Page 285 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

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Appendices
Additional information that derives from the project, but whose length would unbalance the report, should be annexed to the report in appendices. These could be lists, catalogues, tables, statistics, drawings or photographs. One could also decide to include specialist reports that support the project, such as the dendrochronological analysis of wood samples if such analysis took place. This is equally true for other types of research that have their own cumulative logic. Reproducing such reports in extenso as an appendix will not burden the flow of argument in the report, while still giving every opportunity to assess and compare specialist results. Such analyses can be central to the project, but equally importantly they provide their own body of knowledge. In the case of dendrochronology, this refers to climate and climate change as well as to forestry, timber-use and timber trade.
Other elements that can be considered for inclusion are an index and a glossary of terms. Technical terms are hard to avoid when dealing with technical subjects. Readers may not have the same specialize background and they have a right to understand what exactly one means in using a specific term. This is not a problem if a term is used only once, and can be defined in the text. If it is used repeatedly in a report that is to be consulted regularly, rather than reading from cover to cover as a novel, a glossary will be the only way to address the problem. Sometimes it is even necessary to include glossaries in more than one language, especially when dealing with phenomena that cross cultural and linguistic borders. An index, telling exactly on which page one will find discussion including a particular term, used to be a very practical addition to complicated reports and publications. Their preparation used to be tiresome. This has changed enormously since computers have replaced typewriters in word-processing. It is much easier now to prepare an index than it used to be. But the usefulness of an index has also decreased.
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Reporting