Guidelines

to
Writing an Engineering Report
Prepared by
Associate Prof.: Mohamed ElBanna
May, 2020 mm.elbanna@eng.asu.edu.eg
 Writing an Engineering Report
Guidelines for writing the standard components of
an engineering report:
1. Title page

2. Page Numbering

3. Table of contents

4. List of figures and Tables

5. Introduction

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 Writing an Engineering Report
Guidelines for writing the standard components of
an engineering report:

6. Body of the report

7. Conclusions

8. References

9. Appendixes (optional)

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 Writing an Engineering Report
Item Details
12 pts (for normal text)
Font Size
Increase with titles
Font Type Arial (for titles) / Times New Roman (for normal text)
Title Page 1 page
Table of Contents
1 - 2 pages
List of Figures
1 - 2 pages

Components List of Tables (if present) 1 page

May be with List of Figures if few tables exist
Required
Introduction 1 page
Body (the rest) 8-10
pages
Conclusion 1 page
References 1 - 2 pages
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 1. Title Page

• It’s the first page on your

report just after the front
cover.

• Like labels, your title page

should contain the report
title, your name, your
organization’s name and
logo (if exist), and a date.

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 2. Page Numbering
• All pages in the report, other than the covers, are
numbered; although, numbers are not displayed on some
pages.
• Don’t display numbers on the title page and page one of
the introduction.

• Use the traditional design, where all pages are numbered

in Arabic numerals, except for the pages before the
introduction (first page of the report body); they are
numbered in lowercase roman numerals.

• It is preferred to place the page number at the bottom

center of the page.
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 3. Table of Contents (TOC)
• Don’t crowd the TOC. Don’t
include more than three levels
of headings in the TOC.

• Make sure the words in the

TOC are the same as they
are in the text.

• Each of the three levels of

headings are aligned tog-
ether.

• Page numbers are right-

aligned with each other.
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 3. Table of Contents (TOC)
• Main sections are all caps

• First-level headings use

initial caps on each main
word.

• Lower-level sections use

initial caps on the first
word only.

• First-level sections have

extra space above and
below.
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 4. List of Figures & Tables
• It helps the reader to easily
find figures and tables within
your report.

• Create separate lists of

figures and tables, for long
reports.

• For short reports, put them

on the same page if they fit
and combine the two lists
under the heading, “List of
Figures and Tables.”
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 5. Introduction

• The introduction is an
essential part of any report;
it prepares the reader to
read the main body of the
report.

• The introduction discusses

the following:

1. Specific purpose and

topic of the report.

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 5. Introduction
2. Intended audience of the
report (Knowledge or exp-
erience that readers need in
order to understand the report).

3. Motivation of the report.

4. Scope of the report (topics

included).

5. Background (concepts, def-

initions, history, statistics).

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 5. Introduction

• The introduction should not

be more than 2 pages for
a 20 page report.

• The background should be

1/3 of the introduction.

• If the background needed is

large, move it to a section of
its own.

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 6. Body of the Report
• The body of the report is the main text of the report, the
sections between the introduction and conclusion.

• Make sure that the report body contains (check ref.)

1. Headings

2. Lists

3. Symbols, numbers, and abbreviations

4. Sources of borrowed information

5. Graphics and figures

6. Cross-references
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6. Body of the Report

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6. Body of the Report

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7. Conclusions

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 7. Conclusions
• This is the final section in your report. It should
combine any of the following functions:

➢ Conclude

Draw logical conclusions from the data and the

discussion previously presented within the report.

➢ Summarize

Review the key points from the previous material.

Summaries present nothing new.

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 7. Conclusions
➢ Generalize

Move away from the specific topic of the report to a

general discussion of implications, applications and
future development.

• The length of the conclusion section can be from a 100

word paragraph up to five or six pages.

• One or two pages are enough for a 10 to 20 page report.

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 8. References Page

• In this section, your

information sources are
listed in a numerical
order according to when
they are first cited in the
text.

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 8.1 Procedure for Documenting

1. Refer to the source of your information in the text by

inserting consecutive numbers in brackets, beginning
with 1, at the end of each segment of cited information,
like this [1].

2. Insert the reference number at the end of a sentence or

within it, without changing the sentence punctuation.
For example,

According to the 2006 U.S. Census Bureau [10], we see

that………

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 8.1 Procedure for Documenting

3. Leave a space before the bracketed number and stick the

punctuation to the second bracket.

4. References at the end of quotation marks are punctuated

with a period after the reference, “like this” [8, p. 23].

5. Identify the page numbers of your source of information

if you want to refer to a part of a book or article, like
this [4, pp. 3-6], [8, p. 23], or
However, on page 79 of [5] the author seems to
…………….

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 8.1 Procedure for Documenting
6. Use semicolons to separate multi-information sources for
one paragraph, like [6, p. 46; 7, pp.29-31; 9, pp. 8, 12].

7. Once you have numbered a source, use the same number

for all subsequent references to that source throughout
your work.

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 8.2 Reference Page Format

1. List your sources in a numerical order according to when

they are first cited in the text.

2. Give the initials of authors’ first names.

3. Single-space individual references, with a second, or third

line aligned with the first.

4. Double-space between separate references.

5. End each entry with a period.

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 8.2 Reference Page Format

6. List every source once on your reference page, even if

you have referenced to the same source more than once
in your paper.

7. Incase of journals,
a. Titles of journal articles are given in sentence form
rather than title form.
b. Use a common abbreviation for the journal title if
there is one, e.g. IEEE transactions. Otherwise, give
the full name of the journal.

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8.2 Reference Page Format

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 8.3 Sample References
• Book
[1] C. Conrad and M. S. Poole, Strategic Organizational
Communication, 5th ed. New York: Harcourt Press, 2002.

• Journal Article
[2] N. M. Tahir, A. Hussain, S. A. Samad, and H. Husain,
“Shock graph for representation and modeling of
posture,” ETRI Journal, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 507-514,
August 2007.

• World Wide Web

[3] “AT&T enters India residential local phone market,”
www.att.com Accessed January 26, 2003.
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 9. Appendixes
• Appendixes are those extra sections following the list of
reference page.

• Put in the appendixes anything that might distract and

interrupt the flow of the report but cannot be left out of
the report altogether.

• Appendixes are commonly used for

1. Large tables of data
2. Big chunks of sample code
3. Fold-out maps
4. Background that is too basic or too advanced for the
body of the report
5. Large illustrations that don’t fit in the body of the
report
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9. Appendixes

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For more information, check ref. ….
Beer, David F., and David A. McMurrey, A Guide to
Writing as an Engineer, John Wiley & Sons, 2019.

Thanks for your Attention

Dr. M ElBanna
mm.elbanna@eng.asu.edu.eg