I have been asked to write a progress report. What should it contain? There are no official guidelines from the funding agency; all I have is a set of project objectives listed in the original proposal and a target length: three pages.

Of course I can ask the funding agency. But the reality is that my PI has asked me to do it, and I would like to get a solid draft together before asking the type of basic questions that could be covered here.

Here are some questions:

• Is there a good resource (online or print) that gives good instructions on writing a progress report? I have a few books on writing papers, but none cover progress reports specifically.
• What sections should it include? I am thinking a brief introduction, followed by one section per objective, and then a conclusion, with a description of activities and publications relevant to each objective. Is there anything else that I should consider?
• Are there any types of "key concepts" that I should make sure to include?
• Is it acceptable to cut and paste from the proposal?
• Should I include figures and graphs from unpublished findings?
• How would the writing style compare / contrast to a proposal? To a research paper?