Structure of reports

Title page
Preliminaries
Abstract
Pages
Contents page

Introduction
• Background
• Theory
• Aims

Method
Results Main body

Discussion
Conclusion
Recommendations
Reference section

Appendices End matters

Reports are usually written for academic achievement at university. Although the exact

nature will vary according to the discipline you are studying. The general structure is broadly

similar for all disciplines. The typical structure of a report, as shown on this page, is often
referred to as IMRAD, which is short for Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion. As

reports often begin with an Abstract, the structure may also be referred to as AIMRAD.

Preliminaries
At the beginning of the report, before the main content some preliminary parts are

written. These are the title page, abstract and contents page.

Title page
Your report should have a title page. Information which could be included on this

page is:

• the title of the report

• the name(s) of the author(s)

• your student number(s)

• name of the lecturer the report is for

• date of submission

Abstract
Many longer reports will contain an abstract. This is like a summary of the

whole report. It should contain details on the key areas In other words the purpose,

the methodology, the main findings and the conclusions. An abstract is not usually

needed for shorter reports such as science lab reports.

Contents page
Many reports will contain a contents page. This should list all the headings

and sub-headings in the report, together with the page numbers. Most word

processing software can build a table of contents automatically.

Introduction
The first section of your report will be the introduction. This will often

contain several sub-sections, as outlined below.

Background

There should be some background information on the topic area. This could

be in the form of a literature review. It is likely that this section will contain material

from other sources, in which case appropriate citations will be needed. You will also

need to summarise or paraphrase any information which comes from your text books

or other sources.

Theory
Many reports, especially science reports, will contain essential theory, such

as equations which will be used later. You may need to give definitions of key terms

and classify information. As with the background section, correct in-text

citations will be needed for any information which comes from your text books or

other sources.

Aims
This part of the report explains why you are writing the report. The tense you

use will depend on whether the subject of the sentence is the report (which still

exists) or the experiment (which has finished).

Method
Also called Methodology or Procedure, this section outlines how you gathered

information, where from and how much. For example, if you used a survey:
 • How was the survey carried out?

• How did you decide on the target group?

• How many people were surveyed?

• Were they surveyed by interview or questionnaire?

If it is a science lab report, you will need to answer these questions:

• What apparatus was used?

• How did you conduct the experiment?

• How many times did you repeat the procedure?

• What precautions did you take to increase accuracy?

Results
This section, also called Findings, gives the data that has been collected (for

example from the survey or experiment). This section will often present data in

tables and charts. This section is primarily concerned with description. In other

words, it does not analyse or draw conclusions.

Discussion
The Discussion section, also called Analysis. It is the main body of the

report, where you develop your ideas. It draws together the background information

or theory from the Introduction with the data from the Findings section. Sub-

sections (with sub-headings) may be needed to ensure the readers can find

information quickly. Although the sub-headings help to clarify, you should still use

well constructed paragraphs, with clear topic sentences. This section will often

include graphs or other visual material, as this will help the readers to understand the
main points. This section should fulfill the aims in the introduction, and should

contain sufficient information to justify the conclusions and recommendations which

come later in the report.

Conclusion
The conclusions come from the analysis in the Discussion section and should

be clear and concise. The conclusions should relate directly to the aims of the report.

It states whether these have been fulfilled or not. At this stage in the report, no new

information should be included.

Recommendations
The report should conclude with recommendations. These should be specific.

As with the conclusion, the recommendations should derive from the main body of

the report and again, no new information should be included.

Reference section
Any sources cited in the text should be included in full in the reference
section.

Appendices
Appendices are used to provide any detailed information which your readers

may need for reference, but which do not contain key information and which you

therefore do not want to include in the body of the report. Examples are a

questionnaire used in a survey or a letter of consent for interview participants.

Appendices must be relevant and should be numbered so they can be referred to in

the main body. They should be labeled as Appendix 1, Appendix 2, etc.

('appendices' is the plural form of 'appendix').