1. Don't neglect the cover page

Often overlooked, the layout of the first page should allow the reader to take in the whole document. Companies often define their own templates for writing reports, but this is not always the case. Who is the author? What are the objectives of this technical report? What are the main points of the study? This information should appear on the first page, to facilitate archiving and retrieval of the information required from the multitude of documents generated by a project or company.

The cover page must include, as a minimum, the following elements:

• the title of the document ;

• the name of the project to which this technical document relates ;

• the author(s) ;

• if the document is to be archived electronically, a list...