ENGR 100 - Final Bridge Report

Group Assignment

Your team is responsible for composing a single final report that describes in detail your
bridge design. The audience of this report is the instructor and TA, and the tone should be
formal. The purpose for writing this report is to document the design and performance of
your prototype and final bridge.

Report Format

The technical report should be a professional document. Graphs, tables, and drawings
should be used to clarify the text. The three main parts of a technical report are shown
below in Figure 1:

Figure 1. Three Main Sections of a Final Report

I. FRONT PAGES

The front pages include the Cover Page, Table of Contents, List of Figures, and List of
Tables. The page numbers are Roman (e.g., i, ii, iii, etc.) and there are no numbers on the
cover page (although it is considered the first page).

• Cover Page

The first page of the technical report should be unnumbered and includes the name of the
report, team name, names of all group members, your affiliation (i.e., ENGR 100, Section
B), and the date. Each item should be centered and separated by enough space to fill the
whole page and give the cover page a good appearance.

• Table of Contents
This is a listing of the major sections in the report and the page numbers on which they
begin. The table of contents does not list itself but includes the page numbers of the pages
that appear in the front of the report, major sections, and appendixes.

• List of Figures

This is a list of all of the figures in your report and the page numbers on which they are
found. Do not include this section unless you have at least three figures in your report.

• List of Tables

This is a list of all of the tables in your report and the page numbers on which they are
found. Do not include this section unless you have at least three tables in your report.

The following is a sample of the front pages (Figure 2):

Figure 2. Sample Front Pages

II. MAJOR SECTIONS

This is the main part of the report. The page numbers begin with one and are numbered in
Arabic (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.). After the executive summary, each major section should be
numbered and titled as shown in Figure 3 below:

Figure 3. Sample Major Sections

To introduce each new section, use a header (e.g. "1.0 Introduction") and an introductory
sentence explaining what this section will be about. Suggestions for the contents of your
team's bridge report are as follows:

0.0 Executive Summary

The executive summary is a report summary which includes information from each
section of the report. The purpose of the executive summary is to allow the reader to
learn the major ideas and findings without having to read the whole report. Generally an
executive summary is written after the report is finished and is approximately 10% in
length compared to the whole report (i.e. 1 page long for a 10 page report).

1.0 Introduction

This section briefly lays out the project and the requirements (i.e., the problem definition
and constraints). It also identifies the goals of the report and what types of information
are included in the report.

2.0 Prototype Testing

This section describes the analysis leading to the final design. It emphasizes the design
process based on theory, testing, and good engineering reasoning.

In the prototype testing, you should include the following sections:

• 2.1 Component Analysis

Here, give a short summary (approx. one paragraph) of the results from the
relevant component tests.

• 2.2 Prototype Analysis

In this subsection, describe how your team made the decision to build the
prototype that you did. Describe or show at least three design ideas your team
considered early in the process. Then explain what criteria were important
(bridge weight, strength, ease of construction, etc.) and why your final
prototype was the best choice. If you used West Point Bridge Designer
Software to help in the design process, include details in this section too.

• 2.3 Prototype Performance

Present the results of the prototype test including the score (wt. held/wt. of
bridge). How did your bridge perform during the test? Where did it fail (use
arrows to show in pictures)? Identify parts of the bridge that were very strong
and others that were weak.
3.0 Final Design

This section justifies the final design. The idea is to defend key features of the final
design based on the results of Prototype Testing.

In the final testing, you should include the following sections:

• 3.1 Revision and Final Design Construction

This section describes your final bridge design. Here, you should discuss the
factors that entered into your revised design. Use drawings to fully describe
your final bridge design layout. Present enough detail so that the reader can
clearly see the difference between the prototype and the final design (side by
side pictures are often helpful).

• 3.2 Final Design Performance

Briefly describe the performance of your final bridge. Report the score and
describe whether the improvements you included during the redesign
performed as planned.

4.0 Conclusions and Recommendations

Support the purpose identified in the introduction by pulling together the results and
findings from previous sections of the report. Emphasize the major points you feel are
important. Discuss recommendations for improving the final design. This section should
be a brief, bottom-line summary and not include any new information not already
discussed in detail in the report.

III. END PAGES

The end pages include the references and appendixes.

• References

If you used any outside resources and mentioned them in this report, compile a list of
references. Referencing should follow a format like you may encounter in your textbooks.

• Appendixes

In Appendix A, Team Member Contributions, list your team members and contributions
(identify specific sections each person wrote or edited and project tasks
completed). Create additional appendixes as needed. See Figure 4 for a sample:
 Figure 4. Sample End Pages

Grading

The assignment will graded according to the following criteria:

Format Points 10
Front pages # in Roman(I,ii,iii,…)
Cover page 1. no #.

2. name of report, team name, names of members,

1
affiliation, date.

3. all Centered.
Table of contents A list of major sections w/ page #. 1
List of figures A list of figures w/ page #. 1
List of tables A list of tables w/ page #. Not needed if less than 3 tables. 1
Major sections 1. # in Arabic(1,2,3,…)

2. Header for each section?

- Executive summary

- 1.0 introduction

- 2.0 prototype testing

4
2.1 Component testing

2.2 Prototype analysis

2.3 Prototype performance

- 3.0 final design

3.1 Revisions and final design construction

 3.2 final design performance

- 4.0 conclusions & recommendations

End pages/reference 1
Appendix Looking for individual contribution on the report. 1
Writing styles
Points 10

1. spelling error, grammar errors 1

1
2. consistency of figure, tables 1
1
3. labeling for figures, tables 3

4. Titles for figures, tables

3
5. Transitions words used between sections?

6. Adequate figures/tables for explanation?

Contents
Points 30
Executive summary Show major ideas & findings of this report without the
5
need to read the whole report?
Introduction Layout the project & requirement?
4
(Problem definitions, constraints, goals, info to be included
in this report.)
Prototype testing 1. Process of the prototype.

2. Results of the component test

3. Design & Reasoning for prototype 8

4. Prototype performance

5. Accuracy of the statements

Final design 1. Reasoning of changing your design.

2. Result of the final bridge 7

3. Accuracy of the statements

Conclusions/ 1. Major results/ findings from prototype & final testing.
recommendations
2. Recommendations for improving final design. 6

3. Accuracy of the statements.

Final grade
50