This document provides guidelines for structuring a report, including sections for a summary, introduction, methodology, findings, discussion, and conclusion. The summary should briefly outline the study, previous research, methods, main findings, and conclusions. The introduction defines terms, outlines assumptions and scope, and reviews relevant literature. The methodology specifies participants, materials, and procedures. Findings present results using tables and graphs without interpretation. The discussion interprets results in relation to hypotheses, other research, and implications. The conclusion restates main findings, questions that motivated the study, and recommendations.

1. Your Report:
what goes where
LJMU Academic
Achievement team

2. Summary/Executive Summary/Abstract
• An outline of the study carried out
• A brief reference to previous research done in the
field
• A brief summary of your method
• The main findings and how they relate to the study
• A conclusion that may include a suggestion for
further research

3. Introduction
• The reasons for undertaking the study
• Definitions of any specialised terms in the report
• Assumptions or assertions which were made in the process
• The scope of the investigation (what is covered and what is not)
• A general outline of the structure of the report
• Introducing the reader to the subject area in more detail
• Presents your objectives and hypotheses
• Explains the background to the problem through a literature review

4. Methodology/Methods
• Number of participants
• Apparatus or materials used
• Step by step procedure of how you carried the research out
• State your experimental method
• Detail the kind of data you collected and how you collected it

5. Findings
• What you have read, researched, discovered
• Present an outline of what was found as a result of your study
• Use summary data
• Graphs
• Tables
• Briefly explain the results using clear headings
• Do not discuss the results in this section
• Never present raw data in this section

6. Discussion
Your interpretation of the results
Include
• How your results prove or disprove your hypothesis
• Comparison of your results with other investigations or literature
• Factors which may have influenced your results
• Implications of the results
• A summary of the main results of the study
• An interpretation of the results in relation to the aims, predictions or hypothesis
• An interpretation of the results in relation to the findings of other research in the
area

7. Conclusion
• Present the main findings from the research
• Restate the questions/problems that led to the preparation of the
report
• But don’t restate too much of the report (keep it brief)
• Link back to the purpose of the report
• Lead to recommendations (this can be a separate section):
• Actions to be taken
• Areas to explore further