Structure

A technical report must have a defined structure that is easy to navigate and clearly portrays the objective of the report. Here is a list of pages, set in the order that you should
include in your technical report.
Cover page- It is the face of your project. So, it must contain details like title, name of the author, name of the institution with its logo. It should be a simple yet eye-catching
page.
Title page- Create a simple title page at the beginning of your report. The title page obviously needs to provide the title of the report and your name, and often includes details like the date and
the purpose for the report's submission.
Abstract- Also referred to as the executive summary ( about 10% of the length of the main report).
The executive summary should focus on your findings, conclusions, and/or recommendations, and allow the report itself to present the data—although highlights of the data should be provided.
Acknowledgment- Here, you acknowledge the people parties, and institutions who
helped you in the process or inspired you for the idea of it.
Table of contents– Each chapter and its subchapter is carefully divided into this
section for easy navigation in the project. If you have included symbols, then a similar
nomenclature page is also made. Similarly, if you’ve used a lot of graphs and tables,
you need to create a separate content page for that. Each of these lists begins on a
new page.
Introduction- Finally comes the introduction, marking the beginning of your project.
On this page, you must clearly specify the context of the report. It includes specifying
the purpose, objectives of the project, the questions you have answered in your
report, and sometimes an overview of the report is also provided. Note that your
conclusion should answer the objective questions.
]In most cases, the introduction will likely be 1-3 paragraphs in length.The end of the
introduction should clearly state what the report “does.” It might do so by way of a
direct statement (“This report analyzes…”), or by providing a series of questions
(which may in some cases be bulleted or numbered) to be addressed.
• Body
• This will include all the main content of the report like what task
was at hand, what were the findings, what methodology was used
to find the findings, comparison and discussion of the results. This
is usually the longest and most important part in the structure of
the report so the material must be presented logically to make it
is easy to read. It is divided into numbered and headed sections.
These sections separate the different main ideas in a logical order.
• Conclusion- The purpose of the conclusion is to basically conclude
any and everything that you talked about in your project. Mention
the findings of each chapter, objectives reached, and the extent to
which the given objectives were reached. Discuss the implications
of the findings and the significant contribution your research
made.
• Appendices- They are used for complete sets of data, long
mathematical formulas, tables, and figures. Items in the
appendices should be mentioned in the order they were used in
the project.
• References- This is a very crucial part of your report. It cites the
sources from which the information has been taken from. This may
be figures, statistics, graphs, or word-to-word sentences. Details of
published sources of material referred to or quoted in the text .The
absence of this section can pose a legal threat for you. While
writing references, give due credit to the sources and show your
support to other people who have studied the same genres.
• Bibliography- Many people tend to get confused between
references and bibliography. Let us clear it out for you. References
are the actual material you take into your research, previously
published by someone else. Whereas a bibliography is an account
of all the data you read, got inspired from, or gained knowledge
from, which is not necessarily a direct part of your research.
• Style ( Pointers to remember )
• Let’s take a look at the writing style you should follow while writing a technical report:
• Avoid using slang or informal words. For instance, use ‘cannot’ instead of can’t.
• Use a third-person tone and avoid using words like I, Me.
• Each sentence should be grammatically complete with an object and subject.
• Two sentences should not be linked via a comma.
• Avoid the use of passive voice.
• Tenses should be carefully employed. Use present for something that is still viable and
past for something no longer applicable.
• Readers should be kept in mind while writing. Avoid giving them instructions. Your work
is to make their work of evaluation easier.
• Abbreviations should be avoided and if used, the full form should be mentioned.
• Understand the difference between a numbered and bulleted list. Numbering is used
when something is explained sequence-wise. Whereas bullets are used to just list out
points in which sequence is not important.
• All the preliminary pages (title, abstract, preface..) should be named in small roman
numerals. ( i, ii, iv..)
• All the other pages should be named in Arabic numerals (1,2,3..) thus, your report begins
with 1 – on the introduction page.
• Separate long texts into small paragraphs to keep the reader engaged. A paragraph
should not be more than 10 lines.
• Do not incorporate too many fonts. Use standard times new roman 12pt for the text. You
Headings
Use heading and sub-headings to break up the text and to guide the reader. They should be
based on the logical sequence which you identified at the planning stage but with enough
sub-headings to break up the material into manageable chunks. The use of numbering and
type size and style can clarify the structure as follows;

3 Methods of harnessing wave energy

3.1 Shore-based systems
3.2 Deep-water systems
3.2.1 "Duck" devices
3.2.2 Rafts
Questions:

Choose the correct answer:

1- A short paragraph thanking any person or organization which gave you help in collecting data is called____.
A)acknowledgement b) Glossary c) summary d) introduction
2- A summary of the report in which you include one structure or so for every main section of your report is called
A)Glossary b) introduction c) abstract d) summary
3- Stating the purpose of report, scope of the report and explanation of arrangement of report sections is known as ___.
a) Title Page b) Summary c) Introduction d) Glossary
4- It provides the title of the report and your name, and often includes details like the date and the purpose for the report's submission
a) Title Page b) Summary c) Introduction d) Glossary

Answers:
1-a 2-c 3- c 4-a
Decide whether the following rules about technical writing are true or false:

1-Avoid using slang or informal words.

2-Two sentences should not be linked via a comma.
3-Abbreviations should be avoided and if used, the full form should
be mentioned.
4-Understand the difference between a numbered and bulleted list.
Bullets is used when something is explained sequence-wise.
Whereas numbering are used to just list out points in which
sequence is not important.
5-Long paragraphs could refer to how much information the writer
has.
• Answers:
• 1-T 2-T 3-T 4-f 5-f