Reports

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"Reports bring before an audience information that it might not receive otherwise." (Handbook of Current English, p. 434)

I. Basic Information
* content
* preciseness
* organisation
* presentation
* clarity

II.   Types of Reports

Type I:      Present information to a group - that they would not get otherwise
Type II:     Test idea you have been working on / Discover the consequences of your work
Type Ill:    Briefings: Prepare a group of people to do a particular piece of work
Type IV:   Critiques: Present an evaluation of a work once it has been done
Type V:     Lab Reports: Present information only (focus on methods)

(Source: Handbook of Current English, p. 434-435.)

Types of Headings

• Content Specific
• Generic
- Specific to Disciplines (sociology case studies)
 - Non-Specific (descriptive, experimental)

 

Headings

Title Page    title, by, for, date (centered)
Table of Contents  (p. i)
List of Tables & Figures
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion/Conclusion
Recommendations
Endnotes - Acknowledgements
Bibliographies - References Cited/References Sourced
Appendici

Examples taken from Jones-Waldinger, Sallyanne. Colour Encoded as a Verbal Label. In C.S. Clegg & M.M. Wheeler (eds.) Students Writing across the Disciplines. 1991. (288-301)

1. Abstracts

The abstract of a social science paper normally appears at the beginning. It consists of a single paragraph that succinctly explains what your paper tries to show.

A modification of Allen's study of short-term memory for colors and color names was used to determine if color is encoded as a verbal label. Subjects in the Experimental Group were exposed to four levels of consistency for color and color name. Two control groups received only colors or only color names. Four trials were given per subject, and all groups had a specific recall task. Results indicated that (1) no significant difference existed between recall of colors or color names and (2) that no significant difference in recall scores between consistency levels was present. The discussion focuses on the possibility that color is encoded as a verbal label and a visual image, and that this may vary between subjects.

II.  Introduction
An introduction provides general background information, states the question, and explains how the methods can answer the question.

The present experiment was an attempt to answer Allen's (1983) originally posed question "Is color encoded as a kind of visual image or a verbal label or both?" The critical component of inconsistency between color and color name was added in hopes that it would allow the experimenter to measure whether the actual color presented was encoded, or if the color name (verbal label) was encoded.

Subjects in the Experimental Group were exposed to a color vs. color name condition in four varying levels of percent consistency. A second group of subjects was exposed to the color names only, while a third group received only colors. Both of these groups acted as controls.

The proposed hypothesis stated that if color is indeed encoded as a verbal label, then those subjects in the Experimental Group should have high recall scores (of color names) regardless of the various consistency conditions. Furthermore, if color is encoded as a verbal label and not a visual image, subjects in Control Group B (those who receive color names only) should also have significantly high recall scores.

The present experiment also attempted to control for the possible presence of a slight modality effect in Allen's (1983) study. The counting task in the retention interval period was extended from thirty to sixty seconds on the basis of the findings of Engle and Roberts (1982).

"Release from proactive inhibition" was not a consideration in the present study, as the technique would have acted as a confounding variable in attempting to conclude how persons encode color.

III. Methods
The methods indicate how you collected the data (characteristics of the group, methods of study, questions asked, and printed sources consulted). It may be divided into subsections.

Subjects
The subjects for this experiment were twenty-four female undergraduates who were randomly selected from the Manhattanville College population. All subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups, and all ....

Materials
... The stimuli for the Experimental Group was composed of four separate 5 x 8 index cards. On each card three different 2 x 5 cm colored strips were pasted. Each individual strip was placed horizontally so that the three color strips together formed a vertical row. Typed in boldface print onto each color strip was the name of one color. The color name typed onto each card was determined according to the specific experimental percent consistency condition being tested. Thus, the four stimulus cards for the Experimental Group were as follows:

Procedure
Five random orders of presentation were established. These random orders are as follows:

 

IV. Results
The results analyse the raw data and discuss the relevant details

The mean score for subjects in the Experimental Group was 2.85, with a standard error of 2.61. The mean score for Control Group A was 2.79, and the standard error was 3.58. Subjects in Control Group B had a mean score of 3,62, with a standard error of 4.5.

V. Discussion/Conclusion
The Discussion interprets the results and explains their significance

The results obtained ...  indicated that no significant difference in recall ability was present between the subjects who were exposed to color, color name....

 Although no significant differences were found between recall scores it is important to note existing trends in the data.

Individual recall scores within each subject group must also be considered in the analysis of the data .....

The Conclusion briefly summarises the findings, states their implications, and indicates further areas of study.

Results of the present study indicated no significant difference in recall ability between those subjects presented with color, color name, or color and color name. Moreover, varying levels of consistency did not yield significantly higher or lower recall scores. Hence, experimental results failed to support the proposed hypothesis that if color is encoded as a verbal label, subjects in the Experimental Group would have higher recall scores regardless of the implication of percent consistency relationship. Moreover, the recall scores of color names by subjects in Control Group A failed to support the hypothesis that if the color is encoded as a verbal label subjects who receive only color names should have significantly higher recall scores.

Based on the non-significant results obtained, it would seem that the answer to C.K. Allen's (1983) originally posed question "Is color encoded as a kind of visual image or verbal label, or both?" is probably both. This conclusion is consistent with the findings of Paivio (1969) who had college students rate a series of nouns for their ability to arouse "a mental picture, or sound, or other sensory picture." Paivio's (1969) results, which served to form his Dual-Coding Hypothesis, showed that some words convey more of a mental image while others convey a label.

It is possible that color and color names convey more of an image than a label, and that this factor resulted in a higher mean recall score in Control Group B, despite the fact that the mean score was not statistically significant. A future study should include .......