Technical Report Guidelines

1. Technical Report Guidelines Prepared for Freshman Clinic by Stephanie Farrell and James Newell January, 2001

2. Sections Front Matter Body References Appendix Visual presentation Format Figures and Tables Overview

3. Front Matter Letter of Transmittal Title Page Table of Contents Sections of Report • Body • Abstract • Introduction • Experimental • Results/Discussion • Conclusion/Recommendation • References • Appendices

4. Letter of Transmittal • Business letter format • To your professor (correct spelling!) • 1 main paragraph – to the point! • What you did; what you found out • Closing and signature

5. Title Page • Title • Course Name • Submitted to: • Authors names • Date submitted

6. Table of Contents • Reveals structure of report • Page Heading: CONTENTS • Use report structure – headings / page number • List Figures and Tables separately • No page number

7. Abstract Assume this is theonly part most people will read • Define the problem • Approach to solving problem • Important results • Page 1; 1 Page • Usually written last

8. Introduction From the intro, the reader should understand why you are performing the investigation • Problem statement and objectives • Background and importance • Scope • Relevance • Preview of report content

9. Experimental • Enables another engineer to reproduce your experimental procedure • Materials, Equipment, Instruments – brands, model numbers, methods • Procedure – step-by-step

10. Results / Discussion • What did you find out? • Use text, figures and tables • Discuss sources of error and how they would affect results • Why do your results look the way they do? • Consistent with theory? • Compare to published results if applicable Uninterpreted results are never acceptable

11. Conclusions and Recommendations • Summarize all the important information you learned from the work • Be consistent with objectives • What specific actions should be taken? • Must be constructive, relevant, useful and practical

12. References • Lists all resource material referred to in the work • Bibliographical format • Accuracy is important • References add credibility to report! • Facts (unless common knowledge) and results from other work must be referenced.

13. Appendices • Supplementary material • Supporting documentation • Specialized technical information • Examples: Tables, sample calculations, detailed drawings, nomenclature • Must be referred to in the report and appear in same order • Content must be explained in the report

14. Visual Presentation • Headings • Give structure • Enhance readability • Use fonts appropriately • Moderate, effective use of bold, italics, underline • Standard Format • 1 inch margins, double space, 12 point font, Times New Roman or standard font • Page numbers – begin p. 1 with the body of report

15. Visual Presentation • Figures and Tables • Every Figure & Table must be referred to and discussed in text • introduce, analyze and summarize • Number and caption every table and figure • Self explanatory – sometimes removed from report! • Limit to 1 page • May not be photocopied. • may be redrawn and referenced (adapted from…)

16. On-line Resources • http://unit-ops.che.ufl.edu/reports/final_report_stucture.html • http://www.uic.edu/classes/che/che381/Unit.Op.Lab.Report.Writing.html • http://www.chem-eng.utoronto.ca/~thermo/wguide.html