Your analytical report should follow the formal report format. (See Icarus under the "info" section on analytical reports and formal reports) They must include the categories that follow.
cover page
The cover page should be on card stock material and should include your title, and submission date. Make sure that your title is consistent with the title on your title page.
title page
The title page should include the same information that is on the cover page, but should also include your name and may include a place for a signature indicating document approval. The title page begins the content section of your report, which should be on paper rather than card stock.
table of contents
Your report should have a complete table of contents that lists chapter organizations noting their respective page numbers. It should also list page numbers for graphics and make note of appendices so that readers can access the material easily.
executive summary
The executive summary should provide a concise, but comprehensive overview of the content material in the analytical report. It should indicate-- very briefly-- what you studied, why you studied it, how you studied it, what you learned about your topic's change over time, and then provide statements about your conclusions-- the significance of the change. You may also provide brief recommendations if you feel they would be appropriate for your topic area.
foreword
Your foreword should reflect your consideration of sources, individuals, or organizations that helped you prepare your work in the report. For instance, if you interviewed people in the process of developing your research, you should note their participation and use the foreword as a way to thank them. You may also want to use the foreword to note a particularly good source of information you used as a basis for your work.
introduction
Your introduction should be just as detailed, if not more, than that in your proposal. You should indicate the nature of the topic that you've chosen to research, noting what aspects of its change over time were compelling and important enough to provide motivation for the strong effort you had to make to complete a report on them. You should also provide a brief description of your methodology, noting why it was appropriate for your work, and give a brief 1 or 2 sentence report on your findings. Then you should finish the introduction with an indication of the significance of your findings and provide any appropriate recommendations.
methodology
Your methodology section should describe in detail, the research method you chose to use, noting why you chose what you did, then explaining how you applied your method.
data analysis
Your data analysis should provide a report on your findings that resulted from your research and put the findings in a context that readers can understand. This should be a fairly detailed section since it provides one of the most significant parts of your research effort. In this section, you'll need to articulate clearly a description of the changes in your topic over time, make notations about the elements of change, and note clearly the causes for change (possibly by listing the "before and after" indicators, and/or creating a matrix detailing the specific instances of change and the probable catalysts for the changes.)
results and discussion
In this section, you will very briefly reiterate some of the specifics regarding your results, but focus more closely on your interpretation of those results, noting their significance. This is another especially important section for your work in the analytical report because this is part of the "meat" of the content you'll create as a result of your research. This section provides the "new knowledge" about your topic that contributes to a better developed understanding of your topic area and essentially sets your work apart from the rest of what has come before in academic research.
fact summary
The fact summary should provide a very brief "hotlist" that notes in a very easily accessible layout, the main results of your work.
conclusions
Your conclusions section should provide a summary of all the major conclusions you've made as a result of the work you've undertaken.
recommendations
The recommendation section should provide exactly what you'd expect, your recommendations for how we should respond to your topic area based on the new knowledge that you've just provided.
tables and graphs
You may include tables, graphs, or other graphic imagery in your report. You can include them within the body of the report and intersperse them through the text or provide pointers within to the text to their placement in an appendix at the end of the report. Whatever you choose, be sure to include clear references to them in the body of your work and label the charts, graphs, or graphics in a consistent and clear manner.
glossary
If you work in a topic are of special knowledge, such as medicine, law, or a technical field, you may need to include a glossary of special terminology (or terms of art) that the average reader might not be familiar with.
appendixes
Your glossary, graphics, charts, or other material should be placed in appendices if they don't immediately support the text in the body of your report.
references
You should list your references in alphabetical order or as they correspond to a numbering system you follow in the body of your report, depending on the choice you make in citation format.
The sections above should be separated in "chapters" and each chapter should be referenced in your table of contents. The chapters should be clearly labeled and page numbers should be easily visible.
The report should have a back cover of the same card stock as the front cover and the whole document should be bound. You can take the document to a copy shop for inexpensive spiral or flat binding. Please do not submit your documents in three-ring notebooks.