OHS352 Notes UNIT 2

PROJECT REPORT WRITING

UNIT II 9
Project Report – Definition, Structure, Types of Reports, Purpose – Intended Audience – Plagiarism
– Report Writing in STEM fields – Experiment – Statistical Analysis.

Project Report
A project report is a comprehensive document that outlines a project's details,
progress, and outcomes. It provides stakeholders a clear understanding of the
project's purpose, scope, and deliverables. A project report serves as a record of the
entire project lifecycle, from initiation to completion. A project report enables better
decision-making, evaluation, and communication by effectively documenting project-
related information.

To Make a Project Report

Creating a project report may seem overwhelming, but by following these key steps,
you can produce a well-structured and informative report:

1. Understand the Purpose: Clearly define the objective and purpose of the
project report. Determine the target audience and the specific information they
need to gather from the report.

2. Gather Relevant Data: Collect all pertinent data related to the project, such
as project plans, schedules, budget details, and progress reports. Organise this
information to ensure easy reference and accessibility.

3. Define the Structure: Establish a logical structure for your project report.
Break it into sections, including an executive summary, introduction,
methodology, findings, analysis, recommendations, and conclusion. Each
section should address specific aspects of the project.

4. Write the Content: Start writing each project report section, providing
detailed and concise information. Use a conversational writing style while
maintaining professionalism. Incorporate relevant technical terms to
demonstrate expertise but ensure clarity.

5. Include Visuals: Enhance your project report by incorporating relevant visuals,

such as charts, graphs, and diagrams. Visual representations can significantly
improve understanding and engagement for readers.

6. Review and Revise: Once the initial draft of your project report is complete,
thoroughly review and revise it. Check for grammatical errors, factual accuracy,
and overall coherence. Seek feedback from colleagues or stakeholders to
ensure the report effectively conveys its intended message.
 7. Finalise and Distribute: Make the necessary amendments based on the
feedback received and finalise the project report. Consider the appropriate
format for distribution, such as printing physical copies or sharing
electronically. Ensure the report reaches the intended audience promptly.

Project Report Objectives

The objectives of a project report are manifold. Some primary goals include:

• Documentation: To provide a comprehensive record of all project-related

information, including project goals, planning, implementation, and outcomes.

o Sub-objective: To ensure future reference and accountability.

• Communication: To facilitate clear and transparent communication among

project stakeholders, ensuring everyone is on the same page.

o Sub-objective: To enable effective decision-making and collaboration.

• Evaluation: To assess the progress, success, and challenges faced during the
project. A project report allows stakeholders to evaluate the project's
performance against set objectives.

o Sub-objective: To extract lessons learned and identify areas for

improvement in future projects.

Project Report Components

A well-structured project report should typically include the following components:

1. Executive Summary: A concise overview of the project report, capturing key

highlights, objectives, and outcomes. It provides a comprehensive snapshot for
decision-makers.

2. Introduction: An introduction sets the context and purpose of the project,

explaining why it was undertaken and its importance. It outlines the scope,
objectives, and expected deliverables.

3. Methodology: This section details the approach, techniques, and tools

employed during the project's execution. It explains how various activities were
planned, executed, and monitored.

4. Findings: Findings describe the project's results, highlighting achievements,

challenges, and unexpected outcomes. This section provides a factual account
of the project's progress and identifies variances from the initial plan.
 5. Analysis: The analysis section interprets the project's findings, identifying
trends, correlations, and patterns. It critically evaluates the project's
performance and presents insights from the data and observations.

6. Recommendations: Recommendations suggest potential improvements,

actions, or adjustments based on the project's analysis. These suggestions aim
to enhance future project planning and implementation.

7. Conclusion: The conclusion summarises the key points discussed in the report,
reiterating the project's objectives, achievements, and lessons learned. It
reinforces the report's main takeaways.

Common Project Report Types

Project reports can vary in purpose and scope, depending on the type of project being
documented. Some common types of project reports include:

• Status Reports: These reports provide ongoing updates on the project's

progress, including milestones achieved, challenges faced, and next steps.
They help stakeholders stay informed about the project's status.

• Feasibility Reports: Feasibility reports assess the practicality and viability of

a proposed project. They evaluate resources, costs, risks, and benefits to
determine whether the project is worth pursuing.

• Evaluation Reports: Evaluation reports focus on assessing the success and

effectiveness of a completed project. They analyse the project's outcomes
against predetermined criteria and measure its impact.
 Formal Report:

The formal report is the collection and interpretation of data and information.
The formal report is complex and used at an official level.
It is often a written account of a major project
TYPES OF FORMAL REPORT

They can be categorized as:

1. Informational reports
2. Analytical reports
3. Recommendation reports

1. INFORMATIONAL REPORTS

Informational reports present results so readers can understand a particular problem or situation.

Example: Manager of a city’s website might prepare an informational report for the city council; the
report would provide statistics on the number of people who pay their city water and sewage bills
online etc.

2. ANALYTICAL REPORTS

• This type goes a step beyond presenting results. Analytical reports present results, analyze those
results, and draw conclusions based on those results.
• These reports attempt to describe why or how something happened and then to explain what it
means.
• Like informational reports, analytical reports can be formal or informal.
• Explain what cause a problem or situation – Present the results of a traffic study showing
accidents at an intersection – the report explains what it means.
• Explain the potential results of a particular course of action.
• Suggest which option, action, or procedure is best.

3. RECOMMENDATION REPORTS

This type advocate a particular course of action. This usually present the results and conclusions that
support the recommendations.

This type is identical to analytical report.

For example, your analytical report suggests using treatment X is more efficient than treatments Y and
Z. However, that does not mean that you will use treatment X as cost and other considerations might
recommend treatment Y.

Informal Report :
The informal report functions to inform, analyze, and recommend.

It usually takes the form of a memo, letter or a very short international document like a monthly
financial report, monthly activities report,research and development report, etc.

This report differs from the formal report in length and formality.

It is written according to organization style and rules, but usually does not include the preliminary (front)
and supplemental (back) material.

The informal report is usually more controversial in tone and typically deals with everyday problems and
issues addressed to a narrow readership inside the organization.

TYPES OF INFORMAL REPORT

There are many embodiments of the informal report:

i. Progress report

ii. Sales activity report

iii. Personnel evaluation

iv. Financial report

v. Feasibility report

vi. Literature review

vii. Credit report

Project Report Use Cases

The application of project reports extends across various industries and sectors. Some
common use cases include:

• Businesses: Project reports enable businesses to analyse the success of their

initiatives, evaluate return on investment (ROI), and make informed decisions
based on data-driven insights.

• Government Organisations: Government organisations utilise project reports

to monitor public initiatives, assess policy effectiveness, and ensure
transparency and accountability in public spending.
 • Research Institutions: Project reports play a vital role in research institutions,
documenting research methodologies, findings, and recommendations. They
support scientific discourse and help advance knowledge in specific domains.

• Academic Institutions: In the academic realm, project reports are essential

for students, enabling them to showcase their research, methodologies, and
conclusions. They contribute to the learning process and evaluation of student
performance.

structure of Project Report

How to write a Project Report
Title page
This should include the project title and the name of the author of the report. You can
also list the name of your supervisor if you wish. IMPORTANT: Before submission you should
assemble a project directory which contains all your software, READMEs etc. and your
project report (source files and pdf or postscript).
Abstract
The abstract is a very brief summary of the report's contents. It should be about half a
page long. Somebody unfamiliar with your project should have a good idea of what it's
about having read the abstract alone and will know whether it will be of interest to them.
Acknowledgements
It is usual to thank those individuals who have provided particularly useful assistance,
technical or otherwise, during your project. Your supervisor will obviously be pleased to be
acknowledged as he or she will have invested quite a lot of time overseeing your progress.
Contents page
This should list the main chapters and (sub)sections of your report. Choose self-
explanatory chapter and section titles and use double spacing for clarity. If possible you
should include page numbers indicating where each chapter/section begins. Try to avoid
too many levels of subheading - three is sufficient.
Introduction
This is one of the most important components of the report. It should begin with a clear
statement of what the project is about so that the nature and scope of the project can be
understood by a lay reader. It should summarise everything you set out to achieve, provide
a clear summary of the project's background, relevance and main contributions. The
introduction should set the context for the project and should provide the reader with a
summary of the key things to look out for in the remainder of the report. When detailing
the contributions it is helpful to provide pointers to the section(s) of the report that
provide the relevant technical details. The introduction itself should be largely non-
technical. It is useful to state the main objectives of the project as part of the
introduction. However, avoid the temptation to list low-level objectives one after another
in the introduction and then later, in the evaluation section (see below), say reference to
like "All the objectives of the project have been met...".
Background
The background section of the report should set the project into context and give the
proposed layout for achieving the project goals. The background section can be included
as part of the introduction but is usually better as a separate chapter, especially if the
project involved significant amount of ground work. When referring to other pieces of
work, cite the sources where they are referred to or used, rather than just listing them at
the end.
Body of report
The central part of the report usually consists of three or four chapters detailing the
technical work undertaken during the project. The structure of these chapters is highly
project dependent. They can reflect the chronological development of the project, e.g.
design, implementation, experimentation, optimisation, evaluation etc. If you have built a
new piece of software you should describe and justify the design of your program at some
high level, possibly using an approved graphical formalism such as UML. It should also
document any interesting problems with, or features of, your implementation. Integration
and testing are also important to discuss in some cases. You need to discuss the content of
these sections thoroughly with your supervisor.
Evaluation
Be warned that many projects fall down through poor evaluation. Simply building a system
and documenting its design and functionality is not enough to gain top marks. It is
extremely important that you evaluate what you have done both in absolute terms and in
comparison with existing techniques, software, hardware etc. This might involve
quantitative evaluation and qualitative evaluation such as expressibility, functionality,
ease-of-use etc. At some point you should also evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of
what you have done. Avoid statements like "The project has been a complete success and
we have solved all the problems asssociated with ...! It is important to understand that
there is no such thing as a perfect project. Even the very best pieces of work have their
limitations and you are expected to provide a proper critical appraisal of what you have
done.
Conclusions and Future Work
The project's conclusions should list the things which have been learnt as a result of the
work you have done. For example, "The use of overloading in C++ provides a very elegant
mechanism for transparent parallelisation of sequential programs". Avoid tedious personal
reflections like "I learned a lot about C++ programming..." It is common to finish the report
by listing ways in which the project can be taken further. This might, for example, be a
plan for doing the project better if you had a chance to do it again, turning the project
deliverables into a more polished end product.
Bibliography
This consists of a list of all the books, articles, manuals etc. used in the project and
referred to in the report. You should provide enough information to allow the reader to
find the source. In the case of a text book you should quote the name of the publisher as
well as the author(s). A weakness of many reports is inadequate citation of a source of
information. It's easy to get this right so there are no excuses. Each entry in the
bibliography should list the author(s) and title of the piece of work and should give full
details of where it can be found.
Appendix
The appendices contain information which is peripheral to the main body of the report.
Information typically included are things like parts of the code, tables, test cases or any
other material which would break up the theme of the text if it appeared in situ. You
should try to bind all your material in a single volume and create the black book.
Program Listings
Complete program listings should NOT be part of the report except in specific cases at the
request of your supervisor. You are strongly advised to spend some time looking at the
reports of previous project students to get a feel for what's good and bad. All reports from
the last few years are available in hard copy form in the CCCF and as soft copy in the
student Projects Section. These documents are accessible only from TIFR IP domain .

Intended Audience in Writing

An intended audience refers to the demographic that writers expect will read and
interact with their work ー whether it be an article, research paper, or book. When
reflecting on your intended audience, consider factors such as age, geographic location,
culture, and education. Your intended audience may be a wider, general group of
people from different backgrounds or a narrow, specific set of individuals with similar
interests. For instance, journalists write for the general public, so their intended
audience is often more diverse than those who write single-story genres, such
as science-fiction novels.
How to Identify Your Intended Audience in
Writing
Identifying your intended audience starts with research:

• Establish your purpose: Before researching your intended audience, ask

yourself what you want to achieve with your content. Are you aiming to
educate, persuade, or entertain? Establishing the purpose of your piece will
put you in the best position to identify your intended audience.
• Review competitors’ content: Analyzing your competitors’ readerships is a
simple way to start researching your intended audience. Considering what
did and didn’t work for your competitors can help you better understand how
to engage with your intended audience.
• Conduct an audience analysis: Audience analysis is the process of
researching your audience and developing writing strategies that appeal to
your target demographic. Outline your target age group, education level, and
geographic location when developing your audience analysis to gather as
much background information as possible. From there, research content
forms that appeal to your intended audience: Social media is a great source
for reviewing the type of content different demographics enjoy. As you learn
about your audience, outline their knowledge of your content topic and their
attitude toward it.
• Expand your reach: While it’s important to identify and research your
intended audience, it’s also a good idea to consider secondary readers—
individuals outside your main demographic who may also read your content.
Understanding different readerships can help you expand your reach as a
writer and help you promote your work across a wider audience base.
Examples of Intended Audiences
Several factors define an intended audience; while writers with a specific audience
categorize their readership by occupation or lifestyle, most classify their general
audience by age. While there are many types of target audiences, here are the
most common in fiction:

1. Children: Readers under the age of twelve are the target audience
for children’s books. However, within this category, there is a wide spectrum
and range of writing styles. For example, books for preschoolers have more
pictures and interactive elements than chapter books for children ages eight
and older.

2. Young adults: Early tweens and teenagers comprise the young adult (YA)
readership. While anyone can read YA books, the intended audience for this
category is readers between twelve and eighteen. Often, YA fiction uses the
coming-of-age narrative to reflect common adolescent experiences. Learn
more about literary themes.

3. New adults: New adult (NA) fiction focuses on readers between the ages
of eighteen and thirty. In NA fiction, protagonists, or main characters, often
encounter obstacles that individuals in early adulthood experience, such as
leaving home, starting a new career, or finding love.
 4. Adults: Adult fiction audiences are thirty and older, and therefore the
writing style for this demographic is often worldly and more complex. In
fiction writing for adults, the protagonist typically has reflective and
introspective inner thoughts. The themes of the story are also mature and
relevant to readers who have more life experiences.

Tips for Writing for Your Intended Audience

After identifying your intended audience, it’s important to develop writing strategies
that align with your demographic.

1. Create an audience profile: An audience profile creates a detailed

image of your intended audience, outlining your readership’s general likes,
dislikes, attitudes, education levels, and geographic location. Creating a clear
image of your intended audience will help you organize your writing in a way
that appeals to them.

2. Develop areas for connection: After creating your audience profile,

review it to highlight potential areas for connection. Finding commonalities
between you and your readers provides you with the opportunity to share
relevant experiences and develop a personable tone. Finding common
ground will also help you establish credibility, as readers are more likely to
trust you when you share and reflect.

3. Provide value: Regardless of your intended audience, it’s important to

provide value to your readers. Solving a problem for your readers or
providing an interesting story keeps your audience reading and makes your
content stand out from the competition.

4. Be engaging: Along with providing quality information to your readers,

it’s important to keep them engaged. Incorporate sensory details to create
vivid images in your writing. You can also use terms that are popular with
your target audience to maintain their attention.

Plagiarism
Presenting work or ideas from another source as your own, with or without
consent of the original author, by incorporating it into your work without full
acknowledgement.
REPORT WRITING IN STEM FIELDS

Effective stem report

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields are constantly

evolving and advancing, and as a result, the need for clear and concise reporting is
more important than ever. Whether you are a student, researcher, or working
professional, knowing how to write an effective STEM report is a valuable skill that
can help you communicate your findings and ideas to a wider audience.
STEM education provides students with STEM experiences (engineering design challenges or
project/problem-based learning) that equip students with logical thought processes, technical
reading and writing skills, and STEM Fluency skills (collaboration, creativity, communication,
creative thinking, resilience, time management, adaptability, promptness, and innovation). The
outcome of STEM Education is STEM literate students who are prepared to enter STEM careers.
A STEM Literate student possesses the STEM Fluency skills, academic knowledge, and
technical skills required for their career. STEM careers require the skills of gathering,
comprehending, evaluating, synthesizing, and reporting on information and ideas to conduct
original research to answer questions or solve problems necessary for workforce readiness.
Students need to be able to analyze and create a wide range of print and nonprint texts in various
media forms. They need to be able to incorporate narrative elements effectively into arguments,
informative, and explanatory texts and be able to write precise descriptions of the step-by-step
procedures used in investigations or technical work. These literacy skills and understandings are
not separate from STEM fields but are purposefully integrated within science standards and
STEM experiences

Examples of Technical Literature

• published scientific studies, case studies, and white papers

• technical reports, reviews, presentations, and engineering briefs

• datasheets, blueprints, code descriptions, Safety Data Sheets (SDS), and work statements

• end-user documentation: user manuals, handbooks, procedures, assembly guides, technical

books, and code manuals

• technical marketing content: product descriptions and specifications, press releases,

catalogs, proposals and pitches, brochures

Examples of Visual Elements within Technical Literature

Visual elements are used to represent objects, numbers, concepts, processes, data, and text.

Examples include tables, graphs, charts, flow charts, Gant charts, schema, photographs, images,

diagrams, maps, numbered lists, bulleted lists, CAD drawings, infographics, and sketches

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Statistical Analysis: Techniques and Applications
Statistical analysis is the process of collecting and analyzing data in order to discern patterns
and trends. It is a method for removing bias from evaluating data by employing numerical
analysis. This technique is useful for collecting the interpretations of research, developing
statistical models, and planning surveys and studies.

Statistical analysis is a scientific tool in AI and ML that helps collect and analyze large amounts
of data to identify common patterns and trends to convert them into meaningful information. In
simple words, statistical analysis is a data analysis tool that helps draw meaningful conclusions
from raw and unstructured data.

The conclusions are drawn using statistical analysis facilitating decision-making and helping
businesses make future predictions on the basis of past trends. It can be defined as a science
of collecting and analyzing data to identify trends and patterns and presenting them. Statistical
analysis involves working with numbers and is used by businesses and other institutions to
make use of data to derive meaningful information.

Types of Statistical Analysis

Given below are the 6 types of statistical analysis:

• Descriptive Analysis

Descriptive statistical analysis involves collecting, interpreting, analyzing, and summarizing data
to present them in the form of charts, graphs, and tables. Rather than drawing conclusions, it
simply makes the complex data easy to read and understand.

• Inferential Analysis

The inferential statistical analysis focuses on drawing meaningful conclusions on the basis of the
data analyzed. It studies the relationship between different variables or makes predictions for the
whole population.
• Predictive Analysis

Predictive statistical analysis is a type of statistical analysis that analyzes data to derive past
trends and predict future events on the basis of them. It uses machine learning algorithms, data
mining, data modelling, and artificial intelligence to conduct the statistical analysis of data.

• Prescriptive Analysis

The prescriptive analysis conducts the analysis of data and prescribes the best course of action
based on the results. It is a type of statistical analysis that helps you make an informed decision.

• Exploratory Data Analysis

Exploratory analysis is similar to inferential analysis, but the difference is that it involves
exploring the unknown data associations. It analyzes the potential relationships within the data.

• Causal Analysis

The causal statistical analysis focuses on determining the cause and effect relationship between
different variables within the raw data. In simple words, it determines why something happens
and its effect on other variables. This methodology can be used by businesses to determine the
reason for failure.

Importance of Statistical Analysis

Statistical analysis eliminates unnecessary information and catalogs important data in an

uncomplicated manner, making the monumental work of organizing inputs appear so serene.
Once the data has been collected, statistical analysis may be utilized for a variety of purposes.
Some of them are listed below:

• The statistical analysis aids in summarizing enormous amounts of data into clearly digestible chunks.

• The statistical analysis aids in the effective design of laboratory, field, and survey investigations.

• Statistical analysis may help with solid and efficient planning in any subject of study.

• Statistical analysis aid in establishing broad generalizations and forecasting how much of something
will occur under particular conditions.

• Statistical methods, which are effective tools for interpreting numerical data, are applied in
practically every field of study. Statistical approaches have been created and are increasingly applied
in physical and biological sciences, such as genetics.
• Statistical approaches are used in the job of a businessman, a manufacturer, and a researcher.
Statistics departments can be found in banks, insurance businesses, and government agencies.

• A modern administrator, whether in the public or commercial sector, relies on statistical data to
make correct decisions.

• Politicians can utilize statistics to support and validate their claims while also explaining the issues
they address.

Benefits of Statistical Analysis

Statistical analysis can be called a boon to mankind and has many benefits for both individuals
and organizations. Given below are some of the reasons why you should consider investing in
statistical analysis:

• It can help you determine the monthly, quarterly, yearly figures of sales profits, and costs making it
easier to make your decisions.

• It can help you make informed and correct decisions.

• It can help you identify the problem or cause of the failure and make corrections. For example, it can
identify the reason for an increase in total costs and help you cut the wasteful expenses.

• It can help you conduct market analysis and make an effective marketing and sales strategy.

• It helps improve the efficiency of different processes.

Statistical Analysis Process

Given below are the 5 steps to conduct a statistical analysis that you should follow:

• Step 1: Identify and describe the nature of the data that you are supposed to analyze.

• Step 2: The next step is to establish a relation between the data analyzed and the sample population
to which the data belongs.

• Step 3: The third step is to create a model that clearly presents and summarizes the relationship
between the population and the data.
• Step 4: Prove if the model is valid or not.

• Step 5: Use predictive analysis to predict future trends and events likely to happen.
Statistical Analysis Methods

Although there are various methods used to perform data analysis, given below are the 5 most
used and popular methods of statistical analysis:

• Mean

Mean or average mean is one of the most popular methods of statistical analysis. Mean
determines the overall trend of the data and is very simple to calculate. Mean is calculated by
summing the numbers in the data set together and then dividing it by the number of data points.
Despite the ease of calculation and its benefits, it is not advisable to resort to mean as the only
statistical indicator as it can result in inaccurate decision making.

• Standard Deviation

Standard deviation is another very widely used statistical tool or method. It analyzes the
deviation of different data points from the mean of the entire data set. It determines how data of
the data set is spread around the mean. You can use it to decide whether the research outcomes
can be generalized or not.

• Regression

Regression is a statistical tool that helps determine the cause and effect relationship between the
variables. It determines the relationship between a dependent and an independent variable. It is
generally used to predict future trends and events.

• Hypothesis Testing

Hypothesis testing can be used to test the validity or trueness of a conclusion or argument against
a data set. The hypothesis is an assumption made at the beginning of the research and can hold or be
false based on the analysis results.

• Sample Size Determination

Sample size determination or data sampling is a technique used to derive a sample from the
entire population, which is representative of the population. This method is used when the size of
the population is very large. You can choose from among the various data sampling techniques
such as snowball sampling, convenience sampling, and random sampling.
Statistical Analysis Software

Everyone can't perform very complex statistical calculations with accuracy making statistical
analysis a time-consuming and costly process. Statistical software has become a very important
tool for companies to perform their data analysis. The software uses Artificial Intelligence and
Machine Learning to perform complex calculations, identify trends and patterns, and create
charts, graphs, and tables accurately within minutes.

Statistical Analysis Examples

Look at the standard deviation sample calculation given below to understand more about
statistical analysis.

The weights of 5 pizza bases in cms are as follows:

Particulars (Weight in Square of Mean

Mean Deviation
cms) Deviation

9 9-6.4 = 2.6 (2.6)2 = 6.76

2 2-6.4 = - 4.4 (-4.4)2 = 19.36

5 5-6.4 = - 1.4 (-1.4)2 = 1.96

4 4-6.4 = - 2.4 (-2.4)2 = 5.76

12 12-6.4 = 5.6 (5.6)2 = 31.36

Calculation of Mean = (9+2+5+4+12)/5 = 32/5 = 6.4

Calculation of mean of squared mean deviation = (6.76+19.36+1.96+5.76+31.36)/5 = 13.04

Sample Variance = 13.04

Standard deviation = √13.04 = 3.611