Technical Reports: Introduction Section

Although they will have to be tweaked slightly, the Introduction and Project Overview and Rationale sections from your Research Proposal can be REUSED in your Technical Report.

This page covers how that works with the Introduction section.

How the Research Proposal Intro Can Be Re-Used in the Report

Research Proposal Introduction

Becomes the Report Introduction

Introduction Used to introduce the idea for your recommendation report to the person who will approve it (me). Draws the reader in, briefly explains the problem, and ends by introducing the subject, like this: For our recommendation report in this course, we would like to study X (or something similar). 3 paragraphs will do it.

Introduction Used to introduce the subject of the recommendation report to the reader(s) who might be able to do something about the problem you will identify and discuss. Draws the reader in, briefly introduces the problem, and ends by introducing the purpose of the recommendation report, like this: The purpose of this report is to describe problem X and suggest solution Y. 3 paragraphs will do it, although you can include more.

Introduction Samples

To give you an idea of how other students in this course have handled the introductions of technical reports, below you will find two samples. The first one is about accessibility issues in selected dorms, while the second one addresses accessibility issues caused by construction on VT's campus.

As you read, consider these guiding questions:

• How do these introductions grab the attention of the reader?
• How do they introduce the problem?
• How and where do they introduce the purpose statement that explains what the report sets out to do?

Sample 1: Improving Accessibility in Selected Residence Halls: A Recommendation Report

Virginia Tech’s Office of Equity and Accessibility has an entire division dedicated to ADA & Accessibility Services. This department is “committed to equal opportunity in employment and education for individuals with disabilities and complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as amended, the Rehabilitation Act, as amended, and other state and local laws that apply to individuals with disabilities.”^[1] 

Regardless of this focus at the university-level on accessibility for students with disabilities, several residence halls on campus could potentially violate those standards because they include features detrimental to accessibility. The lack of accessibility features could affect students with disabilities every day. Even if you could legally place all students with disabilities in halls with complete accessibility accommodations, accessibility would still be an issue in the residential halls if students without disabilities had family members with disabilities visit or if the students themselves were injured and temporarily disabled. The only way to secure accessibility for all is to remedy these issues at the root of the problem and provide equal accessibility features across all residential halls.

This report provides the results of research into accessibility in multiple residential halls, with documented examples of both lack of and present accessibility features. Given that many newer residential halls are accessible, we believe many of these accessibility issues present in the older residential halls can be addressed through simple solutions and would greatly benefit the entirety of campus.

^[1] https://oea.vt.edu/ada-accessibility-services.html

Sample 2: Safe Construction on Campus: The Need for Better Signage and a Notification System

Construction on campus is in full swing, with large-scale projects and pop-up repairs obstructing walking paths in many areas. At the time of this writing, Virginia Tech has about nine ongoing construction projects, with plans for additional construction beginning in the next few years. As necessary as growth is to the university, poor signage around these sites and the lack of real-time notifications warning people about daily repairs that close off university access points can disrupt numerous direct routes. These issues could prove particularly problematic for faculty, staff, and students impacted by disabilities.

The construction projects that impact student travel the most include,

• • • Hitt Hall,
    • the Global Business and Analytics projects,
    • the War Memorial Gym,
    • the Corps Leadership and Military Science building, and
    • the recently finished Deitrick Hall Renovation.

We believe the Division of Campus Planning, Infrastructure, and Facilities, should provide clearer signage to alert students of when and where construction will be occurring, as well as information regarding disruption caused by pop-up repairs. To ensure student success and well-being, we would like to recommend that the university focus on making it easier for faculty, staff, and students to navigate around construction sites like these.  

The purpose of this report is to describe the disruption that construction poses to everyday campus activities and suggest the implementation of both better signage around construction sites and a text notification system to alert faculty, staff, and students of unexpected work that restricts access to their usual routes.

Final Notes

For your introduction, also make sure you

• Repeat the title of your report at the top of the page. Do not use “introduction.”
• Spend at least one third to one half a page on your introduction.
• Number this page as "1." Read about how to do this.