WRITING ENGINEERING REPORTS

The purpose of an engineering report is to cause change.

The style of an engineering report is a function of the change intended.

In some instances - such as routine school projects or single discipline consulting - the purpose does not change from one report to the next and a single report style is used time after time. For less routine work the report writer should clearly identify the intended result and select an appropriate writing style.

For example, to stop an ill conceived project without embarrassing senior officers a final, "soft" report may be preceeded by informal progress reports that give all parties ample opportunity to "jump ship."

On the other hand, a report intended to keep General Motors as a customer even after your company's parts have caused GM to consider a major recall, might be much more formal with overwhelming detail and written from a stance of responsible competence.

PRESENTATION STYLE

Engineering content is more important than style. Effective style will not overcome bad engineering; however, it is all too common that excellent engineering is hidden - and therefore ignored - due to incomprehensible style. The second best engineering idea, properly and enthusiastically implemented, will routinely knock the socks off the best engineering idea that is not understood.

If the report reader does not understand the report it is the writer that has failed, not the reader. Different readers process information in different ways. The effective report writer will appeal to those different processes through the inclusion of narratives, analogies, examples, charts, tables, flow diagrams and perhaps even graphic representations. The writing skill is to "push all of these buttons" without being redundant.

THE READER(S)

Every event - no matter how large or small - can be described in:

a sentence
or a paragraph
or a page
or a series of books

An engineering report writer gives the several readers their choice of which level to read. Specifically an engineering report should be tailored to a least three different readers:

The Executive - A one minute reader
For example, the vice president of the company is finding that your project will make a profit and is informed about the technology used, the capital investment needed, the risks involved, the market conditions, etc.
The Manager - A five to ten minutes reader
For example, the manager of basic engineering has been told to implement or evaluate the cost of implementing the project. He/she will make a judgment of how many people he/she needs, how much time will it take, what budget is needed and mostly will express a judgment about the technical merit of the project. He/she will browse the report looking for information about the technology used, making sure that the results make sense, etc. This person is unlikely to find mistakes in your report (unless they are major blunders) but will form an opinion. You need to have everything he/she needs available at a glance.
The Detailed Reader - The thorough and picky reader.
For example, the engineer that will be in charge of conducting further studies based on your report or implementing your findings/ suggestions. A golden rule to address this type of reader is that he should have all the information about the data you used, the assumptions you made, the tools (algorithms, software, etc.) you used and the steps you took , so that he can repeat the process without having to ask you a single question.

While each of the three readers gets a different level of detail or "report richness" they should all have the same, consistent message.

HOW TO WRITE FOR THREE READERS

Fortunately, writing for three readers does not require three different writing styles. The "inverted pyramid" or news story style allows each of the three readers to choose and quickly find the amount of detail (s)he needs. The Executive Reader might read only the report's summary and perhaps the various headings and, of course, the Detailed Reader is going to dig out every word of every sentence of every paragraph. It is writing for The Manager that requires careful construction. Just as the report should start with its single most important idea, starting each section and sub-section with a summarizing sentence allows the reader to quickly decide how much reading attention to give that particular section. For example, a section describing the world-wide production of cyclohexane may well start with the sentence, "Cyclohexane is a high tonnage chemical" before describing production level details. That introductory sentence alone may tell the reader all (s)he wants to know about production levels and allows him or her to skip to the next sub-section. A good technique is to tell the reader what the section will cover with one sentence, as in the example above, or directly saying "this section covers....". Another tip is to finish the section with a short paragraph that summarizes the findings, whenever appropriate. Tables and figures is another thing that the five minutes reader loves. Make sure they "tell the story or part of the story" without the need of reading the text.

SEQUENCE

The sequence for writing a report is not the same as the sequence for doing the work.

Here is one report writing sequence that has been successfully used:

Do the work
Identify the reader(s).
Determine the purpose of the report - which may be different than the purpose of the work. Moreover; the purpose of the report may or may not be included in the report.
Plan the presentation
- How can I best get these ideas understood?
- What charts, graphs, tables, graphic representations should I use?
- What should the report look like?
Write the body of the report
Write the summary.

By far, the summary is the most important piece of the report. It demands clear, concise, accurate presentation. However; it should be easy to construct. If it requires much more than the first idea from each of the various sections of the report, you may want to consider re-writing sections of the report.

REPORT FORMAT

The engineering report is not a simple narrative describing the work done in the sequence it was done. In fact, the engineering report sequence is exactly the opposite of the "who done it" novel. In other words, put the answer first. Do not require the casual reader to wade through a description of your detailed work (wonderful as it may be) in order to get the conclusion you have reached.

The best report format to use is the one your boss tells you to use. Here is one format that has been used successfully:

Title (Use a separate title page only if your report is more than about five pages long.)
Summary (Target length one fourth to one half of a page - include major recommendations)
Table of Contents (Only if the report is more than about eight pages long) Be sure to number pages and include number in the table of contents.
Recommendations
Introduction
Background (if appropriate)
Problem Statement, Explanation, Test Method, Other Sections (In a logical order determined by the specific work.)
Results
Appendices (Include raw data and any other items. This is the only place in the report for long sections of photocopied material.)

WRITING STYLE SPECIFICS

Voice - The clearest writing is active voice; "I stirred the mixture." Unfortunately, engineering reports have traditionally been written in a more formal, passive voice, "The mixture was stirred." Unless there is some specific reason to the contrary, I would have to recommend keeping the tradition and writing in passive voice.
White space - Do not fill pages edge to edge, top to bottom. A report looks more inviting to read with adequate white space around and through the text.
Headings and sub-headings - One way to increase white space is to avoid solid pages of text. If it can fit into the flow of the writing, have at least one and preferably two headings or sub-headings per page.
Fonts - Word processing gives us a choice of fonts. Use restraint. Select a common, easy to read font for the text. Traditional, serif fonts such as Roman or Courier are safe. Use only a very few variations. You would have to have some unusual, compelling reason to use as many as three different fonts in a single report. Bold face and italics are very helpful only if they are used in moderation and with consistency. Avoid the "look at me, I just learned how to use WordPerfect" syndrome of cluttered font variations.
A Writing Trick - Read your writing aloud. If it does not sound clear, it is probably not written clearly. Ask someone not familiar with your work to critique it. Even if they do not understand the technical detail, they should be able to understand the "flow of writing."
Another Writing Trick - Should you have serious difficulty with the wording of a particular section, don't stop writing. Just bypass the trouble spot, put it aside and start fresh on it tomorrow. If you've waited too long and there is no tomorrow, try to completely re-arrange the trouble spot. Try putting the end at the front.
Grammar and Spelling - The level of penalty assessed to good engineering work for poor grammar or misspelled words is absolutely unfair. You will pay a terrible, terrible price - far beyond their worth - for such errors.
Sentence Length - Short sentences are easy to understand. On the other hand, should a report writer even with the best of intentions, attempt to include numerous ideas in the same sentence through the use of convoluted, parenthetical modifying phrase and continue with a diversity of topics for line after line, that person (the writer) then runs the risk - and a considerable risk it is - of losing the reader's interest and, for that matter, the reader's comprehension and good will - even though the subject sentence may be grammatically correct and punctuated perfectly and the reader has a compelling reason to understand said writing. See what I mean?
Consistency - Should different sections of the report have different authors, give special care to matching their writing styles.
Binders - If your report will be submitted bound on the left edge, leave a very wide left margin...... even wider than you first think. I mean a VERY wide left margin. The reader deserves an inch and a half left margin after binding. For some binding systems, you'll have to allow three or three and a half inch left margin to give the reader his one and a half inch margin after binding. Select a binder appropriate to the work. For example, do not use a custom designed, leather binder for a study on reducing the cost of rest room supplies. Do not submit a proposal for a mega-billion dollar bank loan to finance a new enterprise in one of those tacky, brightly colored Acco binders used by grade school art teachers.

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