Chapter 3:

A TECHNICAL REPORT
Distinguishing features of a technical
report
There are four main parts to any report, and each of
these has a different purpose:
1.Summary or Abstract
2.Introduction
3.Report core (e.g. Theory, Description of
Experiment, Results and Discussion)
4.Conclusions
• In addition there may be appendices attached to
the end of the report.
 Additional Parts
Additional parts provide completeness to the report. Essential parts for
completeness are in boldface, and the numbers on the left suggest
numbered sections.
• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Abstract or Summary
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures (if necessary)
• List of Tables (if necessary)
1. Introduction
2. Theory
3. Discussion
4. Conclusion
5. Future Work (when necessary)
6. References
• Appendix
• Back Cover
1.The “Summary” or “Abstract”
• In as few words as possible the summary, which will
head up the report, often appearing on the title page,
lets the reader know the subject of the report, where
the information has been obtained, and the key
findings.
• Summaries are seldom longer than 250 words. For
short reports, they may be as little as 100 words, and
are usually written as a single paragraph of prose.
• The summary should be a distillation of the key
elements already noted in the Introduction and the
Conclusions and should be readable in isolation of the
body of the report, so avoid symbols, acronyms and
jargon.
2.The “Introduction”
The Introduction prepares the reader for the details that
follow in the discussion. It presents the circumstances that
led up to the project, the reasons for the project's
existence, and why the report was written.
Questions which the reader will ask include:
• why is this work being presented?
• where does it fit in with the World of Engineering?
• how does it relate to other work in the field?
• what are the aims and objectives of the project?
The Introduction has three main components:
1. The Background: Describes the events leading up to
the existing situation, what projects (if any) have been
made before (including different approaches), and why
the project or study is necessary.
2. The Purpose: Defines what must be obtained out from
the project or study, who authorized it, and the focus of
the project.
3. The Scope: Points out the constraints imposed on the
project by the persons who authorized it or did it,
and/or by the conditions under which the project was
completed. These constraints include economical,
environmental, ethical, and social factors that generally
affect the cost, completion time, depth of the study,
and other factors that might or might not be included.
3.The “Core of the Report”
This will be the main part of the report and provide all of
the results and discussions which someone who wished
to examine the work in detail would require. For
example, a report on an experimental project would
include:
• theory
• experimental method
• results
• Discussion
However, a report on, say, an industrial visit would
probably only have a single core section, whereas an
honors project report might contain theory,
experiment, results and discussion
4 The “Conclusions”
• The conclusions should be a condensed version of
the intervening sections giving the key findings of
the work.

• No new scientific argument should be presented

here – everything should have already been
discussed in the “Discussion”.

• Conclusions should be closely related to the

objectives which were stated in the introduction.
5 Appendices
• If there is information which is not of immediate
use to the reader, or for some other reason is
difficult to incorporate in the body of the report,
then it should be consigned to an appendix.
Typical appendices are:
• references (always the first appendix)
• long mathematical derivations
• large design drawings (but key diagrams should be
put in beside the relevant text)
Format of the ‘References’ List
• In the References section, the citations are normally
listed in numerical order starting at [1]
• The format of the References depends on the
source of the work
• Type of work:
• Books
• Journals
• Conferences, workshops and symposiums
• Internet
Format of the References - Books
• Books are referenced as:
Initials and surname of the author(s) followed by the
Title of the Publication(in italics), the edition of the
publication (for books with more than one edition),
place of publication, publisher, year of publication,
any specific pages
For example;
I. Grout, Integrated Circuit Test Engineering Modern
Techniques, London, Springer, 2006
 Additional Parts

The Title Page:
This is the first page that must appear in any technical
document. The title page contains four main elements:
1. Complete title of the report. It must be informative
without being too extensive.
2. Name of the organization and, in some cases, name of
the person for whom the report has been prepared.
3. The name of the organization and persons that
prepared the project.
4. The date when the report was written, and,
sometimes, a report number.

The Table of Contents
• The table of contents is included at the beginning of
the report, mainly for the purpose of aiding the
reader to find specific information.
• A secondary purpose of the table of contents is to
let the reader visualize how the author has
organized the information, and which topics have
been covered.

List of Figures (if necessary):
• The List of Figures, when included, is placed after
the table of Contents.
• Its purpose is to aid the reader to find the location
of specific figures when their number is large in the
report.

List of Tables (if necessary):
• In a similar way, when the number of tables in the
document is large, a list of tables aids the reader to find
specific tables in the report.
• When included, the list of tables is placed after the List
of Figures.

The Future Work
• The future work section usually becomes necessary
when reporting a project that has not been completed
yet, or if extensions on the same subject are possible,
increasing the scope of the work.
• In this section, the writer should clearly establish the
actions to be taken in order to complete or expand the
reported work.

About Figures and Tables
Illustrations such as drawings, plots, graphics, and
photographs provide a very useful way to help the
reader visualize complex topics. However,
illustrations should be chosen and inserted in the
document very carefully following these guidelines:
1. They must always serve a useful purpose.
2. They must supplement, not duplicate, what is
written.
3. They must be referred to in the text.
4. They should be simple, clear, and easy to
understand.
5. They must be together with a caption and,
sometimes, with explaining comments.

The Cover

• You should take seriously the appearance of the

cover of your technical report since it symbolizes
your image and/or your organization's.

• The cover of a commissioned technical report

should be done in color and carry the logo of the
pertinent organization.
Table illustrates who might read what parts of your
report on your part of a large project.