How To Write A Report For Engineering

In Brief

You will find the best report writing/ topics for future researchers enrolled in Engineering & Technology.
In order to identify the future research topics, we have reviewed the engineering (recent peer-reviewed studies) on report writing.
Report is an important skill needed for engineering students.
A technical report is a report written to present technical details in an understandable format.

Highlights:

A detailed guide on how to write a report or paper. A report should be written using the following guidelines:

Give an appropriate title for the report.
Include an abstract for the paper.
Include conclusion and future work
Include references and appendices
Follow style guidelines
Avoid plagiarized content.(Rapaport, 2019)

Introduction

Writing a report is an important skill needed for engineering students. Reports are used for analyzing data, producing results and conclusions. In engineering, a technical report is written for clients or customers, and other engineers to communicate and it is the conventional method for delivering the results of research, investigations, and design projects. Writing such technical reports are referred to as technical writing.(Ting & Abdullah, 2010).

A technical report is a report written to present technical details in an understandable format. It is separated into different sections, and each section explains elaborately its purpose and gives an idea about how to prepare a draft report, and then refining a report to produce a precise, qualified report.(Newing, 2010)

Prepare Draft

The first thing in writing all a report is collecting the information that may be needed to draft a report. Note down the ideas about the topic randomly. After noting down the points associated with the topic, arrange the points that are related to each other as a group. After grouping the ideas, prepare a draft with sections. This is the draft of how the report should look.(Perez-Palacin et al., 2019)⁷

Structure of the Report

The title

The title of your paper might well appear in a list of other papers. Therefore, it must be both precise and easy to understand. At the same time, it should not be too long. And also the title is a separate unit, and it should not be added in the word count. After writing the title, write the information about the author, and then write the date which is very important in preparing the report.

Abstract

The abstract should be the outline of the report. The aim of writing an abstract in the report is to give a clear idea about the paper for the readers, so that, they can decide whether the paper would be of interest or not. It is good to recheck this section after finishing the report, and examine whether it exactly reflects the concept of the topic or not. This is because, as you prepare the report, you will get a clear knowledge about the paper and if there is anything that is missed that can be corrected. Get custom research proposal writing, data collection, research planning service and more to complete your work in a high quality with particular time period.

Introduction of the report

The next main section in preparing a report is the introduction part. In this section, you have to explain in brief the concept and the goal of your paper, the aim of your work. It is important that you must not elaborate on the topic very briefly here. The concept of the paper and aim of the work are projected to give the context of your report and point out the problems that you are handling in the report, and why it is important and a solution or a recommendation to the problem. Try to be more specific and simple. Try to note the relevant points in this section. It should convince the readers why is it so important to read and motivate them to go on reading.

Body of the Paper

It is the most important part of the report as it contains the content of the paper. Write the content with subheading in your report with appropriate points under each subheading. This will give a professional look to your work and makes it be in a more presentable form. It also helps the readers to understand what the concept is about. List the points using bullets or number format that helps readers to easily understand the concept. Also, separate the points to avoid misunderstanding of the concept by placing each point under its subtopic.

References

It is an excellent idea to include a section about the references done for the paper. Explain how your work is related to the references cited and how your approach differs from them. It also helps the readers to get a clear idea about the approach your work is carried on. It is also very helpful for those who are new to this field, and who want to gain knowledge in this field. It also helps to discover the novelty of the paper.

Conclusion and future work

The last main section in report writing is the conclusion part. In this section, you should note down the contributions of your work. You should also note down what is innovative in your work, and what suggestions can be done in the future. It helps the readers find out what you have done in your work, and that you have not done. It should also be motivating for the readers because it shows the way through which the work has to be carried out, and might encourage the readers to accomplish such work. There is also report writing guidance, PhD dissertation writing help and more on various topics.

The acknowledgments

After ending the report with a conclusion write a short section that has a list of people who have helped in carrying out the research, and also the list of people who have proofread the paper whether it is written well or not. Do not forget to thank those people who have read the paper and those who have commented on it.(Hedin, 2005)

The style for the report

The report should be printed on an A4 paper on a single side. Keep in mind that the hand-written report will not be acknowledged.
Page numbers should be given to pages except for the title page and the abstract section.
The margin space should be at least 2.54 cm on all sides.
When presenting the report, staple it at the top left. In case, if the report is lengthy, then it is good to bind it.(Winckel, Hart, Behrend, & Kokkinn, 2002)

Diagram, graph, or table

While writing your report, try to include some diagrams or graphs to make the reader understand what the report is about.

Proofreading

Before submitting the report do not forget to proofread the report right from the beginning to the end of the report to check for any errors, so that, you get a chance to correct it and is also a vital part of the writing process.(Prance, 2004)

References

Hedin, G. (2005). Some guidelines for writing article-style reports in Computer Science. Retrieved from http://fileadmin.cs.lth.se/sde/people/gorel/misc/ReportGuidelines.pdf
Newing, H. (2010). Conducting research in conservation: social science methods and practice. Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203846452
Perez-Palacin, D., Merseguer, J., Requeno, J. I., Guerriero, M., Di Nitto, E., & Tamburri, D. A. (2019). A UML Profile for the Design, Quality Assessment and Deployment of Data-intensive Applications. Software and Systems Modeling, 18(6), 3577–3614. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10270-019-00730-3
Prance. (2004). Guide to technical report writing. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292318895_Academic_report_writing_Format_and_some_useful_ideas
Rapaport, W. J. (2019). Computers Are Syntax All the Way Down: Reply to Boz ahin. Minds and Machines, 29(2), 227–237. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11023-018-9485-2
Ting, S.-H., & Abdullah, S. (2010). Report writing skills of engineering students. In Proceedings of The Second International Conference on the Roles of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Engineering, Bayview Hotel, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia (pp. 12–14). Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/download/32874317/IC0HSE_2010_Ting_Syaharom_paper.doc
Winckel, A., Hart, B., Behrend, M., & Kokkinn, B. (2002). Report writing style guide for engineering students Division of Engineering. Information Technology and the Environment, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, Mawson Lakes, SA, 5095. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/download/60857790/ReportWritingStyleGuideforEngineer20191010-92878-1fbh9bt.pdf

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