Standard format of report writing ---11

‫الرحيم‬ ‫الرحمن‬ ‫ال‬ ‫بسم‬
‫اللسليمية‬ ‫دريمان‬ ‫ام‬ ‫جايمعة‬
‫الصحية‬ ‫العلوم‬ ‫و‬ ‫الطب‬ ‫كلية‬
‫المجتمع‬ ‫طب‬ ‫قسم‬
‫الطولىنى‬ ‫العلمى‬ ‫البحث‬ ‫يمساق‬
‫الدفعة‬22
Standard format of Report Writing

Report writing:
• is an essential skill for researchers;
• the report requires:
• clarity of language,
• a logical presentation of facts,
• use of easily understood tables and charts,
• and an orderly arrangement of the report as a
whole.

Report Format :
components/sections
“skeleton of the format”
The format includes the following
components/sections:

• I. Title or cover page 2-Table of contents
• 3-List of abbreviations and glossary 4-Abstract (max 250 words)
• Section (1) :A- Introduction (max 500 words) :
• B- Statement of the Research Problem/justification
• C- Objectives & Hypothesis
• Section (2) :Literature review, Some relevant Background data,
• Section (3) :Methodology section (max 1000 words):
• Section (4) : A-Results (max 1500): B-Discussion (max 2000
words),
• Section (5) :A-Conclusions (max 250 words) , B-Recommendations
• C- Bibliography/ references , D-Annexes or appendices
• Acknowledgements :

Report Format :
content of each
components/sections

I. Title or cover page: this includes the followings:
• 1-report title : states the purpose of the report .
consist of a challenging statement or question,
• 2-student's name,
• 3-the module name,
• 4-the supervisor’s name,
• 5-the institution,
• 6-the academic year, etc.

2-Table of contents:
• (if the report is longer than10 pages).
• It is an essential List of headings given to each
section of the report, together with its page
number.
• Begin numbering the pages at the introduction.
• Anything before the introduction is given a
Roman numeral.
• It provides the reader a quick overview of the
major sections of report, with page references

Table of contents (example):
• Section...................................................... Page
Number
• introduction ......................................................1
• Literature review............................................3
• Methodology section......................................................................5
• Results.............................................................................7
• Discussion …………………………………………………..11
• conclusion........................................................................15
• Recommendations................................................................16
• appendices(list tables, figures and appendices
separately)..........................17
• bibliography........................................................................20
• List of Figures: Bar Chart, Pie Chart .....
• List of Tables, figures

3-List of abbreviations and glossary:
• glossary: is an alphabetical list of technical
terms, with brief explanations of their meanings,
• Abbreviations: technical terms should be stated
in full when used for the first time in the report.
If there are many, they should be listed in
alphabetical order.

4-Abstract:
• It is a summary of the report, in which few
sentence for the main section are included.
• It follows the title page;
• it is formatted as one paragraph.
• Use complete sentences; be concise, but not
telegraphic.
• It should not be just a list of the headings.
• It helps the reader to make a decision, but not
to substitute reading the whole article.

Abstract contains: -
• 1- Very brief description of the problem (WHAT
has been studied)
• 2- brief description of the quality of the literature
• 3- the main objectives (WHY this study was
needed)
• 4- the place of study (WHERE)
• 5- the type of study and methods used; subjects,
apparatus and procedure used (HOW)
• 6- major findings and conclusions
• 7- the major recommendations.
• It is about 250 words.

Section (1)
• A- Introduction (max 500 words) :
• B- Statement of the Research
Problem/justification
• C- Objectives & Hypothesis

Introduction
• is extremely important brief description of the
research question, topic, focus and the method
of its investigation.
• It should contain some relevant background
data related to the problem, and then the
statement of the problem should follow.
• It should contain a paragraph on what
researcher hoped to achieve with the results of
the study.

Introduction
• It serves to justify the study;
• it is first opportunity to highlight importance of
the work.
• Introduction establishes the need for research
within the current knowledge of the discipline,
clarifying how this work will contribute to
knowledge in the field.

• 1-Theoretical framework
• 3-some relevant Background data about the
country (environmental / administrative/
economic/ social), the health status of the
population and health service data, related to
problem under study. Link between the past
and present.

Introduction generally includes:-
• 4- Aims of the project,
• 5-Brief description of the methodology: This
discusses why the particular approach taken in
the research has been chosen.
• It moves from general information providing
background about the research field to specific
information about the research itself.
• Although review the literature in a separate
chapter still, present them in the introduction.
• Introduction: (max 500 words)

B- Statement of the Research
Problem/justification
• Statement of the problem clearly identified in
nature and scope in the first paragraph or the
gaps in the previous research, the unresolved
conflicts in the field that still require
investigation, new developments that are
required by the current state of knowledge in
your field.

C- Objectives & Hypothesis
• The general and specific objectives should be
included as stated in the proposal.
• If necessary, adjust them slightly, but not to
change their basic nature.
• They determine the methodology and how to
structure the reporting of the findings.
• If some of the objectives are not met, this
should be stated in the methodology section
and in the discussion of the findings.

Literature review:
• i.e. what others have written about the topic.
• It should lead towards the research question.
• Review should be concerned with putting this
study in the context of other work, and
drawing out aspects which this research
should intend to explore further.
• Make sure that all the necessary bibliographic
details are noted when first reading the
books, especially page numbers for direct
quotations

Section (3)
Methodology section

Methodology section:
• it should be described in detail, to enable another
researcher to replicate it.
• It should include description of:
• 1- Study population, Study area
• 2-the study type
• 3-major study variables on which data was collected
• 4-sampling method / sample size
• 5-data-collection techniques used, how the data
was collected and by whom
• 6-procedures used for data analysis,
• This section answers three fundamental questions:
What is done? Why? How it is done?

Limitations of Methodology:
• If deviation from the original study design
presented in the research proposal, occurred,
it should be explained to what extent it
occurred &why.
• All methodology section: (max 2000 words),

Section (4)
A-Results
B-Discussion

A-Results:
• The systematic presentation of the findings in
relation to the research objectives is the crucial
part of the report.
• Tables and figures should be titled, captioned
and with foot notes.
• Results are two types: major findings and minor
findings;
• Major findings are essential and useful. If there is
a reasonable number of interesting minor
findings, provide a foot note saying that
information on these is available from the
author.

A-Results:
• result section is data oriented and does NOT
include interpretation.
• Tables, charts, & graphs are better for presenting
findings than text.
• Do not construct tables unless there is reasonable
amount of data to be presented.
• Be consistent in how to present the data and the
labels.
• Text to briefly summarize a complex chart, table,
or graph, can be used, but do not present the
same information in various formats.
• If there is any sort of a trend, use a graph.

A-Results:
• If only numbers sit there, use a table.
• Charts & graphs should clarify & not complicate,
• they make the report more interesting and grab
attention.
• But, they must be well-designed and informative.
• Results (max 2000 words).

B-Discussion:
• discuss the results in the context of previous
research, and comment on the degree to which
current results match them.
• The findings can be discussed by objective or by
cluster of related variables, which should lead
to conclusions &possible recommendations for
further research on the basis of the evidence;
to refine the findings .
•

B-Discussion:
• The point is to add interpretation or "so what"
to the major findings.
• Briefly comment on deficiencies and relate
those to suggestions for further research.
• Outline relation of the results to previously
published work
• Identify problems encountered [how would be
done better next time].

B-Discussion:
• The discussion may include findings from other
related studies that support or contradict result;
whether there was general agreement, diverse
opinion, no agreement, and no real findings in
the literature.
• It is important to discuss the limitations of study.
• Care should be taken not to introduce new
findings, i.e., findings that were not mentioned
in the result section.
• Discussion : (max 3000 words),

Section (5)
A-Conclusions
B-Recommendations
C- Bibliography/ references
D-Annexes or appendices

A-Conclusions:
• This should sum up the main points of the
report.
• It should follow logically from the discussion
of the findings.
• State them as clearly as possible.
• The conclusion should substantiate the points
made in the report. Where does this search
lead for clinical practice, and future research?
• Note that it is not the place to introduce new
material.

A-Conclusions:
• Summarize what have been achieved in terms
of the research and its implications.
• Critically evaluate the research:
• A-what are its strengths and what are its
weaknesses?
• B-What to do differently?
• C-What have been learnt about the topic,
about doing research?
• Conclusion (max 250 words) .

B-Recommendations:
• should follow logically from the discussion of the
findings. They are suggestions for improvements
or future actions, based on the conclusions that
are drawn earlier.
• They may be summarized according to the
groups towards which they are directed, for
example:
1-policy-makers
• 2-health and health-related managers at
different levels
3-health and health-related staff who could
implement the activities
• 4-potential clients(patients)

B-Recommendations:
• 5-the community at large
• 6- action-oriented groups are the most
important in this section.
7- use the findings of this study, with also
supportive information from other sources.
They should take into consideration the local
characteristics of the health system,
constraints, feasibility and usefulness of the
proposed solutions.

C- Bibliography/ references:
• is the list all the publications either cited in the
report or referred to during its composition.
• The references in the report can be numbered
in the sequence in which they appear in the
report and then listed in this order in the list of
references (Vancouver system).

C- Bibliography/ references:
• Another possibility is using Harvard system of
listing in brackets the author’s name(s) in the
report followed by the date of the publication
and page number.
• In the list of references, the publications are
then arranged in alphabetical order by the
principal author’s last name.
• Either system can be choosed as long as you
use it consistently throughout the report.

D-Annexes or appendices:
• This contains material, referred to in the
report, but could interrupt the flow, if it was
included in the main body of the report. It
contains Information that would be useful to
special categories of readers but is not of
interest to the average reader. I.e. it contains
any additional information needed to enable
professionals following the research
procedures and data analysis. Number each
appendix clearly.

D-Annexes or appendices:
• Examples of information that can be presented
in annexes are:
• • Tables referred to in the text but not included
in order to keep the report short;
• • lists of hospitals, districts, villages etc. that
participated in the study;
• • Questionnaires or checklists used for data
collection.
• • A copy of ‘ethics protocol’.

Acknowledgements:• This is a short paragraph thanking any person
or organization which gave help in collecting
data or preparing the report, including local
institutional help and funding agencies.. It is
good practice to thank those who supported
technically or financially in the design and
implementation of the study.
Acknowledgements are usually placed right
after the title page or at the end of the report,
before the references.

‫لا التوفيق‬‫ل‬‫لا با‬‫و‬

Standard format of report writing ---11

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Standard format of report writing ---11