Transversal Skills:

Effective Communication

Practical Guide for Written Reports

Practical Guide for Written Reports 1

 Index

 Introduction

 Planning

 Organization

 Use of figures and tables

 General tips

Practical Guide for Written Reports 2

 Index

 Introduction

 Planning

 Organization

 Use of figures and tables

 General tips

Practical Guide for Written Reports 3

 Introduction
 Introduction
 Writing concise and clear technical reports is an essential skill for
a professional engineer.

 You must learn to properly put into words, diagrams and figures
all the work that you have carried out.

 A badly written report may seriously damage months or years of

hard work.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 4

 Index

 Introduction

 Planning

 Organization

 Use of figures and tables

 General tips

Practical Guide for Written Reports 5

 Planning
 Before starting to write a report, we must be able to answer:

 What is the objective of the report?

• What is it for?

 Which materials should it include?

• Is there anything mandatory to be included?

 Who is going to read the report?

• How much do they already know about the matter?
• What is their experience in the field?

 How much time do I have to write the report?

 How long does it have to be?

• Is there any limit?
• Are there any specified criteria?

Practical Guide for Written Reports 6

 Index

 Introduction

 Planning

 Organization

 Use of figures and tables

 General tips

Practical Guide for Written Reports 7

 Organization
 Every report should always have the following sections:
 Title
 Abstract
 Index
 Nomenclature
 Introduction
 Objectives
 Body
 Discussion (may be included along the body)
 Conclusions
 Future works
 References (bibliography)
 Appendixes

Practical Guide for Written Reports 8

 Organization
 The front page
 It should always contain the following information:
• Report title
• Name of the author(s)
• Date
• Place
• Institution in which it has been carried out and/or institution for
which it has been carried out.

 The title must be clear and descriptive.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 9

 Organization
 The front page

Practical Guide for Written Reports 10

 Organization
 Abstract
 It must be placed before the index.
 Its length must be less than one page.
 A possible structure:
• 1st paragraph: summary of the introduction and objectives
• 2nd paragraph: summary of the body
• 3rd paragraph: summary of the conclusions and future works.
 The abstract must not contain anything that cannot be later found
in the report.
 Just by reading the abstract, one should be able to know what
the report is about and its main results and conclusions.
 Despite being the first thing to be read, it should be the last one
to be written.
• It should be as interesting as possible so that the reader reads
the whole report.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 11

 Organization
 Index
 It is just a list of the sections of the report.
 It must include the number of the page in which a given section
can be found.
• This implies all pages must be numbered.
 The structure of sub-sections should be as clear as possible, and
constant along the report.
 The index should be as detailed as possible.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 12

 Organization
 Nomenclature
 All symbols, special characters and greek letters used in the
report must appear in a list, together with a description or
equivalence.
 This way, there is no need for you to explain the nomenclature
every time you use a special symbol.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 13

 Organization
 Introduction
 An introduction to the report must be included.
• You do not just start writing directly… The reader needs to
“warm up”.
 If there is any background to be commented and it does not
deserve a special section, you should comment it here.

 In this particular assignment, you could include:

• What was the aircraft designed for?
• When was it designed?
• How many units were built?
• Is there any special feature about this particular aircraft?
•…

 Objectives
 VERY important… But not for a course assignment.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 14

 Organization
 Body
 The whole development of the report must be included here.
 Methodology and procedures carried out to obtain results.
• This includes the assumptions taken to perform calculations.
 The use of diagrams, figures and tables is essential to help with
the descriptions and explanations.

 Unless an extra section is used for that, a discussion of the

results must also be included in the body.

 Remember: one image is worth more than a thousand words.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 15

 Organization
 Conclusions
 The main rule is that this section must not include any new data
or information.

 In general, the best way of writing conclusions is answering the

objectives.
• Not really applied for a course assignment… Here you are just
answering what we asked you to do.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 16

 Organization
 References
 Using text, figures, diagrams, data, pictures… from other sources
not generated by the author of the report is also a way of…
PLAGIARISM
 Plagiarism is not just illegal: it is cheating.
 But using data from 3rd parties is possible!
• Actually, it is necessary and gives more validity to the work.
• It must be referenced correctly.
 There are several ways of referencing, but the most extended
methods are the Harvard system and the Numerical one.

 The following website includes a step by step guide on how to

cite and reference correctly:

http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/infoskills/referencing-plagiarism/

Practical Guide for Written Reports 17

 Organization
 References
 Harvard system:
“Although it was first prepared in the later nineteenth century (Benedikt 1879),
its structure was not confirmed until much later (Osborn 1975).”

 References at the end of the document:

• Sorted by alphabetical order, according to the author’s surname.

BENEDIKT, A., 1879. Between two worlds: a critical introduction to

“The Master and Margarita”. Oxford: Clarendon.
OSBORN, E.E., 1975. The apocalyptic vision of Mikhail’s Bulgakov’s
“The Master and Margarita”. New York: Edwin Mellen.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 18

 Organization
 References
 Numerical system:
“Although it was first prepared in the later nineteenth century by Benedikt [1],
its structure was not confirmed until much later [2]. It has recently been
shown that it is a good chlorinating agent [3]”.

 References at the end of the document:

• Sorted by numerical order, in order of appearance.

[1] BENEDIKT, A., 1879. Between two worlds: a critical introduction to

“The Master and Margarita”. Oxford: Clarendon.
[2] OSBORN, E.E., 1975. The apocalyptic vision of Mikhail’s
Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita”. New York: Edwin Mellen.
[3] BARRATT, A., 1987. The Master and Margarita: a comedy of
victory. Birmingham: University of Birmingham.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 19

 Organization
 References
 Book:
AUTHOR’S SURNAME, INITIALS., Year. Title. Edition (if not the first). Place of
publication: Publisher.
WELLS, A.F., 1975. Structural inorganic chemistry. 4th ed. Oxford: Clarendon
Press.
 Book with two authors/editors:
AUTHORS, Year. Title. Edition (if not the first). Place of publication: Publisher.
FINEMAN, S. and GABRIEL, Y., 1996. Experiencing organizations. 4th ed.
London: Sage.
 Journal article
AUTHORS, Year. Title. Journal, Volume, pages.
LICHTAROWICZ, A.K., DUGGINS, R.K., MARKLAND, E., 1965. Discharge
coefficients for incompressible non-cavitating flow through long orifices. Journal of
Mechanical Engineering Sciences, Vol. 7(2), pp. 210-219.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 20

 Organization
 References
 Thesis/dissertation
AUTHOR’S SURNAME, INITIALS., Year. Title. Designation (type). Name of
institution.
BURRELL, J.G., 1973. The importance of school tours in education. Thesis
(M.A.). Queen’s University, Belfast.
 Webpages and e-books
AUTHOR’S SURNAME, INITIALS., Year (if known). Title [online]. (Edition if known).
Place of publication: Publisher (if known). Available from: URL [Accessed date].
HOLLAND, M., 2002. Guide to citing Internet sources [online]. Poole:
Bournemouth University. Available from:
http://www.Bournemouth.ac.uk/library/using/guide_to_citing_internet_sourc.html
[Accessed 4 November 2002].

Practical Guide for Written Reports 21

 Organization
 Appendixes
 The appendixes are always included at the end of the reports.
They may include the detailed calculations carried out to obtain the
results detailed in the report.
 The appendixes may detail the whole mathematical development
carried out in the report.

 It is important to note that the appendixes are not part of the

report.
• This means that the report must be totally understandable
without the appendixes.

 Appendixes must be referred to in the report.

• “Blablabla, as seen in the Appendix 2”.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 22

 Index

 Introduction

 Planning

 Organization

 Use of figures and tables

 General tips

Practical Guide for Written Reports 23

 Use of figures and tables
 Use of figures and tables
 The use of figures and tables is essential and totally necessary.

 Unless it is specified that the figures and tables must be grouped

together in a special section, they must be located along the text,
close to where they are referred to.

 Difference among table and figure:

• A table contains data and numbers.
• A figure may be a diagram, an image, a drawing, a picture…

Practical Guide for Written Reports 24

 Use of figures and tables
 All tables and figures must be numbered and labelled (i.e.
possess a brief descriptive title).

Figure 2.1: PW814GA engine [3] Table 3.2: Breakdown of CD0 components

 Figures must be numbered independently from tables.

 The numbering must be related to the section to which it belongs:
• If we are in Section 2, the numbering will start with 2.x
• X is the number of figure inside the given section.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 25

 Use of figures and tables
 Tips
 Be careful not to change the aspect ratio (proportion) of the
figures if changing their size.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 26

 Use of figures and tables
 Tips
 Any text in a figure must be readable. Avoid small “things”.
 The axes must clearly state the variable that is being plotted,
together with its units.
 If there is more than one data series, use a legend.
 Use colours that are distinguished and different among them.
 Keep in mind that figures and tables may lose quality when printed.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 27

 Use of figures and tables
 Tips
 Any text in a figure must be readable. Avoid small “things”.
 The axes must clearly state the variable that is being plotted,
together with its units.
 If there is more than one data series, use a legend.
 Use colours that are distinguished and different among them.
 Keep in mind that figures and tables may lose quality when printed.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 28

 Use of figures and tables
 Tips
 All figures and tables included in the report must be referred to
in the text:

The aircraft engine is seen in the The aircraft engine is seen in

next figure: Figure 2.1. It is an engine with
blablabla

Figure 2.1: PW814GA engine [3] Figure 2.1: PW814GA engine [3]

Practical Guide for Written Reports 29

 Index

 Introduction

 Planning

 Organization

 Use of figures and tables

 General tips

Practical Guide for Written Reports 30

 General tips
 Language
 Avoid using colloquial language (and GIFs).
• “Don’t”
• “I had some bigger problem”.
• “Its schemes are shown here despite of the fact that they are a little bit
difficult to understand”.
• “Introducing all this stuff into the integral”.
 Avoid using non-standard nomenclature
 Keep the text impersonal by using the passive voice:
• “I have to consider”.
• “According to the information we found”.
 Use short and concise sentences, using a precise, technical and
professional language.
 Do not use technical language without knowing exactly what you
are talking about: it assumes the author does not have a good
knowledge of the matter.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 31

 General tips
 Format
 Keep a constant format throughout the text (for instance, all headings with
the same style).
 Use justified alignment.
 It is convenient to also number the equations to refer to them easily.
 Do not write the report with colour letters.
 The font size must not be lower than 10 pt.
 Use standard fonts (Arial, Times, Calibri…). No weird fonts, please.
https://www.theverge.com/2012/7/4/3136652/cern-scientists-comic-sans-higgs-boson

Practical Guide for Written Reports 32

 General tips
 Content
 Avoid being repetitive. If something has already been stated, there is no
need to state it again (except for the abstract and maybe the conclusions).
 Be smart when presenting results so that it is easy to understand them:

z=0m z = 5500 m

z = 11000 m

Practical Guide for Written Reports 33

 General tips
 Content
 Be smart when presenting results so that it is easy to understand them:

z=0m
z = 5500 m
z = 11000 m

Bonus:
You save space!

Practical Guide for Written Reports 34

 General tips
 Content
 Avoid to interrupt the flow of the text: you will interrupt the story for the
reader. Use appendixes.
All the values obtained in the calculation of each
component’s CD0 are summarized in Table 3.1. For
details on the calculations, please refer to Appendix 2.

Practical Guide for Written Reports 35

 General tips
 Watch out for…
 Misspelling of units.
• KN is not the same as kN.
 Decimal and thousands separators.
 Results presented with too many significant figures.
• Does it make sense to talk about a fuselage length of 30.123456 meters?
 Variables should be written in italics, units in regular text:
• “The nominal cruise velocity (U) for this aircraft is 250 m/s.”
• “The cruise altitude for this aircraft is h = 42000 ft.”

Practical Guide for Written Reports 36

Practical Guide for Written Reports 37