Research Guides: Technical Writing & Communication: A Primer: Technical Writing for Engineering

What is a Technical Report?

According to the Colorado State University, a Technical Report presents facts and conclusions about designs and other projects. "Typically, a technical report includes research about technical concepts as well as graphical depictions of designs and data. A technical report also follows a strict organization."

For more information see CSU's Writing Guide: Engineering Technical Reports.

See also the Research Guide: Technical Writing & Communication: A Primer

Parts in Tech Report for ENGR 101

Parts of Tech Report

Front Material
Beginning
Middle
End
References
Appendices

More detailed

Front Material	Middle
Cover Page Abstract Table of Contents List of Figures List of Tables	Methodology Results Discussion
Beginning	End
Introduction Problem Statement Objective Background	Conclusions Recommendations or Future Work
	References
	Appendices

Citing a Technical Report in MLA

Last-name, First-name and First-name Last-name . “Title of Chapter.” Document Title. Government Publication Number. Place of Publication: Publishing Agency, Year. Pages of chapter. Format. Date Month Year of Access.

Examples:

Roy, L., H. Nigg,and H. Watson. Novel Concepts For Isotopic Separation Of 3he/4he. 2012. Web. 17 August 2013.

Smith, Joshua E. and Eugene J. Peterson. [Los Alamos National
Laboratory] “National Technical Nuclear Forensics.” The Los Alamos Science Pillars: The Science of Signatures. 2012. Web. 17 August 2013.

Technical Reports Available

OSTI Database This link opens in a new window
Access to free, publicly-available Office of Science and Technical Information Research & Development results including technical reports, bibliographic citations, journal articles, conference papers, books, multimedia and data information.
Civil Engineering Database This link opens in a new window
The Civil Engineering Database (CEDB) is designed to provide bibliographic access to all ASCE publications. The database covers all the journals, conference proceedings, books, standards, manuals, magazines, and newspapers. Journal papers with abstracts go back to 1970. Non-abstract journal records go back to 1958. The book records are complete dating back to the early 1900s. The database is constantly expanded and enriched.
SAE Mobilus This link opens in a new window
This portion of the SAE Mobilus references thousands of SAE Technical Papers and/or SAE Standards covering the latest advances and research in all areas of mobility engineering including ground vehicle, aerospace, off-highway, and manufacturing technology. Sample coverage includes fuels and lubricants, emissions, electronics, brakes, restraint systems, noise, engines, materials, lighting, and more. Your SAE service includes detailed summaries, complete documents in PDF, plus document storage and maintenance. Full-text access is from 1998 - present for technical papers, and 2007 - 2017 for journal content.
OnePetro This link opens in a new window
OnePetro currently contains more than 80,000 documents, with more being added frequently. The number of documents is expected to grow as additional organizations choose to make their materials available through OnePetro. OnePetro is a multi-society effort that reflects participation of many organizations. The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is operating OnePetro on behalf of the participating organizations.
TRID - Transportation Research Information Services This link opens in a new window
TRID is a newly integrated database that combines the records from TRB's Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) Database and the OECD's Joint Transport Research Centre's International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) Database. TRID provides access to over 900,000 records of transportation research worldwide.