How to Write an Internship Report or how to write a research manuscript
Hope you are fine. I think you are a student of undergraduate or internship and search the keyword “how to write an internship report” or “how to write research manuscript” on Google. Writing an internship report or research manuscript is always a burden, especially for the newbie, am I right? I am not good at research and also not good at report writing. I have little knowledge of writing a report or research article. But I thought my little knowledge MAY BE HELPFUL to others. So, I am going to share my little knowledge with you. If you are interested, then you may continue.
The following points should be considered while writing a report
- Title of the manuscript
- Introduction of the manuscript
- Methodology
- Results
- Discussion
- Limitation (optional)
- Conclusion
- Future recommendation
- ABSTRACT
- Acknowledgment
- References
Now I am going to describe every section in detail.
“For kind information, this article or guideline is not for expert.”
Title of the manuscript:
This is the first point that is very important for a manuscript to attract other authors or readers. The title of a manuscript explains what the paper is actually about. It reflects the content of the manuscript. So, it would be best if you emphasized making a good title of a manuscript. The title should be –
Very clear and specific
It should be concise (informative) and not too long
Should avoid abbreviation
You may select your title after writing or completing your research finding.
Introduction of your manuscript:
The introduction of a research manuscript should be organized. A good introduction should provide the following information –
You need to provide concise information on what topics you are going to research or write. , you should define the item or topics. Suppose you are writing a manuscript on osteological features of any bone of any species (I am providing a very simple example). So, it would be best if you wrote the following –
What is it? (Your targeted research topic or item). It is better to write the first one or two lines of your introduction in your word. Then, you may write about it from another author who has already provided some information on your targeted topics, and you should provide a reference. You may follow the referencing as shown in the picture.
You should create a problem and try to solve your problem. So, it would be best if you answered the question, what problem you found and want to solve in your targeted topic. Do you found any existing solution on it? If yes, do you find any limitations on it? Do you want to work on those or that limitation? How will you archive your solution?
You should state your hypothesis and objective of your problems on your targeted topic.
“Simply, in the introduction, you should define your targeted topics and provide some important information from previous research, then you need to create a problem that means you should define why you want to research on your targeted topic. Finally, you should solve your problem by creating a hypothesis and objective.”
If you want, you may write the introduction after completing the methodology and result of your research. It depends on you.
Methodology (methods and materials):
You should answer the following question in this section –
How was your problem studied?
Do you follow the established method or propose a new method?
Which materials are used during your research work?
You may provide sub-headings in this section, like –
Study area: where you have performed your research work.
Study population: how many species/ number/ etc. are studied Or, provide the information on survey or data on the study population.
Laboratory work: if you follow any laboratory work, then write on it. If you follow any established method for laboratory work, there is no need to provide the details of the method. You may use references only. But if you proposed a new method in your research work, you need to describe the full method with a descriptive form. You should use a standard system of number and nomenclature (such as – international use system of units of measurement)
Statistical method: If you follow any statistical method in your data analysis, you should write it with reference only.
Photography: You may include this point in your methodology section. You may write your necessary information.
Result of your research:
In this section, you need to answer the following question –
What have you found in your research?
It is very important to represent the main findings of your research. You must follow the statistical test used with all relevant parameters (live SD; standard deviation). If you have more results in your research, you may use a sub-heading to express your result.
You may write the result and discussion section together. It depends on the type of article. If you write those two sections separately, then in the result section, you should provide your’s finding only, no need to compare or provide other findings.
If you want to use a table or figure to express your findings, you should follow this –
You know, a table or figure provides a thousand words of research work. If you have data only, then it is better to present it in a table. As you know, the data showed the actual research result. You may also use the figure for your data when you compare your result with other results. It is very important to use legends, and it should be self-explanatory.
If you use photography to express your result, you need to use a scale marker or scale bar or identification in one corner.
Discussion of your research:
It is very important and hard to do. I am trying to simplify it. In this section, you need to do the following –
You should compare your result with the previous finding with reference. If you found dissimilarity with the previous finding, then you should provide legal POSSIBLE facts behind it.
It would be best if you described, do the data or result supported your hypothesis or objective.
Limitations:
You may write this section in the discussion section also. It would help if you discussed the weakness of your research. If you did not get your expected result, explain why it happened (POSSIBLE CAUSES). Raise the point where further study would be necessary.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, you should provide clear scientific knowledge of your result. You should state how this result advances in-field practices. You may suggest future experiments on your research, or you may point out the topics of your research that have a weakness.
ABSTRACT:
Abstract provides a short description of the research. The abstract should include the following point –
What has been done in your research
What were the main findings of your research
Provide a future recommendation in last
Provide some important keywords according to your research topics
The abstract should be kept as brief as possible, should be more accurate. It would be best if you avoided using any abbreviation in the abstract section. It is better to write within 250 words.
Acknowledgments:
In this section, you should thank people who help you during your research work or have contributed to preparing your manuscripts. You should thank the funding agency or agency that provides you with a grant.
References:
You should provide your reference at last of your manuscript. Here, you need to follow the guideline as there are many formatting systems of reference.
You may also use software like Endnote or Mendeley to formate your references.
“There are different styles and systems of referencing like – American meteorological society style, APA referencing, Chicago style, Harvard referencing, Vancouver referencing, Oxford referencing, OSCOLA referencing, MHRA referencing. You should follow the guideline provided by your advisor. And also, you should use referencing style according to your subject.”
Summary
I hope you have got an idea of how to write an internship report or research manuscript. It would help if you tried to write now.
Let’s enjoy and start to write. If you want to get more information on research manuscript writing, you should go to your advisor or know more about it from BOOK.
If possible, I will update or enrich the information on this topic in the future.
If there is any mistake in the above information or any suggestions for me, please, let me know in the comment box. Thank you so much.