12. Literature Review And Previous Work

Demonstrate that your work fits within the state of the art of your field

Following your introduction, the second section of your academic or professional report should generally be the Literature Review, also known as the Previous Work section. This is absolutely essential: it demonstrate to your reader that you have research the state of the art of what your report will be discussing, but it also proves the relevance of what you are undertaking by relating it to previous work undertaken, thus showing the relevance of the work you are about to present. Furthermore, this is a very useful section for you, the writer, as studying  similar work performed before might provide you with valuable insights into what you are about to start, thus allowing for self-reflection.

A tip I often given to colleagues and students, is to go and read the second section of the reports or articles they are studying. Why is that? Simply because that second section will be the literature review, a concise and condensed review of the best and most up to date work that has been done in your field. This is a gold mine of information to conduct efficient research in a limited amount of time, so do not pass on such a fantastic opportunity.

It is good practice, especially from an academic point of view to achieve better grades, to ensure that there is a chronological order to your literature review. You may start from a historical discovery of application, moving onto some of the key progresses made, and ending with the most up to date knowledge and discoveries. This should be reflected in the publication dates of the authors you are citing as part of that literature review. Finally, emphasis where your work fits with respect to the literature review you have conducted, what gaps you are hoping to fill, and how far forward are you planning to move the present knowledge.

13. Method, Procedure Or Protocol

Structure your report to structure your ideas.

Having properly introduced your report and presented the work previously undertaken by others in the field in your literature review, it is now time to present your contribution and the work you did. This can take many name or forms, depending on your field of study; laboratory experiments might refer to a protocol, while other research field will simply name it the method section.

But no matter what name or form it takes, the function is always the same: structure logically your reflection and the work that you have performed, to guide the reader through your thought process and clearly detail the research or experiment undertaken. By laying out this structure, you will also realise potential flaws or weaknesses in your research, or highlight an area that should have been covered in more depth.

This is the reason why I always advise my research colleagues, students and employees to start by writing the structure of their report and the work they intend to do first. This is the best way to ensure ideas a flowing smoothly, and that there is no gap or omitted parts of the problem. And this can be critical: for a research paper, the peer-reviewers may reject your paper if your ideas are note strongly underpinned; for a college or university assignment, this will result in a lot of marks lost; finally, from a business point of view, your reputation could be at stake if an important area of the work has been overlooked.

It is therefore best practice to start structuring your report and arranging your ideas in logical sequence to discover any future problem areas and remedy to it effortlessly, has you have not conducted the bulk of the work yet. This is the prefect opportunity to start working on the sections and headings for your table of contents, and is one of the key to a successful report.

14. Results

Now this is where the party is!

Finally! The suspense is killing your reader! After a focused introduction, targeted literature review and clear presentation of your method, it is now time to present your results. The previous sections respectively presented the context and motivations behind your work, the previous work undertaken in the field, as well as your approach to the work performed. The results, i.e. your contribution to the state of the art and the outcome of the work undertaken can now be presented.

The results are the starting point for your discussion and conclusion, coming later in the report, they therefore need to be complete, but not clutter your report. You therefore need to find a balance between concise results depicted in the main body of the report, and the detailed results in appendix, thus proving all the technical details needed by some of your audience.

Presenting results in an efficient and concise way is therefore vital, but can be challenging: graphs, tables and equations are among the best ways to present results, each will therefore be the topic of a separate article to further characterise their use as part of an academic and professional report.

15. Creating Graphs

A picture is worth a thousand words

As part of the result section, key graphs need to be presented. Unfortunately, most people do no present graphs in a professional manner, so that it can be easily understood by all readers. As a consequence, this can result is lost grades in an academic context, or poor performance in a professional context.

Presenting graphs that are easy to understand yet contain all the relevant information is key, and in order to demonstrate how to create an amazing graph, we will be taking the following example, of the yearly price of an oil barrel since the year 2000. For most people, the data would be presented as follows:

However, this is inappropriate! 

First of all, all your figures should have a concise descriptive caption, that must also be crossed-referenced in the text; i.e., you need to refer the reader to that particular figure through the use of a figure number in the text of your report. All your figures and associated captions will then be presented in the table of figures. Note that, but using a caption, the chart title becomes redundant. I therefore always recommend NOT using a chart title, as it should feature in the caption.

Secondly, we need to scale the axis. Looking at the horizontal axis, the first year is 1998... yet no data is presented that year, the axis must therefore be adjusted to start and finish at the relevant points.

Furthermore, we need axis titles and units. What does the vertical axis represent? One can guess the price, but without certainty, it is therefore good practice to properly label your axis. In addition, what is the price in? Dollars? Yens? Euros? The axis title should be complete by the relevant units, typically between brackets.

Now looking at the data, there is no legend provided. While this is not necessarily critical since only one set of data is plotted, a legend is absolutely vital once different data sets are provided. Also note that most report will be printed in black and white, and while a blue and red line can easily be differentiated, once they become shades of grey, it is impossible to tell one from the other. This is where using markers come into place: but using distinctive markers, you can ensure you different sets of data are always discernible.

Talking about markers, you should always add markers to your lines. Indeed, this highlights what is known as the data points, namely precise points at which you have a given value. This gives the reader an idea of how reliable the line shown is: multiple closely spaced data points reveal gives the reader more confidence that some very few markers far apart.

Making those quick and simple changes instantly enhances the quality and clarity of your graph, allowing you to achieve a much more professional standard, as depicted in Figure 1 below (note the use of a cross-reference in the text to introduce the figure):

Figure 1: Yearly oil barrel price from 2000 to 2015 in USD.

And this is how you can improve you graphs, both visually and technically, to reach a professional standard of report writing and presentation.

16. Creating Tables

Sleeker tables to better present your data

After the graphs, the second visual way to present your results is via tables, and again, the sleekness and professionalism of your table will have a huge impact on the audience's appreciation of your work.

Let's start with a typical table format found in so many report, in this instance presenting the population and size of the ten largest US cities.

Firstly, we need units to be able to quantify the data: what does size refer to? This can only be clarified by specifying the appropriate units.

Secondly, the table is too cluttered: the columns should be made wider, which will give the table a lighter feeling, but more importantly will be easier to analyse for the reader

Looking in the size column, we have an inconsistent number of decimal places, which must be remedied for.

Finally, the table is too blend, not all borders need to be displayed, colours, although not necessary, can be added. Furthermore, the title row should stand our more; this is typically achieved by using a bold font. Enhanced examples of the above table are presented hereafter, with the addition of the required table number and descriptive caption, starting with a black and white table.

Table 1: Comparison of the population and size of the 10 largest US Cities. [Black and White]

This can be made easier to read by using colours, starting with grey-scale.

Table 2: Comparison of the population and size of the 10 largest US Cities. [Grey-Scale]

But a colour code can also be used to suit your College, University or Company colour scheme and logo, below are a blue and orange themed examples.

Table 3: Comparison of the population and size of the 10 largest US Cities. [Blue]

Table 4: Comparison of the population and size of the 10 largest US Cities. [Orange]

You are now is a position to display your result in table that are elegant, professional and easy to understand, thus maximising the impact of your work on the reader, and ensuring your work is fully appreciate.

17. Creating Equations

Here comes the Maths!

If you are studying or working in a scientific, technical or numerical field, equations will be a core part of your report. Well presented, you will ensure a professional standard of report writing; but poorly presented equations will make for a poor impression of your work, and therefore yourself. This is the vital role played by equations and their presentation as part of a report.

Ohm's law is one of the most fundamental principles or electricity, and the very short equation should not represent a challenge. However, the majorities of reports will feature the equation as follows:

While the equation is correct, it is poorly presented. The star symbol (*) should never be used as an alternative for the multiplication sign. Furthermore, it is best practice to define the variable of the equations, namely the symbols and the quantity they represent. Furthermore, the units to be used should be specified. 

This is why I have been recommending the following format to my students and employees. Under the equation, each variable is presented, first with its symbol as per the equation, then a description of the quantity, and finally the actual units used. This is also supplemented by the addition of an equation number, which will not only allow to cross-reference the equation in the text, but also to incorporate it as part of the table of equations.

And this is the best, most complete and most professional way to present any equation as part of a report. The equation is clearly presented and associated with its equation number, each variable is introduced, and the units specified.

18. Discussion

The discussion is your chance to shine, whether academically or professionally.

The literature review section introduced the latest developments in your field, you then presented your methodology to further the current knowledge, and latter revealed your results. You are now expected to make sense of your results and interpret them.

In a College or University context, the discussion section typically carries a large portion of the marks, as it demonstrates the student's understanding of the work they have undertaken. The same is true in a professional environment, where a careful analysis and discussion of the results will be expected.

The key to a successful discussion is to be critical. You need to show that you have understood your results through a careful analysis, but you also need to relate that to the wider context: how do your results compare to other published work? This is known as a benchmark, which you can use to validate the outcome of your experiment.  Furthermore, how accurate are your results? you may want to undertake an uncertainty and sensitivity analysis to quantify the accuracy of your results, and the impact of the potential inaccuracies.

The discussion is also an opportunity to formulate your own theory, underpinned by your results as well as other publication. You can then, and in fact should, offer counter arguments to any obvious critics that could be made of the hypothesis you have formulated.

The discussion should therefore be a critical analysis of your results, building on the literature review and benchmarks, but taking it further, with a critical analysis and relations to the wider context in your field.

19. Recommendations And Future Work

Where will the work you have undertaken will take you next?

A report is a story, set in time. The literature review summarises the past work, and brings the report in to the present. Your work constitutes the story, with the discussion being the happy ending of that story... but life does not end there, and chances are there is a lot more work to be done, either by you or others. And while your results may have answered some questions, they probably also raised others. In addition, your critical discussion most likely highlighted areas where the accuracy should be improved in the future. 

The role of the recommendations and future work section is dual. On the one hand, based on your own experience of the work you have undertaken, you should be able to formulate a series of recommendations for later similar work, whether it is undertaken by your or somebody else; it is feedback and suggestions on how to improve. On the other hand, you should suggest the future work or next steps to be undertaken; perhaps a validation of your experiment is need, or additional tests are required, or newly raised questions must be answers. In any case, you should offer your personal guidance on where the work should go next.

And while you may not realise it yet, this section will become crucial in the future. Indeed, in your time-line, the recommendations represents the future. But for the person carrying your work, it will represent the most up-to-date knowledge and how to explore it further, thus making this a vital part of your work, as it will influence a number of your readers.

20. Conclusions

Finish your report on a high note!

After working your way through the introduction, literature review, methodology, results and discussion, you can now start looking at the final touch: the conclusion. This is the end of your report, and for most readers (except the technical person, as highlighted in the target audiences of reports), it will be the last thing they reader, and most likely to keep in mind. This justifies the need for a carefully written conclusion.

A mistake made very frequently is to bring new material or thoughts into the conclusion: this section is means to summarise and refresh everything you covered in the report. It is too late to add new material or ideas; those should have been incorporated into the discussion. 

For an efficient conclusion, you should brief, and straight to the point, highlighting the key parts of your report, from the motivations behind your work to the results and their interpretations. A comprehensive list of your finds and achievements should also be features. While this to be redacted for certain fields of study or work (such a literature or philosophy), technical and engineering disciplines can (though not necessary) use a series of bullet points to emphasis the main findings.

Finally, your conclusion should be a stand-alone section, upon which any reader should have a good idea of the work and findings. Very often, conclusions are read as a way to recall the detailed information in a report read a while ago. Do keep this in mind when writing it, and ensure it is fit for purpose.

21. References

Correctly acknowledging the work of other is a vital and legal responsibility.

References is always a tricky subject, which unfortunately most ignore until the very last minute, and end up sorting in a rush, when it is a significant part of the report. Before diving into what references are, how to use them and the numerous tools available, it must be pointed out that failing to properly reference material that is not yours can be extremely costly.

In an academic context, not referencing the work of others is equivalent to attempting to pass the work of others as you own; in other word plagiarism. This is an extremely serious offence, classified as academic misconduct, and can be sanctioned by anything from a fail to an expulsion. YES, it is that serious. In a professional context, failing to reference could be considered a violation of intellectual property rights (IPR), or breach of copyright, and could lead to extremely cost legal matters.

The references are there to acknowledge that some of the ideas, illustrations, equations, or others, is not yours. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that; in fact, it is a sign that you have performed research, and is therefore seen as beneficial. For the purpose of academic assessments, you should have at least one reference per page of report. For instance, a 20 pages report should include at least 20 references.

Now what needs to be referenced? Essentially, anything that is not yours. There are however exceptions, such a general knowledge and well known facts; thus there is no need to reference that 1+1=2, or that Columbus found America in 1492.

A common question is which reference format to use... and the answer is that is does not matter, as long as you are consistent and use the same throughout. However, note that the Harvard Referencing System is the most commonly used, and if in doubt, this is the safest option. There are however formats you may found more useful; I personally use the APA referencing system as it suits my needs better.

When it comes to in text references, most field will require the author name and the publication date, between bracket. For instance: The first law of motion (Newton, 1687), states that... Alternatively, if you use the name of the author, it is then followed by the publication date between brackets, as in the following example: Newtons (1687) presents the first law of motion as... Nevertheless, in technical and engineering fields, numbered references are preferred, with the number between square brackets, thus giving the following: The first law of motion as given by Newton [1] is...

At the end of your report, and depending on the referencing format chosen, you reference section should present your complete list of references.

Please note the distinction between references, which is work you have directly referred to in the report, and the bibliography, which gathers publications that you may have read or have influenced you, but are never referred to directly. In certain cases, you may very well have a bibliography section following you reference one.

Finally, there are several tools now available to help you manage you references and simplify the process, such as RefWork, RefME, EndNote, etc...

22. Appendices

Declutter your report while being thorough and providing all the necessary details.

When it comes to what an appendix is and how it works, I always give the same example. Imagine a tourist asking you where the train station is, you answer you not be: "go down the street, turn left at the Starbucks where you can buy a small coffee for $2.95, a medium one for $3.65 or a large one for $4.15; you can also get a small Mocha for $3.75, a medium one for $3.95...... and the train station is just there". Does detailing the Starbucks menu useful? Absolutely not. You want to keep it as short and concise as possible to make you instructions clear: "go down the street, turn left at the Starbucks and the train station is just there", however, to be complete and should you be writing a guide book, you may want to attached the Starbucks menu afterwards: this is an appendix.

The appendix is primarily aimed at the technical reader, as outlines in the different audiences for your report. As such, it should provide all the details that will allow someone else to consult and check your work, while ensuring the main body report is not over-crowded with results.

Nevertheless, the appendix is not the place to dump all your work in a random fashion; it should be properly structure. Appendices are typically designated by a letter, and segmented into sections. In essence, it is a report inside the report. The following structure could therefore be adopted:

Appendix A ............

    A.1 .........

    A.2 ..........

Appendix B .........

   B.1 ......

        B.1.1

        B.1.2

   B.2

Those appendices titles and sub-sections should be part of the table of contents. All other report writing conventions apply, such a figure/table/equation numbering, use of references, etc...

23. Proofreading

The difference between win or lose. 

So you have now followed our recommendations and guidelines to craft the perfect report... but is it that perfect? We all make mistakes; because we type too fast, because we get distracted, because we have a new idea, because we assume everyone has the same knowledge as us... the list in endless. But the fact is: you need to proof read your work over and over.

This is one of the main argument for starting your work early, and finishing it ahead of the deadline: so that you can sleep on it, and read it again, to see if it still makes sense. But very often, as you cast your eyes over your work, you realise that you know it by heart, making it extremely hard to spot typos and grammatical errors.

You therefore need what is often referred to as a Guinea Pig, someone you can use to proof read your work and get an outside opinion. I generally advise my students to make a deal with a friend studying a completely different subject, and get them to proof read their work and vice versa. In most of my businesses, I have implemented the Wingman concept: each employee is assigned a Wingman to go over their work and proof read it.

This is absolutely crucial as errors can negatively impact the perception of your work: a CV with typo will end up in the bin straight away; so will an invitation to tender with wrong grammar. As far as essays, reports and academic papers are concerned, your grade could easily go down by 20% if the work submitted as not been proof read properly.

24. Getting help

Because it's okay to get help.

As the old proverb says: "If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together". This is very true of report writing; you can come up with a rather large volume of content rapidly on your own, but the reality that that quality is unlikely to be there. Conversely, you can achieve a much higher standard of work by getting help, and it is okay to do so!

We have previously mentioned the importance of proofreading and how you can use various strategies to your advantage. A number of friends, peers or colleagues are there and most likely very happy with helping you out, so make use of it!

Sometime however, you need an external view on the matter, someone from the outside that can be more critical of your work, because there is no emotional attachment. This for instance might be your teacher or lecturer reviewing and grading your work; or it could be your boss reading you latest report while having your application for a promotion on his desk... In those cases, it is too late! 

This is why we offer our help with professional proof reading services, to ensure your latest homework, paper, report, dissertation, thesis, contact, or any thing is to the highest standard of quality in both its content and format.

So please drop us an email at: misterreportwriting@gmail.com, and let us know how we can help :)