PARTS OF THE PAPER

The following is a list of the parts usually included in a formal report. Students should ask their instructor about their report format expectations.

Letter of Transmittal

A letter of transmittal is sometimes used to present the report to the reader. It should be attached when a report is not delivered in person. The form may vary from a short memo specifying the date of the assignment, title, and purpose of the report to a formal business letter further detailing the report's important contents, conclusions, and recommendations.

Table of Contents

A table of contents should usually be included for any paper in which the text exceeds 10 pages. It should be organized so as to give the reader some indication of the content of the document as well as the position (page number) of specific subtopics.

The table of contents should precede the introduction and beginning of the body of the report. It should include chapters (or sections) in the left-hand column and appropriate page numbers in the right-hand column, as shown on the table of contents for this manual.

A list of tables or figures is usually included at the end of the table of contents if the report is lengthy and they are numerous.

Introduction

The introduction should answer the following questions: Who... What... When... Why... How... To what extent... (was the paper developed). It should be brief and general, but should tell the reader what type of information is contained in the document, the context in which it was prepared, major sources of information, and definitions of special terms.

Body

The body of the paper should expand on the ideas identified in the introduction. Supporting evidence, specific data and examples, and discussion usually make up much of this section. Most tables, figures, and references to other sources appear here. It is usually a good idea to use subtitles to separate the body into logical units based on various aspects of the topic.

Summary or Conclusions

The final section of the text of the paper is a brief summary and/or conclusion. At this point, the writer should briefly summarize the content of the paper and present any conclusions based on the evidence presented. In these conclusions, the writer may speculate beyond the evidence presented in the body. It is important, however, that any speculation is clear to the reader and is based on information provided in the report.

Conclusions are a very important part of research papers because it is at this point that the results of the student's analysis and synthesis are presented.

Special Report Formats

Occasionally, an assignment which includes written work will require a different format or different content than what has been described in this document. In those instances, it is the responsibility of the student to obtain adequate information from the instructor.

Quotations

In scholarly writing, the writer is free to borrow ideas from other writers and is encouraged to use them. Direct quotations should, however, be limited to situations in which their use specifically adds to the clarity of the discussion. In general, quotations should be used to support statements made by the writer and not as primary content of the report.

Two types of quotations are used, the indirect quote and the direct quote. The indirect quote consists of paraphrasing the idea or opinion of an author without using his exact words. This type of quotation can be referenced by indicating the author's last name and date of publication. Indirect quotes are placed directly in the text and are not punctuated with quotation marks.

Direct quotations consist of using the author's exact words and are set off from the text by use of punctuation. They are enclosed in quotation marks if the text to be quoted is less than three lines and are indented five spaces, and single spaced if the total is more than three lines. In addition, the use of a direct quote must be referenced with the name of the author, date of publication, and page number.

Tables, Figures, and Illustrations

It is sometimes important to include research data as well as charts, maps, and drawings in reports when they help to illuminate the topic. These types of data tend to be awkward if placed directly into the text of the report and should usually be included as tables and figures.

Tables and figures should have clear titles which enable the reader to understand them without reading the text. The title of a table is placed above its contents as shown in the following example.