FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

Howtowritea
technicalreport101!
April2014
DrJessicaWalker
Jessica.Walker@utas.edu.au
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

LearningObjective
Beabletopresentreportsinaformatsuchthatatechnicallycompetentperson
couldfollowandobtainsimilarfindings

StudentResources
WRiSE (WriteReportsinScienceandEngineering)
www.usyd.edu.au/learningcentre/wrise
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

JEE135LabAssessment
Assessmentwillbedoneusingcriterionreferencedassessment
RubricavailableonMyLO
Willbeaskingforyourfeedbacklaterinsemester!

ClassExercise
Duringthelecturewewillbe:
Assessinganexampletechnicalreport
Examininghowcomponentsofreportareassessedaccordingtotherubric
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

TheFunctionofTechnicalReports
Inindustry,technicalreportsareusedtocommunicatetechnicalinformation
Thisinformationoftenassistsindecisionmaking
Youmustbeabletopresentdetailedtechnicalinformationclearly,conciselyandlogically
Youmustconsideryouraudienceandthepurposeofthereport:
Briefformanageronadesignorproblem
Providetechnicalbackgroundinformationforlaypeopleinvolvedinaproject
Recommendationstotechnicalsupervisors

Reports
Thepurposeofareportistoconveyspecific
information tothereader
Areportusuallycontainsadescription of
events/resultsofresearchorexperiments
Areportcontainsconclusionsand
recommendations
Essays
Thepurposeofanessayistoshowhowwell
youhaveunderstoodthequestionandare
abletoanswerit
Essaysusuallyrequiresomeformofargument
inresponse totheessayquestion
Anessaywillcontainaconclusion, but
includingrecommendationsisrare
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

TheStructureofTechnicalReports
Titlepage
ExecutiveSummary
TableofContents
Introduction
Body(mayincludeapparatus,methodology,results,discussion)
ConclusionsandRecommendations
References
Appendices
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

TitlePage
Include:
Titleofreport shouldtellthereaderexactlywhatthereportisabout
e.g.SluiceGateLaboratoryReport
Yourname
Yourstudentnumber
Namesofyourgroupmembers
Yourlecturersname
Unitcode,school
DontforgettoalsoincludeasignedAMCCoverSheet
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

ExecutiveSummary(orAbstract)
Mustmakesensewhenreadalone
Usually100 200words
Presentedonitsown,separatepageatthefrontofthereport
Includes:
Goaloftheexperiment/investigation
Outlineofthemethodology(e.g.whatyoudid)
Importantresults,conclusionsandrecommendations
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

TableofContents
Givesreaderanoverviewofthestructureandcontentsofthereport
Shouldbeonitsown,separatepage,aftertheExecutiveSummary/Abstract
Includesallheadingsandmajorsubheadings:
Wordedexactlyastheyappearinthereport
Numberedexactlyastheyappearinthereport
Withtheirpagenumber
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

Introduction
Providesthenecessarybackgroundforthereader
Includes:
Reasonforexperiment/investigation
Descriptionoftheobjectives/goals
Reviewofanypreviousresearchinthisarea(notusuallynecessaryforalab
report)
Overviewofthesectionsofthereport
Limitationsoftheexperiment(whatassumptionsaremade?)
Importanttheoryandequations(lengthyderivationsshouldgoin
appendices,orreferreadertotextbook)
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

Introduction(example)
ForKNE216SluiceGateLabReport
Thesluicegateexperimentintroducedtheuseoftypicalflowmeasuringdevices,
includingventurimetersandvnotchweirs.
Thebehaviourofrealfluidflowingunderasluicegatewasobservedandmodeled
usingtheconservationofmass,Bernoulliandlinearmomentumprinciplesto
predicttheflowrateandtheforceonthegate.Theseprinciplesassumethatthe
flowissteady,incompressibleandfrictionless.
Thepredictionswereevaluatedbycomparingthemodeledresultswithmeasured
values.
**givemainequations**
ThefullderivationsandassumptionsfortheserelationshipsaregiveninAppendixA.
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

MainSectionofReport
Expandsanddevelopsmaterialinalogicalandcoherentmanner
Suggestedheadings:
Apparatus
Procedure
Results
Discussion
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

Apparatus
Listofalloftheequipmentused,includingserialnumbers
Sketchoftheapparatus(ordetailedphotographs)
Labelallimportantfeatures
Giveimportantdimensions(andunits)

Procedure
Detailsoftheprocedurearecruciallyimportant
Procedureneedstobedescribedinsufficientdetailthatyourworkcanbe
reproducedorbuiltonwithconfidence
Dontreproducethelabnotes referreadertotheminanappendix
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

Results
Includesyourdatareductionandanalysis
Referreadertoraw,handwrittendatainAppendices
Providerepetitivedataintablesandincludeasamplecalculationandplacein
Appendices
Allimportantdatashouldbeincludedinmainbodyofreport
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

Discussion
Importantthatyouthinkcriticallyabouttheexperiment
Identifylimitations
Compareexperimentalandtheoreticaldata
Providerelevantandcriticalexplanationsfordifferences
Discusspotentialsourcesoferror
Evaluatesuccessofexperimentwithrespecttoobjectivesandlimitations
Criticalassessmentofwhatyouactuallydid,notamanufacturedaccountof
whatyouthinkresultsshouldhavebeen!
Considerwaystoimprovetheexperiment
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

ConclusionsandRecommendations
Summarisesthemainpointsthatcanbedrawnfromthereport(including
importantvalues).
Showswhatitallmeans
Doesnotincludeanynewinformation
Mayrefertooriginalobjectives
Quiteoftensecondsectionreadbyamanageraftertheexecutivesummary
Recommendationsshouldtellreader:
Whatdecisiontomake
Whichalternativesolutionissuperior
Whatfurtherworksneedstobeundertaken
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

References
Providealistofanyreferencesusedinyourreport(authordateornumbered
stylesarerecommended)

Appendices
Informationnotessentialtoexplainingyourfindingsbutsupportsyouranalysis
(e.g.lengthyorrepetitiveinformation)goesinappendices
Examplesincludelabnotes,tables,samplecalcs,graphs,derivationsoftheory
Anythinginanappendixmustbereferredtoinmainpartofreport
Eachseparateappendixshouldbelettered(e.g.AppendixA,AppendixB)
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

Tables,FiguresandGraphs
Tablesandgraphsessentialtothereportshouldbeincludedinthebody
Repetitivetablesandgraphsgoinappendices

AscanbeseenfromFigure1.1below,when Leadinsentence,showingwhatistobe
thetaphandleisplacedinaupward noticed.
position,thetapisclosed.Incontrast,when
thetaphandle,orlever,ismovedtoa Includethenumber(s)ofthefiguresbeing
discussed
downwardposition,thetapvalveisopened
(seeFigure1.2) Thefigureortablebeingdiscussedis
insertedascloselyaspossibletotheendof
theparagraphinwhichitwasintroduced.
Thefigure/tableshouldbenumberedand
titled.
Figure1.1:Thetaphandle Figure1.2:Thetaphandle
intheupward(closed) inthedownward(open)
position position Leadoutsentenceconcludespointand
linksittothenextpoint
Byincorporatingaratchetlockingsystem
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

Tables,Figuresand
Graphs
Alwaysspecifythecorrect
unitsanduseappropriate
significantfigures
Graphs:
Axesmustbecorrectly
labeled(variable,units
andscale)
Ifprintinginblackand
white,makesureyour
datacanbe
distinguished
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

GeneralTechnicalWriting
3rd personnarrative(dontuseI,we,our)
Pasttense
Concise(needstobebriefandtothepoint)
Donotincludeunnecessaryinformation
Correctgrammarandspelling(alwaysdoaspellcheck!)
 FacultyofScience,Engineering&Technology

Summary
Abilitytowritegoodtechnicalreportsisavitalengineeringskill
Thinkaboutyourreportstructure
UsetheAMCLaboratoryReportTemplateasaguide
Useatechnicalwritingstyle(concise,3rd personetc)
Makeuseoftheresourcesavailable