tips for writing formal reports; the correct format for writing reports

Tips for writing formal reports

I t is necessary to write for a specific audience e .g . colleagues or the scientific public and to recognize the kind of information and that that person or people will require . This means that there is no one format

All reports must be written in the third person rather than the first or second i .e . `100 mls of water was added ' Rather than `I ' or `We ' added 100 mls of water

A Grade Sheet is required as the first sheet This , like the rest of

the report , should be produced on a word processor , double spaced on standard unlined with 1 inch margins all round . I t should include the experiment 's number , title of report , date and authors name

Pages should be numbered from the title page onwards

5 . If this is a report produced by a student it should have a title page with the

following information :- the title of the course taken , the author and title , names of any

associates who assisted with the experiment , the name and address of the college

department involved , the person to whom the report is being submitted such as a

professor and the date of that submission

6 .This is followed by either an abstract , or the executive summary usually of about

200 words , on occasion longer . These are written after the completion of the

experiment and the rest of the report . The following points should be included , the

purpose of the work , a statement of how this was accomplished and a summary of any

conclusions reached together with any recommendations for future action

7 . This is followed by a table of contents

8 There follows the introduction - an explanation of why this experiment was done

9 .Then comes the experiment i .e . what was done and why

10 The results are outlined and discussed

11 Finally there must be a brief conclusion and any recommendations

12 References should be made according to an agreed format e .g . A .P .A

13 In some cases an appendices are needed for such things as lengthy lists of statistics

or a list of calculations made . Each appendix should be numbered separately

14 Any report must be carefully checked for accuracy before submission...