Research Report
WRITING CENTRE
LEARNING GUIDE
Writing a Research Report
As a university student you may be required to write a variety of is often used in the sciences, engineering and psychology. Here reports for assessment purposes. A research report is one type that your aim is to write clearly and concisely about your research topic so that the reader can easily understand the purpose and results of your research.
Structure
You must carefully read your course information details to ensure that you comply with what the lecturer/tutor stipulates. A report is typically made up of three main divisions: (1) preliminary, (2) body and (3) supplementary. Each of the sections contains a different kind of content. Refer to the Tables below:
Table 1: Divisions and sections of a report
Broad Divisions (1) Preliminary material Individual Sections Title of Report Table of Contents
(not always required) Abstract/Synopsis Introduction Literature Review Methodology Results Discussion
(sometimes included in the Introduction) (2) Body of report
Conclusion
Recommendations (3) Supplementary material
(sometimes included in the Conclusion) References or Bibliography Appendices
WRITING CENTRE Level 3 East, Hub Central, North Terrace campus, The University of Adelaide SA 5005 Australia T: +61 8 8313 5771 | E: writingcentre@adelaide.edu.au | W: www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/
Table 2: Content of individual sections
Individual Sections Title of Report Table of Contents (not always required) Abstract/Synopsis Introduction Literature Review Methodology Results Discussion Conclusion Recommendations Content of Each Section about
Concise heading indicating what the report is List of major sections and headings with page numbers Concise summary of main findings Why and what you researched Other relevant research in this area What you did and how you did it What you found Relevance of your results, how it fits with other research in the area Summary of
LEARNING GUIDE
Writing a Research Report
As a university student you may be required to write a variety of is often used in the sciences, engineering and psychology. Here reports for assessment purposes. A research report is one type that your aim is to write clearly and concisely about your research topic so that the reader can easily understand the purpose and results of your research.
Structure
You must carefully read your course information details to ensure that you comply with what the lecturer/tutor stipulates. A report is typically made up of three main divisions: (1) preliminary, (2) body and (3) supplementary. Each of the sections contains a different kind of content. Refer to the Tables below:
Table 1: Divisions and sections of a report
Broad Divisions (1) Preliminary material Individual Sections Title of Report Table of Contents
(not always required) Abstract/Synopsis Introduction Literature Review Methodology Results Discussion
(sometimes included in the Introduction) (2) Body of report
Conclusion
Recommendations (3) Supplementary material
(sometimes included in the Conclusion) References or Bibliography Appendices
WRITING CENTRE Level 3 East, Hub Central, North Terrace campus, The University of Adelaide SA 5005 Australia T: +61 8 8313 5771 | E: writingcentre@adelaide.edu.au | W: www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/
Table 2: Content of individual sections
Individual Sections Title of Report Table of Contents (not always required) Abstract/Synopsis Introduction Literature Review Methodology Results Discussion Conclusion Recommendations Content of Each Section about
Concise heading indicating what the report is List of major sections and headings with page numbers Concise summary of main findings Why and what you researched Other relevant research in this area What you did and how you did it What you found Relevance of your results, how it fits with other research in the area Summary of