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Do it yourself engineering reports
Reading engineering reports
Question 1. Here is a web-site that has an actual engineering report:
- Monash University
Monash
University presents the following engineering reports.
Tester for the decay of prosthetic
knee control units
There are actually two reports on this site.
- Report 1: Tester for the decay of knee control units (328 KB, PDF format)
- Report 2: Hydraulic knee controller test rig (188 KB, PDF format)
You can choose either one for this exercise or do both for practice.
Visit the site and find out:
- Who wrote the report?
- What the report is about.
- Why it was written.
- Who it was written for.
- When was it written. Is it up to date? Is it still relevant?
- How well was it written? (The quality of the report may reflect the quality of the research.)
- What was the final recommendation or conclusion?
Note: Do not print out these reports as they are very long.
Question 2. Now visit NASA
and consider other report types. Read a report and answer the
same questions.
Writing engineering reports
Sometimes, the degree to which an engineering report is to document a topic is vague. That is, the specifications are not clear and precise. If you are to write a report it is important to clarify exactly what has to be done before you begin your research and writing by asking lots of questions. Start by analysing the topic carefully and make sure you understand exactly what is meant (or implied) by every term used in the specification. The information below provides some guidelines for this.
Purpose
- Why is the report needed?
- What is it meant to do?
- Is it just asking for presentation of data or will it need to be persuasive?
- Is it meant to describe, analyse, synthesise, compare, contrast ...?
- Do you need to stimulate interest in something controversial or important?
- Is the material confidential or sensitive or to be handled discreetly?
- Who will read the report (the audience)? What are their needs in terms of understanding the topic, language level, presentation style?
- How formal should the report be?
How much to include
- How many words, how many pages are asked for?
- What does the audience need in terms of detail, analysis, recommendations, priorities?
- Which report headings need to be included?
- Are you asked for opinions or just facts?
Information
- Where can I get information? (previous reports, libraries, Internet, engineers, interviews, surveys, observations, case studies, experiments, sales leaflets, specification documents)
- How much depth do I need?
- What balance of information, opinion, recommendations?
- What are appropriate communication tools to use for this particular report?
Templates to use
You can copy and paste this list into your report document before you begin writing. This will guide you as you add your detail.
- Title Page
- Acknowledgments
- Table of contents
- List of Figures, Illustrations, Tables
- Glossary of terms and/or List of Symbols
- Summary (Executive Summary)
- Body
- Introduction
- Sections of the report, e.g.
- Method of research
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusions
- Recommendations (if any)
- References/Bibliography
- Appendices (if needed)
- Index
Module specific report topics
Civil structures
Syllabus: Complete an Engineering Report based on the analysis and synthesis of an aspect of civil structures using appropriate software.
Personal and public transport
Syllabus: Complete an engineering report based on the analysis and synthesis of an aspect of personal and public transport using appropriate software.
Lifting devices
Syllabus: Complete an engineering report based on the analysis and synthesis of an aspect of lifting devices using appropriate software.
Aeronautical engineering
Syllabus: Complete an engineering report on the aeronautical engineering profession with reference to the following aspects:
- current projects and innovations
- health and safety issues
- relations with the community
- career prospects.
Telecommunications engineering
Syllabus: Complete an engineering report on the telecommunications engineering profession with reference to the following aspects:
- nature and range of work done
- engineers as managers
- technologies unique to the profession
- career prospects
- training for the profession
- use of appropriate software and presentation techniques.
Referencing others work
Whenever you refer to someone else's work to find information for your report you must acknowledge where you found the information. Failure to do this is a serious matter referred to as plagiarism which is prohibited by the ethics of the engineering profession.
Acknowledging where you found information is called referencing your sources. Every publisher or assessor will have a different set of rules for referencing but there are two things to remember:
- When you use someone else's words put them in quotation marks and follow this with an accepted shorthand method of in-text referencing.
- At the end of your report there should be a list of all the references you have used. This list should be in alphabetical order by author's surname or numerical order if you have used a numbering system of in-text referencing.
No matter what system your assessor or publisher requires, you will need to collect the following information every time you photocopy or make notes from someone else's work. This means that those who read your work will be able to find out more information by finding your source material.
| Type of source | Who's work | What work | When and where published | Where found |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Authors(s) name: Surname plus initials or first name | Title | Date of publication Publisher Place of publication |
Library catalogue number |
| Web site or CD | Authors(s) name: Surname plus initials or first name | web sites and CDs also have titles | URL if it
is a web site or CD publisher. Date published or date you viewed it if you cannot find the date it was created. |
|
| Journal/ Monograph |
Authors(s) name: Surname plus initials or first name | Title of report or article | Date of publication Publisher Place of publication |
Journal title
- if it is an article in a journal Journal editor(s) Journal volume, number, page numbers |
| Magazine | Authors(s) name: Surname plus initials or first name | Title of article | Date of publication Publisher Place of publication |
Magazine title
if it is an article in a magazine Magazine editor(s) Magazine volume, Number, Page numbers |
| Video/Television | Authors(s) name: Surname plus initials or first name | Title of show or video | Channel, date, time | Where can you get the video |
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