The document provides guidance on writing a technical report in 3 sections. It first discusses establishing objectives, determining the audience, and creating an outline to establish a logical structure. It then recommends including references as you write rather than after. Finally, it advises starting with the body of the report rather than supplementary materials like the title page, and having others proofread the work.

1. CHAPTER 3
HOW TO WRITE A TECHNICAL
REPORT

2. objective
• make sure you are clear about what
you are going to write and why you
are writing it.

3. Audience
• Determine who you are writing for.
WHY
helps you choose the right language and level of
detail.

4. Outline
• the fastest way to write is to start with outline.
• the topics in the outline extend into what will
become the main points of paragraphs.
Advantages
• Establish a logical procession in a document.
• It is much easier to re-organize a document at
the outline stage.

5. REFRENCES
• This allows you to put references into the text
as you type your document.
WHY
• This may sound silly, but it will save you time
as you will eliminate the extra step of reading
the paper once or twice to insert and correct
references.

6. Non-text components
• I review the outline and determine the figures,
tables, and other non-text mediums that can
or should be used to convey information.
• Then make these and insert them into the
appropriate spots in the outline.
A picture is worth a thousand
words

7. The body.... Just do it
• Do not start with the title page! It is best to
save this for last as it is often difficult to
develop a proper title.
• Start with the first or second chapter.
• Once you start to write, keep going! Do not
stop.

8. Proofing
• have someone else proof your work.
• By having someone else (preferable someone
in or close to your target audience) read the
document, mistakes and sections requiring
clarification can be identified.

9. The Mechanics of Report Writing
• Pick a length for the entire report .
• Prepare the equipment and instrumentation line diagram, and collect any
photographs to be used.
• Plot the data in its final form.
• Arrange in descending order of importance most important first.
• Prepare any tabular summaries required.
• Write the Introduction section: What was this done?
• Write the Objectives section: What were you after?
• Write the Results portion, and a tentative draft of the Conclusions: What
happened, and so what?
• Write the discussion, centered on the figures

10. The Mechanics of Report Writing
(cont.)
 Many reports written without an eye on a desired page count,
fall into one of the following two traps:
• The report is too long, technical material too dilute, too many
trivial details.
• The report is of "proper" length, but is grossly padded, in
spots, to bring it up to size.

11. Quantitative Writing
• Be specific, use numbers where you can and
precisely defined terms where you cannot use
numbers.
• Avoid generalities and generic names.

12. THANKS 