.
Sample report structures
Here are some examples of common report structures.
The highlighted bolded headings and subheadings show some of the differences between reports for different fields of practice or for different purposes.
Short report
- Title page
- Introduction
- Discussion
- Recommendations
- References
Science report
- Title page
- Introduction
- Aims/objectives
- Method
- materials
- participants (for psychology or biological/sports sciences)
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- References
Business report
- Title page
- Executive summary
- Table of contents
- Introduction
- Findings or observations
- Discussion
- Conclusion
- Recommendations
- Appendices
- References
Engineering report
- Title page
- Executive summary (optional)
- Introduction
- Aim/Objectives
- Results
- Analysis
- Discussion
- Recommendations & action plan
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- References
Research/project report
- Title page
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Method/methodology
- Results/findings
- Discussion
- Conclusions
- Recommendations
- Appendices
- Bibliography
Short report
- Title page
- Introduction
- Discussion
- Recommendations
- References
Science report
- Title page
- Introduction
- Aims/objectives
- Method
- materials
- participants (for psychology or biological/sports sciences)
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- References
Business report
- Title page
- Executive summary
- Table of contents
- Introduction
- Findings or observations
- Discussion
- Conclusion
- Recommendations
- Appendices
- References
Engineering report
- Title page
- Executive summary (optional)
- Introduction
- Aim/Objectives
- Results
- Analysis
- Discussion
- Recommendations & action plan
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- References
Research/project report
- Title page
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Method/methodology
- Results/findings
- Discussion
- Conclusions
- Recommendations
- Appendices
- Bibliography
Example of a student's report
This technical report was submitted by a university student. It is an excellent example of a report written by a student.