TECHNICAL REPORT

Objective of Technical Reports:

Provide useful information

FEATURES OF TECHNICAL REPORTS
1. FUNCTIONAL
o Technical reports provide useful information either for permanent record, later
reference or for immediate use.

2. INFORMATIVE
o Technical reports limit interpretation to one literal, accurate meaning.

3. FACTUAL
o Technical writer must avoid distorting information. To distort information is to commit
professional suicide.

4. EFFICIENT
o Technical reports must have a balance between brevity and thoroughness.

5. PRECONCEIVED DESIGN
o Information must be presented in a way that it can be easily used for its purpose.

QUALITIES OF A TECHNICAL WRITER
Technical writers must be honest, thorough, accurate, objective, positive, constructive and alert
against prejudice.
Technical writers must see to it that their findings are accurate. They must be open-minded and
objective when doing research.
They must be resourceful and systematic in note-taking, and must also be analytical.
Technical writers should be conscious of the length of their sentences.
Technical writers must use simple sentence structures and short words to facilitate readability
of their work.
Technical writers must use the active or passive voice by choice, meaning, the verb voice must
be appropriate to the content of the sentence.
Effective technical writers must consider the easy and clear information flow in their technical
writing, emphasizing objective reporting of their findings with strict adherence to the
conventions of standard English.

STEPS IN WRITING A TECHNICAL REPORT
PLANNING
First step in writing a technical report
Step where the writers determine the scope of their work, their purpose and their
target audience.
This serve as the foundation of the work of technical writers

1. Identify the real subject
2. Pinpoint your purpose
3. Aim at an audience audience or the reader partly determine the purpose of the report.

4 types of readers acc. To Houp and Pearsall (1988)
Lay people general public. Their need to read is driven by their desire to make sense or
to learn more about the world they live in. Interested with the whos and the whats
rather than the why and the hows. Writing should be kept simple.

Executives Read materials they think might give them advantage or profit in their
businesses and they usually act on these.

Experts They need accurate results to check the validity of your claims. They are
interested in the intricacies of a particular work and they are not intimidated when
confronted with jargons.

Technicians Prefer reports with visual representations such as those found in manuals.

4. Prepare a Target Statement This reiterates the writers subject, purpose and target
audience. It will serve as reminder while one is doing the preparation for actual work. It will
serve as a guide to keep one focused on the details that should be included in what the
writer is doing.

5. Plan a program

COLLECTING INFORMATION
1. Recording Data involves the use of statistics.
2. Library Research
3. Note-taking
4. Direct Inquiry
DESIGNING entails the overall arrangement or organization of all the elements of report writing.
Designing is the process of organizing all these materials to create a substantial whole. It is important to
take note of certain tools that will help catalyze ideas and then bring about a sense of organization into
your report. Among these are:
1. Brainstorming involves wracking your brain for ideas you can use as subject for your written
work. Organization will come later, after you have written all there is to write about your ideas.
2. Basic Pattern provides the skeletal framework and the flesh of your report. It is organized in
such a way as to hold everything in place to give it form and substance.
3. Outlines These arrange information into a concise and logical manner, thus, allowing smooth
transitions in reading. These are designed to serve as the guide that will bring focus in the
report.
4. Report Formats refer to the presentation of a written work.

ROUGH DRAFTING
Provides the writer with an overview of his work.
It shows how his ideas are arranged and brought to life.

REVISING
This allows the writer to review what is written in the rough draft.

TECHNICAL LITERATURE
Technical literature consists of the following:
1. Types of technical reports
2. Instruction manuals
3. Articles found in technical books or journals
4. Abstracts
5. Treatises
6. Proposals
7. Specifications
8. Brochures
9. Pamphlets

10. Monographs
11. Memoranda
12. Business letters

TYPES OF TECHNICAL REPORTS
There are four general types of technical report. The use of a particular report depends on the
requisite of the company or organization concerned.
The Progress Report
Gives information on the history of a particular project over a limited period of time.
Acc. To Mills and Walter (1980), a progress report is composed of a traditional
introduction and prophetic conclusion.

Traditional introduction detailed discussion regarding the completed work
given the present time frame.

Prophetic conclusion projected completion of a project and the circumstances
surrounding its completion
The Preliminary Report
Indicates the validity of a particular project.
It takes into account the basic requirements when putting up a project or the considerations the
proponent needs to know.

The Periodic Report
Written for the sole purpose of providing updates for the client who commissioned it.
Includes details pertinent to the projects status.
Two classifications:
A. Routine report refers to a report written by an assigned employee/s to his or
her superiors. Short-term.
B. Annual report covers a bigger area. The periodic report of the organization as
a whole, taking note of transactions made by the company in general.
The Annual Report
Companies comply with the preparation of annual reports as required by pertinent government
regulatory and monitoring agencies.
Highlights may be encapsulated in a letter form usually signed by the head of the pertinent
company/agency.