OE1-1.4 Technical Reports & Proposals
You can select a report type and write routine and project reports with appropriate structure and style, and define and structure a technical proposal.
A report tells someone what happened; a proposal asks them to fund what has not happened yet, and that difference in purpose drives every structural choice. The executive summary is the part most read and most rushed — write it last and assume it may be the only part anyone reads. Structure is doing real work here: a reader should be able to enter a technical report at any heading and know where they are.
Work through these
Types of technical reports and their significance
The kinds of report and what each is for. Matching the type to the situation saves writing the wrong document well.
Structure of a technical report
The standard parts and their order, which is the conventional shape a reader expects. Deviating from it costs the reader effort for no gain.
Style in report writing
The register a report is written in, which is the material from the second topic applied to a longer form. Consistency matters more over twenty pages than over one.
Routine reports
The short regular kind, which is most of what you will actually write. Doing them well and quickly is a genuinely valuable skill.
Project reports
The long kind that records a whole piece of work. Its structure is close to the article from the previous topic, which is worth noticing.
Technical proposals: definition and types
The document that asks for something, usually money or approval. It differs from a report in that it argues rather than records.
Characteristics and structure of a proposal
What makes a good one, and the parts it must contain. The reader is deciding, not learning, which changes what goes first.
Significance of proposals
Why they matter, which for most engineers is that funded work starts with one. It is worth reading with your own future in mind.
Writing the executive summary
The part most decision makers read and many writers write last. Writing it first is a good habit for finding out whether the argument holds.
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