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2.3 Numerical significance of sample
Findings
3.1 Response rates
3.2 Principal findings
3.3 Analysis (here you may wish to break the findings and analysis down into further subsections (3.2.1, 3.2.2 as appropriate)
Conclusions
Recommendations/implications
Further research
References
Appendices
8.1 Sample questionnaire
8.2 Summary of findings (tables etc.)
The language used in a report is usually straightforward and to the point. The report's structure and organisation make it easy to identify the various parts, and to find specific items of information quite quickly.
As you may remember from Activity 4, the main elements of an essay are:
the introduction
the main body
the conclusion.
Now that you are beginning to draft, keep the assignment's title in front of you. Refer back to it regularly in ordering your material. Are you doing what you are asked to do, or are you writing about what you want to write about?
The introduction of a report has a very specific role, and the range of approaches you may take is fairly limited. The function of such an introduction is to:
outline the aim of the investigation or experiment: list the objectives
provide background information in order to clarify why the investigation or experiment was undertaken.
What is the introduction of an essay and what is its purpose?
Write down your own understanding of the term ?introduction? in relation to essays.
How does your understanding compare with ours? Potentially the introduction to an essay can:
lead the reader into the main body of the assignment
grab the reader's attention and interest
explain how you are going to answer the question
set the scene or provide a context
give a brief answer to the question before the fuller explanations in the assignment itself
set out the aims of the assignment
indicate the position you will be taking in answering the question.
It may not do all of these things. The introduction you write for an assignment may be short and seek only to ?engage? or draw the reader in. A fuller introduction, which may be preferable if you are still developing confidence in your writing, could include any or all of the following points:
an identification of the essay's topic and how you plan to define it; here you are establishing what you intend to write about and making clear, perhaps by implication, what you don't intend to write about ? thus indicating the scope of your essay
