Report Writing Format

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There is no set report writing format. However, there are general sections that should be included.
Following is information on the format of a report and some tips on good writing.

Report Writing: Formatting the Report Elements

Here are the main sections of the standard report writing format:
Title Section - If the report is short, the front cover can include any information that you feel is
necessary including the author(s) and the date prepared. In a longer report, you may want to
include a table of contents and a definitions of terms.
Summary - There needs to be a summary of the major points, conclusions, and
recommendations. It needs to be short as it is a general overview of the report. Some people will
read the summary and only skim the report, so make sure you include all the relevant
information. It would be best to write this last so you will include everything, even the points
that might be added at the last minute.
Introduction - The first page of the report needs to have an introduction. You will explain the
problem and show the reader why the report is being made. You need to give a definition of
terms if you did not include these in the title section, and explain how the details of the report
are arranged.
Body - This is the main section of the report. The previous sections needed to be written in plain
English, but this section can include jargon from your industry. There needs to be several
sections, with each having a subtitle. Information is usually arranged in order of importance
with the most important information coming first. If you wish, a Discussion section can be
included at the end of the Body to go over your findings and their significance.
Conclusion - This is where everything comes together. Keep this section free of jargon as most
people will read the Summary and Conclusion.
Recommendations - This is what needs to be done. In plain English, explain your
recommendations, putting them in order of priority.
 Appendices - This includes information that the experts in the field will read. It has all the

technical details that support your conclusions.
This report writing format will make it easier for the reader to find what he is looking for. Remember
to write all the sections in plain English, except for the Body. Also remember that the information
needs to be organized logically with the most important information coming first.

Tips for Good Writing

Here are a few tips for good writing.
Keep it simple. Do not try to impress, rather try to communicate. Keep the sentences short and to
the point. Do not go into a lot of details unless it is needed. Make sure every word needs to be
there, that it contributes to the purpose of the report.
Use an active voice rather than passive. Active voice makes the writing move smoothly and
easily. It also uses fewer words than the passive voice and gives impact to the writing by
emphasizing the person or thing responsible for an action. Here is an example: Bad customer
service decreases repeat business.
Good grammar and punctuation is important. Having someone proofread is a good idea.
Remember that the computer can not catch all the mistakes, especially with words like red,
read or there, their.

Communication Skills
There is a growing consensus among business executives that there is a lack of good writing skills
among job applicants, as reported in several recent surveys. Because of this, employers are including
writing skills as one of the skills they look for when hiring. Some even ask for a sample report when
screening applicants. It is even included in the job description that the job requires a motivated
communicator.
Good communication is essential in business. Usually there is more than one individual that is
working on a goal, and good communication will allow an exchange of ideas and concerns.
There can be no team effort without communication, as it is necessary to coordinate the efforts

of everyone.
Bad communication can waste valuable time and effort.
If a team member discovers a short cut or solves a problem, that information needs to go out to every
team member so they can benefit from it and reach their goal quicker.

 Sample Professional Format
Format is the layout and typography of a document. Typography includes the style
and size of type for a document. Layout includes the type of paper, margins, line
spacing, paragraphing, and pagination. This appendix presents a sample professional
format [Sandia, 1990] to give you a framework for your assignments. Understand,
though, that no universal formats exist in engineering and science. Each company or
journal has its own format that suits the needs and desires of that company or journal.

Format:
Typography
Layout

Layout:
Headings
Illustrations
References

Typography

Typography includes the size and style of type for a document. Type sizes are
measured in points. In general, twelve point type is used for the text portion of most
documents. Larger sizes may be used for headings and titles, and smaller sizes may be
used for footnotes and illustration call-outs. As far as the styles of types, two main
classifications exist: serif and sans serif. Which typestyle should you use? Here, much
depends on the situation, but a serif font of 12 points is generally accepted for the text
portion of formal documents such as reports and correspondence. An example of a
serif typeface is Times. Why are serif typefaces generally used for the text? The
reasons are historical as much as anything. For the headings and illustration call-outs
of documents, professionals use both serif and sans serif typefaces such asHelvetica.
One reason that professionals use sans serif typefaces for these situations is that they
contrast nicely with the serif text.

Another aspect of typography is the use of initial capitals in titles and headings.
One convention, but not the only one, for using initial capitals is that you capitalize
the first letter of the first and last words--no matter what the words. Then, you
capitalize the first letter of every included word except for articles, conjunctions, and
prepositions that have fewer than four letters: a, an, and, as, but, for, in, nor, of, on,
or, out, the, to, up, and yet.
 Besides type sizes, type faces, and initial capitals, there are other typography
guidelines that vary from institution to institution. For instance, the following list
presents one recommended way to format unusual plurals: IBMs, CDs, 1970s, and
1900s. (Back to top of page)

Layout

Layout includes such things as the type of paper chosen, the margins, the line
spacing, the pagination, and the incorporation of equations, illustrations, and
references. Table 1 presents general specifications for the page layouts.

Table 1. Specifications for Page Layout

Margins standard (about 1 inch)

Line spacing single space (unless other requested)

Indentations standard tab for all paragraphs (about 0.4-

(optional) 0.5 inches)

Paragraphing lineskip between paragraphs (optional)

centered page numbers (about 0.5 inches

Pagination
from bottom)

Headings. A format for headings, subheadings, and sub-subheadings follows the

pattern shown below. In this pattern, all headings, subheadings, and sub-subheadings
are in initial capitals. In a short report, the major heading is the report's title. In a
formal report, the major heading serves as the name of each section--for example, the
"Introduction" or "Conclusion." Note that in a long report (more than 50 pages), these
major headings begin a new page, while in a shorter report, these major headings
follow one another in a continuous fashion. (Back to top of page)
>
>
>

Title of Major Heading

>
>
 For a major heading, skip three carriage returns from the top margin (or previous section) and place the
heading. Use a font larger than the text (14 or 18 points), initial capitals, and boldface. For minor reports, the major
heading serves as the report's title.

>
>

First Subheading

>

Subheadings are 12 or 14 points, flush left, and boldfaced. For all subheadings, skip two lines before and one
line afterwards. Use initial capitals.

>

First Sub-Subheading. Sub-subheadings are in 12 point type, boldfaced, and followed by a period. Skip one
line before the sub-subheading. Begin the sub-subheading's text one space after the period. Use initial capitals for
sub-subheadings.

>

Second Sub-Subheading. If you have one sub-subheading, you must have a second. Otherwise, the first
sub-subheading has nothing to be parallel with.

>
>

Second Subheading

>

If you have one subheading, you must have a second. Otherwise, the first subheading has nothing to be
parallel with. Note that the subheadings "Introduction" and "Conclusion" are inherently parallel with other types of
subheadings: noun phrases, participial phrases, or questions. "Introduction" and "Conclusion" are also descriptive
because the audience expects particular kinds of information from them.

>
>

Incorporation of Illustrations. There are two classes of illustrations: figures

and tables. Illustrations should appear below the end of the paragraph in which that
illustration is first introduced. If not enough space is available below the end of the
paragraph, then continue the text and place the illustration on the next page. When
placing an illustration into a document, leave a space between the illustration and the
text (one line skip both above and below the illustration).

Captions for figures appear below the figure. Use Arabic numerals to number
figures. A figure caption includes a phrase that identifies the figure and a sentence or
two that explains important details in the figure. See the example shown in the Figure
1. When referring to figures, call them by their names: Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure IS-1,
Figure A-1, and so forth. Note that Figure IS-1 would appear in an informative
summary and Figure A-1 would appear in an Appendix A. Unlike figures, titles for
tables appear centered above the table. Number tables using Arabic numerals. Use
initial capital letters for table titles. In the text, call tables by their names: Table IS-1,
Table 1, Table A-1, and so forth.

Figure 1. Eruption of Mount St. Helens [Smith, 1993].

Unlike figures, titles for tables appear above the table. For an example, see Table
2. In the text, call tables by their names: Table 1, Table 2, and so on. Note that another
common table format has the title centered above the table. (Back to top of page)

Table 2. Physical characteristics of planets [Handbook, 1969].

Diameter Gravity Year Temperature

Planet
(km) (earth ratio) (earth days) (K)

Mercury 5,100 0.40 88 700

Venus 12,600 0.90 225 700

Earth 12,800 1.00 365 350

 Mars 6,900 0.40 687 320

Jupiter 143,600 2.70 4,333 150

Saturn 120,600 1.20 10,759 138

Uranus 53,400 1.00 30,686 90

Pluto 12,700 ??? 90,885 80

References. When incorporating the opinions, data, and illustrations of other

sources into your writing, you must give credit to those sources. For information of
how to paraphrase and quote sources, seeAppendix B. In these writing guidelines, the
format for bestowing that credit is an author-year referencing system. Within the text
of the article or report, references should be cited by giving in brackets the last name
of the author(s) and the year of publication of the reference. The year should always
be enclosed in brackets; whether the name of the author(s) is enclosed depends on the
context. The two possibilities are illustrated as follows:

Recently, a new chemical process was developed for eliminating nitrogen oxide
emissions from diesel engines [Perry and Siebers, 1986].

Recently, Perry and Siebers [1986] developed a new chemical process for eliminating
nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel engines.

For three or more authors, just list the first author's name as follows: [Lee and others,
1972]. If there is no author listed, give the first word (not articles, conjunctions, or
prepositions) of the document: [Manual, 1983] or ["Plastic", 1989]. If you have two
documents with the same author and year (for example, two documents by Jones in
2003), then assign the reference listings as follows: [Jones, 2003a] for the citation that
alphabetically appears first at the end, and [Jones, 2003b] for the citation that appears
second at the end.

The full reference citations will appear in an alphabetical list at the end of your
document. Given below are examples of the listings. (Back to top of page)

Book

Author, Title in Initial Capitals and Italics, edition # (City of Publication:

Publisher, Date of Publication).
Fox, R.W., and A.T. McDonald, Introduction to Fluid Mechanics (New York: John
Wiley & Sons, 1978).

A Manual of Style, 12th ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1969).

McElroy, W.D., Cell Physiology and Biochemistry, 3rd ed., Foundations of Modern
Biology Series (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1971).

Article

Author, "Title in Initial Capitals and Quotation Marks," Journal Name in Italics,
vol. #, no. # (Date), page #s.

Owyoung, A. "High Resolution Coherent Raman Spectroscopy of Gases," in Laser

Spectroscopy IV, ed. by H. Walther and K. W. Rothe (New York: Springer- Verlag,
1979), pp. 175-182.

Perry, R.A., and D. L. Siebers, "Rapid Reduction of Nitrogen Oxides in Exhaust Gas
Streams," Nature, vol. 324, no. 2 (August 1986), pp. 657-659.

Steeper, R.R., "Reducing Nitrogen Oxides With Ammonia Injection,"Phys. Rev., vol.
13, no. 2 (1983), pp. 132-135.

Newspaper

Author (if known), "Title in Initial Capitals and Quotation Marks,"Newspaper

Name (Date), section #, page #s.

Luoma, J.R., "U.S. Hunts New Ways to Clean Up Wastes," New York Times (3
January 1988), pp. 15, 18.

"Plastic Explosives Blamed for Airline Disaster," New York Times (3 January 1989)
sec. 2, p. 11.

Report

Author, Title in Initial Capitals and Italics, Report # (City of Publication:

Publisher (Company or Agency), Date).

Borcherdt, R.D., Results and Data From Seismologic and Geologic Studies Following
Earthquakes of December 7, 1988, Near Spitak, Armenia SSR, vol. 1, USGS OFR 89-
163-A (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Geological Survey, 1989).
Guide to Operations, IBM Personal Computer Hardware Reference Library #1502490
(Boca Raton, Florida: IBM Corporation, 1984).

Spent Fuel Storage Requirements, DOE RL-88-34 (Richland, WA: Department of

Energy, 1988).

Sheldon, K.E., Analysis Methods to Control Performance Variability and Cost in

Turbine Engine Manufacturing (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, 4 May 2001), pp.
156-158.

Patent

Patent Holder, Patent # (Date of Patent).

Lyon, R.K., U.S. Patent No. 3,900,554 (August 1975).

Brochure

Author, "Title in Initial Capitals and Quotation Marks," brochure (City of

Publication: Publisher (Company or Agency), Date).

Cheng, D., "Chemtronix XT Manometer," brochure (Asheville, NC: Chemtronix

Corporation, 1974).

Interview

Speaker's Name, Speaker's Affiliation (City of Interview: Date of Interview),

type of interview.

Lee, R., Engineer at Apple Corporation (San Jose: 5 June 1987), phone interview.

Letter

Author, Affiliation (City: Date of Letter), recipient of letter.

Alley, C.D., Plant Manager of Mason-Hanger Pantex Plant (Amarillo, TX: 3 March
1989), letter to Amarillo Globe News.

Website

Author, "Title," web listing in italics (City: Publisher, Date).

Bassett, Vicki, "Causes and Effects of the Rapid Sinking of the
Titanic,"http://writing.eng.vt.edu/uer/bassett.html (Blacksburg, VA:Undergraduate
Engineering Review, November 1998).

Varian Corporation, "Smithsonian Researchers Use High-Tech Digital Imaging

Device to Study Collections," http://www.varian.com/ (Palo Alto, CA: Varian
Corporation, 13 February 2002).