This lack of understanding of the audience is something that should be addressed before anything is ever written for that audience.
Report Writing - Report writing is not really that difficult, but there are some things that should be avoided. Most of the issues that need to be avoided have been mentioned above, but there are other important ones, such as ensuring that a report is technical and therefore does not include personal opinion, contractions, and other writing issues that might be included in a more relaxed piece of work, such as a narrative or personal essay.
Instructions, Narration, Process - This type of writing must be very technical - and very precise. Any time there are instructions or processes that are being addressed, not being clear can be potentially damaging to anyone that would read the document. This is especially true with instruction manuals for items that can cause harm if they are misused or not installed correctly.
Description - Description is often difficult. Too much detail can become boring and quickly bog the reader down. It can also make a report unclear or confusing. Not enough detail, however, can produce the same unclear and confusing result. It is difficult to balance this, but generally, if the information is not going to actively enhance the reader's understanding of the specific subject at hand, it should not be included.
Definition - Definitions definitely have their place in technical writing. Although the audience usually has a good idea of what is being discussed there will undoubtedly be terms and phrases that are not familiar to everyone. Defining only those terms that would be confusing to the majority is important, so as not to overburden a piece of technical writing with too many definitions for ideas and words that the audience already understands.
Summaries/Abstracts - To avoid problems with summaries and abstracts, they...
There is no need to go into explicit detail in a summary or abstract, as this is what the main body of the paper is for. Trying to put too much information into a summary or abstract is a common mistake. Not providing enough information to make the abstract or summary clear, however, is another common mistake that is made by many individuals that are just starting out in technical writing.
Proposals/Feasibility Studies - In proposals and feasibility studies it is important to do enough research that the writing will clearly explain what will be studied. Without a clear understanding of what is to be studied, many proposals and feasibility studies will not be accepted, even if they would have had merit had they been more clear. When this happens, much important information can be lost because various issues that had validity and interest were not studied. New findings and significant concerns are therefore not addressed and dealt with appropriately.
Research with Documentation - Many people make mistakes when it comes to research with documentation. Most common are not documenting something that was taken from somewhere else (plagiarism) and using the wrong documentation style (i.e. A style other than the one requested or approved for the project).
Laboratory Reports, Formal and Informal - For laboratory reports, whether they are formal or informal, all of the work that was done in the lab must be explained so that others understand what was done. Instructions and steps must be clear and precise, and findings should be the same way. For informal reports, a more relaxed style to presenting the information may be provided, but it should remain technical and professional, and should not lapse into contractions, slang, and other styles that are inappropriate for technical writing.
