3. 4.1 Recommendations
• A recommendation is a statement suggesting a particular course of
action
• Not all reports include recommendations.
• But if required, recommendations should emerge from the
conclusions of the report.
• Recommendations come at the end of reports, and they often are
the final product of a study in formal reports.
• This section is important to those who must act on the findings e.g.
manufacturer, lab technicians, business executives, researchers etc.
4. 4.1 Recommendations (cont.)
• Recommendations may involve:
• strategies, procedures or techniques for solving the problem(s)
• an indication of further work which needs to be completed
• A series of recommendations may be worded in instructional
language; for example, each beginning with a verb.
• For Example,
• Reduce production rate 50 percent.
6. 4.1 Recommendations (cont.)
• Recommendations do not include discussion.
• As the discussions supporting the recommendations should have already
been presented in the discussion section.
• The Conclusions and Recommendations may be combined or not.
• If there are no recommendations to be made as a result of the
project, just call this section Conclusions.
7. 4.1 Recommendations (cont.)
• When there is only one recommendation, try to make it part of a
short paragraph.
• However, do not add new information or discussion.
• It is never appropriate to enumerate conclusions or
recommendations with only one item.
• If the purpose of a technical report is to present the results of, for
example, an analytical service, it may be inappropriate to have
recommendations.
9. 4.1 Recommendations (cont.)
• A very common problem in recommendation sections is indecision
• What is recommended?
• When a report requires a management decision, people usually want succinct
statements to consider.
• There are often three answers to the same problem.
• Maybe all will work, but the reader only wants to know about the best one—
the author’s opinion of which is best.
10. 4.2 References
• The heading for this list will be References.
• The reference section lists the works of others that you referred.
• Why references?
• The objective is to add credibility to your work.
• A reference list shows that you have examined the literature as background
to see if others have done similar work or if the work has never been done
previously by others.
• This is especially true with published articles.
• What is in references?
• It includes books, journals, articles and unpublished works such as company
or organization reports or university theses.
11. 4.2 References (cont.)
• How are they cited?
• References are often cited in the text with square brackets [10], but this may
depend on the style for a given publication.
• Why square brackets?
• Brackets are good, because they are distinct and can be easily found when
you are editing the text electronically.
• Never list a reference that cannot be obtained by the reader.
12. 4.2 References (cont.)
• A reference list (not to be confused with a bibliography) must appear
at the end of a report, listing all sources that have been referred to in
the text.
• The reference list only includes the sources referred to in the report.
• A bibliography is a wider list of all texts that have been read in
preparation for writing.
• A bibliography is not usually included in an engineering report.
14. 4.2 References (cont.)
• It may also be appropriate to cite numbered references several times
in a work.
• References are numbered in the order of their appearance; they are
given in numerical order if combined a second time with other
references.
15. 4.3 Appendices
• An appendix can provide supplemental information that is not
critical to the understanding of the text material but is useful
reference information.
• The Appendices may include material which is incidental to the
report, supportive of the report, or too long or technical to include in
the text; for example,
• Long equations
• Theorem Proof
• list of symbols/letters (in research paper)
• computer program
16. 4.3 Appendices (cont.)
• The Arabic page numbering can continue into the Appendices.
• Each separate appendix should be lettered
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Appendix C
• Alternatively, the Appendices can be numbered internally using the
Letter of appendix + Number of pages within each appendix. For
example,
• (A1, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2 etc.) Appendix A has one page, Appendix B has three
pages, and so on).
17. 4.3 Appendices (cont.)
• An appendix is added to the end of a document, because there is no
room within the document.
• For example, a three-page table that is essential to a message. It
would be very disruptive to the reader to put such a long illustration
in the middle of text.
• For example, a long list of special definitions used throughout the
paper. An appendix can solve this problem.
• However, not all engineering reports will need appendices.
18. 4.3 Appendices (cont.)
• Appendix should have a Title that describes the content.
• This title should be as complete as the title or caption used on an illustration.
• It should state what is in the appendix as well as any other information that
the reader may need to know to use the appendix.
• Only include useful and essential information in appendices.
19. 4.4 Grammar, Usage and Style
• In this section, necessary English Grammar, its usage and style will be
learnt to avoid mistake in Formal Project Reports/Theses.
• Numbers: Words versus numerals
• Acronyms
• Abbreviations and Latin words
• Capitalization
• Punctuation
• We will explore set of rules along with concrete examples for better
understanding and application.
37. Bibliography
• K. G. Budinski, Engineers' guide to technical writing, ASM
International, 2001.
• Matthews, J. R., & Matthews, R. W. (2014). Successful scientific
writing. Cambridge University Press.
• Wallwork, A. (2012). English for Academic Research: Grammar, Usage
and Style. Springer Science & Business Media.
