Research Study Report

The Research Study Report is the single largest component (30 percent) of your final grade for the semester.   For that reason alone it is worthwhile spending significant amounts of time making sure you submit a high quality assignment.

The draft and the final report must contain the following items.

• A transmittal letter or memorandum, as appropriate.

• Title page

• A Table of Contents that shows all the headings and subheadings contained in the body of the report and the correct page number where each heading and subheading appears in the text of the report.

• A List of Figures containing the figure number and title of each graphic insert with the correct page number.

• Page numbers on all pages except the transmittal letter/memorandum and the title page.

• All pages prior to the Introduction will be in Roman numerals.   All other page numbers will be in Arabic numerals

• An executive summary.

• Headings and subheadings that match the Table of Contents.

• At least three quotations or attributions documented with in-text citations using one of the approved documentation style formats.

• At least two graphic insertions (table, chart, diagram, photo, etc.) that are relevant to the text.  More than two graphics should be used if it helps convey your message to the reader.

• Criteria for evaluation of the solution(s) clearly described.

• The conclusion must include a realistic evaluation of your proposed project.   The evaluation can be positive, negative, or somewhere between positive and negative.  Do not force a conclusion to meet your preconceived notions.  Your supervisors are relying on your unbiased professional judgment.  If you force a conclusion that turns out to be wrong, your career could suffer.

• A Works Cited page or References page with at least three sources of information.  At least one source should be an authored, published article from a business or professional journal, or an authored, published book.

• Some reports will require an appendix, or appendices.   An appendix should be used to include background material which is important to the report but does not lend itself to inclusion in the main body.   Examples of material to include in the appendices are completed questionnaires, material from equipment suppliers such as specifications and prices, detailed drawings or graphics, or computer printouts.  Each Appendix will be designated by a letter, such as Appendix A, Appendix B, etc. and will carry a descriptive title.   In addition, the title of each appendix will appear in the Table of Contents of the report.

The Works Cited page or Reference page tells the reader how, or where, to find the source, such as the book or journal.  An in-text citation tells the reader from which source it came and on which page the information is found that is included in the citation.

Take particular care to adequately cite Internet sources in APA or MLA format.  Just citing the home page of a large Internet site or just providing a link will not be considered adequate citation.

There is no maximum or minimum length requirement for this report.