Copyright © 2020 PhdAssistance. All rights reserved 1

How to Write a Report for Engineering

Dr. Nancy Agens, Head,

Technical Operations, Phdassistance

info@phdassistance.com

In Brief

You will find the best report writing/ topics

for future researchers enrolled in

Engineering & Technology. In order to

identify the future research topics, we have

reviewed the engineering (recent peer-

reviewed studies) on report writing. Report

is an important skill needed for

engineering students. A technical report is

a report written to present technical details

in an understandable format.

Keywords: Engineering report writing,

writing report, technical writing,

recommendation reports, Technical report,

Abstract, Dissertation proposal, Technical

detail, Diagram, Engineering, Dissertation

proposal, Research area identification help.

Highlights: A detailed guide on how to

write a report or paper. A report should be

written using the following guidelines:

Give an appropriate title for the report.

Include an abstract for the paper.

Include conclusion and future work

Include references and appendices

Follow style guidelines

Avoid plagiarized content.(Rapaport,

2019)

I. INTRODUCTION

Writing a report is an important skill

needed for engineering students. Reports are

used for analyzing data, producing results

and conclusions. In engineering, a technical

report is written for clients or customers, and

other engineers to communicate and it is the

conventional method for delivering the

results of research, investigations, and

design projects. Writing such technical

reports are referred to as technical

writing.(Ting & Abdullah, 2010).

A technical report is a report written

to present technical details in an

understandable format. It is separated into

different sections, and each section explains

elaborately its purpose and gives an idea

about how to prepare a draft report, and then

refining a report to produce a precise,

qualified report.(Newing, 2010)

II. PREPARE DRAFT

The first thing in writing all a report

is collecting the information that may be

needed to draft a report. Note down the ideas

about the topic randomly. After noting down

the points associated with the topic, arrange

the points that are related to each other as a

group. After grouping the ideas, prepare a

draft with sections. This is the draft of how

the report should look.(Perez-Palacin et al.,

2019)7

III. STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT

1. The title

The title of your paper might well

appear in a list of other papers. Therefore, it

must be both precise and easy to understand.

At the same time, it should not be too long.

And also the title is a separate unit, and it

should not be added in the word count. After

writing the title, write the information about

the author, and then write the date which is

very important in preparing the report.

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2. Abstract

The abstract should be the outline of

the report. The aim of writing an abstract in

the report is to give a clear idea about the

paper for the readers, so that, they can

decide whether the paper would be of

interest or not. It is good to recheck this

section after finishing the report, and

examine whether it exactly reflects the

concept of the topic or not. This is because,

as you prepare the report, you will get a

clear knowledge about the paper and if there

is anything that is missed that can be

corrected. Get custom research proposal

writing, data collection, research planning

service and more to complete your work in a

high quality with particular time period.

3. Introduction of the Report

The next main section in preparing a

report is the introduction part. In this

section, you have to explain in brief the

concept and the goal of your paper, the aim

of your work. It is important that you must

not elaborate on the topic very briefly here.

The concept of the paper and aim of the

work are projected to give the context of

your report and point out the problems that

you are handling in the report, and why it is

important and a solution or a

recommendation to the problem. Try to be

more specific and simple. Try to note the

relevant points in this section. It should

convince the readers why is it so important

to read and motivate them to go on reading.

4. Body of the Paper

It is the most important part of the report as

it contains the content of the paper. Write

the content with subheading in your report

with appropriate points under each

subheading. This will give a professional

look to your work and makes it be in a more

presentable form. It also helps the readers to

understand what the concept is about. List

the points using bullets or number format

that helps readers to easily understand the

concept. Also, separate the points to avoid

misunderstanding of the concept by placing

each point under its subtopic.

5. References

It is an excellent idea to include a

section about the references done for the

paper. Explain how your work is related to

the references cited and how your approach

differs from them. It also helps the readers to

get a clear idea about the approach your

work is carried on. It is also very helpful for

those who are new to this field, and who

want to gain knowledge in this field. It also

helps to discover the novelty of the paper.

6. Conclusion and Future Work

The last main section in report

writing is the conclusion part. In this section,

you should note down the contributions of

your work. You should also note down what

is innovative in your work, and what

suggestions can be done in the future. It

helps the readers find out what you have

done in your work, and that you have not

done. It should also be motivating for the

readers because it shows the way through

which the work has to be carried out, and

might encourage the readers to accomplish

such work. There is also report writing

guidance, PhD dissertation writing help and

more on various topics.

7. The acknowledgments

After ending the report with a

conclusion write a short section that has a

list of people who have helped in carrying

out the research, and also the list of people

who have proofread the paper whether it is

written well or not. Do not forget to thank

Copyright © 2020 PhdAssistance. All rights reserved 3

those people who have read the paper and

those who have commented on it.(Hedin,

2005)

IV. THE STYLE FOR THE REPORT

The report should be printed on an A4

paper on a single side. Keep in mind that

the hand-written report will not be

acknowledged.

Page numbers should be given to pages

except for the title page and the abstract

section.

The margin space should be at least 2.54

cm on all sides.

When presenting the report, staple it at

the top left. In case, if the report is

lengthy, then it is good to bind

it.(Winckel, Hart, Behrend, & Kokkinn,

2002)

V. DIAGRAM, GRAPH, OR TABLE

While writing your report, try to

include some diagrams or graphs to make

the reader understand what the report is

about.

VI. PROOFREADING

Before submitting the report do not

forget to proofread the report right from the

beginning to the end of the report to check

for any errors, so that, you get a chance to

correct it and is also a vital part of the

writing process.(Prance, 2004)

REFERENCES

[1] Hedin, G. (2005). Some guidelines for writing article-

style reports in Computer Science. Retrieved from

http://fileadmin.cs.lth.se/sde/people/gorel/misc/Repo

rtGuidelines.pdf

[2] Newing, H. (2010). Conducting research in

conservation: social science methods and practice.

Routledge. Retrieved from

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203846

452

[3] Perez-Palacin, D., Merseguer, J., Requeno, J. I.,

Guerriero, M., Di Nitto, E., & Tamburri, D. A.

(2019). A UML Profile for the Design, Quality

Assessment and Deployment of Data-intensive

Applications. Software and Systems Modeling, 18(6),

3577–3614. Retrieved from

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10270-

019-00730-3

[4] Prance. (2004). Guide to technical report writing.

Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292318895

_Academic_report_writing_Format_and_some_usef

ul_ideas

[5] Rapaport, W. J. (2019). Computers Are Syntax All the

Way Down: Reply to Boz ahin. Minds and

Machines, 29(2), 227–237. Retrieved from

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11023-

018-9485-2

[6] Ting, S.-H., & Abdullah, S. (2010). Report writing

skills of engineering students. In Proceedings of The

Second International Conference on the Roles of the

Humanities and Social Sciences in Engineering,

Bayview Hotel, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia (pp. 12–14).

Retrieved from

http://www.academia.edu/download/32874317/IC0H

SE_2010_Ting_Syaharom_paper.doc

[7] Winckel, A., Hart, B., Behrend, M., & Kokkinn, B.

(2002). Report writing style guide for engineering

students Division of Engineering. Information

Technology and the Environment, University of

South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, Mawson

Lakes, SA, 5095. Retrieved from

http://www.academia.edu/download/60857790/Repo

rtWritingStyleGuideforEngineer20191010-92878-

1fbh9bt.pdf