Report Technical Writing

1. Report Technical Writing

2. Report Style • The report must be clear, concise and complete. • Ideas must be expressed in a logical flow and a complete sentences. • The report indicates honestly what happened and why. • The report should be written in third person as well as in past tense.

3. Report Style cont. • The report should be written on 8-1/2 inch by 11 inch white paper with a minimum of one inch margin at the top and sides.(Letter size) • The page numbering should be centered or right aligned in the bottom margin (footer). • The report should not be written in a font smaller than (10 Times New Roman).

4. Report Style cont. • Section headings should be bold type with no smaller than (10 Times New Roman). • The report should be stapled together in the upper left hand corner of the report.

5. Report Format • Title Page • Table of contents, list of figures and list of tables. • Abstract • Introduction • Objective • Equipments

6. Report Format con. • Procedures • Results and discussion • Conclusion and recommendations • References • Appendices

7. Title Page It consists of: • 1.University, faculty, dep. and course. • 2.Report title and experiment number. • 3. Names of authors of the report. • 4. Instructor name. • 4.The date of the report submission.

8. Table of Contents • The sections of the same level are aligned with each other. • Page numbers are right-aligned with each other so that the last digit in a number is always in the same column. • Main chapters or sections are all caps. • Lower levels use sentence style caps.

9. Abstract • The report contains one paragraph abstract .(no more 250 words). • It describes the entire report including the significant results with specific numbers.

10. Introduction • The report introduction should be one or two paragraphs. • It describes the background material for the report and the related information. • It should be interesting to read and encourage the reader to complete the report.

11. Objective • The objective of the Report should be stated in ONE sentence or short paragraph. • Example: • <<The objective of this report is to report the measurements of the sample block taken during Laboratory Exercise One.>>

12. Equipments • In this section, the equipments of the experiment and the most important characteristics and parameters of each equipment are mentioned.

13. Procedures • This section describes exactly how the experiment was performed. • It should be written in your own words. • Any assumption or limitation should be mentioned. • Long, detailed procedures should be placed in the Appendix.

14. Results and Discussion • Raw data taken during the experiment should be presented in an appropriate from such as tables, graphs, figures, or photographs. • Whenever graphics are used, special attention should be given to the drawing scale in order to yield meaningful curves that clearly indicate the significance of the results. • Discuss data with regard to trends, compare results between different methods, etc.;.

15. Results and Discussion • Discuss the significance of the results as related to the objectives. • Identify possible sources of experimental error and if these have affected the results. • It may include a correlation and/or a comparison of your experimental results with those that can be predicted from theories or the use of theoretical analysis, and try to explain any discrepancies.

16. Conclusion and Recommendations • Conclusions are the important finding determined from the experiment. • All statements must be supported by the data and the results. • New information not reported on earlier can not be introduced in this section.

17. Conclusion and Recommendations • Any judgments made should pertain directly to the work. • Present the important recommendations that you have drawn from your results

18. References • Author name (Publishing Date), "reference book title", edition, publisher and publishing place. e.g: Sherif D. El Wakil; Material Science and Engineering Lab Manual; PWS Publishing Company, Boston; 1994. • For web sites: • Company or foundation name • The link

19. Figures • The title is placed under the figure. • Each axis should be placed in a normal position along the bottom and the left of the figure. • The axis needs to be labeled with its variable, symbol and appropriate units. • Figures should be mentioned in the text.

20. Tables • The table title is placed above the table. • Tables should be inserted in the text immediately after their reference. • Each column will be labeled with a short heading, including the units. • Where tables run over several pages, the table will have headings on each page.

21. Numbering • All pages in the report are numbered; but on some pages, the numbers are not displayed ( Title Page) • All pages before the introduction uses lowercase Roman numerals. • All pages beginning with and following the introduction use Arabic numerals.

22. Grade Policy • The report must be typed i.e.; handwritten reports will NOT be accepted. • You should submit the report ONE week after the experiment is conducted. • Any lateness after the deadline will affect your grade. • The report of non-attended experiment will grade to ZERO. • Any similar report will grade to ZERO.