Technical report writing and research paper writing.
- 1. PRESENTATION ON TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING AND RESEARCH PAPER WRITING SUBJECT- GENERAL PROFICIENCY II ASSIGNMENT NUMBER- 1 NAME OF THE STUDENT- KRITI GHAI
- 2. FLOW OF THE PRESENTATION INTRODUCTION AND STRUCTURE OF A TECHNICAL REPORT TECHNICAL REPORT FORMAT RESEARCH PAPER: AN INTRODUCTION MAIN SECTIONS OF A RESEARCH PAPER OTHER PARTS OF A RESEARCH PAPER CITATION FORMATS IN TEXT CITATIONS FULL CITATIONS
- 3. INTRODUCTION AND STRUCTURE OF TECHNICAL REPORT A technical report is a formal report designed to convey technical information in a clear and easily accessible format. It is divided into sections which allow different readers to access different levels of information.
- 4. TECHNICAL REPORT FORMAT When it comes to the writing of a technical report, the format is very important because it is unique from other reports in that it carries technical information. A technical report contains technical information which should be planned well. You need to understand all the structure to achieve your objective. A technical report should contain the following:
- 5. The Title Page The title page comes first when you write your report. The title page contains the title of the report the date and the institution details plus supervisor. This first page is also referred to as the cover page. It is good to note that the content of the title page does not add up to the word count of your report. The title is a separate entity when it comes to word count, so you should not include it on your word count. Introduction In the introduction, you are supposed to highlight the main aims of the paper to the reader. Let the reader understand the purpose of you writing the report. You can also comment on the flow of the report so that the reader can know what to expect. You should avoid copying the introduction given in the lab hand out and instead come up with your own. The Summary In summary, you need to write an overview of the whole report including the results and conclusions made.
- 6. Experimental details This is the part that you need to state every detail of the experiment starting from the equipment that you used to the procedure for the test. This section can be omitted if the report did not involve an experiment at all. Results and discussions This is where you are expected to explain the results that you obtained from your experiments. You should give a clear explanation so that the reader cannot ask themselves any question on your results.
- 7. The Body The body is the most important part of your report because it carries your content. You should introduce small subheadings in your report as per the point being put across. This will make your work look more presentable as the reader will be guided with this subheading what point you are talking about. You can also place your points in number form or list so that it becomes easier for your reader to understand what you are talking about. You should also separate your points to avoid bringing confusion in your work; each point should be under its subtopic. Conclusions When it comes to the writing of your conclusion what you need to do is write a summary of the main points in the body of your report and wrap it up. In conclusion, you also need to use words that suggest you are concluding your work to prepare the reader psychologically, that you are about to finish. Remember also that the conclusion should be short and precise avoid a lot of stories in your concluding paragraph, spare all the stories for the body of your report.
- 8. Recommendations The recommendation usually comes after the conclusion. In the recommendation, you are supposed to suggest solutions to the challenges that are there in the body. This is where your opinion is welcomed. Reference In the reference, you need to list all the materials that you used in your research. You may have quoted some text somewhere, so it is at this point that you need to list it so that it does not become a plagiarized work. When you write the reference, you acknowledge that the content that you used is from a certain source. Bibliography A bibliography is more like the reference but in a bibliography, you can go ahead and list the sources that you did not use in your research, but they may be useful in the explanation of your content. Mostly bibliography usually contains sources that can be used for further reading on the topic.
- 9. Acknowledgements In this section, you are supposed to list all the people that helped you in coming up with your report. This includes even those that proofread your work to make sure it is well written. This is a way of appreciating the effort of other people in your work. Appendices You may have used other materials to put across your points in the report such as graphs or diagrams but are not necessarily required in the report. This is the place where you should mention them.
- 10. Technical information is best put across by use of other means other than word, so you need to know the right format for this diagrams and tables to ensure success in your work. Below are some of the guide on how to oriented various appendices in your report: • Graphs – your graph should be well labelled to avoid confusion of the variables. When it comes to graphs, you can use pie charts and even bar graphs to indicate the trend of what you are analyzing. • Diagrams – for the diagrams you should draw simple diagrams, and they should appear after or before the content you are discussing so that the reader can be able to understand its relation.
- 11. • Tables – tables are used for summary purposes. A table can help you list points and explain them in brief which helps the reader go through everything in a brief summary. You should also number your tables for easy reference in your work. • Mathematics – while writing a technical report that involves some analysis, it is better to use mathematics because it makes the analysis easier and convenient.
- 12. RESEARCH PAPER : AN INTRODUCTION A research paper is a piece of academic writing that provides analysis, interpretation, and argument based on in- depth independent research. The main sections of a typical research paper include: • Cover Page • Abstract • Introduction • Background • Methodology • Results • Conclusion • Appendices
- 13. • TITLE OR COVER PAGE Just like any other paper you write, your research paper needs a cover page with your study’s title. It also needs your and any co-writers’ names and institutional affiliations (if any). • ABSTRACT An abstract is a detailed summary of your study. It should include a broad overview of the paper, your research question, the significance of your study, methods of research, and findings. Don’t list cited works in the abstract. • INTRODUCTION The introduction section tells the reader what problem your study is attempting to solve. You can address the study’s significance and originality here as well. Clearly state the research question in the form of a thesis statement.
- 14. • BACKGROUND What inspired you to take on this study? What has previous research stated or revealed about this topic? The background section is the place to add historical data or define previous theories that provide context for your study. It’s also a helpful place to consider your audience and what information they will need to understand the rest of your paper. Read on for an example of a paragraph from the background section of a research paper. • METHODOLOGY Knowing whether you used qualitative or quantitative methods is an important part of understanding your study. You can list all the ways you collected data, including surveys, experiments, or field research. This section is also known as “Materials and Methods” in scientific studies. • RESULTS What does your study find? State your findings and supply the data in this section. Use an objective perspective here; save the evaluation for your conclusion section.
- 15. • CONCLUSION Explain why your findings are significant in the conclusion section. This section allows you to evaluate results and reflect on your process. Does the study require additional research? • APPENDICES If you have information that is too dense for the paper itself, include it in an appendix. Appendices are helpful when you want to include supplementary material that is relevant but not integral to the paper itself.
- 16. OTHER PARTS OF A RESEARCH PAPER • Limitations of Study: Found after the Introduction section, the Limitations of Study section lists any factors by which you limited your research. These can include age, location, sex, and education level. This section can also list the ways that your study was impacted by shortcomings such as limited resources or small sample sizes. • Literature Review: The Literature Review section takes scholarly articles or books out of the Background section for a more focused investigation. You can usually find this section between Background and Methodology. • Discussion: A more concentrated section for evaluating results is the Discussion section. This section is a helpful place to consider the process as a whole. • Acknowledgments: This is a place to thank anyone who helped you complete your research. It can include colleagues, focus group participants, fellow researchers, mentors, or family members.
- 17. CITATION FORMATS Citations are the way in which you give credit to others for their work and avoid committing plagiarism. They are also the way in which you join the professional or scholarly conversation on a given topic. Citations come in two forms: in-text citations and full citations.
- 18. IN-TEXT CITATIONS In-text citations are used within the text of your paper and indicate to your readers from which source listed in your works cited or bibliography you are extracting information or quotations. That way, even if you have multiple sources, it is always clear which source you are using at any given time. As with full citations, discussed below, format of in-text citations differs depending on which citation style you are using. APA uses the author-year format, while MLA uses the author- page number format. Other styles of in-text citation include footnotes or endnotes, in which continuously sequenced numbers refer the reader to a list of citations elsewhere in the document.
- 19. FULL CITATIONS Full citations generally have three major parts, though the order and formatting of these parts depends on the citation style you use. Major parts • Information about the person or body that created it – the author(s), editor(s), speaker(s), etc. • Information that distinguishes the content of the specific work being cited – the title of an article, chapter, book, or presentation • Information about the location or creation of the work – usually, where and when it was published or presented. This can include whether or not the work is part of a larger publication or series (volume and issue numbers), the number of printed pages it contains, or the web address (URL), and date it was accessed.
- 20. THANK YOU