Structure of a Report

• Cover sheet
  This contains the title of the report, author's name and affiliation/address, date, and purpose of the report (e.g. For partial fulfillment of the requirements of AerE361)
• Table of Contents
  The key to achieving a good structure of your report and breaking up a large writing task into smaller chunks is preparing a contents list. Early organization of the contents list directs your attention to specific focus areas and thoughts, one at a time. This organization should go down to Sections and Subsections. A well organized report is easy to write and read.
  Pay attention to logical structure of your report. A report is nothing but a story telling where you go from general to specific. The partitioning of the report into sections and subsections should be such that one idea seamlessly flows into the next. Make sure that the reader is not getting a whiplash while jumping between ideas and developments. Pay attention to continuity.
• List of Symbols
  While reading the equations in your report, the reader can quickly turn to this list and find out what the symbols mean, instead of a laborious search of the definition hidden in many pages of text.
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Abstract
  In as few words as possible, the Abstract informs the reader the topic of the report and the key findings. Abstract is seldom longer than 100 words. The "abstract" must be the only item in its own page.
• Introduction
  The main body of the report begins with Introduction. The Introduction tells the reader the context and the purpose of the report and answers the following questions:
  • What is this report about?
  • Where does it fit in the world of engineering?
  • What are the previously published/documented work on this topic?
  • Is the work a new advancement or does it fill holes in previous studies?
  • What will the reader be able to do if he/she knows the material of the report?
  • What are the benefits and shortcomings of the proposed method?
  • How is the method tested?
  • How is the material organized in the report?
• Core
  This is the main part of the report. This part will contain:
  • Development of the theory or description of an experimental set-up.
  • Application of the theory or the steps and procedures of an experiment.
  • Results
• Conclusions
  The "Conclusion" contain the key findings of the work. It must state how satisfactorily the "goals and objectives" stated in the Introduction are reached.
• Appendices
  The detail in the mathematical derivation, experimental parameters, construction/manufacturing of the experimental set-up that hinders the flow of the text in the main body of the report should be included in the Appendices. This detail diverts reader's attention away from the main theme of the work and the reader may not need this detail in his/her first reading of the report. A reader who wants to go deep into your work will read the Appendices. What goes into the Appendices is your judgment.
• References
  References can appear in the text in one of the two following forms:
  • According to Ash(1928), the cart comes before the horse.
  • It is well known that the horse comes before the cart (Ash, 1935)
  For two authors, use "Hedge and Fence(1954)". For more than two authors, use "Hedge et al.(1954)".

Writing Style

(some parts are borrowed from "A Pocket Style Manual" by Diana Hacker and "Writing Well" by Donald Hall)

• Active-Passive Choice: Active verbs convey thoughts with thrust, whereas, passive verbs make a sentence wordy and dull. However, passive voice is appropriate when you wish to minimize the role of the actor. Use active voice as "A power surge destroyed the coolant pumps.", instead of "The coolant pumps were destroyed by a power surge". However, use passive as "All the calculations were done on a Linux machine", instead of "I did all the calculations on a Linux Machine".
• Who is the reader: Before you start writing, decide who your intended audience is. This determines how much detail you want to put in your report. If you are describing a new mathematical or experimental technique, you must include enough detail so that your reader can fully re-construct your work just by reading your report without relying upon any other material. On the other hand, if you are writing a report for researchers who are familiar with the subject area, then narrate only the new knowledge or technique that you are contributing to the area.
• Justification and rationale: Engineers and scientists are very critical about validity of concepts, flow of the logic, and conclusions from observations. For each idea or step, you must state why this step is being taken, what do you expect to happen at the end of the step, and what are the assumptions.
• Continuity and flow: One idea/concept/step must seamlessly flow into the next. Do not leave multiple loose ends hanging without telling the reader how and where you will weave them back into the fabric of your report. The reader must think, "...of course, this is the natural step." and not "Where did that come from?" Prepare the reader and make the reader comfortable about where you are taking him/her and why.
• Tighten wordy sentences: Long sentences are not always wordy and short sentences are not always concise. Examine sentences carefully to determine whether the same meaning can be conveyed in fewer words.
  Wordy:
  
  • Daniel is employed at a rehabilitation center working as a physical therapist.
  • It is imperative that all police officers follow strict procedures when apprehending a suspect.
  Tightened:
  
  • Daniel is a physical therapist at a rehabilitation center.
  • All police officers must follow strict procedures when apprehending a suspect.
• Avoid sentence fragments: A group of words beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period need not be a sentence. Check whether the group of words make a complete sentence.
  Fragmented:
  
  • The pumpkins froze. When the blizzard arrived unexpectedly in October.
  • The economy began picking up in 1939. The effects of World War II.
  Corrected:
  
  • When the blizzard arrived unexpectedly in October, the pumpkins froze.
  • The economy began picking up in 1939 because of World War II.
• Equations, Figures, and Tables: Refer to a single equation, figure, or table in the text as "...Eq.(5)...", "...Fig.(4)...", and "...Table-3...". Refer to multiple items as "...Eqs.(12,18,21)..." or "...Eqs.(7-9)...", "...Figs.(12,14,18)...", "...Tables-3,8,11..."
• Revising: The best way to revise is to come back to your report a day or two later. When you are reading for a revision pretend that you are reading it for the first time, the contents are completely new to you, and the report is written by someone else.
• Plagiarism: Ignoring an original source and careless omission of credit are no excuses. You must give credit to the authors, peers, and collaborators whenever they make contribution to your work.