I have a time line of dates ranging from 1936-1985. What would be a good way to write a report? How should I go about separating into about 4 or 5 body paragraphs?

By decades perhaps?

Or by significant advancements: (a) first electro-mechanical "brains" using vacuum tubes in the 40's, (b) work by John von Neumann to establish the basic elements of computer architecture (c) introduction of solid state transistors in the 50's, enabling practical applications in industry (d) rise of IBM and use of computers in industry and high-level programming languages in the 60's and 70's - machines such as the IBM 360 and DEC PDP-7, languages such as Basic, PL1, Fortan, Cobol, and C, (e) introduction of the personal computer - Apple II, IBM PC running DOS, the Compaq clone, and the first online service providers such as CompuServe and Prodigy. I was going to mention the internet but that came later than the period you're talking about.

Or your emphasis could be on one aspect of computers - such as the advancement from vacuum tubes to solid state devices that have enabled the cheap and powerful machines we have today. Look up Moore's Law and show how it affected the course of computer history.

Thanks that's what I was thinking, just didn't know if it would be good. Thanks for your input!