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Report Writting
Objectives:
By the end of this section you should be able to:
 Understand the purpose of a report
 Plan a report

 Understand the structure of a report

 Collect information for the report

 Organize your report
 Use an appropriate style of writing

 Present data effectively

 Understand how to layout your information in an

appropriate way.

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CONTENTS
Definition

Significance of report

Why reports are written?

Types of reports

Elements of report

Effective report

Stages in report writing

Structure of report

Styles of writing

Checklist

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Definition
A report is a statement of the results of an
investigation or any matter in which definite
information is required .

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 Report writing
 Itis any informational work made with an intention to
relay information or recounting certain events in a
presentable manner.
 Report is an administrative necessary.
 Most official form of information or work is completed

through report.
 Report is always written in a sequential manner in order

of occurrence.

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It contains:
 Facts
 Figures
 Information
 Analysis
 Opinion
 Suggestions
 Recommendations
 Drafts

 Charts
 Pictures
 Statistical tables specially complied for a particular purpose.

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Importance of report
 Decision Making Tool
 Investigation

 Evaluation

 Quick Location

 Development of skill

 Neutral presentation of facts

 Professional Advancement

 Proper Control

 A managerial Tool

 Encountering Advance and Complex Situation

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Why reports are written?
Compilation of statistical
data/research

Legal documentation

Record keeping regulation

Coordinate activities

Evaluate
individual/department
performance
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3.Why should reports be written?

 because we have to;

 to enable us to keep records.
 to tell about failures and successes.
 for ourselves, to keep on knowing what we are

doing.
 to determine further actions.
 to use for evaluation.

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Types of report:
Report

Oral Written

Face to face
communicatio Informal Formal
n

Informational

Interpretive

Routine

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Formal Report
The formal report is the collection and
interpretation of data and information of
data and information.
The formal report is complex and used at

an official level.
It is often a written account of a major

project.

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Informal Report
 The informal report functions to inform, analyze,
and recommend.
 It usually take the form of a memo, letter, or a

very short document like a monthly activities

report and development report etc.
 This report differ from the formal report in

length and formality.

 It is written according to organization style and

roles.

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Informal Report Types
 Progress report
 Sales activity report
 Personnel evaluation report
 Financial report
 Feasibility report
 Credit report

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 Remember!
If you did not write it,
it did not happen!

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Types of Reports
 According to use:
 external
 internal
 According to period :
 routine
 Weekly
 Monthly
 Quarterly
 Special

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According to level of management:
Reports to top and lower

management
Report to functional management

departments
Cost report
Expense report
Event report

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 Corporate Reports :
 Statutory report
 Director’s report
 Auditor’s report
 Non statutory report
 Other reports:
 Review
 cost-audit
 interim
 oral (based on incidents, issues or concerns)

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Examples of reports
Laboratory reports
Health and safety
reports
Research reports

Case study reports

Feasibility reports

Instruction manuals

Financial reports

Progress reports

Technical reports

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Effective reports should be:
Concise

Clear and well organized

Mechanically correct

Written in standard English

Legible

Completed on time

Completed thoroughly

Completed accurately

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Stages in report writing
Clarifying your terms of
reference

Planning your work

Collecting information

Organizing and
structuring your
information

Writing the first draft

Checking and re-

drafting
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Planning your report
 Consider the report as a whole.
 Break down the task of writing the report into

various parts.
 How much time do you have to write the

report?
 How can this be divided up into the various

planning stages?
 Set yourself deadlines for the various stages.

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Collecting information

 What is the information you need ?

 Where do you find it ?
 How much do you need ?
 How shall you collect it ?
 In what order will you arrange it ?
 Make a list of what information you need.
 Make an action plan stating how you are

going to gather this.

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Organizing information
Write the main theme in the centre of a piece of
paper.
Write down all the ideas and keywords related to

your topic starting from the centre and branching

out along lines of connecting ideas.
When you have finished, highlight any related ideas

and then sort topics.

Some ideas will form main headings, and others

will be sub-sections under these headings.

You should then be able to see a pattern emerging

and be able to arrange your main headings in a

logical order. 34
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Structure of report
Title page
Acknowledgement
Table of contents
Executive summary
Introduction
Methodology
Results and findings
Illustration checklist
Discussion
Conclusion
Recommendation
Reference
Appendices 36
Broad Division Individual Sections

1.Preliminary Material Title

Table of contents
Abstract/Synopsis
2.Body of report Introduction
Methodology
Result
Discussion
Conclusion
Recommendation

3.Supplymentary Material References/ Bibliography

Appendices
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Title page
This should include the title of the
report (which should give a precise
indication of the subject matter).
 The author’s name
 Module
 Course
 Date

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Title Page
 Balance the following lines:
* Name of the report in all caps (e.g.
Final Report)
* Receiver’s name, title, and organization
* Team name and team members
* Date submitted (month/year)
No page number on title page (page
1 is executive summary)
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 FINAL REPORT
XYZ Corporation
Jane Smith, VP Marketing

Longhorn Consulting
Bruce Springsteen, Faith
Hill,
Huey Lewis, Melissa
Etheridge
April 2006
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Acknowledgements
 You should acknowledge any help
you have received in collecting the
information for the report. This may
be from librarians, technicians or
computer centre staff.

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Table of contents
 Contents You should list all the main sections
of the report in sequence with the page
numbers they begin on.
 If there are charts, diagrams or tables

included in your report, these should be listed

separately under a title such as ‘List of
Illustrations’ together with the page numbers
on which they appear.

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Executive summery
 This should be a short paragraph summarizing the
main contents of the report.
 It should include a short statement of the main task,

the methods used, conclusions reached and any

recommendations to be made. The abstract or
summary should be concise, informative and
independent of the report.
 Can be read on its own.
 Short, only 10-15% of the length of the report
(maximum ONE side)

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Heading/Introduction
 The heading section include:
 The date the report is written
 The recipient of the report
 The subject of the report, including the topic and

the focus of the report

 The introduction is general overview of the report

including:
 The Background
 The purpose
 The scope
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Headings
Major section headings start a new page,
1 blank line after.
1 blank line before and after sub-
headings.
3rd level subheadings must be easily
distinguished from others
There should be at least one sub-
heading on each page (a whole page of
text with no sub-heading will be
penalized)
No orphan headings. 45
 Page 4

HEADINGS
Sub-Heading
Note how easy it is to distinguish
between the major, section heading
and the sub-heading.
Sub-Heading
Note that consistent spacing is
used, skipping one line both before
and after a sub-heading.
Third-level headings. If used
should be easy to distinguish from
major, section headings and sub-
headings.

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Methodology
 In this section you should state how you carried out
your enquiry.
 What form did your enquiry take ?
 Did you carry out interviews or questionnaires?
 How did you collect your data ?
 What measurements did you make ?
 How did you choose the subjects for your interviews

?
 Present this information logically and concisely.

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Result and Finding
 Present your findings in as simple a way as possible. The
more complicated the information looks, the more
difficult it will be to interpret. There are a number of
ways in which results can be presented:
 Tables
 Graphs
 Pie charts
 Bar charts
 Diagrams

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 Illustration Checklist
 Are all your diagrams / illustrations clearly
labelled?
 Do they all have titles?
 Is the link between the text and the diagram clear?
 Are the headings precise?
 Are the axes of graphs clearly labelled?
 Can tables be easily interpreted?
 Have you abided by any copyright laws when

including illustrations/tables from published

documents?
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 Discussion
 This is the section where you can analyze and interpret
your results drawing from the information which you
have collected, explaining its significance. Identify
important issues and suggest explanations for your
findings. Outline any problems encountered and try and
present a balanced view.
 When developing this section consider:
 Whom is involved---be specific .
 When did the incident take place---provide detail.
 Why are you composing this report?
 Where did the incident take place?

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 Conclusion and Recommendation
 This is the section of the report which draws together
the main issues. It should be expressed clearly and
should not present any new information. You may
wish to list your recommendations in separate section
or include them with the conclusions
 Recommendation for action
 Suggestion for further research

 Conclusions section should give:

 Key points
 NOT just another Executive Summary

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Reference
 Itis important that you give precise details of all the work by
other authors which has been referred to within the report.
Details should include :
 Author’s name and initials
 Date of publication
 Publisher
 Place of publication
 Page numbers
 Details of the journal volume in which the article has appeared.
 References should be listed in alphabetical order of the authors'

names.
 Make sure that your references are accurate and

comprehensive.
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Appendices
 An appendix contains additional
information related to the report but which
is not essential to the main findings.
 This can be consulted if the reader wishes

but the report should not depend on this.

 You could include details of interview

questions, statistical data, a glossary of

terms, or other information which may be
useful for the reader.
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 Basic Format
 Total 10-15 pages, including appendices. No
penalty for longer reports as long as
appropriate writing style maintained.
 Single spaced, no indent, left justify only
 Page numbers in upper right corner
 1 blank line between new paragraphs
 Final report must be bound, with loose letter

of transmittal clipped to cover.

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Mechanics of writing a report:
1.Size and Physical Design:
 Un-ruled paper of standard size
 If it is in hand written than use black or blue

ink
 Margin

Right side: half inches.

Left side: one or one and half inches.
 Header and Footer:

One inches from the sides spaced should be

left.
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2.Footnotes:
Footnotes serve two purpose:
a)Page Number:
There should be page number in the report, if single
side than page number should be written in center
or at the right side at the bottom of the page.
b)For cross Reference;
Asterisk(*) sign may be used to prevent confusions
and supplement note related to particular word
should be mentioned below at that page.

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3.Documentation Style:
Regarding documentation any given work should give
essential facts about the edition used. The common order
may be described as under:
1 Author’s name in normal order
2 title of work, underlined to indicate italics
3 place and date of publication
4 page number
Example
John Gassner, Masters of drama, New York:
Dover Publication,Inc.1954,p.315

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4.Abbreviation:
Following is the list of most common abbreviations frequently
used in report writing:
bk., Book
art., article
ch., chapter
ed., editor
ex., example
ill., illustration
MS., Manuscript
pp., page
post., after

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5.Use of Statistics, Charts and Graph:
Statistics are usually presented in the form of tables,
charts bar, and line-graphs.
6.Bibliography:
It is list of writing with time and place of publication.
7. Preparation of index :
At the end of the report, an index should be always
prepared. It acts good guide, to the reader.

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Style of writing
Active or passive?

Simplicity

Use of language

Layout

Presentation

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 Active or passive

 Your tutor will be able to advise whether the

report should be written in the ‘active’ or
‘passive’ voice.
 The active voice allows you to write short,

punchy sentences.
 The passive appears more formal and

considered.
 Be aware of these differences and avoid

mixing the two voices.

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Simplicity

 Most written reports should avoid

using overly complicated language.
If a report is to persuade, brief or
justify, it's message must be clear.

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 Use of language
 Formal versus Informal
Different type of writing required different levels of formality. A
report is generally and analysis, evaluation or description based on
research. Report are generally written in a formal style.
What makes something formal?
Formal Informal
• Use of passive voice Use of active voice
• Few personal pronouns Use of personal pronouns e,g I, You,
We
• Natural verbs are used Verbs that show feelings e,g I Think,

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Restriction
No contractions
 Don’t, Can’t, Won’t
Colloquial/informal language
 At the end of the day” or “ to be honest

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Layout
 The main sections are given single Arabic numbers 1, 2, 3
and so on.
 Sub-sections are given a decimal number - 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and
so on.
 Sub-sections can be further divided into - 1.11, 1.12, 1.13
and so on.
 An example structure would look as follows;
 1. Introduction 1.1 ———————1.11 ———————
1.2 ———————1.21 ———————
 2. Methodology 2.1 ———————2.11 ———————
2.12 ———————
 The

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Presentation

The following suggestions will help you

to produce an easily read report:
Leave wide margins for binding and

feedback comments from your tutor.

Paragraphs should be short and concise.
Headings should be clear - highlighted

in bold or underlined.
All diagrams and illustrations should be

labelled and numbered.

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Checklist
Titlepage
Contents
Acknowledgement
Summary
Introduction
Reference

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Title page
Does this include the :
 Title? Author’s name?
 Module/course details?

Acknowledgements
 Have you acknowledged all sources of help?
Contents
 Have you listed all the main sections in sequence?
Abstract or summary
 Does this state:
 The main task?
 The methods used?

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 Introduction
Does this include:
 Your terms of reference?

 A brief background to the subject matter?

 Methodology
Does this include:
 The form your enquiry took?

 The way you collected your data?

 Reports and findings

 Are your diagrams clear and simple?

 Are they clearly labelled?

 Do they relate closely to the text?

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 Discussion
 Have you identified key issues?
Have you suggested explanations

for your findings?

Have you outlined any problems

encountered?
Have you presented a balanced

view?

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 Conclusions and recommendations
 Have you drawn together all of your main ideas?
 Have you avoided any new information?
 Are any recommendations clear and concise?
 References
 Have you listed all references alphabetically?
 Have you included all the necessary information?
 Are your references accurate?
 Appendices
 Have you only included supporting information?
 Writing style
 Have you used clear and concise language?
 Are your sentences short and jargon free.
 Are your paragraphs tightly focused?
 Have you used the active or the passive voice?

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conclusion
Report in written form are useful for future
reference. Report provide adequate and correct
information as well as statistical data to
management and helps in decision making. A report
provides information of unknown facts i.e. new
ideas, new vision, new solution to problem new
research about a particular matter. A report provide
valuable information of all sector in the business
hence report are useful for solving the problem of
various department. Report act as an important and
effective internal tool of communication.

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Any Questions?

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Effort Never Dies!

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