1. Complete Report Writing
Dr. Andrew Fry for Dr. N. S. Harding
Chemical Engineering 475
September 27, 2016

2. “The fundamental purpose of scientific discourse is not the mere presentation of information and thought but rather it’s actual communication. It does not matter how pleased an author might be to have converted all the right data into sentences and paragraphs; it matters only whether a large majority of the reading audience accurately perceives what the author had in mind.”
--George Gopen and Judith Swan
The Science of Scientific Writing
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

3. Technical Writers Practice:
Planning
Clarity
Brevity
Simplicity
Word Choice
Committing to writing as a process
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

4. Planning: Before You Begin
Identify your audience and their expectations
Know your purpose
Know your material
Understand the writing task at hand
Organize your thoughts and material
Budget adequate time to write, review, and edit
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

5. Clarity and Brevity Avoid jargon Define the unfamiliar
If you abbreviate or use acronyms, the first time spell them out and put abbreviation in parentheses
Never use two words when one will do
Most important first
Remove redundancy
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

6. Simplicity Avoid needless words
Avoid ambiguity – order the words in your sentence carefully
Don’t overuse pronouns – especially “it” and “this”
Choose words whose meanings are clear
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

7. Writing Concisely Takes Time
“One of the beauties of his [Abraham Lincoln] speeches was their eloquent brevity. He agonized over his speeches, revising and cutting and polishing until the moment he mounted the podium. He couldn’t stand folks who were long-winded. Referring to one such person, Lincoln said, ‘That man can compress the most words in the fewest ideas of anyone I ever knew.’”
From Abraham Lincoln (reported in the book Lincoln, by Russell Freedman)
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

8. Complete Report Sections (8-10 pages double spaced)
Title Page
Front Material (Table of Contents, List of Illustrations)
Executive Summary
Introduction (Objective) and Background
Theory
Experimental Procedure/Methods
Results and Discussion
Conclusions and Recommendations
Back Material (Acknowledgments, References, Appendix)
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

9. Title Page Descriptive title To Whom? From Whom? Date
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

10. Front Material For these short (formal) reports it is optional
If you include, then the Title Page is “i”
Use roman numerals up to Executive Summary which would be “1”
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

11. Executive Summary Last section written 1 page maximum Summarizes:
Use key bullet points (conclusions/recommendations)
Summarizes:
Objective, what was done
How it was done
What were the results
What are the conclusions
What are the recommendations
IF figure/table, must have different number, e.g. ES1
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

12. Body of Report
Use a header and footer; one of which has the page number.
No smaller than 11 pt type
Double-spaced; not less than 1.5 spacing
Use headings and sub-headings
Refer to figures/tables before showing
Be consistent
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

13. Paragraphs/Text Each paragraph organized around key sentence
Key sentence should be 1st or 2nd sentence
Rest of paragraph supports/discusses key sentence
Key sentences can be used as outline for the report
3rd person is preferred in technical writing
Be consistent in verb tense usage
Completed items in past tense
Discussion/analyses/recommendations – present
Almost nothing in future tense
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

14. Figures Captions are below figure Label axes correctly with units
Use common scales for multiple figures, sig. figs.
Pay attention to symbols, colors, etc.
Make the figures clear and clean
Be consistent
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

15. Tables Titles are above table Align columns
Don’t forget units (column headings)
Significant figures!!!
“*” or call outs are directly beneath table
Be consistent
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

16. Equations (Reactions)
Numbered consecutively on right side: (#)
Identify all variables first time used
Same size font as text or may go to 10 pt.
Capital “E” when referring to specific equation
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

17. Results/Discussion Section(s)
Data analysis
Good: Includes all results so one can duplicate or make a decision based on data
Better: Summarizes data into figures/tables so one can quickly make a decision based on data
Best: Synthesizes the data to show:
In-depth analysis
Significance of results
Context and meaning
Credible recommendation(s)
Want reader to think, feel, or do something differently because they read the report!
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

18. Back Material Acknowledgments (optional – include MIKE/JOHN!)
References – required
Appendix – required (Separate Subsections)
Detailed derivations of theory
Raw and reduced data
Sample calculations
Statistical analysis
Other supporting documentation
Note: Equations, figures, tables are numbered, A1, etc.
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

19. Writing Is A Process
Good writing doesn’t happen overnight. It requires planning, drafting, rereading, revising, and editing.
Learning and improvement require self-review, peer-review, subject-matter feedback, and practice.
There are NO shortcuts; practice makes perfect!!
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016

20. Bottom Line
From your report, the reader should know who, what, when, where, why and how and be able to completely duplicate your experiment and get essentially your results and conclusions within your calculated confidence level!!
Note: There is no good writing, only good re-writing!
Suggestion: Finish the report and sleep on it – then next day review one last time.
QUESTIONS?
Chem. Eng. 475 – Fall 2016