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Report Writing

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23 views12 pages

Report Writing

Uploaded by

Angga Lintang P
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Report writing

Getting Started:
prior preparation and planning

• The structure of a report is very important to lead the reader through your thinking to a
course of action and/or decision. It’s worth taking a bit of time to plan it out beforehand.
• You will usually receive a clear
brief for a report, including what
you are studying and for whom
the report should be prepared.

Step 1: • First of all, consider your brief very


carefully and make sure that you are
Know your clear who the report is for (if you're a
student then not just your tutor, but
brief who it is supposed to be written for),
and why you are writing it, as well as
what you want the reader to do at
the end of reading: make a decision
or agree a recommendation, perhaps
• During your planning and writing, make sure that you
keep your brief in mind: who are you writing for, and
why are you writing?
• All your thinking needs to be focused on that, which
Step 2: Keep may require you to be ruthless in your reading and
thinking. Anything irrelevant should be discarded.
your brief in • As you read and research, try to organise your work
into sections by theme, a bit like writing a
mind at all Literature Review.
• Make sure that you keep track of your references,
times especially for academic work. Although referencing is
perhaps less important in the workplace, it’s also
important that you can substantiate any assertions that
you make so it’s helpful to keep track of your sources of
information.
The Structure of a Report

• Like the precise content, requirements for structure vary, so do check


what’s set out in any guidance.
• However, as a rough guide, you should plan to include at the very least
an executive summary, introduction, the main body of your report, and a
section containing your conclusions and any recommendations.
• The executive summary or abstract,
for a scientific report, is a brief
summary of the contents. It’s worth
Executive writing this last, when you know the
key points to draw out. It should be no
Summary more than half a page to a page in
length.
• The introduction sets out what you
plan to say and provides a brief
summary of the problem under
Introduction discussion. It should also touch briefly
on your conclusions.
• The main body of the report should be
carefully structured in a way that leads the
reader through the issue.
Report Main • You should split it into sections using
numbered sub-headings relating to themes or
Body areas for consideration. For each theme, you
should aim to set out clearly and concisely the
main issue under discussion and any areas of
difficulty or disagreement. It may also include
experimental results. All the information that
you present should be related back to the brief
and the precise subject under discussion.
• The conclusion sets out what
inferences you draw from the
information, including any
experimental results. It may include
recommendations, or these may be
included in a separate section.
Conclusions and • Recommendations suggest how
Recommendation you think the situation could be
improved, and should be specific,
s achievable and measurable. If your
recommendations have financial
implications, you should set these
out clearly, with estimated costs if
possible.
A Word on Writing Style

• When writing a report, your aim should be to be absolutely clear. Above all, it should be easy to read and understand, even to
someone with little knowledge of the subject area.
• You should therefore aim for crisp, precise text, using plain English, and shorter words rather than longer, with short sentences.

• You should also avoid jargon. If you have to use specialist language, you should explain each word as you use it. If you find that
you’ve had to explain more than about five words, you’re probably using too much jargon, and need to replace some of it with
simpler words.
• Consider your audience. If the report is designed to be written for a particular person, check whether you should be writing it to
‘you’ or perhaps in the third person to a job role: ‘The Chief Executive may like to consider…’, or ‘The minister is recommended to
agree…’, for example.
A Final Warning

• As with any academic assignment or formal piece of writing, your work will benefit from being read over again
and edited ruthlessly for sense and style.
• Pay particular attention to whether all the information that you have included is relevant. Also remember to check
tenses, which person you have written in, grammar and spelling. It’s also worth one last check against any
requirements on structure.
• For an academic assignment, make sure that you have referenced fully and correctly. As always, check that you
have not inadvertently or deliberately plagiarised or copied anything without acknowledging it.

Read more at: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/write/report-writing.html


Finally, ask yourself:
• “does my report fulfil its purpose?”
• Only if the answer is a resounding ‘yes’
should you send it off to its intended
recipient.

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