information to a
minimum, for example, do not say things such as “In this report, the failings of a compost turner are
investigated”, but rather say “The failings of a compost turner are investigated”.

• Convey the key elements of the objective and context, and the most important methods, findings and
recommendations.

• The abstract is usually the last part of the report to be written.

• Include in the abstract the keywords that someone may use to search for the report in a literature
database.

In certain technical environments, an Executive Summary is given instead of an ordinary abstract.

Executive summaries are usually one page long and provide sufficient quantitative information so that a
manager can identify the most important decisions arising from the report and grasp their extent and
impact.

8. Background

This is a description of the history behind that particular problem. It may cover previous works on the
area and previous attempts to solve the problem.

9. INTRODUCTION

A transition towards the main body of the document. It should take an uninformed reader from a level of
zero-knowledge to a level in which the reader is able to understand the main body of the document.

Introduction components
A good introduction must have the following
Motivation (i.e., why is it important?)
Background (i.e., what is the history of this issue?)
Objectives (i.e., what are you trying to accomplish?)
Scope (i.e., what is the focus of your analysis?)
Limitations (i.e., what constraints did you face?)
Content (i.e., what is in the report?)
Organization (i.e., how the report is organized?)

10. Methodology/Experimental Details

A description of the methodological framework you have used in the project, or investigation. It focuses
on the theoretical side of the methods. 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.

11. Analysis of Results/Results and Discussions

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Is a description of the results obtained and analysis of the implications associated with main results. It
must be supported by figures and tables to facilitate, not to confuse, the reader.
12. The summary
In summary, you need to write an overview of the whole report including the results and conclusions
made.

13. Conclusions

A summary of the major findings you have arrived to in the previous sections. “Conclusions” is not an
analysis section.

14. 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 required.

15. References

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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

METHODS OF DATA PRESENTATION

Methods of presentation must be determined according to the data format, the method of analysis to be
used, and the information to be emphasized. Inappropriately presented data fail to clearly convey
information to readers and reviewers. Even when the same information is being conveyed, different
methods of presentation must be employed depending on what specific information is going to be
emphasized.

Text presentation
Text is the main method of conveying information as it is used to explain results and trends, and provide
contextual information. Data are fundamentally presented in paragraphs or sentences. Text can be used to
provide interpretation or emphasize certain data. If quantitative information to be conveyed consists of
one or two numbers, it is more appropriate to use written language than tables or graphs.

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Graph presentation
Whereas tables can be used for presenting all the information, graphs simplify complex information by
using images and emphasizing data patterns or trends, and are useful for summarizing, explaining, or
exploring quantitative data. While graphs are effective for presenting large amounts of data, they can be
used in place of tables to present small sets of data. A graph format that best presents information must be
chosen so that readers and reviewers can easily understand the information. Types of graphs used to
present information include: bar chart, pie chart, histogram, etc.

Table presentation
This involves the systematic arrangement of data in rows and columns. Tables, convey a lot of
information at a glance. Anyone with a sufficient level of literacy can easily understand the information
presented in a table. Tables are the most appropriate for presenting individual information, and can
present both quantitative and qualitative information.

CITING AND REFERENCING SOURCES

Authors support their arguments by citing previously published material. Readers may want to refer to
those publications, to get information for their own purposes or to check the author's use of the cited
material. To serve the reader, citations and references must be clear and accurate. They are easier to use if
they are consistent in style as well. Most publications and most editors have definite preferences in the
way they cite references in the text and list references at the end of articles.
Text citations
Source material must be documented in the body of the paper by citing the author(s) and date(s) of the
sources. The underlying principle is that ideas and words of others must be formally acknowledged. The
reader can obtain the full source citation from the list of references that follows the body of the paper.
A. When the names of the authors of a source are part of the formal structure of the sentence, the year of
publication appears in parentheses following the identification of the authors.
Consider the following example - Wirth and Mitchell (1994) found that although there was a reduction in
insulin dosage over a period of two weeks in the treatment condition compared to the control condition,
the difference was not statistically significant. [Note: and is used when multiple authors are identified as
part of the formal structure of the sentence.]

B. When the authors of a source are not part of the formal structure of the sentence, both the authors and
year of publication appear in parentheses. Consider the following example-
Reviews of research on religion and health have concluded that at least some types of religious behaviors
are related to higher levels of physical and mental health (Gartner, Larson, & Allen, 1991; Koenig, 1990;
Levin & Vanderpool, 1991; Maton & Pargament, 1987; Paloma & Pendleton, 1991; Payne, Bergin,
Bielema, & Jenkins, 1991). [Note: & is used when multiple authors are identified in parenthetical
material. Note also that when several sources are cited parenthetically, they are ordered alphabetically by
first authors' surnames and separated by semicolons.]
C. When a source that has two authors is cited, both authors are included every time the source is cited.
D. When a source that has three, four, or five authors is cited, all authors are included the first time the
source is cited. When that source is cited again, the first author’s surname and ‘et al.’ are used. Consider
the following example: Reviews of research on religion and health have concluded that at least some
types of religious behaviors are related to higher levels of physical and mental health (Payne, Bergin,
Bielema, & Jenkins, 1991). Payne et al. (1991) showed that …
E. When a source that has six or more authors is cited, the first author’s surname and ‘et al.’ are used
every time the source is cited (including the first time).
F. Every effort should be made to cite only sources that you have actually read. When it is necessary to
cite a source that you have not read (‘Grayson’ in the following example) that is cited in a source that you
have read (‘Murzynski & Degelman’ in the following example), use the following format for the text
citation and list only the source you have read in the References

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list - Grayson (as cited in Murzynski & Degelman, 1996) identified four components of body
language that were related to judgments of vulnerability.
G. To cite a personal communication (including letters, emails, and telephone interviews), include
initials, surname, and as exact a date as possible. Because a personal communication is not
‘recoverable’ information, it is not included in the ‘References’ section. For the text citation, use
the following format: B. F. Skinner (personal communication, February 12, 1978) claimed …
H. To cite a Web document, use the author-date format. If no author is identified, use the first few words
of the title in place of the author. If no date is provided, use ‘n.d.’ in place of the date. Consider the
following examples - Degelman (2009) summarizes guidelines for the use of
APA writing style. Changes in Americans’ views of gender status differences have been documented
(Gender and Society, n.d.).

References
In the reference list, you should provide the details of each entry in the following manner:
•For a book: name of the authors, title, publisher, city of publication and year of publication.

(Taylor J. R., An Introduction to Error Analysis, Oxford University Press, Mill Valley, CA, USA, 1982)
•For an article in a journal: name of the authors, title, name of the journal, volume (issue number), range
of pages, and year.
(Sen S. and Sarkar S., „Optimization of Combined Cycle Power Plants‟, Energy Conver. Mgmt., 42(3),
359-371, 2001.)
For an article in conference proceedings: name of the authors, title, name of conference, editors (if
present), range of pages and year.
(Sen B. „Design, and Performance of a Dynamic System‟, Proceedings of National Renewable Energy
Convention ’99, Sawhney R.L. (Ed.), 9-15, 1999.)
•A chapter in a book: authors of the chapter, title of the chapter, editors of the book, title of the book,
publisher, city of publication, range of pages, and year of publication.

(Sen G., Solar Power Stations, Veziroglu T.N. (Ed.), Solar Energy and Conservation: Technology and
Utilization, Volume2, Pergamon Press, NY, USA, 665-673, 1978)

A report: authors, title, university/company, report number, year.

(Ahmed K., Renewable Energy Technologies, World Bank Technical Paper Number 240, 1994)
•A Ph.D. or Masters Thesis: author, title, department, university, year.

(Kedare S.B., 'Investigations on a Reciprocating Wind Machine', Ph.D. Thesis, Dept. of Mechanical
Engineering, IIT, Mumbai, 1991)
•A manual / handbook / standards: company name (if there are no authors), title, reference number, year.

(British Standards Institution, Specification for Steel girder bridges, BS153: Parts 3B & 4: 1972, 1972)
A web-site: Author or Organization, name of the site, complete address of the site, date visited
(Danish Wind Industry Association, Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines: Lift, http://www.windpower.org
/tour/wtrb/lift.htm, Aug 16, 2002)

ORIGINALITY AND PLAGIARISM

Any use or copy of other people’s facts or ideas or any use of phrases, sentences or paragraphs, must be
enclosed in quotation marks and referenced appropriately. Otherwise, it is assumed to be plagiarized i.e.
you have knowingly copied someone, passing them off as your own. This is a serious offence. If the
person copied from is a fellow student, then this offence is known as collusion and is equally serious.
This applies equally to information obtained from the Internet / websites. In such a case, will be sent to
the Investigating Officer and you may be called before a disciplinary panel. However, examination boards

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can impose penalties for these offences ranging from loss of marks to disqualification from the award of
degree.

FACTS AND OPININONS IN A REPORT

It is important to distinguish between fact and opinion in a technical report. This will ensure that the
report is presented to the right audience in a precise and conscience manner. A fact is an objective piece
of information that can be proven true or false. It can be verified with more than one piece of reliable
evidence. You will find facts in science, math, history, and everyday life. Some verifiable facts that are
not up for debate because they can be proven with evidence are listed below. Unlike facts, opinions can't
be verified. They can be supported by evidence as in persuasive writing, but don't need to be. Anyone can
have any opinion about anything because it doesn't need to be based in reality. Take the facts listed below
and see how they are different as opinion statements.
EXAMPLES OF FACTS AND OPINIONS
FACTS OPINIONS
You need oxygen to survive Oxygen is the most important element
The capital city of Mexico is Mexico City Mexico City is the best city in Mexico.
People keep dogs as pets Dogs are great pets.
Valentine’s Day is on February 14th Valentine’s Day is the worst holiday.
More than 70% of Earth’s surface is ocean We should use ocean water for drinking.
Water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius 0 degrees Celsius is too cold

DIFFRENCE BETWEEN FACTS AND OPINIONS

FACTS OPINIONS
The fact is described as the statement that can be Opinion is an expression of judgment or belief
verified or proved to be true. about something.

Fact relies on observation or research Opinion is based on assumption.

The fact is an objective reality Opinion is a subjective statement.

Facts can be verified with the help of evidence or Opinion is not supported by any evidence.
statistics
Facts explain what actually happened. Opinion represents a perception about something.

One important feature of fact is that it is universal As against this, every human being has a different
and does not differ from person to person. opinion on a particular subject and so, it varies
from one person to another.

Facts are shown with unbiased word. Opinion is expressed with biased words.
Facts can change anybody’s opinion But opinion cannot change facts.

Facts are real information and so it cannot be Opinions can be debated.

challenged or debated.

TERMS OF REFERENCE IN A TECHNICAL REPORT

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The Terms of Reference provides the reason and/or the purpose for which the report was developed. This
information helps the reader to understand the perspectives and motivations of the author(s) of the report.

In providing information about the reason/purpose of the report, the Terms of Reference will state
the scope of the report. The simplest way to think about "scope" is that it defines what is required to be in
the report, and in some cases what is NOT required to be in the report. Therefore  scope may be viewed as
being the boundaries of the report.

It is important to include the followings in a report terms of reference

Start by writing "The purpose of this report is to . . . " or "The scope of this report is . . . "

 In your Terms of Reference you should provide an overview of the most important guidelines you
were given for writing the report. For example, these guidelines might be about :

 the timeframe of the report i.e. monthly, quarterly, progress report, end of the project
report
 the specific requirements of the report given
 the sponsor of the report i.e. the person or organisation that has commissioned the project
or investigation about which the report has been written
 If your document is an academic piece of work, it is permissible for you to inform the reader of
this in your Terms of Reference.

The Terms of Reference does not need to be lengthy. For a report of 5-6 pages, a single paragraph of 3-4
sentences is enough. The Terms of Reference is usually at the beginning of the report.

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