There are aspects of a research project that can be overwhelming because they deviate from the usual style of scientific and technical writing, whilst others command great respect due to the need to draft them flawlessly. A project report falls into the latter category, as it serves both a practical purpose (it can be published directly as a paper) and academic purposes, as we will explain.
Let’s take a look at how to write a research project report, covering the essential elements and those that must always be included, in chronological order. Shall we get started?
What is a project brief and what is it for?
A dissertation is a formal document that must be prepared and written in accordance with certain guidelines. Although we will look at the most common ones, be sure to check your university’s guidelines. Generally speaking, these changes tend to affect the format and layout, but not the essential elements or the writing style.
We can define a research project report as follows: it is a document drafted by the group, which summarises all the work carried out as part of the research project. In it, you must explain everything from the aim of the study to the results obtained, without forgetting the final conclusions. This document must also include the steps taken, the materials used and the observations made.
What a project report should include
Let’s take a look at the key elements of a research project report or a thesis, and what must be included in yours. From this point onwards, we’ll be speaking in the plural, as we’ll be assuming there’s a research team rather than a single researcher working on the entire project.
Cover and contents
If the report forms part of another work, such as a doctoral thesis, a title page is not required. Tables of contents usually include subheadings such as: 1.a, 2.c. or 4.1.2.
Summary or abstract
It should be brief, yet at the same time it must briefly summarise the entire research. To achieve this, in addition to using a concise writing style, it is most common to omit references to other authors or sources here in the abstract.
The abstract is the first piece of actual content within the thesis.
Introduction
Present the research project to someone outside the team, starting with the general overview before moving on to the details.
Background or state of the art
It summarises the latest scientifically accepted findings on the research topic, both theoretical and experimental. In the case of theoretical findings, you must include the most recent theoretical interpretations proposed for the research topic, specifying the general theoretical framework that you began to outline in the previous section (introduction).
Hypotheses and objectives
There will be one or more general hypotheses. If the conclusions drawn from the hypothesis do not match the data collected, the hypothesis is falsified and must be rejected.
We recommend including the secondary objectives at this stage, addressing them in less detail.
Materials and methods
In addition to the specific methodology used to collect data, analyse it and test hypotheses, you should also include further details here. For example, the characteristics of the measurement instruments, the simulation software used (if applicable) or the protocol for conducting surveys – again, only if you have used these in the project.
This section should be very detailed.
Results
This section presents the quantitative and qualitative data collected, along with the statistical results obtained from their analysis.
Quantitative data should be presented in tabular form, accompanied by a graph, unless there is a very large amount of data. In the latter case, you may provide the graph alone.
Conclusions
Here are the key findings of the study. You can recapture the reader’s attention with a very brief introductory summary, as used in the abstract.
Bibliography
It is becoming increasingly common for a bibliography to be divided into books or academic papers, strictly speaking, and what some refer to as a webography.
Don’t forget to cite interviews or any other relevant sources of information that do not fall into these two categories.
List of figures
You will have indicated these where appropriate throughout the document, although they are also listed here.
Tips for writing a research project report
Order of the elements
In the previous section, we have listed the key sections in the order in which they appear.
Theses often include an acknowledgements section. In such cases, this section usually follows the conclusions and precedes the bibliography.
Style tips
Give preference to short sentences, ensuring that they always contain a conjugated verb. Avoid single-sentence paragraphs and give preference to the first-person plural or the impersonal form.
A project report is a key and comprehensive document, governed by strict guidelines to ensure it meets all its objectives. One of these is practical: to be able to submit the document to specialist journals without the need for amendments. But the others are more important: maintaining coordination when working as a team and contributing knowledge to the collective body of knowledge in a way that can be replicated.
Once your thesis or dissertation is ready, please remember that we can print your research project with a range of binding options.
