Report Body

An essential element of any report is its introduction. Make sure you are clear on its real purpose and content. In a technical report, the introduction prepares the reader to read the main body of the report. The introduction should offer immediate context for the reader by establishing the importance of the topic and by describing its nature and scope. You should describe your specific approach to the problem and establish how your investigative work meshes with the needs of the field or with other work that has been done. The “funnel system” of organization—moving from a broad approach to a gradually narrowed scope—is recommended. Present tense is preferred.

Depending on which type of report you’re writing, the purpose and main point may vary greatly. For example, for external analytical reports that propose a solution to an investigated problem, the purpose is to convince the client to take some sort of action, and the main point is that the proposed solution will remedy the problem. In reports that are persuasive, it’s best to think of the main point as the report’s thesis.

For a non-argumentative research report, however, the purpose may be to present an organized and coherent overview of the topic with corresponding graphics, and the main point may simply be to provide others with an educational resource. (Imagine an encyclopedia entry as a type of non-argumentative research report.)

Introductions range from one to several pages in length, and must always include a clearly worded account of the report’s objective; usually at the end of the introduction (Some writers even include a short separate subsection labeled “Objective”). However, the content and intent of the objective and purpose statement tend to overlap. It is always important to state your final conclusion, recommendation(s), or action you want the reader to take in the introduction, as it is the “main point” of the report.

The content of a report’s introduction is similar to the introductions of proposals and other professional correspondence. The extent of which you incorporate this content depends on the purpose and the audience. For example, if your report is internal (written for your own supervisors), you may spend less space on background information (they likely know about the situation or problem), or if the report is solicited (you were asked for the report), you may not need as much emphasis on the importance. Conversely, if you write an unsolicited report advocating for a specific change, you will need to emphasize both the background information (to explain the problem) as well as the importance (to show a need for change). These are all considerations to make based on the type of report and the audience.

Your introduction may benefit from the addition of some data or research. You may want to provide statistics about the current situation to show importance or to establish your credibility. If you choose to include research in the introduction, focus on paraphrases or specific statistics—you do not want to bog down your introduction with heavy quotations or “filler” information. You will include more extensive research in the body of the report, so it is not needed here. The introduction should be to-the-point and revised to have maximum effect on the audience.

Literature Review

A literature review is most often found in published academic journal articles and scientific reports. It is a discussion of previously published research on the topic. It can contain theory, content of similar studies, and/or studies that led to your current research. In technical reports, an entire section of your paper may be devoted to a literature review. Literature reviews range from exhaustive searches to mere summaries of articles, but the fundamental objective is always the same—to establish the history of the problem investigated by summarizing the what, how, and why of the work that has already been done. Writing a literature review requires you to establish relationships among findings from other researchers and to condense many pages of published material into shorter segments. Your ability to assimilate material is critical.

Stylistically, literature reviews are often written in the past tense, but many authors favor the present tense if the research is recent. Passive voice may seem tempting to use, but active voice is preferred, because you can smoothly place the names of authors into the subject slot of the sentence: “Yoldas and Lloyd (1999) propose a chemical polymerization technique for the preparation of NASICON gels.”

Experiment/Method/Procedure

Any of the above titles are common names for this section. The goal is to summarize the what, how, and why behind your specific experiment or research design, with particular emphasis on the what and how so that other researchers can repeat your procedures if they desire. This section includes a description of the relevant apparatus and materials used. Photographs and diagrams can be used, sparingly, to help clarify the procedures.

Stylistically, passive voice and past tense verbs are sometimes used in this section, but be sure that your sentences are written efficiently and contain simple subjects and verbs when possible. The basic form of directly stating “what was done; why it was done that way” should be used repeatedly in this section.

Results

The results and discussion work together to present the findings of your research. The Results will be directly related to your Method. However, take care not to include your experimental methods here—that is the job of the previous section. Focus on what you found, not how you found it.

The main difference between the Results and Discussion is that the Results contains raw data as it was reported or discovered. It must be objective, unbiased, emotionless, and free from judgment. The Discussion interprets and explains the significance of the data, forming an argument by declaring what you think certain data means and how it fits together. Imagine your report is a puzzle. By the end of the report, you want the reader to see the complete picture. In this scenario, the Results are your puzzle pieces. The Discussion is where you assemble the pieces for the reader.

For most readers, the Results is an important section of the report—your readers must easily find your data in order to interpret it. You straightforwardly present the results of your experiment, usually with minimal discussion. Naturally, the use of tables, graphs, and figures is especially important here, as are explanations of how data were derived.

The results should include solid data you found through research. If you are writing an informational report, the data is crucial for the report’s purpose—to give statistics and other data to the reader. With other types of reports, such as recommendation or feasibility, your data will inform the reader, but also lay the groundwork for an eventual conclusion or recommendation. You may not necessarily include all the data you found on the topic, but you must include all relevant data. Include the information (or areas of information) that will be of interest and applicable to the report’s audience and purpose. What does the reader need to know to trust your interpretations or recommendations later in the report? What was interesting, surprising, or significant in shaping your analysis or opinions?

When drafting and revising this section, your style should focus on showing that you are reporting the information, not interpreting it (yet). Avoid terms such as seems, appears, means, looks as if, indicates, suggests, we believe, we think, and descriptor words that indicate positive or negative results such as excellent, worse, better, great, etc.

Discussion

You may feel like the discussion is repetitious, as you refer to information established in other sections of the report. The key difference is that the discussion analyzes the information and displays what it all means for the reader, which is why the Discussion commonly stands alone. In your future career, there could be some situations where you are asked to combine the data and interpretation into a “Results and Discussion” section or combine the “Discussion and Conclusion” (such as with journal articles). If such combinations occur, it is important not to minimize or reduce the analysis and critical thinking components of the Discussion. However, in most scenarios, a stand- alone Discussion is the most effective way to present your analysis and interpretation to persuade the reader. You may also consider referring back to the key literature of your introduction or literature review, if these sections are included in your report. You can enlighten your readers (and elevate your work) by discussing your data in relation to the published results of others.

Passive voice may seem tempting, but active voice is valuable, especially as you make a logical assertions and claims based on your interpretation of the data. As a rule, use past tense to summarize your actual results (“Ninety five percent of respondents stated…”); use present tense to present established facts or present your interpretations (“The helium sintering data show…”).

Recommendations

The recommendations follows the discussion, if your report’s purpose is to recommend a specific action or change, or to give an overall assessment of a situation, such as with feasibility, recommendation, or project-completion reports. This section should be concise and to the point. Recommendations should be based on your data, and all recommendations should link to research found in the results and discussion.

The recommendations and conclusion can be combined into one section or be divided into two separate sections. The choice depends on the type of document, the purpose, and the audience.

Conclusion