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Research Report – Example, Writing Guide and Types

Table of Contents

Research Report

Definition:

Research Report is a written document that presents the results of a research project or study, including the research question, methodology, results, and conclusions, in a clear and objective manner.

The purpose of a research report is to communicate the findings of the research to the intended audience, which could be other researchers, stakeholders, or the general public.

Components of Research Report

Components of Research Report are as follows:

Introduction

The introduction sets the stage for the research report and provides a brief overview of the research question or problem being investigated. It should include a clear statement of the purpose of the study and its significance or relevance to the field of research. It may also provide background information or a literature review to help contextualize the research.

Literature Review

The literature review provides a critical analysis and synthesis of the existing research and scholarship relevant to the research question or problem. It should identify the gaps, inconsistencies, and contradictions in the literature and show how the current study addresses these issues. The literature review also establishes the theoretical framework or conceptual model that guides the research.

Methodology

The methodology section describes the research design, methods, and procedures used to collect and analyze data. It should include information on the sample or participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis techniques. The methodology should be clear and detailed enough to allow other researchers to replicate the study.

The results section presents the findings of the study in a clear and objective manner. It should provide a detailed description of the data and statistics used to answer the research question or test the hypothesis. Tables, graphs, and figures may be included to help visualize the data and illustrate the key findings.

The discussion section interprets the results of the study and explains their significance or relevance to the research question or problem. It should also compare the current findings with those of previous studies and identify the implications for future research or practice. The discussion should be based on the results presented in the previous section and should avoid speculation or unfounded conclusions.

The conclusion summarizes the key findings of the study and restates the main argument or thesis presented in the introduction. It should also provide a brief overview of the contributions of the study to the field of research and the implications for practice or policy.

The references section lists all the sources cited in the research report, following a specific citation style, such as APA or MLA.

The appendices section includes any additional material, such as data tables, figures, or instruments used in the study, that could not be included in the main text due to space limitations.

Types of Research Report

Types of Research Report are as follows:

Thesis is a type of research report. A thesis is a long-form research document that presents the findings and conclusions of an original research study conducted by a student as part of a graduate or postgraduate program. It is typically written by a student pursuing a higher degree, such as a Master’s or Doctoral degree, although it can also be written by researchers or scholars in other fields.

Research Paper

Research paper is a type of research report. A research paper is a document that presents the results of a research study or investigation. Research papers can be written in a variety of fields, including science, social science, humanities, and business. They typically follow a standard format that includes an introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion sections.

Technical Report

A technical report is a detailed report that provides information about a specific technical or scientific problem or project. Technical reports are often used in engineering, science, and other technical fields to document research and development work.

Progress Report

A progress report provides an update on the progress of a research project or program over a specific period of time. Progress reports are typically used to communicate the status of a project to stakeholders, funders, or project managers.

Feasibility Report

A feasibility report assesses the feasibility of a proposed project or plan, providing an analysis of the potential risks, benefits, and costs associated with the project. Feasibility reports are often used in business, engineering, and other fields to determine the viability of a project before it is undertaken.

Field Report

A field report documents observations and findings from fieldwork, which is research conducted in the natural environment or setting. Field reports are often used in anthropology, ecology, and other social and natural sciences.

Experimental Report

An experimental report documents the results of a scientific experiment, including the hypothesis, methods, results, and conclusions. Experimental reports are often used in biology, chemistry, and other sciences to communicate the results of laboratory experiments.

Case Study Report

A case study report provides an in-depth analysis of a specific case or situation, often used in psychology, social work, and other fields to document and understand complex cases or phenomena.

Literature Review Report

A literature review report synthesizes and summarizes existing research on a specific topic, providing an overview of the current state of knowledge on the subject. Literature review reports are often used in social sciences, education, and other fields to identify gaps in the literature and guide future research.

Research Report Example

Following is a Research Report Example sample for Students:

Title: The Impact of Social Media on Academic Performance among High School Students

This study aims to investigate the relationship between social media use and academic performance among high school students. The study utilized a quantitative research design, which involved a survey questionnaire administered to a sample of 200 high school students. The findings indicate that there is a negative correlation between social media use and academic performance, suggesting that excessive social media use can lead to poor academic performance among high school students. The results of this study have important implications for educators, parents, and policymakers, as they highlight the need for strategies that can help students balance their social media use and academic responsibilities.

Introduction:

Social media has become an integral part of the lives of high school students. With the widespread use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, students can connect with friends, share photos and videos, and engage in discussions on a range of topics. While social media offers many benefits, concerns have been raised about its impact on academic performance. Many studies have found a negative correlation between social media use and academic performance among high school students (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010; Paul, Baker, & Cochran, 2012).

Given the growing importance of social media in the lives of high school students, it is important to investigate its impact on academic performance. This study aims to address this gap by examining the relationship between social media use and academic performance among high school students.

Methodology:

The study utilized a quantitative research design, which involved a survey questionnaire administered to a sample of 200 high school students. The questionnaire was developed based on previous studies and was designed to measure the frequency and duration of social media use, as well as academic performance.

The participants were selected using a convenience sampling technique, and the survey questionnaire was distributed in the classroom during regular school hours. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis.

The findings indicate that the majority of high school students use social media platforms on a daily basis, with Facebook being the most popular platform. The results also show a negative correlation between social media use and academic performance, suggesting that excessive social media use can lead to poor academic performance among high school students.

Discussion:

The results of this study have important implications for educators, parents, and policymakers. The negative correlation between social media use and academic performance suggests that strategies should be put in place to help students balance their social media use and academic responsibilities. For example, educators could incorporate social media into their teaching strategies to engage students and enhance learning. Parents could limit their children’s social media use and encourage them to prioritize their academic responsibilities. Policymakers could develop guidelines and policies to regulate social media use among high school students.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, this study provides evidence of the negative impact of social media on academic performance among high school students. The findings highlight the need for strategies that can help students balance their social media use and academic responsibilities. Further research is needed to explore the specific mechanisms by which social media use affects academic performance and to develop effective strategies for addressing this issue.

Limitations:

One limitation of this study is the use of convenience sampling, which limits the generalizability of the findings to other populations. Future studies should use random sampling techniques to increase the representativeness of the sample. Another limitation is the use of self-reported measures, which may be subject to social desirability bias. Future studies could use objective measures of social media use and academic performance, such as tracking software and school records.

Implications:

The findings of this study have important implications for educators, parents, and policymakers. Educators could incorporate social media into their teaching strategies to engage students and enhance learning. For example, teachers could use social media platforms to share relevant educational resources and facilitate online discussions. Parents could limit their children’s social media use and encourage them to prioritize their academic responsibilities. They could also engage in open communication with their children to understand their social media use and its impact on their academic performance. Policymakers could develop guidelines and policies to regulate social media use among high school students. For example, schools could implement social media policies that restrict access during class time and encourage responsible use.

References:

• Kirschner, P. A., & Karpinski, A. C. (2010). Facebook® and academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(6), 1237-1245.
• Paul, J. A., Baker, H. M., & Cochran, J. D. (2012). Effect of online social networking on student academic performance. Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology, 8(1), 1-19.
• Pantic, I. (2014). Online social networking and mental health. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17(10), 652-657.
• Rosen, L. D., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. (2013). Facebook and texting made me do it: Media-induced task-switching while studying. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 948-958.

Note*: Above mention, Example is just a sample for the students’ guide. Do not directly copy and paste as your College or University assignment. Kindly do some research and Write your own.

Applications of Research Report

Research reports have many applications, including:

• Communicating research findings: The primary application of a research report is to communicate the results of a study to other researchers, stakeholders, or the general public. The report serves as a way to share new knowledge, insights, and discoveries with others in the field.
• Informing policy and practice : Research reports can inform policy and practice by providing evidence-based recommendations for decision-makers. For example, a research report on the effectiveness of a new drug could inform regulatory agencies in their decision-making process.
• Supporting further research: Research reports can provide a foundation for further research in a particular area. Other researchers may use the findings and methodology of a report to develop new research questions or to build on existing research.
• Evaluating programs and interventions : Research reports can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of programs and interventions in achieving their intended outcomes. For example, a research report on a new educational program could provide evidence of its impact on student performance.
• Demonstrating impact : Research reports can be used to demonstrate the impact of research funding or to evaluate the success of research projects. By presenting the findings and outcomes of a study, research reports can show the value of research to funders and stakeholders.
• Enhancing professional development : Research reports can be used to enhance professional development by providing a source of information and learning for researchers and practitioners in a particular field. For example, a research report on a new teaching methodology could provide insights and ideas for educators to incorporate into their own practice.

How to write Research Report

Here are some steps you can follow to write a research report:

• Identify the research question: The first step in writing a research report is to identify your research question. This will help you focus your research and organize your findings.
• Conduct research : Once you have identified your research question, you will need to conduct research to gather relevant data and information. This can involve conducting experiments, reviewing literature, or analyzing data.
• Organize your findings: Once you have gathered all of your data, you will need to organize your findings in a way that is clear and understandable. This can involve creating tables, graphs, or charts to illustrate your results.
• Write the report: Once you have organized your findings, you can begin writing the report. Start with an introduction that provides background information and explains the purpose of your research. Next, provide a detailed description of your research methods and findings. Finally, summarize your results and draw conclusions based on your findings.
• Proofread and edit: After you have written your report, be sure to proofread and edit it carefully. Check for grammar and spelling errors, and make sure that your report is well-organized and easy to read.
• Include a reference list: Be sure to include a list of references that you used in your research. This will give credit to your sources and allow readers to further explore the topic if they choose.
• Format your report: Finally, format your report according to the guidelines provided by your instructor or organization. This may include formatting requirements for headings, margins, fonts, and spacing.

Purpose of Research Report

The purpose of a research report is to communicate the results of a research study to a specific audience, such as peers in the same field, stakeholders, or the general public. The report provides a detailed description of the research methods, findings, and conclusions.

Some common purposes of a research report include:

• Sharing knowledge: A research report allows researchers to share their findings and knowledge with others in their field. This helps to advance the field and improve the understanding of a particular topic.
• Identifying trends: A research report can identify trends and patterns in data, which can help guide future research and inform decision-making.
• Addressing problems: A research report can provide insights into problems or issues and suggest solutions or recommendations for addressing them.
• Evaluating programs or interventions : A research report can evaluate the effectiveness of programs or interventions, which can inform decision-making about whether to continue, modify, or discontinue them.
• Meeting regulatory requirements: In some fields, research reports are required to meet regulatory requirements, such as in the case of drug trials or environmental impact studies.

When to Write Research Report

A research report should be written after completing the research study. This includes collecting data, analyzing the results, and drawing conclusions based on the findings. Once the research is complete, the report should be written in a timely manner while the information is still fresh in the researcher’s mind.

In academic settings, research reports are often required as part of coursework or as part of a thesis or dissertation. In this case, the report should be written according to the guidelines provided by the instructor or institution.

In other settings, such as in industry or government, research reports may be required to inform decision-making or to comply with regulatory requirements. In these cases, the report should be written as soon as possible after the research is completed in order to inform decision-making in a timely manner.

Overall, the timing of when to write a research report depends on the purpose of the research, the expectations of the audience, and any regulatory requirements that need to be met. However, it is important to complete the report in a timely manner while the information is still fresh in the researcher’s mind.

Characteristics of Research Report

There are several characteristics of a research report that distinguish it from other types of writing. These characteristics include:

• Objective: A research report should be written in an objective and unbiased manner. It should present the facts and findings of the research study without any personal opinions or biases.
• Systematic: A research report should be written in a systematic manner. It should follow a clear and logical structure, and the information should be presented in a way that is easy to understand and follow.
• Detailed: A research report should be detailed and comprehensive. It should provide a thorough description of the research methods, results, and conclusions.
• Accurate : A research report should be accurate and based on sound research methods. The findings and conclusions should be supported by data and evidence.
• Organized: A research report should be well-organized. It should include headings and subheadings to help the reader navigate the report and understand the main points.
• Clear and concise: A research report should be written in clear and concise language. The information should be presented in a way that is easy to understand, and unnecessary jargon should be avoided.
• Citations and references: A research report should include citations and references to support the findings and conclusions. This helps to give credit to other researchers and to provide readers with the opportunity to further explore the topic.

Advantages of Research Report

Research reports have several advantages, including:

• Communicating research findings: Research reports allow researchers to communicate their findings to a wider audience, including other researchers, stakeholders, and the general public. This helps to disseminate knowledge and advance the understanding of a particular topic.
• Providing evidence for decision-making : Research reports can provide evidence to inform decision-making, such as in the case of policy-making, program planning, or product development. The findings and conclusions can help guide decisions and improve outcomes.
• Supporting further research: Research reports can provide a foundation for further research on a particular topic. Other researchers can build on the findings and conclusions of the report, which can lead to further discoveries and advancements in the field.
• Demonstrating expertise: Research reports can demonstrate the expertise of the researchers and their ability to conduct rigorous and high-quality research. This can be important for securing funding, promotions, and other professional opportunities.
• Meeting regulatory requirements: In some fields, research reports are required to meet regulatory requirements, such as in the case of drug trials or environmental impact studies. Producing a high-quality research report can help ensure compliance with these requirements.

Limitations of Research Report

Despite their advantages, research reports also have some limitations, including:

• Time-consuming: Conducting research and writing a report can be a time-consuming process, particularly for large-scale studies. This can limit the frequency and speed of producing research reports.
• Expensive: Conducting research and producing a report can be expensive, particularly for studies that require specialized equipment, personnel, or data. This can limit the scope and feasibility of some research studies.
• Limited generalizability: Research studies often focus on a specific population or context, which can limit the generalizability of the findings to other populations or contexts.
• Potential bias : Researchers may have biases or conflicts of interest that can influence the findings and conclusions of the research study. Additionally, participants may also have biases or may not be representative of the larger population, which can limit the validity and reliability of the findings.
• Accessibility: Research reports may be written in technical or academic language, which can limit their accessibility to a wider audience. Additionally, some research may be behind paywalls or require specialized access, which can limit the ability of others to read and use the findings.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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How to Write a Project Report: Step-By-Step Guide [+ 4 Free Templates]

By archtc on December 26, 2017 — 21 minutes to read

• How to Write a Project Report: Step-By-Step Guide Part 1
• Project Report Templates: Free Download Part 2
• Additional Resources Part 3
• How to Dramatically Reduce Time You Spend Creating Reports Part 4

At some point during the implementation of a project, a project report has to be generated in order to paint a mental image of the whole project. Ultimately, a project report must maximize the insight gained with minimal effort from the reader. Apart from describing its results, it must also explain the implications of those results to the organization and its business operations.

How to Write a Project Status Report:

The most common type of project report, a project status report provides a general state of the project to its stakeholders. It quantifies work performed and completed in measurable terms. It compares this with an established baseline to see if the project is on track or; if adjustments have to be made if the project is behind its schedule. It keeps everyone on the same page and manages each other’s expectations.

Project status reports are accomplished to serve the following purposes;

• to keep an updated flow of information in relation to the project’s progress
• to immediately address issues and concerns that may come up at any point of the project’s implementation or duration
• to document reasons for changes and adjustments made to the original plan for the project
• to monitor fund utilization and to ensure that the project expenses are still within the budget
• to serve as a basis for decision-making and addressing problems
• to keep track of the team’s performance and individual contributions
• to act as a uniform procedure for communicating project development to the stakeholders.

Status reports are most effective when they follow a standard form with predefined fields that need to be regularly updated. Doing so will save time and provide consistency and predictability of the information the stakeholders will receive about the status of the project.

WHAT TO INCLUDE

For a status report to be comprehensive, it must include the following elements:

Summary/overall health of the project, facts on the project progress, target vs. actual accomplishments, action(s) taken, risks and issues, keys to an effective project status report.

• Submit the report on time . A status report is time sensitive and sending it late defeats the purpose of such a report.
• Giving complete but inaccurate information is just as bad as giving accurate but incomplete information . Since stakeholders rely on the status report for a heads-up on the project, and its content is used as the basis for decision-making, it is critical that the report provides both complete and accurate information.
• Do not cover up bad news or adverse reports as these are all part of the transparency of the status report . Keep in mind that being open with the stakeholders, whether the project is sailing smoothly or not, will benefit both the team and the client, since any problems there are will be immediately given attention and solved.
• Be proud of the team’s accomplishments, after all, this is what the clients and the stakeholders will want to know about .
• Anticipate questions from the clients or stakeholders and be prepared to answer them .
• Be familiar with the culture of the organization and respect the information hierarchy they observe . There are instances when the CEO wants to be the first to know about the contents of these reports before cascading it to his downlines. On the other hand, middle managers will want a head start on these reports so they can also anticipate and prepare for any reaction from the top executives.
• Craft the status report in such a way that there will be no information overload . It should contain necessary information that the stakeholders need to know. Lengthy reports will consume not only the writer’s time but also that of the reader. Too many details also give an impression of micro management.

Risk Registers

All projects, or any activities of business, face risks. It is just a matter of how an organization identifies, assesses, analyzes, and monitors these risks. With a Risk Register, an organization is equipped with a tool to better respond to problems that may arise because of these risks. It helps in the decision-making process and enables the stakeholders to take care of the threats in the best way possible.

A Risk Register, also called an Issue Log, is iterative because it will be updated periodically depending on how often the team identifies a potential risk. It may also be updated if the characteristics of the existing potential risks change as the project progresses. 

The Risk Register document contains information about the following:

Risk Identification

• Risk Category:  Grouping these risks under different categories is helpful. Doing so will provide a way to make a plan of action that will address most, if not all of the risks falling under the same category, saving time, effort, and resources.
• Risk Description:  Provide a brief explanation of the identified potential risk. The description can be done in a variety of ways depending on the level of detail. A general description can be difficult to address while giving too much detail about the risk may entail a significant amount of work. Three factors to consider when making a risk description are: the way these risks are going to be managed, who will handle them, and the reporting requirements of the person receiving the risk register.
• Risk ID:  Assign a unique identification code to each risk identified to track it in the risk register easily. Create a system of coding in such a way that the category to which the said risk belongs is easily identifiable.

Risk Analysis

• Project Impact: Indicate the potential effect of the assumed risk on different aspects of the project such as budget, timelines, quality, and performance.
• Likelihood: Referring to the possibility of the risk occurring, the likelihood can be expressed qualitatively—high, medium, low—or quantitatively, if there is enough information available. Whatever criteria are to be used, assign a number—with the highest value corresponding to that which is most likely to occur.

Risk Evaluation

Using the table above, the identified risk can be ranked this way:

• Risk Trigger: These are the potential risk events that will trigger the implementation of a contingency plan based on the risk management plan. This plan should have been prepared prior to the development of a risk register.

Risk Treatment

• Prevention Plan: This enumerates the steps or action to be taken to prevent the risks from occurring.
• Contingency Plan: On the other hand, the contingency plan determines the steps or action to be taken once the risk events have occurred. This program also contains the measures to be taken to reduce the impact of such risks to the project.
• Risk Owner: The person responsible for managing risk, and the implementation of the prevention and contingency plans, it can be anyone among the stakeholders—members of the team, a project manager, or project sponsors.
• Residual Risk: Sometimes, a risk cannot be entirely eliminated after treatment. Part of it may linger throughout the duration of the project, but once it has been treated, it can be considered as a low-level risk.

Keys to an Effective Risk Register

• The first risk register must be created as soon as the project plan and the risk management plan has been approved . This initial risk register must be integrated into the project plan.
• Active risks during a particular period must also be included in the project status report .
• Risk management is an iterative process which is why the risk register must also be updated from time to time . Updates can be made when new risks are identified or there have been changes in the risks already in the register.
• The numerical value assigned to the likelihood and severity levels must remain constant throughout the duration of the whole project .
• Likewise, any terms used must be defined, and this definition must be utilized consistently .

Project Closure Report

As the end of a project, a Project Closure Report signals its culmination. Its submission officially concludes a project and implies that funds and resources will no longer be needed, and everything will go back to its status prior to the implementation of the project.

This process is critical as it will officially tie up all loose ends and prevent confusion among stakeholders.

This particular type of project report summarizes information on the project results, the criteria used to measure the effectiveness of the project delivery process, and the feedback from the stakeholders. Each performance metric includes an assessment and a narration of how the team performed on such metrics.

This performance metric describes how the team utilized the budget in carrying out the project effectively. Under this performance metric, the following aspects are measured:

Component Breakdown

Budget variance, explanations for key variances.

Describe how the team implemented the project within the expected time frame and schedule.

Overall Project Duration

Schedule variance, the explanations for key variances, change management.

This metric refers to the team’s ability to handle and manage changes throughout the project’s implementation effectively. It is measured through the following:

Total Number of Changes

The impact of the changes, the highlight of changes, quality management.

This particular metric refers to the team’s ability to observe and comply with quality standards during the project’s implementation.

Total Number of Defects Identified

The explanation for resolved defects, risk and issue management.

This metric deals with how risks and matters that occurred during project implementation were handled and resolved by the team. Key points to include are the following:

The impact of the Risks and Issues to the Project

Human resource management.

This refers to the team’s ability to carry out the project effectively.

Project Organization Structure

This metric looks at how the stakeholders participated in the project.

Decision-makers

Communication management.

Under this metric, communication throughout the duration of the project is assessed.

Communication Management Plan

• Summarize essential feedback collected . Describe the method by which these comments were gathered and who was solicited for feedback. Also include how they responded to each question and briefly discuss which items received great responses from the participants and which ones got few answers.
• Take note of common themes or trends of feedback gathered .
• From the feedback gathered, also take note of any opportunities from this feedback and discuss how these opportunities can be applied to future projects, or in the organization itself .

Lesson Learned

• Give a brief discussion of what the team learned when carrying out the project . Among these learnings, discuss which ones can be applied to future projects and how it will impact not only those future projects but also the whole organization.

Other Metrics

Other points of interest may not have been captured in the Project Status Report and may be included in the Project Closeout Report. Some of these factors include:

Duration and Effort by Project Phase

Benefits realized, benchmark comparisons, keys to an effective project closure report.

• The closure report is mostly a summary of all efforts related to the project . It is important to ensure that all highlights of the project have been properly documented so that retrieval of these reports is easier and all efforts will be acknowledged.
• Emphasize the high points the project delivered, how efficiently it was done, and what has been learned from the process.
• If there are notable variances during the project implementation, make sure to provide a fact-based explanation on it . In addition, the impact of this difference must also be described.
• A critical point in a project closure report is establishing the link between the project performance, the lessons learned, and the steps that will be taken by the organization for its continuous improvement . Aside from the project deliverables, another valuable output of a project is the learnings derived from the process and how it will be translated into concrete concepts applicable to the business processes of the organization.

Executive Summary

A little bit different from the types of project reports previously mentioned, an Executive Summary  is a distinct kind of report which uses different language. It is a high-level report which aims to provide a bigger and deeper understanding of the project—how it will benefit the organization and how it will fit into future business strategies. It is written with a busy executive in mind, someone who has a lot of important things to do and may find reading a lengthy piece of prose a waste of precious time. Factual and objective, this particular type of project report must be able to provide a realistic status of the project, as business executives understand that everything may not go according to the plan.

Some may confuse an executive summary with an abstract but, in reality, they are clearly distinct from one another and serve a different purpose.

An abstract is usually written for academic or scientific papers. It is written with a topic sentence which, generally, gives an overview of what the article is about. It is, then, supported by two or three supporting sentences which support the main idea of the topic sentence.

An executive summary, on the other hand, is composed of different sections discussing almost every significant aspect of an undertaking. It consists of sequentially arranged key points supported by conclusions and recommendations. Check our in-depth article on how to write an effective executive summary .

Things to Remember in Writing Project Reports

Here are some of the principles that need to be observed in writing an effective project report;

Write for the reader

The report should have a structure, ensure that the report is evidence-based and is supported by data, make it as objective as possible.

There is a clear distinction between facts and opinions . These should never be used together, especially if the report is dwelling on a failed project. The report becomes subjective if it reflects personal opinions of the writer. Make it objective by eliminating all parts which are not based on facts and real events. If it is really necessary to include a personal view or opinion, make sure to explicitly identify it as such. A separate section of the project report may be devoted to the writer’s personal opinion to keep the rest of the report unbiased.

There are a number of ways project reporting helps an organization, a team, and even the project itself and here are some of them:

It tracks the progress of the project

It helps identify risks, it helps manage project cost, it gives stakeholders an insight on how the project is performing, project report template: free download.

Click Here to Download Project Status Report XLSX

Click Here to Download Project Update Report DOC

Click Here to Download Project Update Report 2 DOCX

Click Here to Download General Project Report DOCX

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Templates on ProsperForms:

Edit and use this template

Additional Sources

• How to Write an Outstanding Weekly Report + Free Template Download
• Project Status Dashboard and Project Tracking
• How to Create a Project Meeting Template + Free Download

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Project Management

How to write a project report (with steps & templates).

March 21, 2024

Juggling all the different components of a project can be quite a challenge. If that weren’t enough, you also have to write a project status report to update key stakeholders on the project’s progress. The struggle is real.

So where do you start? Fortunately, we have the answer. And that’s precisely why we put together this guide—to walk you through the process so you have a clear path from start to finish.

Learn more about creating project reports and different types of project status reports. Plus, you’ll walk away with five free project report templates, carefully crafted to streamline your project management workflow, save you time, and impress your stakeholders. 🤩

What is a Project Report?

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A project report is a document offering a comprehensive overview of a project’s objectives, progress, team performance, and milestone accomplishments. It also gives an account of the challenges faced during a project’s execution , solutions devised to tackle them, and the lessons learned during the process. 

Project managers create these reports to communicate with other project stakeholders—including team members, sponsors, clients, and other interested parties—to ensure everyone’s on the same page. The document also serves as a foundation for further evaluation and analysis to ensure the project says on track and achieves its goals. 🎯

Creating a project report doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Follow these three simple steps to create your first project report with ease.

Understand the purpose of the report

Before you create a project report, you need to understand the purpose of the report (the “why”) and know your target audience (the “who”). This will guide the content, structure, and tone of your project report.

Gather and organize the relevant information

At this point, you need to gather project information relevant to your project report. Make sure your data is accurate, reliable, and up-to-date. Organize the gathered information in a logical and structured manner.

• Executive summary : As its name suggests, this project summary gives readers a quick overview of the whole report. It’s a snapshot that highlights the most important parts of the project. While it’s placed at the start of the report, it’s often written last. It covers the project’s objectives, methodology, major outcomes, and conclusions. 
• Introduction: This sets the context and expectations of the entire report. It includes the project’s purpose and scope, project schedule, the problems it aims to address, and the methodologies to get there. It also outlines the structure and organization of the rest of the report. 
• Body: Typically, this is the longest part of project management reports because it dives into in-depth details, including project progress, data collection, analysis reports, constraints, and limitations. Remember that whatever you include here should reflect the purpose of your project report and the preferences of your target audience. 
• Conclusions & Recommendations: Based on your findings and analysis, identify opportunities for improvement, suggest strategies for addressing them, or propose avenues for future research. 

Format and proofread the report

Ensure that your project report follows a consistent formatting style—headings, subheadings, and bullet points will make it easier to read. In addition, scan your report for spelling or grammar errors and typos.

Types of Project Reports

Project reports come in diverse formats, with each serving different use cases. Here are nine of the most commonly used types of project reports.

A project status report is a document that gives a snapshot of where your project stands at any given moment. It’s like answering the question, “How’s the project doing?”

But instead of just saying “The project is fine,” you actually dive into the project goals, tasks completed, milestones achieved, challenges faced, lessons learned, potential roadblocks, and next steps. 

Whether it’s a weekly project status report or a monthly status report, this documentation eliminates the need for status meetings while giving stakeholders the most recent status of the project.

A project progress report is slightly similar to a status update report, as they both discuss task progress. However, the progress report is more quantitative and zooms in on individual tasks and project milestones . 

It’s like taking a magnifying glass and examining the progress of each task, one by one. For example, it could include in-depth information on the percentage of completion and current status of each task (completed, on track, delayed, etc.). 

The cost-benefit analysis report is usually prepared before a project is put into motion. Of the various project reports, this one aims to answer a simple question: “Is it worth pursuing this project?”

To answer this question, the report first assesses all project costs like operational expenses, materials, salaries, equipment, and potential risks. 

It then considers the projected benefits, such as increased profit margins, cost savings, improved efficiency, or happier customers. Finally, the report compares the costs to the benefits to determine if it’s time to move forward or explore other options.

A project time-tracking report is a document that records and summarizes time spent on project activities. Each project team member contributes to writing this report—they track and record the amount of time they’ve spent on tasks and submit it to the project manager. ⏰

Thankfully, the rise of project management tools has eliminated the need for paper-based time-tracking submissions. They make it easy for team members to submit accurate and detailed time reports to the project manager—while reducing the administrative burden of manual report compilation. 

Project managers can see how time is spent and the overall productivity of team members. As a result, they’re able to make informed decisions, such as redistributing workload (aka workload management ), reassigning tasks, and providing feedback and support to team members. 

A project resource dashboard offers a bird’s-eye view of how resources (e.g., labor, equipment, materials, budget, etc.) are allocated in a project. Think of it as a comprehensive resource inventory, listing every project task, the responsible party, and the resources being used. 

Project reports like this help project managers keep track of resource availability, identify potential resource constraints or shortages, and make informed decisions about resource allocation and optimization.

A project risk report offers a comprehensive analysis of potential risks, their likelihood of occurrence, their potential impact on the project, and recommended mitigation strategies. 

Rather than waiting for future events to derail the project, project reports like this one allow project managers to take a more proactive approach to risk management—thereby boosting the chances of overall project success.

A project variance report reveals the gaps or deviations between project plans and the actual performance or results achieved. It compares various factors—like budget, time, resources, and scope—and their planned values with their actual values, then computes the differences (or variances). 

By analyzing these variances, project managers and stakeholders can discuss the possible reasons behind them, identify areas that need attention, and take corrective actions where necessary.

A project performance report evaluates the overall performance and achievements of a project against predetermined metrics and objectives. It includes information on project deliverables, key performance indicators (KPIs) , and stakeholder satisfaction.

This report helps project managers assess project success, identify areas for improvement, and communicate the project’s performance to stakeholders.

A project completion report marks the end of a project journey. It summarizes the entire project lifecycle, from initiation to closure. This report contains an overview of the project’s objectives, deliverables, milestones, challenges, and recommendations for future projects.

Writing project reports may initially seem redundant and time-consuming. However, it plays a crucial role in achieving project success. While a few benefits were hinted at earlier, let’s get a better picture of why project reports should not be overlooked.

More clarity

Creating a project report allows you to step back and reflect on the project’s progress. As you record the milestones, successes, and challenges, a wealth of insights begin to unfold—strengths, weaknesses, and areas that need attention.

This holistic view of the project’s health helps you steer it toward the desired outcomes and ensure it stays on track.

Encourages evaluation and analysis

Project reports allow you to evaluate and analyze the different aspects of a project in a systematic way—gathering relevant data, analyzing them, and evaluating their significance. By giving your project a critical analysis, you can uncover valuable insights, identify patterns, draw meaningful conclusions, and take strategic action. 🛠️

Enhances communication and collaboration

Creating a project report challenges you to present the project’s progress and results to stakeholders in a clear and coherent manner. A well-written report promotes project transparency and ensures everyone is on the same page.

It also facilitates collaboration by providing a common reference point for discussions, feedback, and decision-making.

Boosts professionalism and credibility

When you present a comprehensive and well-structured report, it shows that you have conducted thorough research, followed a methodical approach, and can effectively communicate complex information. This, in turn, boosts your reputation, enhances your credibility, and showcases your expertise among peers, colleagues, and potential employers.

Knowledge preservation

A project report serves as a valuable reference for future research or projects. By documenting your process, methodologies, challenges, lessons, and results, you create a resource that can be consulted and built upon by others.

This contributes to the cumulative knowledge in your field and fosters a culture of collaboration and innovation.

Improves Team Alignment

Project reports are instrumental in enhancing team alignment. They provide a clear, concise snapshot of progress, identifying accomplishments, challenges, and next steps. This enables all team members to understand the project’s current status and their respective roles in achieving the overall objectives.

Check out these project report templates for teams:

• Nonprofit Organizations Project Report
• Operations Teams Project Report
• Finance Teams Project Report
• DevOps Teams Project Report
• Agile Teams Project Report
• Sales Teams Project Report

5 Project Report Examples & Templates

Sure, you could write project reports from scratch and spend countless hours formatting and structuring them. But why would you when you can use free project report templates? They provide a structure and format for your report so you can simply plug in your data and customize the design to fit your needs. Not only do project report templates speed up the report creation process, but they also enhance the overall quality of your reports. 

Let’s jump right in to explore our top five project report templates. 📈

A final project report is the perfect finishing touch to conclude a project and highlight its achievements. ClickUp’s Final Project Report Template provides a solid structure to help you put it together with the following key sections:

• Planned vs. Actual: A quantitative breakdown of how the project deviated from the original plan with regard to its start date, completion date, duration, and budget
• Management Effectiveness: A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis evaluating how the project was managed
• Project Learnings : Share the important project lessons learned by the team throughout the lifespan of the project
• Contract Terms Checklist : A simple table listing the various contract terms, whether they were completed, and any remarks you have 
• Overall Performance rating: A 1 out of 5 rating of the different aspects of the project, from planning and execution to leadership and communication

This template is built in ClickUp Docs , which means you have unlimited flexibility for customization—add extra sections and tweak the appearance to suit your taste. And guess what? The table of content updates in real-time as you add, edit, or delete multiple headers.

If you want to wow your team and clients, this project status report template will help you get the job done. 

Writing a project status report is fairly straightforward. But staring at a blank document and worrying about crafting perfectly manicured sentences can make this process last a lot longer than it should. 

Thankfully, ClickUp’s Project Status Report Template is here to save the day! Built inside ClickUp Whiteboards, this template provides a hassle-free method to quickly capture key project details in a visually engaging way.

• General information: Cover general project details (e.g., project name, objectives, project timeline , reporting period, etc.) which you’ll need to fill in only once
• Progress details: Use color-coding to share in-progress, at-risk, delayed, and completed tasks
• Support and resources: List out assets (e.g., labor, money, etc.) needed for a smooth operation 
• Highlights and takeaways: Share key lessons learned and other noteworthy highlights
• What went well/What needs improvement: Use this opportunity to reflect on the project’s progress and share the areas that performed well and what needs attention
• Next steps: Highlight the key action items that need to get done to keep the project on track

Enter the details under each of these sections onto sticky notes, which’ll help you quickly pour down your thoughts without worrying about writing perfect sentences. It’s also very helpful for stakeholders as the information on sticky notes is short and straight to the point. 

This template removes the pressure of creating a status report and saves valuable time—all while keeping key stakeholders informed and up to date.

After running a digital marketing campaign project, you need to gather key metrics from the campaign and present it to key stakeholders for evaluation, performance analysis, and notes for future improvements. 

Sharing this info across multiple digital channels can get overwhelming but there’s no need to worry. ClickUp’s Digital Marketing Report Template has you covered with everything you need. Plus, it’s neatly broken down into the following sections:

• Digital Marketing Performance: This section lets you summarize the overall performance of your campaign by capturing key details like project budget allocations, actual expenses, cost per acquisition, total impressions, and total clicks across multiple campaigns
• Web Analytics Report: This section analyzes website performance during and after the project’s completion. It captures metrics like page views, bounce rate, traffic sources, and overall conversion rate
• Social Media Campaign Performance: This section analyzes social media performance by measuring metrics like impressions, followers, and engagement rate—all in a simple table for each social media platform 

Use this template to present the performance of your digital marketing project in a simple and visually engaging way. This makes it easy to identify trends, analyze the impact of your campaign, and make informed decisions regarding future marketing initiatives.

A key way to stay on track and guarantee overall project success is to engage team members in the process.

The Employee Daily Activity Report Template by ClickUp has a simple tabular layout that makes it easy for team members to record and keep track of: 

• Completed tasks and the time spent on each
• Ongoing tasks and their due dates
• Upcoming tasks and any support they’ll need

This template encourages each team member to get work done and ask for support when needed—while allowing you to keep the project on track by providing support and maximizing team performance.

Remember the Digital Marketing Report Template we looked at earlier? You can choose to further analyze the marketing performance section, with elements from this Campaign Report Template by ClickUp . 

Dive deeper into how each marketing channel contributed to overall ad cost, ad revenue, and ad conversion rate. You can further break down each channel’s performance by analyzing the metrics from each individual campaign on that channel.

There you have it—your secret sauce for creating an effective project report in a fraction of the time. And that’s only scratching the surface … working inside ClickUp unlocks a lot more perks. 

Not only does ClickUp make project reporting easy and quick, but it also gives you access to free project management templates to enhance your workflow. Quickly assign tasks to your team, keep track of progress, discuss updates, and collaborate on documents and whiteboards—all in one place. ✨

Did we mention the integrations? ClickUp plays nicely with other apps, allowing you to seamlessly connect your favorite tools to supercharge your team’s productivity. And let’s not forget about the time you’ll save using ClickUp’s automations—a feature that lets you breeze through repetitive tasks that used to eat up valuable time across project management reports.

Just imagine what you can do with those extra hours—maybe enjoy a cup of coffee or catch up with your team about how best you can support them. Make project reporting a blast with ClickUp and boost your chances of a successful project. 

Get started by signing up for free on ClickUp today … Ready? Set? Report!

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How to Write a Project Report In 5 Easy Steps (Template Included)

Last updated on 31st January 2023

In this article we’re going to teach you how to write a project report in 5 easy steps.

Did you know that only 64% of projects meet their goals ? That means 36% fall short. And when projects don’t meet their goals it can result in a lot of headaches for your company.

The reasons why projects fail are plentiful but it typically comes back to poor planning or a lack of organisation. 

A solid project report can eliminate these issues and ensure you stay on track to complete your goals.

So, let’s take a look at how to write a project report in 5 easy steps…

Article Contents

What is a project report?

A project report is a document that contains helpful information so that teams can ensure their project stays on track, runs successfully, and completes on time. 

There are different types of project reports that are used at different periods throughout a project’s lifespan, but they all contain similar data that covers things like progress, tasks, roadblocks, stakeholders, and financial information. 

Why is a project report important?

Project reports are important for many reasons. A project report gives your project a sense of direction that can help you maintain consistency throughout the project, even as it passes between different people and teams. Your project report will also be a great document to refer back to if things get difficult, so you can stay on track. 

Even in the first instance, before your project kicks off, a project report can help you to manage your budget, workload, and any foreseen risks. It can also give stakeholders insight into the specifics of the project to help manage expectations from the start. 

Types of project report

There are many different types of project reports that will help you manage different aspects of your project. For example, a resource report will help you to understand the resources you’ll need for the project, how much resource you have at your disposal, and will also help you to predict when your resources will need to be replenished. 

Other examples include: risk assessment reports (to identify potential risks), board reports (to update investors/board members on project progress), and cost-benefit analysis reports (to help you measure benefits against the costs associated with them). 

Now, let’s dive into 3 of the biggest, most important types of project reports.

1. General project report

This is your first project report. It should cover predictions and plans for how you expect the project to go, and give you a clear sense of direction when it comes to things like budget, timelines, and everything else you need to keep track of in order for your project to be considered a success. 

2. Progress report

A progress report – as you may have guessed – comes in the middle and helps you document your progress. It’s important to keep reassessing your project to see if you are where you expect to be and to help you make adjustments along the way. 

A progress report is also very useful for managing stakeholder expectations and keeping them informed on how the project’s going.

3. Project completion report

As you wrap up your project, a project completion report can be a great way to reflect on what went well and what went wrong. This can not only help you wrap up the current project neatly, it can also inform future projects and ensure you don’t make the same mistakes twice.

How to write a project report in only 5 steps

There are many different types of project reports. So, of course, the writing of each one will differ slightly depending on who they are aimed at and what the content of the project report is. 

However, there are still some core steps to follow for each. Let’s take a look at how to write a project report in 5 steps. 

1. Start with the basics

At the very top of your project report should be a simple table that includes all of the core information for the project. Here’s an example: 

The table for your project will probably vary slightly to this, but hopefully this gives you an idea of the most important top-level information to include. 

Underneath this table you should have a short summary of the project. This can be just a couple of sentences that sum up the objectives and goals. Think of this kind of like an elevator pitch for the project. 

2. Cover your objectives

Now it’s time to go into more detail. List out each objective for the project, including what you need to do to achieve each one. 

For example, let’s pretend our project is to create a brand video. There are many objectives, such as: 

• Write a script
• Storyboard the video 
• Record a voiceover
• Shoot the video
• Edit the video
• Come up with a plan for promotion 

Each objective will need to be completed in order to go on to the next. And each objective requires different resources and skill sets. All of this should be recorded, in detail, in your project report. 

3. List your obstacles

Next, list any predicted obstacles or risks. This may feel like a waste of time because of course you’re going to be avoiding risks and obstacles as often as you can. However, it’s important to be aware of the potential roadblocks that might appear so that you are prepared to handle them without slowing down. 

Some example obstacles for the brand video project could be: 

• Equipment breaks
• Weather ruins a shoot
• Editing takes longer than planned

Next to each obstacle, jot down a quick plan for how you would solve this issue if it happened. For example, for “weather ruins a shoot” your potential solution could be to “choose a backup location”.

4. Create a project timeline

With any project, it’s important to know how long everything’s going to take. This is the best way to estimate how much time, money, and resource is required. 

A project timeline will help plot a path forward. To create a project timeline all you need to do is break down each objective into tasks and add a deadline for each task. It also helps to add an owner to each task, so you know who the point of contact is for each section of the timeline. 

This can be tricky to manage but becomes so much easier with a project management tool, like Project.co . When you create a project on Project.co, all of your clients and team members can see everything that goes on with the project in one centralised place. This includes tasks that can be allocated to team members, assigned a date, and a status – so everyone involved in the project can see how it’s progressing: 

You can also add comments, attachments, priority tags, and more. 

Plus, it’s easy to keep track of several tasks at once by using the calendar view: 

Other views available are kanban, list, and scheduler. 

5. Cover project communication

Somewhere on your project report you should include a link to your communication guidelines . This will help everyone involved on the project to understand what’s expected of them when it comes to communication, for example what tools to use and how to communicate. 

This can help your project run more smoothly and create a better result for everyone. According to our Communication Statistics 2022 , 95% of people feel that the businesses they deal with could improve when it comes to communication and project management . 

Writing a project report: 7 top tips 

1. Be clear

The perfect project report is clear and concise. Try your best to leave no room for errors or misunderstandings, and write in short definitive sentences. 

Being clear is especially important when it comes to timelines and targets. It can be helpful to plot out your tasks in a visual way, like a kanban view . This will make your project timeline easy to scan and understand.  

2. Be thorough

While it’s important to be clear and concise, it’s equally important to be thorough. Try to include as much relevant information in your project reports as possible.

One of the main functions of project reports, particularly project status reports, is to inform stakeholders on the progress of the project. So the more thorough you can be, the better. 

3. Be appropriate

A project report is an internal document that’s likely going to be shared between many different departments or teams in your business, so it’s important to make sure your language is appropriate. 

Keep the culture of the business in mind when writing your report. Use the same kind of tone and language that you would in other internal communication documents. This is especially important when you consider more than a third (35%) of businesses have lost an employee because of poor internal communication . 

4. Be honest

Your project report is not the place to sugarcoat anything. You should be honest, and brutally so. This means giving accurate and realistic figures, deliverables and deadlines. 

A project report should be a factual account so that everyone has a clear understanding of the data and knows exactly what to expect from the project. 

5. Be quick

It may seem contradictory to tell you to be thorough and quick with your project reports, but this just means don’t overload people with unnecessary information. Be succinct and to-the-point with every aspect of the report, from points of contact to resources and any potential roadblocks. 

The idea is for your project reports to be as easy to digest as possible, especially if you’re supplying busy stakeholders with a steady stream of ongoing status reports. 

6. Be prepared

No project runs perfectly, so it can be helpful to be prepared for bumps in the road. You might want to leave an ‘other’ or ‘notes’ section at the bottom of your report where you can jot down anything that’s changed along the way. 

It can also help to leave room for slight adjustments in your timeline. Just a couple of buffer days here and there can really reduce stress for your teams, and also help ensure your deadlines are more realistic. 

7. Be proud

When you’re carefully documenting things like risks and problems, your project report can become pretty gloomy. So it’s important to even it out by also celebrating your team’s achievements. 

Every project has ups and downs, and by giving as much attention to the ‘ups’ as you do the ‘downs’ you can boost team morale and this can be reflected back on your project. 

Free project report template

As promised, here is your free project report template ! 

To use this document, make sure to hit File > Make a Copy to save it as your own. This way you can make edits and personalise it to perfectly fit your needs. 

Final thoughts

A solid project report can act almost like a map that clearly directs you towards your end goal, helping you to avoid risks along the way and take the best route to success.

In addition to a project report, a project management platform can also help you to maintain your focus and manage your project with ease, thanks to centralised communication and complete visibility of all your work. Click here to get started for free .

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Project Report Writing and Presentations

• First Online: 20 September 2022

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Alley, M. (2003). The craft of scientific presentations: Critical steps to succeed and critical errors to avoid . Springer-Verlag.

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University of Oxford. (2019). Plagiarism. Retrieved from https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism?wssl=1

Neville, C. (2007). The complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism . Open University Press.

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Bell, J. (2010). Doing your research project: A guide for first-time researchers in education and social science (5th ed.). Open University Press.

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Ajimotokan, H.A. (2023). Project Report Writing and Presentations. In: Research Techniques. SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13109-7_5

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PSYC 465 (Swift): Experimental Psychology

• Write Your Project Report
• Online Library Access
• Develop A Hypothesis
• Find Articles
• Identify Methods & Populations
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Write Your Research Project Report

For your Project Paper, you will use your articles to build arguments and conclusions about your research study findings.

1. Abstract : a  summary of your project and its findings, which should tell the whole story of your study, including:

• the overall purpose of the study and research problem(s) you investigated
• the basic design and methods of the study
• the major findings and trends found in your analysis of the study results
• a brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions

2. Introduction and Literature Review : a review of the literature that you used to build your research study hypothesis. Your Introduction should:

• Be  more than  a summary of the articles you read
• Bring together theories and results from a number of studies to provide background for your project and demonstrate how your research study hypothesis fits into this current research area
• Be a compelling narrative about how the articles you've read have built up to your study and make the case for why your research study is important
• End with your study hypothesis

3. Methods : provides detailed information about your research study design. Your Methods section should include:

• the study populations and subject recruitment procedures
• the experimental design of your study and why it's appropriate for your research area
• the procedures your research design follows
• your data analysis plan 

4.  Results : report the findings of your research study, written in the past tense, without bias or interpretation . Your Results section should:

• Focus on being concise and objective
• Organize your results around tables and figures that summarize the results of your statistical analyses 
• Include summary text that describes the results in your tables and figures
• Organize your key findings in a logical sequence, generally following your Methods section
• Don't omit relevant findings, even those that don't support your predictions

5.  Discussion : interpret and describe the significance of your findings in light of what is already known about the research area you're investigating. Your Findings and Discussion should include:

• Explanation of results: whether or not the results were expected, explanations for the results, and patterns and trends that emerged from your results and their meanings
• References to previous research: compare your results with findings from other studies 
• Use evidence from research sources  to build arguments about what your study findings mean
• Analyze your evidence and observations to show how they link to your broader research question

6. Conclusion : summarizes what you wrote and what you learned

• Restate your research hypothesis from the introduction in different words
• Briefly summarize your main points or arguments and pull them together to address your research hypothesis
• End with a strong, final statement that ties the whole paper together and makes it clear the paper has come to an end
• No new ideas should be introduced in the conclusion, it should only review and analyze the main points from the body of the paper (with the exception of suggestions for further research)

7. References List : a list of the sources you cited 

• Cite your sources in APA Style 
• Format your References list in APA Style

For more writing help, contact  the Writing Center   and  make an online appointment  to meet with one of their consultants.

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How to Write Effective Research Reports

Frankline kibuacha | dec. 02, 2022 | 3 min. read.

A research report is a document that summarizes and provides an analysis of the findings of a research project. It is an important document that serves as a first-hand account of the research process, data, and findings of a research study, and it is typically considered an objective and accurate source of information.

There are a few questions a research report should answer:

• What are you researching?
• What is the goal of your research?
• What are your methods for researching?
• What did you find in your research?
• How does this compare to other findings?
• And what is the impact of this finding on the world?

A research report is normally organized into three broad sections. First, an introduction provides a brief background on the topic and introduces the reader to your perspective. The second section is the body of the report, which should include the research findings and supporting evidence. Finally, the conclusion, which summarizes your arguments and the implications of your study for future research.

Every year, GeoPoll carries out hundreds of research studies and produces reports on several topics, both for clients and internally commissioned studies. In this article, we highlight some tips for writing great reports from our experience.

Tips for writing excellent research reports

• Start from the basics – with an outline – It is a good idea to outline the research context and findings before taking the plunge, as it helps with the flow and structure of the research report. Once you have the broader information well documented, filling the gaps with the content and findings becomes more straightforward and sets the tone for the report.
• Consider the target audience – To guide the report, always keep the target audience in mind and then select a format that is clear, logical and obvious to the audience. A report meant for top decision-makers, for example, could be more concise than one meant for other researchers. Writing for the audience ensures that the research findings help the cause, so consider writing in their language to make it easy to understand at their level.
• Answer the research questions – Every effective research starts with a clear objective. In writing the report, make sure that the data provided contribute to the goal, which is, in reality, the real purpose for conducting the research in the first place.
• Be simple and clear – Research reports need not be complicated. Aim to write the report with an accuracy of details and language that is simplest and clearest to the reader. Use clear titles that clearly describe the following section in a way that readers will want to get into.
• Provide the methodology implemented – Researchers should also include a summary of the methods used to conduct the research, which provides the overall approaches and perspectives of the research process. The methodology details aspects such as the research objectives, the sample used , broken down into demographics such as gender, location, age, and other sample characteristics, data collection modes used, and data analysis methods. Sharing your methodology gives legitimacy to your research.
• Choose graphs correctly – Research reports often feature graphs to bring out data clearly. To fulfill this purpose, the graphs you use in your report must be clear enough so that the readers understand them themselves. Use clear titles, try and include the original question, and choose the best chart types to represent the data.
• Remain relevant – Not everything is genuinely essential to a research report, and you should aim at prioritizing only the significant discoveries. The idea of a research report is to present an abridged yet impactful version of your research, and it’s OK to exclude irrelevant information while highlighting only essential data and findings.
• Grammar and spelling are imperative – Even more important than most writings, research reports need to be written following the best language practices to help to understand the report and not unconsciously water down the seriousness of the information. Read aloud while writing to put yourself in the shoes of the reader. Use grammar and spell-checking tools and engage other people to proofread the report to ensure it reads well for the target audience.
• Choose an impactful title – A good research report title is brief, precise, and provides a clear idea of the underlying research so that readers can grasp the entire focus of your research from the title.
• Shoot for a strong conclusion – The conclusion in the research reports is primarily important because it summarizes the information and recommendations, and often, some readers skim through to the conclusion. Make a precise summary, highlight the findings that stand out, and provide the implications or courses of action derived from the research findings.

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Teaching Resources & Guides > How to Teach Science Tips > Writing a Science Report  

Writing a Science Report

With science fair season coming up as well as many end of the year projects, students are often required to write a research paper or a report on their project. Use this guide to help you in the process from finding a topic to revising and editing your final paper.

Brainstorming Topics

Sometimes one of the largest barriers to writing a research paper is trying to figure out what to write about. Many times the topic is supplied by the teacher, or the curriculum tells what the student should research and write about. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes the student is given a very broad concept to write a research paper on, for example, water. Within the category of water, there are many topics and subtopics that would be appropriate. Topics about water can include anything from the three states of water, different water sources, minerals found in water, how water is used by living organisms, the water cycle, or how to find water in the desert. The point is that “water” is a very large topic and would be too broad to be adequately covered in a typical 3-5 page research paper.

When given a broad category to write about, it is important to narrow it down to a topic that is much more manageable. Sometimes research needs to be done in order to find the best topic to write about. (Look for searching tips in “Finding and Gathering Information.”) Listed below are some tips and guidelines for picking a suitable research topic:

• Pick a topic within the category that you find interesting. It makes it that much easier to research and write about a topic if it interests you.
• You may find while researching a topic that the details of the topic are very boring to you. If this is the case, and you have the option to do this, change your topic.
• Pick a topic that you are already familiar with and research further into that area to build on your current knowledge.
• When researching topics to do your paper on, look at how much information you are finding. If you are finding very little information on your topic or you are finding an overwhelming amount, you may need to rethink your topic.
• If permissible, always leave yourself open to changing your topic. While researching for topics, you may come across one that you find really interesting and can use just as well as the previous topics you were searching for.
• Most importantly, does your research topic fit the guidelines set forth by your teacher or curriculum?

Finding and Gathering Information

There are numerous resources out there to help you find information on the topic selected for your research paper. One of the first places to begin research is at your local library. Use the Dewey Decimal System or ask the librarian to help you find books related to your topic. There are also a variety of reference materials, such as encyclopedias, available at the library.

A relatively new reference resource has become available with the power of technology – the Internet. While the Internet allows the user to access a wealth of information that is often more up-to-date than printed materials such as books and encyclopedias, there are certainly drawbacks to using it. It can be hard to tell whether or not a site contains factual information or just someone’s opinion. A site can also be dangerous or inappropriate for students to use.

You may find that certain science concepts and science terminology are not easy to find in regular dictionaries and encyclopedias. A science dictionary or science encyclopedia can help you find more in-depth and relevant information for your science report. If your topic is very technical or specific, reference materials such as medical dictionaries and chemistry encyclopedias may also be good resources to use.

If you are writing a report for your science fair project, not only will you be finding information from published sources, you will also be generating your own data, results, and conclusions. Keep a journal that tracks and records your experiments and results. When writing your report, you can either write out your findings from your experiments or display them using graphs or charts .

*As you are gathering information, keep a working bibliography of where you found your sources. Look under “Citing Sources” for more information. This will save you a lot of time in the long run!

Organizing Information

Most people find it hard to just take all the information they have gathered from their research and write it out in paper form. It is hard to get a starting point and go from the beginning to the end. You probably have several ideas you know you want to put in your paper, but you may be having trouble deciding where these ideas should go. Organizing your information in a way where new thoughts can be added to a subtopic at any time is a great way to organize the information you have about your topic. Here are two of the more popular ways to organize information so it can be used in a research paper:

• Graphic organizers such as a web or mind map . Mind maps are basically stating the main topic of your paper, then branching off into as many subtopics as possible about the main topic. Enchanted Learning has a list of several different types of mind maps as well as information on how to use them and what topics fit best for each type of mind map and graphic organizer.
• Sub-Subtopic: Low temperatures and adequate amounts of snow are needed to form glaciers.
• Sub-Subtopic: Glaciers move large amounts of earth and debris.
• Sub-Subtopic: Two basic types of glaciers: valley and continental.
• Subtopic: Icebergs – large masses of ice floating on liquid water

Different Formats For Your Paper

Depending on your topic and your writing preference, the layout of your paper can greatly enhance how well the information on your topic is displayed.

1. Process . This method is used to explain how something is done or how it works by listing the steps of the process. For most science fair projects and science experiments, this is the best format. Reports for science fairs need the entire project written out from start to finish. Your report should include a title page, statement of purpose, hypothesis, materials and procedures, results and conclusions, discussion, and credits and bibliography. If applicable, graphs, tables, or charts should be included with the results portion of your report.

2. Cause and effect . This is another common science experiment research paper format. The basic premise is that because event X happened, event Y happened.

3. Specific to general . This method works best when trying to draw conclusions about how little topics and details are connected to support one main topic or idea.

4. Climatic order . Similar to the “specific to general” category, here details are listed in order from least important to most important.

5. General to specific . Works in a similar fashion as the method for organizing your information. The main topic or subtopic is stated first, followed by supporting details that give more information about the topic.

6. Compare and contrast . This method works best when you wish to show the similarities and/or differences between two or more topics. A block pattern is used when you first write about one topic and all its details and then write about the second topic and all its details. An alternating pattern can be used to describe a detail about the first topic and then compare that to the related detail of the second topic. The block pattern and alternating pattern can also be combined to make a format that better fits your research paper.

Citing Sources

When writing a research paper, you must cite your sources! Otherwise you are plagiarizing (claiming someone else’s ideas as your own) which can cause severe penalties from failing your research paper assignment in primary and secondary grades to failing the entire course (most colleges and universities have this policy). To help you avoid plagiarism, follow these simple steps:

• Find out what format for citing your paper your teacher or curriculum wishes you to use. One of the most widely used and widely accepted citation formats by scholars and schools is the Modern Language Association (MLA) format. We recommended that you do an Internet search for the most recent format of the citation style you will be using in your paper.
• Keep a working bibliography when researching your topic. Have a document in your computer files or a page in your notebook where you write down every source that you found and may use in your paper. (You probably will not use every resource you find, but it is much easier to delete unused sources later rather than try to find them four weeks down the road.) To make this process even easier, write the source down in the citation format that will be used in your paper. No matter what citation format you use, you should always write down title, author, publisher, published date, page numbers used, and if applicable, the volume and issue number.
• When collecting ideas and information from your sources, write the author’s last name at the end of the idea. When revising and formatting your paper, keep the author’s last name attached to the end of the idea, no matter where you move that idea. This way, you won’t have to go back and try to remember where the ideas in your paper came from.
• There are two ways to use the information in your paper: paraphrasing and quotes. The majority of your paper will be paraphrasing the information you found. Paraphrasing is basically restating the idea being used in your own words.   As a general rule of thumb, no more than two of the original words should be used in sequence when paraphrasing information, and similes should be used for as many of the words as possible in the original passage without changing the meaning of the main point. Sometimes, you may find something stated so well by the original author that it would be best to use the author’s original words in your paper. When using the author’s original words, use quotation marks only around the words being directly quoted and work the quote into the body of your paper so that it makes sense grammatically. Search the Internet for more rules on paraphrasing and quoting information.

Revising and Editing Your Paper

Revising your paper basically means you are fixing grammatical errors or changing the meaning of what you wrote. After you have written the rough draft of your paper, read through it again to make sure the ideas in your paper flow and are cohesive. You may need to add in information, delete extra information, use a thesaurus to find a better word to better express a concept, reword a sentence, or just make sure your ideas are stated in a logical and progressive order.

After revising your paper, go back and edit it, correcting the capitalization, punctuation, and spelling errors – the mechanics of writing. If you are not 100% positive a word is spelled correctly, look it up in a dictionary. Ask a parent or teacher for help on the proper usage of commas, hyphens, capitalization, and numbers. You may also be able to find the answers to these questions by doing an Internet search on writing mechanics or by checking you local library for a book on writing mechanics.

It is also always a good idea to have someone else read your paper. Because this person did not write the paper and is not familiar with the topic, he or she is more likely to catch mistakes or ideas that do not quite make sense. This person can also give you insights or suggestions on how to reword or format your paper to make it flow better or convey your ideas better.

More Information:

• Quick Science Fair Guide
• Science Fair Project Ideas

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The Top 17 Free Project Report Templates For Effective Project Management

By Kate Eby | August 5, 2019 (updated August 7, 2023)

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In this article, you’ll find a comprehensive list of project report templates to support your project management efforts. These pre-built templates are free to download in a variety of formats, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PDF, and Google Docs.

Included on this page, you'll find many free, downloadable templates for your next project, including a project status report template , a daily project progress report template , a business project report template , and many more.

Project Status Report Template

Download Project Status Report Template

Word | PowerPoint | Smartsheet

Consistent and thorough status reporting is an essential component of effective project management. Ensure you meet project objectives by utilizing this customizable project status report template. This template provides space to summarize the project and track risks, roadblocks, milestones, accomplishments, and key takeaways. It also includes a visual project timeline to give you easy visibility into major project events.

One-Page Project Status Report Template

Download One-Page Project Status Report Template

Word | PDF | Smartsheet

This template covers all the primary elements of the project status report in a convenient one-page format. The pre-built status report provides an overview of project status by category (i.e., budget, scope, etc.), project timeline, key risks and issues, as well as issue ownership to ensure that you account for and complete all project action items on schedule. Learn how to create an effective project status report in this article .

Project Report Dashboard Template

Download Project Report Dashboard Template - Excel 

Having a clear visual of a project’s high-level metrics and overall performance enables a project manager to identify and home in on problem areas that need further attention. Download this project report dashboard template to track the status of key components of a project, including tasks, costs, and pending action items. This template also helps you support the decisions you make for future project initiatives. Check out this article to find more free Excel dashboard templates for all of your business needs .

Daily Project Progress Report Template

Download Daily Project Progress Report Template

Excel | Word | PDF

Provide stakeholders with insight into a project’s daily development using this progress report template. This template provides space to outline progression details, work completed, equipment used, workers on site, task locations, delays, incidents, and more. This report allows you to compare activity progress with the project plan to effectively maintain governance.

Performance Project Report Template

Download Performance Project Report Template

Communicate the performance of key project elements using this customizable project performance report template. Detail key activities, deadlines, work quality, risks, budgeting performance, and more to ensure you carry out major project deliverables on schedule and according to plan.

Project Summary Report Template

Download Project Summary Report Template

Effective project management requires that you keep lines of communication open (between the team and client) and ensure that the information you present is accurate and up to date. Provide all stakeholders with the current status of key projects, milestones, steering committee escalations, progress, and upcoming events using this pre-built project summary report template.

Weekly Project Status Report Template

Download Weekly Project Status Report Template

Excel | Word | Smartsheet

This customizable project status report template provides a snapshot of a project’s health on any given week. Track overall project performance and the status of each project component, including budget, resources, scope, milestones, work accomplished, roadblocks, highlights, and more. This template also comes with a pre-built visual timeline to display major project details at a glance.

Monthly Project Status Report Template

 Download Monthly Project Status Report Template

Excel | Word

This project status report template captures the status of key project elements at a monthly view. Use this downloadable template to track notable project components that are complete, in progress, on hold, or at risk and outline deadlines and details for upcoming work.

Stoplight Project Status Report Template

Download Stoplight Project Status Report Template

Stoplight project status reports are an effective way to visualize project items that require immediate attention and additional planning. Use the stoplight key to define the parameters of what constitutes a red, yellow, or green status and ensure that the client and team members are on the same page regarding these conditions. This template will help keep the process streamlined.

Business Project Report Template

Download Business Project Report Template

Word | Google Docs

A business project report is a detailed document that serves as a roadmap for a proposed project or business venture. This business project report template provides a solid basis to expand upon according to your needs. It includes space for a table of contents, an executive summary, key project activities, a marketing analysis, a SWOT analysis, recommendations, appendices, and more.

IT Project Status Report Template

Download IT Project Status Report Template

Information technology project management and operations can be complex and involve many moving parts. Between balancing the budget, making adjustments mid-project, and meeting the needs of project stakeholders, this pre-built IT project status report template will help ensure that you track and account for all the key components of your project. This template provides room for project milestones, open and closed issues, change requests, resource evaluation, and the current status of all major project categories. Learn the essential tips for successful IT project management by checking out this article .

Construction Project Report Template

Download Construction Project Report Template

Excel | Word | PDF | Google Docs

Effective reporting is a key factor in the overall success of a construction project. This pre-built construction project report template includes all major day-to-day project details, like daily progress, materials and equipment used, number of workers and work hours performed on site, progress obstructions, and official visitors. Additionally, the template includes space for the inspector to sign off on the report in order to ensure overall project compliance. For a wide variety of free construction management templates to download, visit this page .

Executive Project Report Template

Download Executive Project Report Template

An executive project report is a high-level view of the project that highlights progress, without getting into the granular details of the project. Use this customizable executive project report template to communicate the essential elements of the project, including key milestones, accomplishments, risks, issues, financial overview, and project requirements.

Final Project Report Template

Download Final Project Report Template

The purpose of the final project report is to briefly and clearly summarize the outcomes of a completed project. This final project report template contains a table of contents, as well as space for names and roles of team members, project summary, scope, costs, risks, communication strategies, learning outcomes, top-level project performance details, and more.

Project Report Template for Teams or Departments

Download Project Report Template for Teams or Departments

Teams or departments can use this project report to communicate the status of project activities: That is, they can indicate whether they have completed an activity or whether an activity is still in progress. Use this template to track key tasks, team members involved, deadlines, progress scores, issues needing attention, and other project developments to ensure teams or departments account for and complete assignments on schedule.

Project Report for Stakeholders and Partners

Download Project Report for Stakeholders and Partners

Use this project report is to provide key stakeholders and partners with high-level visibility into a project’s overall performance. Briefly summarize progress, project deliverables, start and end dates, outputs, and other major project details to keep stakeholders up to date on current project happenings.

Project Postmortem Report Template

Download Project Post-Mortem Report Template

This customizable project postmortem report template should be completed as a workshop comprised of key team members within a week of concluding the project work. This report highlights project details, such as accomplishments, problem areas, lessons learned, and more to facilitate the process of analyzing the performance of all the project’s elements. Once you’ve completed this template, the project sponsor should sign off on it to formally close out the project.

Tips on Writing a Project Report

When writing a project report, stick to the facts and back up your claims with data. Consider using a template to give structure to your report, and tailor the report to your audience. We’ve outlined top report-writing tips below:

• Know Your Audience: The type and depth of information you communicate in a report will depend on the nature of your audience. For instance, managers and clients may have a better understanding of the concepts and terminology involved in a project than do stakeholders and other personnel. Effective project reporting, therefore, requires using the appropriate tone and phraseology and knowing when to share high-level versus granular project details.  Your audience may also care about different details when viewing a year-end report  versus a project status report .
• Give Structure to Your Report: Once you’ve identified your audience and which components of the project to communicate, organize the segments of the report so the information makes sense and is helpful to the reader. For example, you should place project identification and background details near the beginning of the report; place summarizing details near the end.
• Only Provide Facts: The report should remain objective and free from personal bias, regardless of whether the project is failing or performing successfully. If an opinion is needed, it should be labeled clearly and placed in a separate segment of the report. Additionally, the charts, metrics, and other performance data you present in the report should be accurate and up to date so that such information is credible and meaningful to the reader. 
• Use a Template: Save time building out your report by using a customizable template to get you started. Templates are beneficial for standardizing processes, and you can easily adapt them to fit your needs. Use the free templates provided above for your reporting needs, and then check out this article for more project management templates .
• Use an Online Reporting Tool: Keeping a project’s development aligned with business goals is the basis of project management, and the success or failure of a project can greatly depend on the tools you use. Employ an online tool that displays data in different ways (e.g., Kanban boards, Gantt views, and dashboards), shows the real-time status of multiple projects, provides various permission levels, and allows you to set up recurring reports (such tools can automatically email these recurring reports at a set frequency to designated stakeholders, which allows project managers to shift their focus to other critical project matters). These online tools provide increased visibility into project processes and status.

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The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed.

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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Difference between Project Report and Research Report

1. Project Report : Project Report, as name suggest, is simply report that provide useful and important information for better business or company decision and also helps in control of project.

2. Research Report : Research Report, as name suggests, is simply report that provide useful result of formal investigation and outline processes, data, and findings and is usually prepared by analyst or strategist.

Difference between Project Report and Research Report :

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Frequently asked questions

What is a research project.

A research project is an academic, scientific, or professional undertaking to answer a research question . Research projects can take many forms, such as qualitative or quantitative , descriptive , longitudinal , experimental , or correlational . What kind of research approach you choose will depend on your topic.

Frequently asked questions: Writing a research paper

The best way to remember the difference between a research plan and a research proposal is that they have fundamentally different audiences. A research plan helps you, the researcher, organize your thoughts. On the other hand, a dissertation proposal or research proposal aims to convince others (e.g., a supervisor, a funding body, or a dissertation committee) that your research topic is relevant and worthy of being conducted.

Formulating a main research question can be a difficult task. Overall, your question should contribute to solving the problem that you have defined in your problem statement .

However, it should also fulfill criteria in three main areas:

• Researchability
• Feasibility and specificity
• Relevance and originality

Research questions anchor your whole project, so it’s important to spend some time refining them.

In general, they should be:

• Focused and researchable
• Answerable using credible sources
• Complex and arguable
• Feasible and specific
• Relevant and original

All research questions should be:

• Focused on a single problem or issue
• Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources
• Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints
• Specific enough to answer thoroughly
• Complex enough to develop the answer over the space of a paper or thesis
• Relevant to your field of study and/or society more broadly

A research aim is a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear in your introduction at the end of your problem statement , before your research objectives.

Research objectives are more specific than your research aim. They indicate the specific ways you’ll address the overarching aim.

Once you’ve decided on your research objectives , you need to explain them in your paper, at the end of your problem statement .

Keep your research objectives clear and concise, and use appropriate verbs to accurately convey the work that you will carry out for each one.

I will compare …

Your research objectives indicate how you’ll try to address your research problem and should be specific:

Research objectives describe what you intend your research project to accomplish.

They summarize the approach and purpose of the project and help to focus your research.

Your objectives should appear in the introduction of your research paper , at the end of your problem statement .

The main guidelines for formatting a paper in Chicago style are to:

• Use a standard font like 12 pt Times New Roman
• Use 1 inch margins or larger
• Apply double line spacing
• Indent every new paragraph ½ inch
• Include a title page
• Place page numbers in the top right or bottom center
• Cite your sources with author-date citations or Chicago footnotes
• Include a bibliography or reference list

To automatically generate accurate Chicago references, you can use Scribbr’s free Chicago reference generator .

The main guidelines for formatting a paper in MLA style are as follows:

• Use an easily readable font like 12 pt Times New Roman
• Set 1 inch page margins
• Include a four-line MLA heading on the first page
• Center the paper’s title
• Use title case capitalization for headings
• Cite your sources with MLA in-text citations
• List all sources cited on a Works Cited page at the end

To format a paper in APA Style , follow these guidelines:

• Use a standard font like 12 pt Times New Roman or 11 pt Arial
• If submitting for publication, insert a running head on every page
• Apply APA heading styles
• Cite your sources with APA in-text citations
• List all sources cited on a reference page at the end

No, it’s not appropriate to present new arguments or evidence in the conclusion . While you might be tempted to save a striking argument for last, research papers follow a more formal structure than this.

All your findings and arguments should be presented in the body of the text (more specifically in the results and discussion sections if you are following a scientific structure). The conclusion is meant to summarize and reflect on the evidence and arguments you have already presented, not introduce new ones.

The conclusion of a research paper has several key elements you should make sure to include:

• A restatement of the research problem
• A summary of your key arguments and/or findings
• A short discussion of the implications of your research

Don’t feel that you have to write the introduction first. The introduction is often one of the last parts of the research paper you’ll write, along with the conclusion.

This is because it can be easier to introduce your paper once you’ve already written the body ; you may not have the clearest idea of your arguments until you’ve written them, and things can change during the writing process .

The way you present your research problem in your introduction varies depending on the nature of your research paper . A research paper that presents a sustained argument will usually encapsulate this argument in a thesis statement .

A research paper designed to present the results of empirical research tends to present a research question that it seeks to answer. It may also include a hypothesis —a prediction that will be confirmed or disproved by your research.

The introduction of a research paper includes several key elements:

• A hook to catch the reader’s interest
• Relevant background on the topic
• Details of your research problem

and your problem statement

• A thesis statement or research question
• Sometimes an overview of the paper

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Scribbr specializes in editing study-related documents . We proofread:

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You can find all the citation styles and locales used in the Scribbr Citation Generator in our publicly accessible repository on Github .

Project Outcomes Report

Accessing Project Outcomes Report

Access the Project Outcomes Report by logging into Research.gov. There are multiple ways to navigate to the Project Outcomes Report tool on Research.gov. You can also access Research.gov through links provided in email notifications that you will receive for due and overdue reports.

Accessing Project Outcomes Report Directly on Research.gov

To access the Project Outcomes Report tool, log into Research.gov:  

• Go to www.research.gov .

Click on Log In, located in the upper right-hand corner of the Research.gov homepage.

On the NSF Login page, enter your Last Name, NSF ID, and Password and then click the “Log In” button.  

Note:  To use this tool and certain other tools on Research.gov, both the user and his/her institution must be registered in NSF’s FastLane. If your organization is not registered in FastLane, the Institution Administrator should register him or herself as the FastLane Contact at https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a0/about/registration.htm . The institution registration information will be available on Research.gov the next day. Please refer to the “Get Started Now” page on Research.gov for more information on how to register.

Figure 2 – NSF User Log in page

Following login, you will see your Project Report Dashboard on the Research.gov Homepage. The Dashboard provides a snapshot of your total number of PORs, as well as the number of PORs you have Due, Overdue, Submitted, and Not Yet Due. The Dashboard is also where you will find your final, annual, and interim project reports. For directions on how to submit final, annual, and interim project reports, see that section of the help system.

Figure 3 – Project Reporting Dashboard

Viewing the Status of Your Project Outcomes Reports on Research.gov

Once logged into Research.gov as a PI/Co-PI, you will be directed to the Project Reports Dashboard page where your Project Outcomes Report Dashboard displays the number and status of required reports. Statuses include:  

Not yet due

Click on the “Project Outcomes Report” link provided on the Project Outcomes Report Dashboard to view, prepare, and submit reports.

Figure 4 – Project Reporting Dashboard 

Preparing and Submitting Your Report

Preparing Your Report

To prepare your report: 

• Click on the Project Outcomes Report link provided on the Project Reporting Dashboard of your Research.gov Homepage to view, prepare, and submit reports.
• Select the report you would like to complete.

Figure 5 – Project Reports

• Complete your report in the text editing box. Your report must be between 200 and 800 words.

Figure 6 – Project Outcomes Report

Adding Images to Your Report

To add images to your report:  

Click the “Add an Image” button on the Project Outcomes Report editing page to add images to your report.

Figure 7 – Add an Image

Click Browse to find and select the image you would like to upload. Your image should be:  

·         Oriented as landscape (width is greater than height)

·         Less than 8MB

·         In one of the following file formats: JPG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG, TIFF

Figure 8 – Add Image page

Complete the required information include an image title, caption (up to 300 characters), and credit.  

Note:  You must have permission to use the images you upload.

Check the Primary Image box if you would like this image to be the main image posted with your report.

Note:  If there are no current images associated with your report, this box will not appear and the image will automatically be made the primary image. 

Figure 9 – Primary Image checkbox

Select the copyright designation of your image and check the copyright release box.

Explanation of Copyright Release:

By checking the “Copyright Release” box, I verify that I own the copyright to the uploaded images or I have a license to use the images and allow others to use them. I agree to indemnify the federal government against any loss or damages arising out of a copyright infringement action regarding the use of the uploaded images. I certify that I grant the National Science Foundation (NSF) permission to use and distribute my multimedia material submitted herewith on a royalty-free basis for news, educational and public-information purposes at NSF’s discretion. Such uses include, but are not limited to, posting the material on the NSF Multimedia Gallery website (thereby making it generally available to such outlets as news organizations, universities, teachers and the general public) and distributing the material to other websites for educational and/or informational purposes. The copyright owner keeps the copyright on the material.

Definition of Terms

The following website is helpful in understanding copyright terms in addition to the definitions below:

·          http://stockphotolicense.com/faq

Copyrighted: Under the copyright law, the author/creator of the multimedia is the copyright owner unless there is a written agreement by which the author/creator assigns the copyright to another person or entity, such as a publisher. In cases of works made for hire, the employer or commissioning party is considered to be the author. For more information about copyright see the U.S. Copyright Office website:

·          http://www.copyright.gov

Public Domain: Multimedia in the public domain are those whose intellectual property rights have expired, been forfeited, or are inapplicable. Multimedia of the United States Government and various other governments are excluded from copyright law and may therefore be considered to be in the public domain in their respective countries. Multimedia in the public domain may be used freely without permission. For more information about Public Domain see the following websites:

·          http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/definition-of-public-domain.html

·          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain

Creative Commons: Creative Commons licenses enable copyright owners to state specifically how others may use their multimedia. Some Creative Commons licenses, for example, permit others to copy, make derivative works or adaptations, or to distribute the multimedia, under specific conditions, such as requiring attribution (credit). See the terms of the license for credit requirements and restrictions. For more information about Creative Commons and types of licenses see the following website:

·          http://creativecommons.org/

Royalty-free (restricted use – cannot be shared): This category refers to royalty-free multimedia that someone pays to use. The buyer may reuse the multimedia without additional payment, but may not share it with others.

Royalty-free (unrestricted use): This category refers to multimedia from free royalty-free sites that anyone may use, as long as the terms of use on the site are followed.

For more information about royalty-free multimedia see the following website:

Copyright owner is an institution with an existing agreement allowing use by NSF: Some institutions have given NSF “blanket permission” to use specific kinds of multimedia. Please check with your Public Information Officer (PIO) to see whether your multimedia is covered by such an agreement.

Figure 10 – POR Copyright Release

Click Save to add the image to your report.

To preview your image, select Preview under the image you would like to view.

Figure 11 – POR Image options

To edit your image’s caption or credit, select Edit under the image you would like to revise, edit the necessary information, and select Save.

Figure 12 – POR Edit Image

To delete your image, select Delete under the image. You will be asked to confirm that you wish to delete the image.

Figure 13 – POR Delete Image

Saving and Returning to Your Report, Later

To save your report:  

Click Save at the bottom of the report editing page.

Figure 14 – Save Project Outcomes Report

To return to your report:  

If you have logged out of Research.gov, log into Research.gov then log into the Project Reporting system (for instructions, refer to instructions for accessing your report).

Select Create/Edit Report for the report you would like to continue editing. You will be directed to your saved report.

F igure 15 – Project Reports

Previewing Your Report

To preview your report:  

Click Preview Report at the bottom of the report editing page.

Figure 16 – Preview report

You will see a preview of your report and images. Click Close Preview to close the preview window.

Submitting Your Report

To submit your report:  

Click Save and Submit at the bottom of the report editing page.

Figure 17 – Save and Submit report

You will see a confirmation screen notifying you that your report has been successfully submitted. Additionally, you will receive an email confirming your report submission.

Note:  Once your report has been submitted, you have 30 days to edit your report. To view your report after submission, follow the instructions outlined for returning to your report. Following submission, your report will be available on your award’s detail page in the Research Spending & Results service on Research.gov

Figure 18 – POR Submission Confirmation

Editing Your Submitted Report

To edit your submitted report during the 30 day editing period, refer to the instructions above for accessing your report, editing a saved report, and submitting your report.

Adding an Addendum to Your Report

Creating a Report Addendum

To create an addendum:  

Return to Research.gov and follow the steps for accessing the Project Outcomes Report to view a list of your reports.

Click the link to Edit/View Report for the report you would like add addendum to.

You will be directed to your report’s page.

Click the “Add Addendum” button.  

Figure 19 – POR Disclaimer and Add Addendum

You can enter the addendum text in the text editor. Your addendum can be up to 800 words.

Figure 20 – POR Addendum Text Editor

Adding Images to Your Addendum

You can add up to six images with each addendum you create. To add images to your addendum, refer to the instructions on how to add images to your report.

Saving and Returning to Your Addendum Later

You can save your addendum and return later to complete and submit it. To save and return to your addendum, refer to the instructions on how to save and return to your report.

Previewing Your Report Addendum

To preview your addendum:  

Click Preview at the bottom of the addendum editing page.

You will see a preview of your report with addenda and images. Click Close Preview to close the preview window.

Submitting Your Report Addendum

When you are satisfied with the content of your addendum, you can submit it by clicking the "Save and Submit” button.

Note: Once submitted, addenda cannot be edited. Following submission addenda will be available along with your report through the Research Spending & Results service on Research.gov the next day.

Figure 22 – Save & Submit Addendum

Viewing Your Submitted Report

Viewing Submitted Reports through Research Spending & Results on Research.gov

Once your Project Outcomes Report is submitted, it is made available to the public through Research.gov’s Research Spending & Results service. The public will access your report by completing a search in Research Spending & Results. To view Project Outcomes Reports:  

• Click on the “Search Awards” link under NSF Award Highlights or click on the Research Spending & Results link from the footer.
• On the Research Spending & Results search page, enter awardee or award information text, obligated funds amount, project director or PI/Co-PI name, award date range, and indicate whether you are looking for Recovery Act Awards, then click the “Search” button.

Figure 23 – Research Spending & Results

On the search results page, click the Award ID number for the award in which you are interested in viewing.

Figure 24 – Search results in Research Spending & Results

• This will direct you to the Research Spending & Results Award Detail page. Scroll down to the final section of the page to view the submitted Project Outcomes Report, including associated images and addenda.

Note: Visitors to Research.gov are not required to log in to view Project Outcomes Reports through the Research Spending & Results service.

Figure 25 – POR content in RS&R Search results

Michigan Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program

Dig into sustainable farm innovations with a search tool and map of sare grant projects.

Katie Brandt <[email protected]> , Michigan State University Extension - April 09, 2024

Find hundreds of SARE grants funded in Michigan and thousands nationally.

Search tool for successful SARE grants and project reports

Searching through projects funded by Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE) grants is simple and allows you to see ideas and results directly from sustainable farm innovators. Examples of grants that have been funded by SARE can help you to write a successful SARE grant and improve sustainability on your farm.

To search the SARE database, go to Search SARE Funded Projects as shown below:

For example, I might be curious about using clover as a cover crop in blueberries and could run the following search:

Although that is a very specific search, we found four results:

Clicking on any of the proposals will show you the description of the project. If the project is complete, you will also be able to see the final report and possibly also videos, curriculum, slide sets, data or other information products.

Or maybe you’re considering building a pizza oven on your farm and try a simple keyword search for “pizza” as shown below:

Clicking on the first result takes us to a project in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where you can watch a video or read the final report:   

Or you may want to download a page of up to 25 results as a spreadsheet. Just click on the “Export” button at the top right of your search result to see, analyze and sort many similar projects with one click.

New map features Michigan’s SARE sustainable farming innovators

A new option for searching Michigan’s SARE projects is the Map of Michigan North Central SARE Grants . This map shows over 100 sustainable agriculture projects funded by SARE since 2016 and allows unique search options:

• Click on any icon or grant title in the side bar to see:
• The project title
• A link to the project summary and reports
• Funding amount (e.g. $6,000)
• North Central SARE grant type (e.g. Farmer Rancher, Youth Educator or Graduate Student)
• Zoom into a region and click on the icons to see who and what has been funded in your area.
• The icon color and sidebar show what year each grant was funded. You can click the checkboxes by year to see or hide layers if you just want to see grants from a certain time period.

Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions about the map, SARE grants or an innovative idea you would like to propose for SARE funding. You can contact state SARE coordinator Sarah Fronczak at [email protected] or the map designer Katie Brandt at [email protected] .

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)

SARE is a United States Department of Agriculture program that shares numerous resources for farmers and agriculture educators including books, bulletins, videos and more. For more information about SARE grants and resources, visit Michigan SARE or SARE .

North Central Region (NCR) SARE grants include Farmer Rancher Grants , Research and Education Grants , Youth Educator Grants other grant programs. You can find them all at NCR-SARE Grants . Michigan SARE grants include the Michigan SARE Travel Scholarship and two funding opportunities for people organizing sustainable agriculture workshops and conferences.

Michigan SARE Coordinator Sarah Fronczak, Tribal SARE Coordinator Emily Proctor and Katie Brandt from the Michigan State University Organic Farmer Training Program are glad to advise grant applicants, review proposals and support farmers, educators and students applying for NCR-SARE grants. Grant-writing support is available free of charge for all six North Central SARE grants and for Michigan SARE mini-grants. Email [email protected] or [email protected] with questions, to have a proposal reviewed or to set up a time to discuss your proposal idea. Tribal members and communities are encouraged to reach out to Emily Proctor at [email protected] for assistance with SARE proposals.

The program aims to support an inclusive mix of farmers and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program or political beliefs. 

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension . For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu . To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters . To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts , or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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USDA Releases Reports Evaluating 11 Years of the Summer EBT Demonstration Project

April 10, 2024

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched Summer EBT in 2011 as a demonstration project to test the impact of providing summer grocery benefits through an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card to families with low incomes with school-age children. In its first year, the program provided 12,500 families from low-income households with children a debit card with a fixed dollar amount to purchase groceries during the summer months.

Congress continued to invest additional resources in Summer EBT through the annual appropriations process, and over the next 11 years, 10 states and three Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs) took part in these demonstrations.

In 2016, USDA released its first report evaluating the demonstration projects’ impact from 2011 to 2014 , which found that Summer EBT:

• reduced food insecurity , including the most severe type of food insecurity (very low food security) by one-third, and food insecurity by one-fifth;
• improved nutrition by providing families with the resources to purchase more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; and
• had high rates of participation, with more than 75 percent of participating households redeeming some or all of their benefits. (However, participants utilizing the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) model used less of their benefits than those utilizing a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) model.)

In early March 2024, USDA released their final two reports on the Summer EBT demonstration projects. The reports evaluated the last seven years of the program: the first report covered 2015 to 2018, and the second covered 2019 to 2022. These reports differed from the previous evaluations of the demonstration projects in that they did not include an experimental design to evaluate the impact of the Summer EBT benefit. Instead, these reports evaluated the implementation and administration of the grants and examined patterns in household usage.

These reports found that parents and caregivers appreciated Summer EBT and saw the program as a critical resource that helped fill nutritional gaps. They felt the program provided flexibility in where they could purchase food and allowed families to purchase more nutritious foods.

Report Recommendations for Future Program Implementation

These evaluations also included the following recommendations for future program implementation that can help states successfully implement the permanent Summer EBT Program:

• Diversify outreach techniques. The evaluation found that there was a lack of awareness about the program and how to access it. It recommended that states use a variety of communication methods to reach families (newspapers, websites, press releases, radio announcements, social media, etc.) and work with schools to share information with families. Additionally, states should remind families to redeem their benefits through robo-text and robocalls.
• Use a year-round approach to staffing. Administering agencies reported challenges with hiring and retaining staff from year to year. The new permanent program allows states to create year-round, full-time positions to implement the program, which the evaluation suggested would help mitigate these staffing challenges.
• Centralize data systems. Agencies reported challenges in identifying eligible children and reconciling conflicting eligibility information from multiple data sources. The evaluation recommended compiling all household information from multiple data sources into one database, which eliminates the need to exchange student lists. A statewide Summer EBT database is required beginning in 2025.
• Establish statewide/ITO-wide applications. Projects that relied solely on an application process issued significantly fewer benefits to eligible children than those that automatically issued benefits. The evaluation also reported that when applications are necessary, collecting only the required information from families to determine program eligibility through a centralized application system allows for more streamlined data processing and issuance. This will be a requirement for states and ITOs implementing Summer EBT beginning in 2025.
• Provide flexibility in distributing benefits. A significant amount of benefit dollars were never redeemed in the demonstration programs (30.3 percent during the 2015 to 2018 demonstration projects). This was the result of how benefits were drawn down for families already on SNAP and the rollover of food packages for WIC. The evaluation recommended that in situations where states are co-loading benefits on SNAP cards, Summer EBT benefits should be drawn down first. For WIC, benefits should be allowed to roll over from month to month during the summer to give families more time to use their benefits.

Summer EBT offers an exciting opportunity to reduce summer hunger.  It is vital that these lessons learned from the program demonstration projects are used to shape and strengthen the permanent Summer EBT Program in 2024 and beyond.

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In early March 2024, USDA released their final two reports on the Summer EBT demonstration projects. The reports evaluated the last seven years of the program: the first report covered 2015 to 2018, and the second covered 2019 to 2022. These reports differed from the previous evaluations of the demonstration projects in that they did not include an experimental design to evaluate the impact of the Summer EBT benefit. Instead, these reports evaluated the implementation and administration of the grants and examined patterns in household usage. These reports found that parents and caregivers appreciated Summer EBT and saw the program as a critical resource that helped fill nutritional gaps. They felt the program provided flexibility in where they could purchase food and allowed families to purchase more nutritious foods.

The Food Research & Action Center’s (FRAC) recently released report, The Reach of School Breakfast and Lunch During the 2022–2023 School Year, reveals that just over 14.3 million children received a school breakfast, and 28.1 million children received a school lunch on an average day during the 2022–2023 school year — a decrease of 1.2 million children in breakfast, and 1.8 million children in lunch compared to the 2021–2022 school year.

For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, school breakfast and lunch returned to normal operations for the 2022–2023 school year.

This week, March 11–16, we join the National CACFP Sponsors Association, program providers, and community partners in celebrating Food Program (CACFP). CACFP is a federally funded assistance program that provides reimbursements for nutritious meals and snacks to those in eligible child care and day care centers. As we near closer to the release of the District’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget, it is imperative that community partners, program providers, and parents advocate for the ongoing funding for early childhood nutrition programs, especially CACFP.

The American Chestnut Research Progress Report 2024

A Message to Supporters of The American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project

From the team at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

On behalf of everyone connected to The American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project, we want to thank our many supporters for their encouragement in recent weeks. Most of you are aware that we lost our colleague and project co-founder Dr. Bill Powell to cancer on Nov. 12. We also recently learned of the passing of Dr. Chuck Maynard on Feb. 5. Chuck was a cofounder and co-director of the Chestnut project for many years before his retirement in 2016.

These two individuals were extremely passionate about the American chestnut and their dedication over the years resulted in significant progress with The American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project. Our team is strong and well positioned today because of Bill and Chuck’s early leadership. In the coming months ESF will announce appropriate ways that we plan to honor these two trailblazers.

Program Update

The American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project at SUNY ESF continues to make important progress as we work to bring the American chestnut tree back. Analysis of data collected from test plots of Darling American chestnut trees is ongoing, providing the ESF team with valuable new information. At this stage we believe that Darling is suitable for release and further study as part of the restoration effort. It fulfills its primary goal of being an American chestnut with enhanced tolerance to chestnut blight, while not exhibiting any safety or major performance risks.

As many of you know, The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) made a unilateral decision late last year to cease working with us on Darling. We do not agree with this decision and feel it would be in the best interest of American chestnut restoration for all interested parties to work together to find solutions. ESF continues to work closely with a number of organizations including the New York Chapter of TACF, research institutions, conservation groups, nature centers, and others committed to restoration of the American chestnut tree.

In late 2023, ESF discovered a labeling error between two Darling varieties (54 and 58) that were developed at the same time. The labeling is being corrected and new procedures are in place to ensure it does not happen again. We immediately contacted regulators about the situation and are following their guidance for submitting updates. We have acknowledged this clerical error and have accepted responsibility. It is important to recognize that it does not impact our results to date, the pursuit of regulatory approval, safety of the trees, our continued research or ESF’s commitment to restoring the American chestnut.

ESF is keeping USDA, FDA and EPA regulators informed about our research as we move through the stringent review process. Regulatory approvals focus on a variety of factors, most importantly investigating whether the tree poses a health or safety risk to humans and the environment. We support and are actively cooperating with this vital process. Approval of Darling trees would allow for other trees containing the important OxO gene sequence, like the recently developed DarWin, to be investigated more efficiently in the future. Successful restoration of the American Chestnut will require multiple tools and multiple tree varieties, and our work is focused on this solution.

Overall, Darling trees are shorter than their non-transgenic relatives, but height varies based on several factors including family background, environmental factors, and size at initial planting. We are in the process of selecting the tallest Darling trees for future breeding, using scientific approaches to address scientific concerns. However, slower growth does not indicate the trees are unsuitable. A tree that grows slower, showing improved blight tolerance, is a major milestone toward American chestnut restoration.

We consider the Darling’s chestnut blight tolerance to be a critical discovery towards restoration of the American chestnut. As with all chestnuts, including Asian varieties considered resistant to blight, Darling trees can and do get blight. The key for restoration is that trees can survive and reproduce in their natural environment. On average, Darling trees have better blight tolerance than any other American chestnut currently available, and this trait can be consistently inherited by multiple generations of offspring. Additional study is necessary to assess further potential of the Darling American chestnut compared to similar varieties, but approval of Darling trees with enhanced blight tolerance would be a critically important step.

Looking to 2024 and Beyond

ESF has been contacted by a number of groups, including members of state chapters of The American Chestnut Foundation, with support, enthusiasm for the progress that has been made and appreciation for our transparency. As part of our commitment to keep interested parties informed of our progress, ESF plans to take part this year in the New York and other state chapter meetings of The American Chestnut Foundation. In July, we will help host a combined meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association and Chestnut Growers of America that will take place in Syracuse. ESF will also host a chestnut research working group called NE-2333, a gathering of leading academic researchers in September. Exchanging ideas and discussing what we have learned with others will help achieve the restoration goal we all share.

ESF has been clear from the start that we believe there will never be a single solution for American chestnut restoration. Darling and its offspring were never intended to be ultimate selections or replacements for American chestnuts, but they do represent an important step in the process. The long-term goal is to breed blight-tolerant OxO trees with diverse existing American chestnuts, including remnant wild trees as well as trees from breeding programs, to rescue genetic variation that exists within this species. Starting this process with Darling will help improve current lines, inform development of future lines, and preserve existing genetic diversity of the species. There are, and will be, other threats to this iconic tree, so many different tools must be incorporated in the broader restoration efforts.

ESF is committed to rigorous science and discovery. One focus area of research is on preservation and restoration of our critical tree ecosystem that includes the chestnut and other trees native to North America that are threatened by disease and environmental factors. ESF is demonstrating this priority by hiring five new faculty positions centered around a Tree and Ecosystem Restoration Program, which will build on the chestnut project and expand to other species. Our broad focus around preserving, enhancing and restoring tree ecosystems is crucial because these plants are vital to so many things that support diversity, climate and life on Earth.

The American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project is just one of 30 research institutes and centers that ESF either currently manages or collaborates to run. Significant advances are being made by many ESF research programs, as exemplified by the progress with the Darling American chestnut. We are committed to continuing this important work and expanding our efforts in positive and productive ways.

ESF is committed to keeping the American chestnut community informed about our progress. You can keep up with some of the latest news by visiting The American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project update page on our website. ESF also updates the ESF Darling Chestnut Science Summary page as new data becomes available. URLs for both are provided below.

• The American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project Updates
• ESF Darling Chestnut Science Summary

Thank you for your ongoing interest in the American chestnut and the work we are doing at ESF.

Dr. Andy Newhouse Director, American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project

David Ciesielski Major Gifts Officer

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