Anatomy Of A Technical Report

42 Pages·1969·0.852 MB·English

by  Elise Sisk

Anatomy of a
Technical Report
Westinghouse Research Laboratories

Forward
The report is the major means of passing on accumulated ideas and facts from one person to
others, who need the information to carry on their work. At a research laboratory, it is actually
themajorproductofallR&Deffort.
Asascientistorengineer,yourvaluetoyourcompanyandyourprofessiondependstoalarge
extentonyourreporting. Ofcourse,noreportcanmakepoorengineeringvaluable. But,firstrate
engineeringcanberenderedineffectivebypoorreportingorevenlatereporting.
The primary responsibility for reporting must rest with the engineer who has done the work,
for he, better than anyone else, is aware of the subject. He has studied the details, thought out
the implications, sensed the importance. Supervisors can help him clarify his thinking and his
writing,butnooneelsecandescribetheworkaswellastheonewhodidit.
Todoitsjobwell,areportmustbeefficient. Likeotherinstruments,itisexpectedtoperform
rapidly and accurately; none of the readers has much time to spend, and none wishes to be
confused,misledordelayedbythewriting. Further,thereportmustbeadaptabletothepurposes
of different people, for the readers are not all equally familiar with the subject nor are they all
interestedinthesubjectfromthesamepointofview. Goingfromoneextremetotheother,some
willreadtheabstractonly,whereasotherswillstudythereportindetail.
Thepurposeofthisdocumentistogiveyousomeguidelinesontheorganizationofareportto
meet the readers’ needs. These rules are flexible, intended for modification to suit the occasion.
A results section might be added to the front matter; the recommendations section might be
dropped; a statement of coverage might replace the main idea; and so on. But, like the ideals of
100% efficiency, infinite life and perfect reliability in any environment, the discussed guidelines
providetheidealsbywhichtosetpracticalobjectivesandmeasuresuccess.
Eachofthefollowingsectionsofthisdocumenthastheformofthecomparablesectioninan
actual report. For example, the section on abstracts is a sample abstract, the section on tables of
contents is a sample contents page, the section on conclusions is a sample conclusions section,
etc. Appendicesareincludedforgreaterdetailonmostofthetopics.
Abstract
Theabstract,abird’s-eyeviewofthereport,servesasacombinationintroduction/conclusion,
stating the problem, the approach to solving it, the main conclusions and the significance. Since
it may be read by people educated and trained in a variety of technical disciplines, the abstract
should not contain symbols, highly technical terms, unusual abbreviations or mathematics. It
shouldbelimitedtoapproximately75to100wordstofiteasilyonalibrarycard. Forexception-
allylongreports,alongersummarymayfollow.
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Contents
Abstract 1
1 Introduction 3
2 Conclusions 4
3 Recommendations 4
4 BodyofReport 6
4.1 Anatomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.2 DesigningtheReport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.3 WritingtheReport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.4 Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.5 Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.6 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Appendices 11
AppendixA AReader-OrientedOrganization 11
AppendixB What’sinaTitle? 13
AppendixC TheAbstract. . . MothorButterfly? 16
AppendixD PutActioninThoseAbstracts 20
AppendixE TheIntroduction: Wellbegunishalfdone 23
AppendixF Aconclusionisaconclusionisaconclusion 25
AppendixG Howtobeobjectivewithouthedging 28
AppendixH ToRecommendorNottoRecommend 31
AppendixI PicturesSpeakLouderthanWords 34
AppendixJ ReportWritingChecklist 37
Use of a contents page and a following list of illustrations depends on the number of pages
in the report. As an arbitrary rule of thumb, you may decide to include these if the report is over
sevenpages.
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1 Introduction
Theintroductionshouldgivethereaderthebackgroundinformationwhichheneedstounderstand
and evaluate the conclusions and recommendations which follow. In this section, you should
describethetechnicalproblem,whyitwasinvestigated,andthescopeoftheeffort,includingthe
proceduresused.
Usually the introduction is about a page long, although the length varies considerably de-
pendingontheprogramandthecomplexityofthebackgroundinformation.
Occasionally a subject pertinent to the introduction requires an extensive treatment: the his-
tory of the problem, the test equipment used, the characteristics of the specimens tested, and
the like. In this case, you may mention the matter briefly in the introduction and detail it in an
independentsectionfollowingtheconclusionsandrecommendations.
Since most of the people receiving the report will read the introduction, and of these some
will not be particularly familiar with the subject, you should avoid symbols and highly technical
terms.
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2 Conclusions
1. Aconclusionisstatedinasinglesentenceifpossible.
2. Conclusionsarenumberedandgiveninseparateparagraphs.
3. Conclusions are neither results nor opinions; they are reasoned judgments based on the col-
lectedfactsorresults.
4. Conclusions are written positively and not qualified with words like “it seems”, “probably”
and“itmaybe”.
5. Nodiscussionorexplanationappearsinthissection,althoughexpressionssuchas“Thisstudy
shows”,“Onthebasisofbasicinformation”,and“Untilmoreaccuratedataareavailable”are
permissible.
6. When true conclusions are not possible, as for example in describing a newly developed ma-
terial,anothersectionmayreplacethissection: e.g. a“descriptionofdevelopment”section,a
resultssectionorasummary.
3 Recommendations
1. Useasingle,numberedsentenceforeachrecommendation.
2. Useeithercommands(asinthissentence)or“should”sentences(asinrecommendation3)or
“Irecommend”sentences(asinrecommendation4),butdon’tmixthethreetypes.
3. Recommendations should be based on the collected facts or results and also on the author’s
applicabletechnicalexperienceand/orknowledgeofanyspecialcircumstancesbearingonthe
proposedaction.
4. I recommend that you find out whether or not your supervisor wants you to make recommen-
dations,sincetheyarenotalwaysnecessary.
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What Do Managers Read?
AbstractorSummary
Introduction
ConclusionsandRecommendations
Discussion
Appendices
See Page B-1
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4 Body of Report
4.1 Anatomy
The next sections in the report constitute the body of the report. They will vary considerably
withthereportwithoneimportantstipulation: thataresultssectionandadiscussionsectionmust
beincluded. Asanexample,theymightbe:
4. TECHNICALBACKGROUND
5. DESCRIPTIONOFEXPERIMENT
5.1Specimens
5.2TestEquipment
5.3ExperimentalProcedures
6. RESULTS
7. DISCUSSION
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Youshouldstartthebodyofthereportwithatechnicalbackgroundsectioniftheintroduction
does not give this material in adequate detail. In deciding what constitutes adequate detail, it is
always safe to assume that your readers do not know the area as well as you do, being educated
and trained in a different technical discipline. As aids to interested readers, cite other technical
reports,articlesandhookswhichsupplypertinentinformation.
Next, detail what was done; what materials, equipment and procedures were used; and why
they were selected over obvious alternates. Include enough details here so that your results can
beduplicated. Iftheworkwasexperimental,supplyillustrationsshowinglaboratorysetups.
From there, you should summarize your results and illustrate the most significant ones, leav-
inglengthybutsubstantiatingdatafortheappendices. Asuccessfulresultssectionhingesnotonly
upon a painstaking devotion to accuracy but upon your conditioning as to what to look for and
your familiarity with sound scientific procedure. The data must be complete enough to enable
meaningful conclusions and must be reliable, whether obtained by experimental or theoretical
means or from a secondary source. References to original figuring books should be included
whenpossible.1
If the report is lengthy, consider including a list of your major results placed either before or
aftertheconclusionsandrecommendationssections.
After reporting your data, you need to interpret it. You should justify your conclusions and
recommendations: analyze, evaluate, make comparisons and contrasts. Along with objectivity
and knowledge of the field, you need a logical mind at this point. You must take into account
all variables, identify and relate cause and effect, avoid non-sequiturs and false analogies, etc.
Base your discussion on facts and long-term experience, consistently avoiding unsubstantiated
opinions.
Thesuggestedformatforthediscussionsectionsatfirstglancelookschronological: technical
background. . . methods and materials. . . results. . . interpretation of results. But, within each
part,theorganizationshouldbeinorderofimportance,sothatthereaderswillgetthehighlights
regardless of where they stop reading. Even when step-by-step procedures are called for, avoid
detailingfalseleadsanddeadends.
1InthecaseofWestinghouseResearchLaboratories’researchreports, theseshouldbeplacedimmediatelyfol-
lowingthereferencesectionor,ifthereisnoreference,afterthelasttextsection.
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4.2 Designing the Report
Thewritingofareportcanbethoughtofasaproblemindesignandconstruction. Thedesign
istheplanningandorganization. Theconstructionisthewriting.
The first step in the design is to decide on the basic purpose of the report and select a main
ideatosatisfythatpurpose. Forexample,
Purpose: Toevaluatecapacitorsforpowerplantuse.
Main Idea: Capacitors are useful for correcting plant power factor and for protect-
ingmotorsfromdamageduetoovervoltages.
The next step is to select the material which will help make the main point, much as one
selects components in designing an engineering system. Extraneous material should be elimi-
nated ruthlessly. Material of secondary importance should be relegated to appendices. Along
with the completeness of the material, the order of its presentation is most important during the
design phase. The latter is governed by the needs of the readers, since you are writing the re-
port for them, not for yourself. First things come first, and the main points should come before
the details. A reader can better grasp details if they fit into an over-all frame of meaning which
he already understands than if they are gradually accumulated to reveal a general point not yet
stated.
Theprincipleofemphasizingbyplacingfirstappliesbothonthelevelofthewholereport,as
wehavealreadyseen;onthelevelofthesection,wherethefirstparagraphshouldsummarizethe
importantpointsofthesection;andontheleveloftheparagraph,wherethetopicsentenceshould
be placed first. There are of course exceptions to these rules, notably short sections requiring no
introductionandtransitionalparagraphsontwoormoretopics. Besidesthebeginningofsections
and paragraphs, emphatic positions include illustrations, captions and headings. Make a list of
yourmainpointsearlyintheplanningstageandtrytodistributethemintothesekeypositions.
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