1.

INTRODUCTION

In the workplace or any other place where a solution is needed for a certain problem, steps
are always followed and there are processes involved. Reports are written to explain those
steps and processes involved. A report is a document that describes the process and results
of a research. It is also said to be a piece of informative writing that describes a set of
actions and analyses results in response to a specific brief. In most cases reports include
recommendations.

Reports in the engineering workplace are to be legal documents, they must be easily
interpreted and understood by the reader and they also need to be precise in order to avoid
accidents when they are put into practice. This essay is about significant factors that
contribute to good report writing. It covers three types of reports, a design report,
laboratory report and a technical report. It also discusses the purpose, characteristics and
the importance of numbering and using illustrations in a report.

2. PURPOSE OF REPORTS
The main purpose of writing a report is to convey information about a research or project to
a particular audience. This information contains processes, findings and facts obtained from
a research. It is summarised in such a way that a reader will be able to understand easily and
there must be a written conclusion especially if it is based on engineering. Engineering
projects require a lot of effort and time and when the project is complete, there must be a
written report based on the project. “The written report may be the only tangible product
of hundreds of hours of work rightly or wrongly, the quality and worth of that work are
judged by the quality of the written report, its charity, organisation and content” (Blake and
Bly , 1993: 119). This implies that a report needs to be accurate and well structured since its
main purpose is to inform and have good impression on the audience.

3. CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD REPORT

Reports written for government agencies or organisations must have certain characteristics
for them to be considered as good reports. These reports are handed over to senior officials
who are critical decision makers of the agencies or organisations therefore if a report does
not have those characteristics it is considered as poor. Characteristics of a good report
include headings, lists, direct and clear language, must be complete, facts stated accurately
and simple.

Headings are used to mark off different topics and subheadings covered in the report.
Marking off different topics enables readers to skim your report and go straight to those
topics where you discuss what they want. Most people only use paragraphs under each
topic but it is also important to use lists in your report. Lists help readers by making
information easy to follow and emphasising key points. For example “If you have three key
points that readers must not overlook, use a bulleted list. If you have a sequence of steps
that readers must perform, use a numbered list” (Beer and McMurrey, 1997: 140). The
language used must be direct, clear and simple. Terms that are not simple English such as
jargon must be explained in the report.

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4. THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSIDERING THE AUDIENCE

The most common purpose of writing a report, as stated before, is to convey information to
the audience. It is important to know the audience before writing any report. In technical
reports, a technical audience will want more detail of introductory concepts while a non-
technical audience will require more explanation. “It is quite difficult to write to multiple
audiences simultaneously. In such cases, the most formal tone should be adopted”
(Laplante, 2012: 14). A formal tone is a clinical and differential tone used in government
agencies and auditors whereas informal tone is lighter in voice which is used in advertising,
user manuals and marketing copy, also used in communities.

5. THE IMPORTANCE AND PURPOSE OF NUMBERING

Numbering of pages works together with the content page. A content page has topics and
page numbers to make it easy for readers to quickly find pages covering the topics they
want in a report. Refer to figure 1 below:

Figure 1: Topics and page numbers in a content page

(Offner and Mort, 1999: 1)

There are different forms and types of numbering that are used. All pages before the
introduction page are numbered using Roman numerals, the rest of the pages including the
introduction page are numbered using Arabic numerals. Longer reports often use the page-
numbering style known folio-by chapter or double enumeration, for example; pages in
chapter 2 would be numbered as 2-1, 2-2, 2-3…and so on (Beer and McMurray, 1997: 140).
This style enables readers to know exactly where they are in the report.

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6. THREE TYPES OF REPORTS IN ENGGINEERING

6.1 Design report

Design reports are there to introduce, communicate and document engineering and science
designs. They summarise the problem to be solved, the theory behind the design, processes
involved and the outcome. In general, design reports have two audiences. The first audience
includes engineers and scientists who are interested in how the design works and how
effective it is. The second audience includes the management interested in the application
and effectiveness of the design.

The writer has to describe a problem to be solved. Sufficient details also need to be
provided so that the audience can both understand why the problem is significant and how
it has been solved in the past. The problem is further detailed by providing design
requirements which the solution must meet. The writer then describes the solution to the
problem and how it works.

6.2 Laboratory report

A lab report describes an experiment and its conclusions. It has four main parts,
introduction, method, results and discussion. Laboratory reports are written for two
reasons. Firstly, they are written to communicate the laboratory work to the management.
In such instances, the company’s decision by the management is based on the results of the
report. Secondly, laboratory reports are there to archive the work so that it does not have
to be repeated in the future.

6.3 Technical report

A technical report is a document written by a researcher that contains detailed information
about the results of a project. The purpose of a technical report is to describe technical work
and why it was done. It serves as a means of communicating the work to others and possibly
providing useful information about that work for the future.

7. THE IMPOSTANCE OF ILLUSTRATIONS/ VISUAL AIDS

7.1 Diagrams

A diagram can be referred to as a type of illustration that displays data in visual forms such
as bars, lines, pies and scattered points used to illustrate non physical things. Examples of
diagrams can be line and bar graphs, pie charts, and maps.

7.2 Photographs

A photograph is also a type of illustration that supplies lots of detail, for example when you
want to show a model of a new product and how it operates. It can be in a form of a
drawing or pictures taken by camera.

Illustrations (diagrams and photographs) are very useful in a report because they reinforce
ideas. They help to make emphasis on certain points and make the report to be easily

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understood. You might show how a budget will be spent to build a project using a pie chart.
A reader will easily understand and see how much money will be spent on certain things on
a pie chart. Refer to figure 2 below showing an example of budget pie chart:

Figure 2: Chart for budget mechanism

(Kotzin, 2011: 1)

Illustrations also create interest, “Tools such as font styles, colour, and graphics are
attention grabbers and can be used to engage reader’s interest” (Pfeiffer and Adkins, 2009:
402)

A balance between illustrations and written work must be maintained. If there are too many
illustrations the reader becomes distracted as the narrative flow is lost but also if there are
too few illustrations the reader’s attention can also be lost in overly long textual passages.

8. CONCLUSION

As an engineer you must be at least able to write the three different types of reports
discussed. Their purposes must be discussed in the report. The main common purpose of
reports in general is to transmit detailed information about a problem to the audience. For
your report to be considered as a good report it must contain characteristics such as
headings, lists and must be easily understood by the reader. There must also be illustrations
to keep the reader’s attention focussed.