Summarize:

This briefly describes the content of your report and answers the question "What did you do, why did you do it, and what did you learn?" It should not be longer than a half page. You may find it easier to write the abstract after you've finished the body of the paper. However, the abstract will come before the body in the final report. This section will provide some background information about the topic of your report. If you need to include a literature review, it will go here as well. In the introduction, describe the problem or topic your report investigated. This could be a scientific issue, such as the rate of growth of mealworms, or a current affairs topic, such as increased security in airports. Summarize relevant research, but don't let it take over the introduction. The bulk of your report should be your work, not discussion of others'. If you performed an experiment and are writing the report about it, describe your experiment in the introduction. In scientific writing, this is often presented in a section called "Methods." In this section, explain what procedures, materials, etc. you used. You can order your methods chronologically, starting with what you did first. Alternately, you can group them by type, which may work better for humanities research. Use past tense to describe the actions you took. In this section, you present your observations, or the results of your methods. You'll need to describe the experiment or procedure briefly (use less detail than you did in the Methods section) and report the main results. You can present the results in several different ways. You can organize them from most to least important, from simplest to more complex, or by type. Don't interpret your results here. You will do that in the next section. This is the meat of your report. It's where you analyze your results and tell the reader what they mean. Summarize the most important findings at the beginning of the discussion. You can go into further detail in subsequent paragraphs. Explain the relationship between your results and the previous scholarly literature. Note what additional research would help fill in gaps in your research or resolve any problems. Explain the broader relevance of your results. This is called answering the "So what?" question. What do your discoveries mean? Why are they useful and important? In some reports, you may be asked to wrap up with a separate conclusion that reminds the reader of the most important points. For many reports, however, you can conclude your report at the end of the Discussion section.
Start with the abstract. Write the introduction. Present your methods or the focus of your analysis. Present your results. Discuss your data.