Appendices

Appendices (singular: appendix) are optional supplementary sections following the body of a report. Each appendix is assigned a letter and title: Appendix A: Title, Appendix B: Title, and so on. All are listed at the end of the Table of Contents in a section under the heading “Appendices” if there are more than one (“Appendix” if there is only one). For each appendix, the page number is indicated (page numbers continue on from the main body of the report).

Appendices contain anything that does not comfortably fit in the main part of the report but cannot be left out of the report altogether. An appendix is commonly used for large tables of data, copies of survey questions and results, big chunks of sample code, fold-out maps, background that is too basic or too advanced for the intended readers of the report, or large illustrations that do not fit in the body of the report.

Anything that you feel is too large for the main part of the report, or that you think would be distracting and interrupt the flow of the report, is a good candidate for an appendix. Any data that is crucial to your argument, however, should be included in the appropriate section of the body of your report. In other words, your report should be complete and persuasive without the “extra” information found in appendices, but if readers were interested in more information, they could easily find it in the appendices.