Report Format
Reporting - A Professional Structure for Your Reports
A very important aspect of the sessions is the complete report on your favourite topic which you must write individually. It is a principle product of the sessions and your performance will be judged on its quality. Most professional and scientific reports are written following a long established format which is hard to beat - the so-called IMRAD-C format, standing for Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions. It is important for you to become acquainted to writing in this format as a matter of course. You will use it repeatedly in your career as a student and professional. It was originally proposed by Aristotle and is simply the best way to structure your ideas. The format is summarized in the table below. It is a generic format and content of individual sections needs some minor modification depending on the very subject you are reporting.
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Add your name and that of your agency to the title page (make up a nice agency name!) |
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A ½ page summary for "guys in ties" - this is essential in any technical report that might go to top bosses and politicians |
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Here you state your problem aim/scope, and approach. Any literature consulted should be referred to. Give a brief statement of your findings in relation to the aims. |
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Here you describe what you did and how you did it. Report this in such a manner that anybody in the world can repeat what you did and get the same results. |
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Here you describe your results with reference to whatever graphs, tables or other data you have produced. |
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Here you interpret/explain your results and attempt to answer the questions/problems posed in the introduction. State broader implications also. |
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Here you summarize your findings in "order of appearance". |
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References should be listed alphabetically. The reference format is as follows: Tosser, A.B., C.D. Nut-case and E.F. de Idioot, 2001.
How to present irreproducible data in beautifully structured scientific
papers. Journal of Absolute Nonsense, 101, 211-223.
Note: When referring to a website, give its path, author(s) (if findable) and name; also state when you consulted that website. Note 2: You write your findings three times: in the findings statement or your introduction, in the discussion, and in the summary/conclusions. This way you prepare the reader for what to expect, you deliver your message and you finally confirm your findings. This way there are no misunderstandings. |
Table 1. Table showing you how to structure your report in a professional way. Note the use of the standard IMRAD-C format (Intro-Method-Results-Discussion-Conclusion). The Conclusions serves as a technical summary. The Executive Summary is for "bosses" - use the PAR format for this (Abstract format of Problem-Action-Result).
Grading
The complete report should not exceed about ten pages, not including tables and graphs. The grading of the reports is laid out in Table 2.
| 1. Title page and Executive Summary | Good
Satisfactory Improvement needed |
2
1.5 1 |
| 2. Introduction | Good
Satisfactory Improvement needed |
2
1.5 1 |
| 3. Method | Good
Satisfactory Improvement needed |
2
1.5 1 |
| 4. Results | Good
Satisfactory Improvement needed |
2
1.5 1 |
| 5. Discussion | Good
Satisfactory Improvement needed |
2
1.5 1 |
| 6. Summary and Conclusions | Good
Satisfactory Improvement needed |
2
1.5 1 |
| 7. References | Correctly included | 1 |
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Total
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13 |
Table 2. Grading of the reports. Your grade will be given as % of 13 and then converted to letter grades using the standard UCU table.
Style
- Students tend to write the report for the teacher. However, you should be writing for a general, informed audience. Fellow students who have not done the course should be able to understand your report. Focus on how you would explain it all to them.
- It is usual to use the passive tense in describing what you have done and found. However, the use of the active rather than the passive tense is perfectly proper and often more pleasant to read, as it gives an impression that of active involvement (which of course we expect from you). Especially in the discussion section it may help you express your opinion by stating "I conclude……" or "we think that….". However, you may find it more convenient to use the passive tense in the method section.
- You should use the questions posed in each assignment as a guide to your discussion. We have raised questions to stimulate your pondering the wider implications of the work you have carried out.
- It is often instructive for the reader to reiterate your objectives as point 1 of the conclusions. E.g. "We have investigated…".
- Do not put results into the Method or method into the Results.
- Above all, do not mix interpretation into the results section. State your results and observations as "clean", factual information. Interpret this information in the discussion. Note that the most common mistake people make is to mix up results with discussion. Don't fall into this trap. The results must be clean of interpretation so that the facts are available for others to form their own interpretation or opinion.
- Also do not mix interpretation in the conclusions section. Your conclusions should only repeat (summarize) what you have stated before. Nothing new should come up in the conclusions.