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Report Writing Tips

REPORT TOPICS

Research Report Topics Handout by Lori Jo Oswald

Report Topic Example by Lori Jo Oswald:

This report compares four methods of treating nicotine addiction and recommends that the patch combined with the antidepressant Wellbutrin is the most promising cure.
(The last part of the above sentence illustrates a final recommendation, but you will not know this until after you have conducted your research, so you can leave this out for now.)

Verbs that might be useful: evaluates, analyzes, informs, explains, recommends.

Name:___________________________________________________________

Topic:____________________________________________________________

Technical Writing Tips for Success (from a college web site; revised slightly by Dr. Oswald)

Write with an active voice (http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/revise.html).
Present accurate information.
Be as precise as possible and practical.
Use word processing features to make your report easy to read.
Use a header and footer including page numbers and name of author (see APA style for header content).
Give an overview of the report’s contents.
Explain what you did in your research.
Report your results, using tables and graphs (with captions) as appropriate.
Draw a conclusion from your results.
Make a recommendation.
Cite your references.

Another site (revised by Dr. Oswald):

Think about the problem exhaustively: validate your assumptions and describe your costs, constraints, objectives, and alternative solutions.
Think creatively about the problems.
Explain the steps that you went through and the unique challenges that you faced.
Explain unique characteristics of the project that required special considerations.
Explain your logical reasoning.
Show your calculations clearly.
If you are choosing a certain alternative but not others, bring convincing arguments on why you are doing so. Unless it is an obvious choice, you should explain all the measures that you used and how each of the alternatives compares with respect to those measures.
Avoid vague statements. Be specific!
Break report into sections, and use titles and subtitles so that transitions are easy to follow.
Make sure to do a grammar and spelling check on your report.
Present figures and tables if necessary to explain the problem and to communicate your ideas better. If you include a figure or table, explain the significance of it in the text before it appears. If you do not have anything to say about the figure or table, do not include it. Example: Figure 2-1 shows the areas of Alaska affected by the new law. Table 4-2 provides 2003 euthanasia statistics at the four largest animal control centers in Alaska.
Always give credit to your sources, even if you do not use a direct quote.
Be consistent with numbering within a table or figure.

REVISING YOUR REPORT

Tips on Revising from a College Professor
Logical Fallacies Handout by Lori Jo Oswald
Report Revising Tips by Lori Jo Oswald - based on previous classes

TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR TECHNICAL REPORT

DATE: November 5, 2003
TO: English 212 Students
FROM: Lori Jo Oswald
RE: Revising Final Reports in APA Style

I have skimmed through your reports as quickly as possible to have them ready for you at 11 a.m. Friday. However, I saw a lot of common errors, so I decided to make a list of them here for you instead of trying to write all of these items on every paper. Basically, it is great that you have all gotten started, and now the real work—and fun—begins: editing and revising! It would be a good idea right now to stop and read the sample APA and MLA papers in the handbook (pp. 593-614 and 645-653, respectively), to review the tone of a research paper and how sources are incorporated into such papers. Chapters 21-23 in our technical writing textbook are also useful sources of information. Remember, I have not proofread your papers; this is up to you to do. I have simply given you a few basic tips, and specifics are listed below. (There are still a lot of problems with citing APA textual references correctly, so be sure to review that section in your handbook.) You are welcome to keep using the LRC tutors for help, as well as each other. Good luck!

1 PARALLELISM
Proofread for parallelism in lists (both bulleted and in-text lists) and section titles. See handbook for understanding what parallelism is and how to revise your faulty sentences.
Example: The dog is overweight, gentle, and likes to eat.
(WRONG: To make parallel, you will have to change the last entry:
The dog is overweight, gentle, and hungry.)

2 COMMAS
Commas are still a problem for most people. Use your handbook when you have doubts. Here are two common errors I am seeing:
1. The cat is in the closet, and in the food.
(WRONG. No comma is needed unless BOTH phrases before and after the “and” are complete sentences that would stand on their own.)
2. The corporation requires its employees to be loyal, hard working and prepared.
(WRONG IN TECHNICAL WRITING. For clarity, in technical writing, we use the comma between the last two items in a list (some formats, such as newspaper style [Associated Press], do not use this comma--it is not a “rule” but a question of style). CORRECTION: The corporation requires its employees to be loyal, hard working, and prepared.

3 APA AND CITING SOURCES
Use your handbook to be sure you are correctly using the APA format in citing sources and in the References lists. As we have discussed in class, APA is simply one of many available formats. In the work world, companies often publish their own style manuals. Newspapers often use AP, magazines often use Chicago, humanities journals often use MLA, etc. The main point of having you learn to use a particular format is so that you are CONSISTENT throughout your document. Remember: the key to good technical and business writing is readability, and consistency is a major factor in readability. APA has some simple features, once you start using it. In the text, you only need to cite the author’s last name (or the first word or two of the title if no author) and year of publication. Also, if there is a direct quote, include the page number (or n.p. if no page number is available). I also recommended that the first time you mention an author, you give his or her full name. Here is an example of the first time an author’s name is mentioned:
As John Jones explains, “The harms of indoor tanning beds are many” (1999, p. 23).

Here is an example of a quote where I chose to include the title:
McElroy discusses this problem in her book Animals as Teachers and Healers: “Dolphins have the second largest brains on the planet, followed by humans, which have the third. Whales’ brains are the largest” (2001, p. 118).

Here is how I handle an interview (notice that the first example is an indirect quote and the second is a direct quote--see handbook for clarification):
When interviewed, Joan Smith argued that depression is not treatable through such methods (2003).
Smith says, “Depression cannot be fixed by these radical means” (personal interview, 2003).

If you are citing an EBSCO article where you do not have the complete page number information (i.e., not a PDF), remember to review the handout I gave out 2 weeks ago. Page numbers are generally handled as n.p. in text; in the references, they are handled as follows: 10+ (12 pp.).

Other things to check include the following:
· If you have long quotes, see APA’s rule (in the handbook).
· Never start a sentence with a quote, as we discussed in class.
· Introduce all quotes.
· Make sure all quotes support your text.
· Give credit for paraphrases and general ideas as well.
· Introduce all bullet lists as well as all quotes.
· If you use various sources for bullet list items, give credit to each bullet list item separately. If you use the same source for the entire bullet list, give credit in the introduction sentence that precedes the list, and then use quote marks where you have taken wording directly from a source.

4 SECTIONS
Sections of report. All reports should have the following sections (use the handout as your model): Cover letter, abstract, title page, contents page, illustrations page, executive summary, introduction, background, other section titles as determined by your topic, and conclusion and recommendations. Under each major heading (i.e., 3.0 BACKGROUND) you should have at least a sentence or two before going on to a subheading (i.e., This section describes…).

5 SECTION PARAGRAPHS AND ORGANIZATION (TOPIC SENTENCES)
Use the textbook model, paragraph by paragraph, beginning on page 516, to write your cover letter, executive summary, and introduction (see red margin comments for the latter two). Also, make sure that you have written a topic sentence for every paragraph in the document, in your own words. Each paragraph should logically follow the one above. See the handbook on writing transitions and on paragraphing if you need to review this.

6 HEADINGS
Headings. Use all caps for major headings (i.e., 2.0 INTRODUCTION) and upper lower case for subheadings (i.e., 3.1 Previous Research). See handbook on titles, capitalization, and parallelism to make sure your headings (section and subsection titles) are written correctly. They should NOT be complete sentences, and they should not have periods after them.

7 BLOCK FORMAT
Use full block format throughout. Single space paragraphs; double space in between paragraphs. There is no variation on this. Between headings, there should only be a double space.

8 TENSES
Generally, use present tense throughout, unless you are referring specifically to a past event or the direct quote you are using is in past tense.

9 FONT
Use Times Roman 12 point font throughout for the body text of your report. (You can use a different font or bold or italics in section headings or subheadings only; generally, though, I recommend you just use the handout as your model for simplicity.)

10 PAGE NUMBERS AND HEADERS
Your pages should be numbered. APA format requires that a shortened title and page number be at the top right hand corner of each page. You handle this by inserting a header beginning with the Executive Summary page (an example can be seen in this handout). Be sure to remove the “same as previous” notation by clicking it in the header/footer/page number toolbar when you are on the Executive Summary page; that way, you won’t have page numbers in previous pages. You can email your report to me or see any of the teachers in the OMT Lab for help with this or other formatting issues. It is okay to number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc, or, if you have NEXT PAGE section breaks (instead of CONTINUOUS), you can number 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 4-1, 4-2, etc. Again, the OMT Lab can help you set this up either way.

11 FIGURES AND TABLES
You need to have at least one figure or table in your report. The best “place” for a figure or table is immediately following the textual reference, or, if it is a full page, on the page following the textual reference to it. All figures and tables should have titles (example: Table 4-1. Federal Business Taxes) and sources (Source: Jones, J. (1996). Washington state guidebook on taxes for small business owners. Seattle: Northpoint.) Notice that I used APA format to list my source. I should also add the source to my References list at the end of my report. There ALWAYS needs to be a textual reference to an illustration.

12 INTERVIEW
English 212 students need to have at least one interview included in your report. This interview can be conducted by phone, in person, or by e-mail. Go ahead and list the interview in your References although APA does not require this: Smith, J. (2003, March 14). E-mail communication.

13 MARGINS
Margins should be 1 inch all the way around.

14 AWKWARD WORDING
Try reading your paper out loud, slowly. Listen for awkward sentences.

15 TUTORS
Take your marked report and both textbooks to at the LRC at least once this week, more if possible. You can see a writing tutor there every day if you have time.

16 REVISING
Keep revising. Do not just rewrite your report once more. I usually write anywhere from 5-15 drafts of a report before I am ready to turn it in to the editor (or a teacher)! Writing well should be a challenging process! Think of your report as a butterfly: right now it is in the caterpillar stage (first draft). You need to spend quite a bit of time in the cocoon stage (revising) before you can fly (sorry for the insect analogy!).

17 SPELLING
Use your spell checker and a dictionary. Your report should be FLAWLESS.

18 QUOTATIONS AND PLAGIARISM
Quotation marks are still very confusing to some writers. Use your handbook. It is a very helpful textbook! (In fact, I hope you will discover, as I did, that this is a book you will want to keep well past this class and college.) Remember: If you take words directly from another source and do not use quotation marks and give credit to that source, you are plagiarizing. This is another word for stealing. It is dishonest and unfair, and your report will receive a “no pass” grade if you do this. However, I am sure that those of you who are doing this are just not clear on the rule. So look up the handbook chapters on quotation marks and working with sources for clarity. Read these chapters carefully. In addition, what if you are not directly quoting, but are still using ideas or information from another source? You still have to give credit. Again, the handbook shows you how to do this.

19 SPACING
You can use one or two spaces after a period; just be consistent. Use one space after a colon or semicolon.

20 IT’S/ITS AND CONTRACTIONS
It’s or its? Many of you are still confusing these two. It’s stands for “it is”; its is possessive. We NEVER use contractions (it’s, wasn’t, isn’t, haven’t, etc.) in technical writing.

21 ETHOS
See handbook on formal writing (pp. 359-360) and college writing (pp. 369-370). Your writing “ethos” (tone) can be either of these levels, but it must not be informal or popular.

22 PROOFREADING AND EDITING
I expect you to proofread and edit your own drafts. You are also welcome to go to the LRC for help and meet with other students outside of class. I have marked some common errors and made some suggestions, but you will still be responsible for editing—have fun! This is one of the best training experiences for becoming a technical editor. If you can meet with others and edit their reports as well, that would also be a good experience!

23 FORMATTING
See the OMT lab teachers (take your report on disk) for help with formatting, or e-mail to me (as long as it is at least 3 days before the report is due). Things you will need to do include inserting a header; inserting a page number; inserting section breaks (either continuous or next page); inserting figure and table captions; updating the Table of Contents field; inserting and updating the Illustrations contents fields; creating bullet lists; and correctly naming styles, such as heading 1, heading 2, heading 3, and normal text.

24 ATTACH DRAFT TO FINAL
YOU MUST ATTACH THE DRAFT I MARKED TO THE BACK OF YOUR FINAL REPORT (STAPLE IT; DO NOT USE COVERS). IF YOU DO NOT ATTACH THE DRAFT, I CANNOT PASS YOUR REPORT.

To be revised (from web sites):

Technical Writing Tips for Success

write with an active voice (http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/revise.html)
present accurate information
be as precise as possible and practical
use word processing features to make your report easy to read
use a header and/or footer including page numbers and author names
give an overview of the report’s contents
explain what you did in your experiment
report your results, using tables and graphs (with captions) as appropriate
draw a conclusion from your results
make a recommendation
cite your references

Another site (revise):

Think about the problem exhaustively: validate your assumptions, describe your costs, constraints, objectives, and alternative solutions.
Think creatively about the problems.
Explain the steps that you went through and the unique challenges that you faced. Ex:
We contacted many companies, but had many unreturned telephone calls while collecting data."
Explain unique characteristics of the project that required special considerations.
Explain your logical reasoning.
Show your calculations clearly.
If you are choosing a certain alternative but not others, bring convincing arguments on why you are doing so. Unless it is an obvious choice you should explain all the measures that you used and how each of the alternatives compares with respect to those measures.
Avoid vague/fuzzy statements.
Break report into sections and uses titles and subtitles so that transitions are easy to follow. Make sure to do a grammar and spelling check on your report.
Present figures, tables, illustrations, and maps if necessary to explain the problem and to communicate your ideas better. If you include a graph, explain the significance of it. If you don’t have anything to say about the graph, you don’t need to include it. Ex: "The histogram suggests that the inter-arrival times follow the exponential distribution."
State issues that are of concern but are not included in your model. Ex: "Federal law requires that .xxx, but we did not include this in our model, since this constraint is handled for us by the transportation carriers."
Always give complete reference to your sources.
Don’t include 15 significant digits (no more than two, usually). Be consistent with significant digits within a table or figure.
Remember that your report will be graded on your analytical procedure and how clearly you present your work.

SAMPLE REPORTS

Manuals

Sample PDF Manual

WRITING INSTRUCTIONS AND MANUALS

Links for writers - a good lists of references and other resources

SHORT Reports

Short Report Assignment
Short Report Sample (references need to be fixed per AP, but this is generally a great example for you)

FINAL (LONG) REPORTS

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