Technical Report Writing for Engineering Students

The Introduction

The Introduction in a report is very important as it contains the rationale of your project. Why have you done this project?
There are seven components.

1) The Field Of Study
This answers the question: What is your project and why did you choose this project?
Project Title : Development of a Voice Driven Car.
Example

2) Existing Work Related To The Project
This answers the question: Are there any other products around that are like the one you have created? It tells the reader whether your product is an improvement of an existing idea or is a totally new one.
Example

3) Assignment Definition
This answers the question: What improvements did you make in your new idea? Here, you explain whether you have improved on an existing deficiency, or added a new feature to an existing product etc.
Example

4) Claims For The Project
This answers the question: Why is your product so beneficial? You explain the significance and importance of your work and its capabilities.
Example

5) The Objectives
This answers the question: What are you specifically trying to achieve? This has to be clearly and succinctly expressed to avoid any misunderstanding.
Example

6) The scope and limitations of the project
This answers the questions: How wide is the scope of what you are trying to achieve? What are the limitations of your product?
Example

7) Outline of the procedures/methodology
This answers the question: What main steps did you take to complete your project? Here you tell your reader very briefly the procedures involved in carrying out the project. This includes the following:
a) the research you carried out before the project
b) the design of your project, the materials and components of your project
c) a flowchart indicating step by step what was done. Imagine you have finished manufacturing your product and it is packed in a box and is sitting on a shelf in a shop ready to be sold. What were the steps from your initial brainstorming up to the final packaging? Write a description of your flowchart (First, Then, After that, Finally).

Note:- The above are self-explanatory, but note the reason for including a description of the design of your project. In the example below, you will see that it answers some questions in the reader's mind, "What does this voice activated device look like? Is it built into the present car? Or is it separate from it?"

Let's take a look at a complete INTRODUCTION example: The RoboMaid (a robotic maid for the 21st century).

Michael Vallance