Technical report writing and research paper writing with various citation formats.

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