NASA TM-105419

Foreword

One of NASA's primary functions is the dissemination of its research results to the aerospace community. Therefore, report writing is an important duty of most engineers and scientists at the Glenn Research Center. To do their jobs successfully, they must write reports that are both technically correct and easy to read. But many find report writing to be a difficult chore, particularly in making reports readable. This guide has been written to make the chore easier.

The guide explains the fundamentals of writing and reviewing technical reports and specifically how these fundamentals are applied to NASA reports. The intention is to briefly state the desirable qualities of a good report and to encourage clarity in conveying thoughts into written form.

This online guide is divided into nine chapters:

1. Stages of Report Preparation: the steps involved in preparing a report, from gathering the data to writing the rough draft
2. Report Style: the requirements for good reports, some suggestions for improving report writing style, and some recommended methods for presenting data clearly (including figures and tables)
3. Report Introduction: the functions of a technical report Introduction and its content, style, length, and relation to other parts of the report
4. Experiment and Analysis Descriptions: the content of various report sections commonly used to describe experimental programs, including Apparatus, Procedure, and Analysis sections
5. Results and Discussion: the organization of the Results and Discussion section, the presentation of data, and the discussion of significant results
6. Concluding and Supporting Sections: the preparation of terminal sections such as the Conclusions or the Summary of Results; discussion of supporting sections such as the Summary, references, and appendixes
7. Review of Reports: the importance of reviewing and the methods used at Glenn to review reports, with emphasis on the responsibilities of authors and reviewers at each step (The Glenn publication "Research Publications Processing Guide" (ref. 11) will assist authors in submitting their reports to Glenn's Publishing Services Coordination Office for publication.)
8. References: helpful resources for technical report writers
9. Author's Checklist and Report Writing Aids: quick guidelines for technical report writers

Glenn-authored publications are available in the Glenn library. Glenn scientists and engineers author 350 to 600 technical publications each year. Glenn's Research & Technology reports (which describe ongoing research projects at the Center) are available online from 1994 to the most recently completed fiscal year. In addition, many report technical reports that have unlimited distribution are available on the Glenn Technical Report Server (GLTRS).

Paper copies of this guide are available from the Publishing Services Coordination Office.

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Cover

Chapter 1—Stages of Report Preparation

• Chapter Descriptions
• Editorial help with your technical report
• FAQ—Publishing Your Technical Report at the NASA Glenn Research Center
• Reports Publication— GRC-P 3.7.4 (Center Procedure for Glenn's Business Management System)
• Hone your writing skills with our serial online articles— Word of the Week and Word Wizards

Scientific and Technical Information Program

From computers in the grc.nasa.gov domain, go to http://ltid.grc.nasa.gov to find out more about the Logistics and Technical Information Division. (Note that this is not meant to be an active link.)

This document was selected for the Scout Report for Science & Engineering's picks of the week.

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Responsible NASA Official: Natalie L. Henrich, Glenn Technical Publications Manager
Web Curator: Caroline A. Rist (Wyle)

Last updated: 4/22/2011

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