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The following information is provided by David A. McMurrey. For additional information and help with your technical writing, see his Technical Writing textbook and his online Technical Communications courses. For information on use, customization, or copies of this material, send David an e-mail..
For many students, the technical report is the longest document they've ever written. It normally involves some research; often the information comes not only from published sources in the library, but also sources outside the library, including nonpublished things such as interviews, correspondence, and video tapes. It may also be the fanciest document: it uses binding and covers and has special elements such as a table contents,
title page, and graphics.
As you think about writing a report, don't shy away from topics you are curious about or interested in, but don't know much about. You don't need to do exhaustive research; normally, you can pull together information for an excellent report from several books and a half-dozen articles. The real focus is the writing: how well adapted to a specific audience it is, how clear and readable it is, how it flows, how it's organized, how much detail it provides. The focus is on format: how well you use headings, lists, notices; how well you incorporate graphics; how well you handle the front- and back-matter elements; and how nice a job you do of turning out the final copy of the report.
You don't need a fancy laser printer and you don't need to be a trained graphic artist to produce a fine-looking report. A simple typewriter or dot-matrix printer, scissors, tape, whiteout, a good-quality photocopier, and access to nice (but inexpensive) binding are all you need. Plan on doing a first-rate job on the report; remember that past students have shown prospective employers their reports and have benefited by doing so.
Your first job is to define the following:
- Report topic: Decide what subject you are going to write on;
narrow it as much as possible.
- Report audience: Define a specific person or group of people for
whom you are going to write the report. Define the circumstances in which
this report is needed.
- Report purpose: Define what the report will accomplish--what
needs of the audience it is going to fufill.
- Report type: Decide on the type of report--for example, technical
background report, feasibility report, instructions, or some other.
- Front cover of a final report: Do a great job on your final report, and then put a copy of it in your fancy briefcase when you go job-interviewing.
You can do these in any order: for some people, it helps to start by defining an audience or a report type first. For others, beginning by picking a topic is more stimulating. Once you have defined these elements, you can start testing your report-project ideas by asking yourself these questions:
- Is there hard, specific, factual data for this topic?
- Will there be at least one or two graphics?
- Is there some realistic need for this report?
TYPES OF TECHNICAL REPORTS
Here's a brief rundown of the many types of reports you might be asked to do:
Technical-background report.
The background report is the hardest to define but the most commonly written. This type of technical report provides background on a topic--for example, solar energy, global warming, CD-ROM technology, a medical problem, or U.S. recycling activity; however, the information on the topic is not just for anybody who might be interested in the topic, but for some individual or group that has specific needs for it and is even willing to pay for that information. For example, imagine an engineering firm bidding on a portion of the work to build a dialysis clinic. The engineers need to know general knowledge about renal disease and the technologies used to treat it, but they don't want to have to go digging in the library to find it. What they need is a technical background report on the subject.
Instructions.
These are probably the most familiar of all the types of reports. Students often write backup procedures for the jobs they do at their work. Others write short user manuals for an appliance, equipment, or program. If there is too much to write about, they write about some smaller segment--for example, instead of instructions on using all of WordPerfect, just a guide on writing macros in WordPerfect.
Feasibility, recommendation, and evaluation reports.
Another useful type of report is one that studies a problem or opportunity and then makes a recommendation. A feasibility report tells whether a project is "feasible"--that is, whether it is practical and technologically possible. A recommendation report compares two or more alternatives and recommends one (or, if necessary, none). An evaluation or assessment report studies something in terms of its worth or value For example, a college might investigate the feasibility of giving every student an e-mail address and putting many of the college functions online. The same college might also seek recommendations on the best
hardware and software to use (after the feasibility report had determined it was a good idea). In practice, however, it's hard to keep these two kinds of reports distinct. Elements of the feasibility and recommendation report intermingle in specific reports--but the main thing is to get the
job done!
Primary research report.
Primary research refers to the actual work someone does in a laboratory or in the field--in other words, experiments and surveys. You may have written a "lab report," as they are commonly called, for one of your previous courses. This is a perfectly good possibility for the technical report as well. In this type of report, you not only present your data and draw conclusions about it, but also explain your methodology, describe the equipment and facilities you used, and give some background on the problem. You can modify this type by summarizing other primary research reports. For example, you could report on the research that has been done on saccharine.
Technical specifications.
In this report type, you discuss some new product design in terms of its construction, materials, functions, features, operation, and market potential. True specifications are not much on writing--the text is dense, fragmented; tables, lists, and graphics replace regular sentences and paragraphs whenever possible. Thus, specifications are not a good exercise of your writing abilities. However, you can write a more high-level version--one that might be read by marketing and planning executives.
Report-length proposal.
As you may be aware, proposals can be monster documents of hundreds or even thousands of pages. (Please, not this semester.) Most of the elements are the same, just bigger. Plus elements from other kinds of reports get imported--such as feasibility discussion, review of literature, and qualifications; these become much more elaborate. The problem with writing a proposal in a technical-writing class is coordinating it with the proposal you write at the beginning of the semester (a proposal to write a proposal? Come on!). Students might set up scenarios in which they propose internally to write an external proposal, in which they go after some contract or grant.
Business Prospectus.
If you are ambitious to run your own business, you can write a business prospectus, which is a plan or proposal to start a new business or to expand an existing one. It is aimed primarily at potential investors. Therefore, it describes the proposed business, explores the marketplace and the competition, projects revenues, and describes the operation and output of the proposed business.
Don't feel constrained by this list; if there is a type of technical document you want to write not listed here, talk to your instructor. It may be that we're using different names for the same thing.
AUDIENCE AND SITUATION IN TECHNICAL REPORTS
A critical step in your early report planning is to define a specific audience and situation in which to write the report. For example, if you wanted to write about CD audio players, the audience cannot be this vague sort of "anybody who is considering purchasing a CD player." You have to define the audience in terms of its knowledge, background, and need for the information.
- Why does the audience need this information?
- How will readers get access to this information?
You also have to define the audience in terms of who they are specifically: that means things like names, organization or company, street address and phone numbers, and occupation or position.
Just as critical to the planning process is defining the situation. When you define audience, you define who the readers are, what they know or don't know in relation to the topic, what experience or background they have in relation to the topic, and why they want or might need the information. Sometimes this leaves out a critical element: just what are the circumstances that bring about the need for the information.
TOPICS FOR TECHNICAL REPORTS
Just about any topic can be worked into a good technical-report project. Some are a little more difficult than others; that's where Dr. Write can help. One of the things he can do is guide you away from problems like:
Editorializing.
For the report project, avoid editorial topics. For example, don't attempt to write a technical report on the pro's and con's of gun control, abortion, marijuana, and the like. You can, however, develop these topics: for example, describe the chemical, physiological aspects of marijuana or the medical techniques for abortion or the developmental stages of the fetus. These get into substantial technical
areas. But avoid editorializing--there are other courses where you can do this.
Using Fuzzy Topics.
Some topics just don't work, for some reason. For example, dream analysis can be very fuzzy and nebulous. So can UFOs. You want your report to have hard factual data in it. The preceding topics are difficult to pin down this way. However, good reports have been written on the apparatus used in dream research laboratories. Maybe somebody can even figure out a good way to handle UFOs.
Choosing Tough Technical Topics.
As mentioned earlier, don't shy away from interesting topics that you don't feel you know enough about. No one expects a doctoral thesis. Use the report project as a chance to learn something new. Of course, it's common sense that we often write better about things we know about. If this is a concern for you, look around you in your work, hobbies, or academic studies.
At the same time, however, don't be concerned that your has to be about computers, electronics, or some other "technical" topic. Remember that the word technical refers to any body of specialized knowledge.
Brainstorming Zone!
And of course if you are absolutely stumped, let us know and we'll help you get started. In the meantime, here are some areas in which you can look for topics as well:
- Your major, future courses:
Think about some the courses you have taken or will soon be taking within your major. Browse through some textbooks used in those courses.
- Magazines, journals, periodical indexes:
Do some browsing in magazines and journals that are of interest to you. Indexes are a terrific way of brainstorming for a topic--they are huge lists of topics!
- Career plans, current work:
Consider what sorts of work you will be doing in your chosen field; you may be able to think of some topics by this means. Take a look around you at work--there may be some possibilities there as well.
- Ideas for improvements: Take a look around your home, school, neighborhood, or city. What needs to be
fixed, improved? Thinking along these lines can also lead to some good topics.
- Problems:
Think about problems--your own, the city's, the state's, the country's, the world's. Think about problem in relation to certain groups of people. There are plenty of topics here as well.
And if that's not enough...here's a list of additional possibilities.:
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