Engineering Reports

Consider Your Audience

• Other engineers
• Managers without engineering training
• Researchers
• General public
 Abstract
• Short version of report
– Problem statement
– Solution/analysis methods
– Salient results
• Some abstracts may be a description of
contents of report
• Not more than 200 words, generally 100-150
• It is not an introduction
• Best to write abstract last
 Introduction

Give context for report

Give background information needed
Give a clear thesis statement
Do I want/need to continue reading?
 A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a

hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil
Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to

the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star, an armored
space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents, Princess Leia races

home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that
can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy...

Who What Where Why When How

 Get to the point
The Universe is a vast and wonderful place
Our sun is one star in that vast universe
The earth travels around the sun once a year
North America is one of seven continents on
the earth
The US is one country in North America
ABC Corporation is a company in the US
Engineering is an important endeavor of ABC
Corporation
…
 Main Body of Report
• Content varies widely depending on nature of
report
• Use section headings – Gives good
organization
– Helps reader
– Helps you as the author
• Be concise but complete
 Common/Possible Section Headings
• Experimental • X-ray Transmission
• Results • Design Constraints
• Discussion • Selection Criteria
• Results and Discussion • Crack Growth Modeling
• Background • Failure Analysis
• Analysis • Recommendations
• Computational Results • Development of Test
• Modeling of Equipment
Subassembly 1 • Implications of Design
• Error Analysis Changes
 Give Background/Context
• Expand on background given in Introduction
(if needed)
• Review prior work by you or others
• Describe current state of things so your
advancement has context
• Give engineering/scientific/mathematical
background needed to understand
analysis/experiments/modeling done
 Use Visual Elements to
Communicate More Effectively
• Plots • Numbered list
– Scatter • Bulleted list
– X-Y • Equations
– Bar graph
• Flow charts
– Pie chart
– Polar
• Gantt chart
• Tables • Organization chart
• Illustrations • Venn diagrams
• Photographs
 Report Work/Analysis Done
• Give a narrative of the work you have done
• May not follow the path you took to get there
• Reader should be able to reproduce results
from your narrative
– Cite values used in calculations and source of
values
– Describe analysis done
 Provide Interpretation
• Interpret results for the reader (sections like
Discussion or Recommendations)
• Justify your conclusions with facts
• Illustrate your logic for the reader
– Cite numbers
– Make comparisons
– Put things in context
• Provide arguments for your solution and
against alternative solutions
 Conclusions
• Concisely state the results or findings of the
report
• State any recommendations
• Sometimes a conclusion will be a statement of
what was presented
“Detailed processing steps for the improvement of
toughness of the steel used in the widgets were
presented.”
“Specification of the alloy to use was given for all
5,672 parts of the widget stamping machine.”
 Conclusions
• Often a concise reiteration of things already
discussed
• Sometimes a drawing together of different
results to new thoughts in report