Unit 5

I. Types of Report
Research reports vary greatly in length and type. In each individual case, both the length and
the form are largely dictated by the problems at hand. For instance,
• business firms prefer reports in the letter form, just one or two pages in length. Banks,
insurance organisations and financial institutions are generally fond of the short
balance-sheet type of tabulation for their annual reports to their customers and
shareholders.
• Mathematicians prefer to write the results of their investigations in the form of algebraic
notations.
• Chemists report their results in symbols and formulae.
• Students of literature usually write long reports presenting the critical analysis of some
writer or period or the like with a liberal use of quotations from the works of the author
under discussion.
• In the field of education and psychology, the favourite form is the report on the results
of experimentation accompanied by the detailed statistical tabulations. Clinical
psychologists and social pathologists frequently find it necessary to make use of the
case-history form.
Reports can be broadly classified into two :
➢ Technical Report
➢ Popular report
(A) Technical Report
In the technical report the main emphasis is on (i) the methods employed, (it)
assumptions made in the course of the study, (iii) the detailed presentation of the
findings including their limitations and supporting data.
A general outline of a technical report can be as follows:
1. Summary of results: A brief review of the main findings just in two or three pages.
2. Nature of the study: Description of the general objectives of study, formulation of the
problem in operational terms, the working hypothesis, the type of analysis and data required,
etc.
3. Methods employed: Specific methods used in the study and their limitations. For
instance, in sampling studies we should give details of sample design viz., sample size,
sample selection, etc.
 4. Data : Discussion of data collected, their sources, characteristics and limitations. If
secondary data are used, their suitability to the problem at hand be fully assessed. In case of
a survey, the manner in which data were collected should be fully described.
5. Analysis of data and presentation of findings:
The analysis of data and presentation of the findings of the study with supporting data in the
form of tables and charts be fully narrated. This, in fact, happens to be the main body of the
report usually extending over several chapters.
6. Conclusions: A detailed summary of the findings and the policy implications drawn from
the results be explained.
7. Bibliography: Bibliography of various sources consulted be prepared and attached.
8. Technical appendices: Appendices be given for all technical matters relating to
questionnaire, mathematical derivations, elaboration on particular technique of analysis and
the like ones.
9. Index: Index must be prepared and be given invariably in the report at the end.
The order presented above only gives a general idea of the nature of a technical report; the
order of presentation may not necessarily be the same in all the technical reports. This, in
other words, means that the presentation may vary in different reports; even the different
sections outlined above will not always be the same, nor will all these sections appear in any
particular report. It should, however, be remembered that even in a technical report, simple
presentation and ready availability of the findings remain an important consideration and as
such the liberal use of charts and diagrams is considered desirable.
(B) Popular Report
The popular report is one which gives emphasis on simplicity and attractiveness. The
simplification should be sought through clear writing, minimization of technical,
particularly mathematical, details and liberal use of charts and diagrams. Attractive
layout along with large print, many subheadings, even an occasional cartoon now and
then is another characteristic feature of the popular report. Besides, in such a report
emphasis is given on practical aspects and policy implications.
There can be several variations of the form in which a popular report can be prepared.
The only important thing about such a report is that it gives emphasis on simplicity and
policy implications from the operational point of view, avoiding the technical details of
all sorts to the extent possible.
We give below a general outline of a popular report.
1. The findings and their implications: Emphasis in the report is given on the findings
of most practical interest and on the implications of these findings.
 2. Recommendations for action: Recommendations for action on the basis of the
findings of the study is made in this section of the report.
3. Objective of the study: A general review of how the problem arise is presented along
with the specific objectives of the project under study.
4. Methods employed: A brief and non-technical description of the methods and
techniques used, including a short review of the data on which the study is based, is given
in this part of the report.
5. Results: This section constitutes the main body of the report wherein the results of the
study are presented in clear and non-technical terms with liberal use of all sorts of
illustrations such as charts, diagrams and the like ones.
6. Technical appendices: More detailed information on methods used, forms, etc. is
presented in the form of appendices. But the appendices are often not detailed if the report
is entirely meant for general public.

II. Layout of a Research Report

Anybody, who is reading the research report, must necessarily be conveyed enough about the
study so that he can place it in its general scientific context, judge the adequacy of its methods
and thus form an opinion of how seriously the findings are to be taken. For this purpose there
is the need of proper layout of the report. The layout of the report means as to what the research
report should contain.
A comprehensive layout of the research report should comprise
(A) preliminary pages;
(B) the main text; and
(C) the end matters.
(A) Preliminary Pages
In its preliminary pages the report should carry a title and date, followed by acknowledgements
in the form of ‘Preface’ or ‘Foreword’. Then there should be a table of contents followed by
list of tables and illustrations so that the decision-maker or anybody interested in reading the
report can easily locate the required information in the report.
(B) Main Text
The main text provides the complete outline of the research report along with all details. Title
of the research study is repeated at the top of the first page of the main text and then follows
the other details on pages numbered consecutively, beginning with the second page. Each main
section of the report should begin on a new page. The main text of the report should have the
following sections: (i) Introduction; (ii) Statement of findings and recommendations; (iii) The
results; (iv) The implications drawn from the results; and (v) The summary.

(i) Introduction: The purpose of introduction is to introduce the research project to the readers.
It should contain a clear statement of the objectives of research i.e., enough background should
be given to make clear to the reader why the problem was considered worth investigating. A
brief summary of other relevant research may also be stated so that the present study can be
seen in that context. The hypotheses of study, if any, and the definitions of the major concepts
employed in the study should be explicitly stated in the introduction of the report. The
methodology adopted in conducting the study must be fully explained. The scientific reader
would like to know in detail about such thing: How was the study carried out? What was its
basic design? If the study was an experimental one, then what were the experimental
manipulations? If the data were collected by means of questionnaires or interviews, then
exactly what questions were asked (The questionnaire or interview schedule is usually given
in an appendix)? If measurements were based on observation, then what instructions were
given to the observers? Regarding the sample used in the study the reader should be told: Who
were the subjects? How many were there? How were they selected? All these questions are
crucial for estimating the probable limits of generalizability of the findings. The statistical
analysis adopted must also be clearly stated. In addition to all this, the scope of the study should
be stated and the boundary lines be demarcated. The various limitations, under which the
research project was completed, must also be narrated.
(ii) Statement of findings and recommendations: After introduction, the research report must
contain a statement of findings and recommendations in non-technical language so that it can
be easily understood by all concerned. If the findings happen to be extensive, at this point they
should be put in the summarised form.
(iii) Results: A detailed presentation of the findings of the study, with supporting data in the
form of tables and charts together with a validation of results, is the next step in writing the
main text of the report. This generally comprises the main body of the report, extending over
several chapters. The result section of the report should contain statistical summaries and
reductions of the data rather than the raw data. All the results should be presented in logical
sequence and splitted into readily identifiable sections. All relevant results must find a place in
the report. But how one is to decide about what is relevant is the basic question. Quite often
guidance comes primarily from the research problem and from the hypotheses, if any, with
which the study was concerned. But ultimately the researcher must rely on his own judgement
 in deciding the outline of his report. “Nevertheless, it is still necessary that he states clearly the
problem with which he was concerned, the procedure by which he worked on the problem, the
conclusions at which he arrived, and the bases for his conclusions.”5
(iv) Implications of the results: Toward the end of the main text, the researcher should again
put down the results of his research clearly and precisely. He should, state the implications that
flow from the results of the study, for the general reader is interested in the implications for
understanding the human behaviour. Such implications may have three aspects as stated below:
(a) A statement of the inferences drawn from the present study which may be expected to
apply in similar circumstances.
(b) The conditions of the present study which may limit the extent of legitimate
generalizations of the inferences drawn from the study.
(c) The relevant questions that still remain unanswered or new questions raised by the
study along with suggestions for the kind of research that would provide answers for them.
It is considered a good practice to finish the report with a short conclusion which
summarises and recapitulates the main points of the study. The conclusion drawn from the
study should be clearly related to the hypotheses that were stated in the introductory
section. At the same time, a forecast of the probable future of the subject and an indication
of the kind of research which needs to be done in that particular field is useful and
desirable.
(v) Summary: It has become customary to conclude the research report with a very brief
summary, resting in brief the research problem, the methodology, the major findings and the
major conclusions drawn from the research results.
(C) End Matter
At the end of the report, appendices should be enlisted in respect of all technical data such as
questionnaires, sample information, mathematical derivations and the like ones. Bibliography
of sources consulted should also be given. Index (an alphabetical listing of names, places and
topics along with the numbers of the pages in a book or report on which they are mentioned or
discussed) should invariably be given at the end of the report. The value of index lies in the
fact that it works as a guide to the reader for the contents in the report.

III. DIFFERENT STEPS IN WRITING REPORT

Research reports are the product of slow, painstaking, accurate inductive work. The usual steps
involved in writing report are: (a) logical analysis of the subject-matter; (b) preparation of the
final outline; (c) preparation of the rough draft; (d) rewriting and polishing; (c) preparation of
the final bibliography; and (f) writing the final draft. Though all these steps are self explanatory,
yet a brief mention of each one of these will be appropriate for better understanding.

Logical analysis of the subject matter: It is the first step which is primarily concerned with
the development of a subject. There are two ways in which to develop a subject

(a) logically and

(b) chronologically.
The logical development is made on the basis of mental connections and associations between
the one thing and another by means of analysis. Logical treatment often consists in developing
the material from the simple possible to the most complex structures. Chronological
development is based on a connection or sequence in time or occurrence. The directions for
doing or making something usually follow the chronological order.

Preparation of the final outline: It is the next step in writing the research report “Outlines
are the framework upon which long written works are constructed. They are an aid to the
logical organisation of the material and a reminder of the points to be stressed in the report.

Preparation of the rough draft: This follows the logical analysis of the subject and the
preparation of the final outline. Such a step is of utmost importance for the researcher now sits
to write down what he has done in the context of his research study. He will write down the
procedure adopted by him in collecting the material for his study along with various limitations
faced by him, the technique of analysis adopted by him, the broad findings and generalizations
and the various suggestions he wants to offer regarding the problem concerned.

Rewriting and polishing of the rough draft: This step happens to be most difficult part of all
formal writing. Usually this step requires more time than the writing of the rough draft. The
careful revision makes the difference between a mediocre and a good piece of writing. While
rewriting and polishing, one should check the report for weaknesses in logical development or
presentation. The researcher should also “see whether or not the material, as it is presented, has
unity and cohesion; does the report stand upright and firm and exhibit a definite pattern, like a
marble arch? Or does it resemble an old wall of moldering cement and loose brick. In addition
the researcher should give due attention to the fact that in his rough draft he has been consistent
or not. He should check the mechanics of writing—grammar, spelling and usage.

Preparation of the final bibliography: Next in order comes the task of the preparation of the
final bibliography. The bibliography, which is generally appended to the research report, is a
list of books.
 The entries in bibliography should be made adopting the following order:

IV. MECHANICS OF WRITING A RESEARCH

REPORT
There are very definite and set rules which should be followed in the actual preparation of the
research report or paper. Once the techniques are finally decided, they should be scrupulously
adhered to, and no deviation permitted. The criteria of format should be decided as soon as the
materials for the research paper have been assembled. The following points deserve mention
so far as the mechanics of writing a report are concerned:

1. Size and physical design: The manuscript should be written on unruled paper 8 1 2² × 11²
in size. If it is to be written by hand, then black or blue-black ink should be used. A margin of
at least one and one-half inches should be allowed at the left hand and of at least half an inch
at the right hand of the paper. There should also be one-inch margins, top and bottom. The
paper should be neat and legible. If the manuscript is to be typed, then all typing should be
double-spaced on one side of the page only except for the insertion of the long quotations.

2. Procedure: Various steps in writing the report should be strictly adhered (All such steps
have already been explained earlier in this chapter).

3. Layout: Keeping in view the objective and nature of the problem, the layout of the report
should be thought of and decided and accordingly adopted (The layout of the research report
and various types of reports have been described in this chapter earlier which should be taken as a
guide for report-writing in case of a particular problem).
4. Treatment of quotations: Quotations should be placed in quotation marks and double spaced,
forming an immediate part of the text. But if a quotation is of a considerable length (more than four or
five type written lines) then it should be single-spaced and indented at least half an inch to the right
of the normal text margin.
5. The footnotes: Regarding footnotes one should keep in view the followings:

a. The footnotes serve two purposes viz., the identification of materials used in quotations
in the report and the notice of materials not immediately necessary to the body of the
research text but still of supplemental value.
b. Footnotes are placed at the bottom of the page on which the reference or quotation
which they identify or supplement ends. Footnotes are customarily separated from the
textual material by a space of half an inch and a line about one and a half inches long.
c. Footnotes should be numbered consecutively, usually beginning with 1 in each chapter
separately. The number should be put slightly above the line, say at the end of a
quotation. At the foot of the page, again, the footnote number should be indented and
typed a little above the line. Thus, consecutive numbers must be used to correlate the
reference in the text with its corresponding note at the bottom of the page, except in
case of statistical tables and other numerical material, where symbols such as the
asterisk (*) or the like one may be used to prevent confusion.
d. Footnotes are always typed in single space though they are divided from one another
by double space.

6. Documentation style: Regarding documentation, the first footnote reference to any given
work should be complete in its documentation, giving all the essential facts about the edition
used. Such documentary footnotes follow a general sequence. The common order may be
described as under:
(i) Regarding the single-volume reference
1. Author’s name in normal order (and not beginning with the last name as in a
bibliography)followed by a comma;
2. Title of work, underlined to indicate italics;
3. Place and date of publication;
4. Pagination references (The page number).
Example : John Gassner, Masters of the Drama, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1954, p.
315.
(ii) Regarding multivolumed reference
1. Author’s name in the normal order;
2. Title of work, underlined to indicate italics;
3. Place and date of publication;
4. Number of volume;
5. Pagination references (The page number).
7. Case of multiple authorship
If there are more than two authors or editors, then in the documentation the name of only the
first is given and the multiple authorship is indicated by “et al.” or “and others”. Subsequent
references to the same work need not be so detailed as stated above. If the work is cited again
without any other work intervening, it may be indicated as ibid, followed by a comma and the
page number. A single page should be referred to as p., but more than one page be referred to
as pp. If there are several pages referred to at a stretch, the practice is to use often the page
number, for example, pp. 190ff, which means page number 190 and the following pages; but
only for page 190 and the following page ‘190f’. Roman numerical is generally used to indicate
the number of the volume of a book. Op. cit. (opera citato, in the work cited) or Loc. cit. (loco
citato, in the place cited) are two of the very convenient abbreviations used in the footnotes.
Op. cit. or Loc. cit. after the writer’s name would suggest that the reference is to work by the
writer which has been cited in detail in an earlier footnote but intervened by some other
references.
8. Punctuation and abbreviations in footnotes:
The first item after the number in the footnote is the author’s name, given in the normal
signature order. This is followed by a comma. After the comma, the title of the book is given:
the article (such as “A”, “An”, “The” etc.) is omitted and only the first word and proper nouns
and adjectives are capitalized.
9. Bibliography:
Bibliography should be prepared and appended to the research report as discussed earlier.
10. Preparation of the index:
At the end of the report, an index should invariably be given, the value of which lies in the fact
that it acts as a good guide, to the reader. Index may be prepared both as subject index and as
author index. The former gives the names of the subject-topics or concepts along with the
number of pages on which they have appeared or discussed in the report, whereas the latter
gives the similar information regarding the names of authors. The index should always be
arranged alphabetically. Some people prefer to prepare only one index common for names of
authors, subject-topics, concepts and the like ones.

V. Referencing and Report Writing

The reference section is a very important component of the report. It contains all the necessary
literature that have been referred to before, during and after the study and contains books,
journal articles and documents from where the materials have been referred to. References
differ from bibliography in that references are those literature which have been cited in the
main text of the report in different places. Bibliography includes many referred as well as many
unreferred literature in the text of the report.

Sometimes a book would have been consulted but not necessarily referred to in the text. Thus,
the bibliography will be inclusive of many materials which have not been referred in the text.
Of course it may contain the referred materials also. On the other hand, the references will
contain basically the referred materials. In this unit we are going to focus on references, how
to write the same and the importance of reference etc. Basically, we will be depending on the
APA source for this purpose.

Purpose of citation and writing references

• A citation tells the readers where the information came from. In your writing, you
cite or refer to the source of information.
• A reference gives the readers details about the source so that they have a good
understanding of what kind of source it is and could find the source themselves if
necessary. The references are typically listed at the end

References: All sources included in the References section must be cited in the body of the
Pagination: The References section begins on a new page.
Heading: ”References” (centered on the first line below the running head)
Format: The References (with hanging indent) begin on the line following the References
heading. Entries are organised alphabetically by surnames of first
authors. Most Reference entries have the following components: Authors: Authors are listed
in the same order as specified in the source, using surnames and initials. Commas separate all
authors. When there are eight or more authors, list the first six authors followed by three
ellipses (...) and then the final
author. If no author is identified, the title of the document begins the Reference. Year of
Publication: In parentheses following authors, with a period following the closing
parenthesis. If no publication date is identified, use “n.d.” in parentheses following the
authors.
Source Reference: Includes title, journal, volume, pages (for journal article) or title, city of
publication, publisher (for book). Italicize titles of books, titles of periodicals, and periodical
volume numbers. paper (and all sources cited in the paper must be included in the References
section).

The name-and-year system.

Citations: When you cite the source of information in the report, you give the names of the
authors and the date of publication.

Example 1: Jenkins and Busher (1979) report that beavers eat several kinds of herbaceous
plants as well as the leaves, twigs, and bark of most species of woody plants that grow near
water.

Example 2: Beavers have been shown to be discriminate eaters of hardwoods (Crawford,

Hooper, and Harlow 1976).

References: The sources are listed at the end of the report in alphabetical order according to
the last name of the first author, as in the following book and article.

Example 1: Crawford, H.S., R.G. Hooper, and R.F Harlow. 1976. Woody Plants Selected by
Beavers in the Appalachian and Valley Province. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of
Agriculture.

Example 2: Jenkins, S.H., and P.E. Busher. 1979. Castor canadensis. Mammalian Species.
120:1-8.

References Specifications

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.

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).
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) summarises guidelines for the use of APA writing style.