Technical Report

Writing

Features, Significance, Purpose, Stages, Style, Types,

Formats & Structure

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Unit 2 – Forms of Technical
Communication
A. 7 Cs of Business Writing– Concreteness, Completeness, Clarity, Conciseness, Courtesy,
Correctness and Consideration.
B. C.V./Resume Writing – Types(Chronological, Functional, Hybrid) and how to draft a CV along
with Cover Letter
C. Report Writing – Definition, Importance, Objective, Types, Structure and Drafting
D. Proposal Writing - Definition, Importance, Objective, Types, Structure and Drafting
E. Thesis/Project/Dissertation Writing – Importance and Structure
F. Technical Research Paper Writing – Importance, Types and Structure
G. Conference and Seminar – Importance, Types, Paper Writing
H. Expert Technical Lecture – Advantages, Types and Requirements or Tips

• Topics ‘A’ and ‘B’ to be studied from First Year notes.

• Topics ‘C’, to ‘H’ to be studied from Second Year textbook and notes.
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Sub-topics of Report Writing
• Introduction
• Features
• Significance
• Purpose
• Steps
• Style
• Types
• Formats
• Structure
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Report - Definition
• A report is a formal document written for a specific audience to meet
a specific need.
• A piece of FACTUAL writing, based on EVIDENCE, containing
ORGANIZED INFORMATION on a particular TOPIC.
• The word report is taken from the Latin word “re-portare” which
means to “carry back” the information who was not present at the
scene of the event.
• Example: Like the teacher takes the attendance record to show it to the
superior

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Features of Report
• Factual- A report should always be based on facts and should be supported
by enough evidence
• Objective – A report should be objective in style and nature. Objectivity
helps in maintaining the formal nature of a report.
• Organized – A report should be properly organized in compliance to the
given format.
• Use of simple language – A report should always be written in a simple
language so that it is easily comprehensible. Accuracy, brevity and clarity
are very important.
• Scientific – More often than not a report is scientific in nature and deals
with scientific topics.
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Features of Report…..contd.
• Relevance
• Reader-oriented
• Brevity
• Clarity
• Illustrations
• Homogeneity- Should deal with only one main topic

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Significance of Reports
• Provide information in a scientific way.
• Help in planning new ventures.
• Help in keeping records which provide necessary feedback.
• Persuade and motivate the readers.
• The officials evaluate the performance of their employees on the
basis of reports.
• Important means of information within and outside the organization.

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Purposes of Report
• Presenting data
• Describing problems and suggesting solutions
• Discussing and analysing data
• Recording events and happenings
• Analysing a situation or a condition
• Giving feedback, suggestions, or recommendations

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Objectives of Reports
• To record an experiment (primary research report/laboratory report)
• To record research findings or technical specifications (a report on the
details of a new research)
• To present a record of accomplished work (Project report)
• To document current status (an inspection report)
• To record and clarify complex information for future reference (a
report on policies and procedures)

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Objectives of Reports…contd.
• To document schedules, timetables, and milestones (a report on a
long term plan)
• To recommend actions that can be considered in solving certain
problems (recommendatory report)
• To present information to a large number of people (annual report)
• To present organized information on a particular topic (a report
describing the working of various divisions of an organization)

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Steps in Report Writing
• Analyze the problem and purpose.
• Determine the scope of the report (should be narrowed)
• Determine the need of the audience
• Gather all the information
• Analyze and organize the information
• Write the first draft
• Revise, review and edit
• Write the final draft

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STYLE OF REPORTS
• Adaptation: - The language used in the report should be simple and
correct. The style and presentation affect the impression made by the
report.
• Readability and Objectivity: - A report must not contain anything
personal and generally complete objectivity is maintained in a report.
It is always free from personal comments.
• Order: - Technical orders of paragraph development should be used in
a report. In order to preserve the readability and the value of the
report inductive and deductive methods are very necessary.

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STYLE OF REPORTS
• Diction: - The language of technical writing ought to be precise and it should not
be figurative. Wordiness should be avoided.
• Sentence:-Sentences must not be unnecessarily lengthy and at the same time
very short. Proper balance is necessary.
• Paragraph: - The size of the paragraph is related to the theme of the paragraph.
So the size is guided by the principles of unity, coherence and logic.
• Coherence: - Coherence binds the parts together and to the whole. Unity is
strengthened and enhanced by coherence in a piece of writing.
• Viewpoint: - A report can be presented either in the past tense or in the present
tense. The occasion of the report would determine the time-viewpoint.

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Types of Report (Criteria-wise)
• Source - Voluntary or Authorized
• Target - Internal or External
• Length- Short or long
• Mode of Presentation - Oral or Written
• Frequency - Routine or Special
• Purpose - Informational or Analytical
• Miscellaneous - Feasibility, Introductory, Progress, Incident, Marketing,
Laboratory, Investigative, Project, etc
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• Format – Manuscript, Memorandum, Letter & Pre-printed
Voluntary or Authorized Reports
(Source)
• Classified on the basis of source i.e. who initiates them.
• Voluntary reports
a) Prepared on one’s own initiative.
b) Flexible as the format in not defined by the solicitor
• Authorised
a) Are at the request of someone.
b) Rigid as the format is mostly defined by the solicitor

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Internal and External
Reports(Audience)
• Classified on the basis of target audience.
• Internal reports are designed for use within the organization. Ex.
Memo.
• External reports are for people outside the organization.
• External reports are more formal than internal reports.
• External reports may be in letter format or manuscript format.

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Short and Long Reports(Length &
Details)
• Classified on the basis of length & the details they contain.
• Short report discusses one point of the problem.
• Long report discusses a problem in detail.
• Long reports are prepared after extensive and formal research.
• Short reports are concise and prepared in short span of time.

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Oral and Written Reports(Mode of
Presentation)
• Classified on the basis of mode of presentation.
• Oral reports are simple and easy to present.
• Immediate feedback is possible, but audience need to comprehend
quickly.
• Written reports contribute to the permanent records of the
organization.
• Written reports are more accurate and precise, and can be edited,
reviewed, retrieved and stored.

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Periodic or Special Reports
(Frequency)
• Classified on the basis of frequency of publication.
• Periodic reports are prepared and presented at a regular, prescribed
interval
• Periodic reports contain mere facts without an opinion and
recommendation
• Special reports are related to a single occasion or situation.
• Special reports deal with non-recurrent problems.

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Informative or Analytical Reports
(Purpose)
• Classified on the basis of purpose.
• Informative report entails provision to all details and facts pertaining to the
problem
• Informative reports focus on documenting new information in an objective,
factual and organized manner.
• Analytical reports analyses facts, draws conclusions and make
recommendation.
• Analytical reports comprises of various stages –
• Drafting problem statement
• Evolving criteria
• Suggesting alternatives and evaluations
• Drawing conclusions and making recommendations
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Feasibility Report (Misc.)
• If a firm wants to start a new branch or to bring any other change to
avoid losses and increase profit, it explores all the possibilities and
studies the chances of the new plan being effective.
• This preparation is done in the form of a feasibility report.
• This report helps us to determine whether a proposed scheme would
be practicable and profitable or not.
• Studies the problem, opportunity and plan for taking action

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Introductory Report (Misc.)
• Written in order to introduce a topic
• Do not delve deep or analyse it extensively
• Gives the audience a preliminary feel of the topic
• Do not need subdivisions or subsections
• Relatively shorter

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Progress Report (Misc.)
• Provide regular updates about the progression of an ongoing project.
• States expected deadlines
• Describe work done till date
• States reason of delay, if any
• Highly formal

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Incident Report (Misc)
• Describe an event or an accident without distorting the facts.
• Important to maintain accuracy and truthfulness.
• The events constituting the incident are presented in chronological
order.
• Newspaper reports are essentially Incident reports.

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Marketing Report (Misc.)
• Written while promoting or launching a product.
• Also drafted to assess the effectiveness of existing strategies.
• Persuasive in nature.
• Contains details of segmentation, targeting and positioning.
• Can be about global, domestic or regional markets.

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Laboratory Report (Misc.)
• Documents the experiments conducted in the lab.
• Should be prepared with utmost accuracy and precision.
• Must include the following –
• Aim
• Theory
• Apparatus
• Procedure
• Observation
• Calculation
• Results
• Conclusion
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Investigative Report (Misc.)
• Prepared to find out certain facts in a specific context .
• Might be an analysis of the things which actually happened or an
enquiry into the cause behind the situation.
• An investigative report would begin with an introduction to the
background of the report.
• Its body consists of the listing of the findings.

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Project Report (Misc.)
• Mostly written after the completion of a project.
• Provides details on the overall picture.
• Consists of information on economic, technical, financial, managerial
and production aspects.
• Mostly written in manuscript format.

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Letter Report (Format)
• Based on format.
• It is more or less like a business letter and has a similar format as that
of a letter.
• A letter report is more personal in tone than that of formal report.
• We can make a letter report more readable by presenting the facts
clearly and systematically.

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Memorandum Report (Format)
• Based on format.
• They are mostly written in printed letter heads.
• A memo report begins with the information about the date, the
writer and the receiver.
• It doesn’t have a salutation or a complementary close.

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Memorandum Report Format
NAME OF ORGANISATION/INSTITUTION

TO: REF. :
FROM: DATE:

SUBJECT:

POINTS DISCUSSED/STUDIED/OBSERVED/WORK DONE

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RECOMMENDATIONS:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Pre-Printed /Blank Form Report
(Format)
• In the form of a prescribed form.
• It is routine report
• Periodically presented by simply filling the form.

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Manuscript Form Report (Format)
• Most commonly used format.
• Usually quite long.
• Structure is broadly divided into three parts-
• Prefatory Parts or Front Matter
• Main Text
• Supplementary Parts or back matter
• Has some optional elements too.

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 Structure of Report
Prefatory Parts Main Text Supplementary Parts Optional Elements

Cover Page Introduction Appendix Frontispiece

Title Page Discussion Reference/ Letter of Transmittal

Bibliography
Certificate Conclusion Glossary Copyright Notice

Acknowledgements Recommendation Preface

Table of contents Summary

List of Illustrations Index

Abstract
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 Structure of Report
Prefatory Parts Main Text Supplementary Parts Optional Elements

Cover Page

Title Page

Certificate

Acknowledgements

Table of contents

List of Illustrations

Abstract

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 Cover Page
• Serves as a quick reference to the readers.
• Elegance and protection
• Topic & name of author is mentioned.
• Might also include year and details of
publishing organisation.
• The classification of report(secret/Top
secret) done on top left hand corner.
• The report no. mentioned on top right hand
corner.

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Title Page
• More or less similar to cover page.
• Contains
• Title of the report
• Name of the writer
• Name of the person or organization
to which the report is being
submitted/approving authority

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Certificate
• Certificate vouching original
contribution of the report writer.

• Contains a statement testifying the

original work, place, date & signature
of project guide.

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 Acknowledgements
• An expression of gratitude.
• A list of persons who you would like to thank for
their advice, support and assistance of any kind.
• Categorize according to the audience: courtesy,
real help, emotional support, secretarial
assistance
• Few openings-
• Thanks are due to….
• Mere thanks in a few words would be highly….
• I acknowledge with thanks the support rendered
by……..

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 Table of Content
• List all the main sections of the report
in sequence with the page numbers
they begin on.
• Helps the reader to locate a specific
topic easily & quickly.
• Can have sub-sections as well.
• Should include all the three parts –
prefatory, main text & supplementary.

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 List of Illustration
• Serves as the content page for all the
illustrations.
• All visual aids like graphs, maps,
drawings, charts, etc. are grouped under
this heading.
• Except tables.
• Provides titles & page number of all
visual aids

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 Abstract
• The length is generally 2 to 5 percent of
the report.
• If the length of report is less than 10
pages it does not require it.
• It is especially relevant in specialist to
specialist communication.
• It does not allow abbreviation, acronym
or Illustration.

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 Structure of Report
Prefatory Parts Main Text Supplementary Parts Optional Elements

Introduction

Discussion

Conclusion

Recommendation

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Introduction
• Should provide a general view of the report
• Introduction
• Background of the Report- Conditions giving rise to the project. Details of previous studies.
• Purpose and Scope - Describes the objective and boundaries of the work.
• Authorization – Details of solicitor/recipients.
• Basic Principles or theories involved – Important theories & principles.
• Methods of Gathering data.
• Brief outline of methodology – Methodology adopted in the analysis.
• General Structure of the Report- Organization of various sections.

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Discussion
• Lengthiest section.
• Contains information that supports conclusion & recommendation.
• Information and data are presented, analysed and interpreted.
• Tables, charts, etc. are used to present data.
• “The discussion should lead the readers through the same reasoning
process that the author used to reach the conclusions and show them
that they are sound.”

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Conclusion
• Purpose:
• States briefly the major inferences that can be drawn from the discussion.
• Content:
• Must be based on information presented in the discussion.
• Must be based on reasoned analysis of the data.
• Each conclusion should be presented as a separate paragraph.
• Tabular form can also be used if there are more than one conclusion.
• Never suggest or recommend future action.
• Do not introduce any new idea or point.

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Recommendation
• Purpose:
• Suggests a course of action based on the findings and conclusions.
• Content:
• Must follow logically from the conclusions
• Must be supported both by the conclusions and by the data in the discussion
• Types:
• Tentative – Temporary solutions
• Conciliatory- Suggestions; May be accepted by the recipient.
• Aggressive – Mandatory; To be implemented immediately

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 Structure of Report
Prefatory Parts Main Text Supplementary Parts Optional Elements

Appendix

Reference/
Bibliography
Glossary

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Appendix
• Purpose:
• Includes data, which is not necessary to an immediate understanding of the
discussion & which is kept separate from the main body of the report to avoid
interrupting the line of development of report
• Content:
• Appendices can contain program listings, drawings, extra figures, technical
specifications, or other detailed explanations of some aspects of your Report.

• The term “appendix” applies to only one set of data: for example,
program listings would be in Appendix A and technical specifications
would be in Appendix B.
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Reference/Bibliography
• Purpose: Acknowledge use of materials from printed sources in the preparation
of your report. Indicate exact source of all quotations and/or results of previous
work.
• Content: Author's name, title of book, year published, publisher's name, city,
ISBN number, page number.
• Bibliographic entries are listed alphabetically by the name of the author or by the
first major work of the title.
• Example: Vetterli, C. “Technical Report Guidelines”, Internship Journal, Vol. 1 No.
1,August 1992.
• Common knowledge does not require a reference, e.g. the speed of light the
atomic weight of some element. If a new value for a commonly accepted quantity
is cited, the source should be referenced.
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Glossary
• List of unfamiliar words or
uncommon technical terms
which are beyond the
understanding of the common
reader.
• Lists the words along with their
explanations.

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 Structure of Report
Prefatory Parts Main Text Supplementary Parts Optional Elements

Frontispiece

Letter of Transmittal

Copyright Notice

Preface

Summary

Index

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 Frontispiece
• Prefatory or front matter.
• Illustrations(photographs, drawings,
diagrams) superimposed on the
cover page.
• Illustration should be directly or
indirectly related to the topic.

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 Letter of Transmittal
• Prefatory or Front matter.
• A brief covering letter from the report writer
explaining the causes of writing the report.
• Conveys the report to audience.
• Written version of what you would say when
handing over the report.
• Contents include:
• Objectives/ Terms of reference
• Scope
• Methodology adopted
• Summarize conclusions and recommendations
• Significance/Suggestions
• Additional research necessary
• Thank the reader. Offer to answer questions.
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Copyright Notice
• Prefatory or Front matter.
• Grant the creator the exclusive right
to reproduce, prepare derivative
works, distribute, perform, and
display the work publicly.
• Symbol - ©

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Preface
• Prefatory or Front matter.
• It is the preliminary message from
the writer to the reader.
• Included when published.
• Contents:
• Factors that led to the report.
• Organisation of the report
• Highlights
• Significance
• Acknowledgements
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Summary
• Prefatory or Front matter.
• Meant for all readers.
• Presents the entire report in a nutshell.
• Longer than abstract.
• May contain headings, data, etc.

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Abstract v/s Summary
Abstract Summary
•Essence of the report. •Entire report in a nutshell.

•2-5 percent of the report. •5-10 percent of the report.

•More relevant in specialist to •Meant for all readers.

specialist communication.

•Do not include illustrations. •May include certain illustrations.

•Information is qualitative. •Information is both qualitative & quantitative.

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Index
• Supplementary or Back Matter.
• Intended to serve as a quick guide
to locate specific words/material in
a report.
• It includes the words, technical
terms and also different page
numbers on which that word or
technical term appears.
• Arranged in alphabetical order.

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Footnotes & Endnotes
• Footnotes – Main Text
• Endnotes – Supplementary Part or Back Matter
• Footnotes - an additional piece of information printed at the bottom of a
page.
• They cite references or comment on a designated part of the text above it.
• Endnote implies a note printed at the end of the book or a particular
section of the book.
• The one difference between footnotes and endnotes is that footnotes
appear at the bottom of the same page, while endnotes appear at the end
of the paper.
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 Footnotes

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Probable Questions
• Commonly asked long questions-
• Drafting of a report. (Opt for Letter Format)

• Structure of a report. (Manuscript format)

• Types of a report. (Arrange criteria-wise)

• Significance & purpose of report. (Arrange content in bullet-points with

headings)

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How to Attempt Question on Types
of Reports
Criteria Types Description
1) Voluntary 1) Voluntary reports
Source a) Prepared on one’s own initiative.
2) Authorized b) Flexible as the format in not defined by the solicitor
2) Authorised
a) Are at the request of someone.
b) Rigid as the format is mostly defined by the solicitor

Target 1) Internal •Internal reports are designed for use within the organization. Ex. Memo.
Audience •External reports are for people outside the organization.
2) External •External reports are more formal than internal reports.
•External reports may be in letter format or manuscript format.

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 THANKS

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