Choose a Title for

your Report
The report should be properly presented with
appropriate grammar and spelling. Graphs and tables
should fit well within the overall report. Assignment
parameters (5 marks) Including synthesis, referencing
etc…
Summary

The purpose of the summary is to give a brief overview of the whole report. Although it is
placed immediately after the title, it is written last, after the rest of the report has been
completed. It is not necessary to give detailed information in the summary - it is sufficient to
give an indication of the kind of information that can be found in the report. For a short
report, a summary of about 100-150 words is enough; for a major research report, a summary
may be as long as one page. As a general rule, the shorter the summary, the better, as long as
the essential information is included.
Example (student’s dissertation):
“This research analyses the behaviour of stock prices around the purchase of shares
by insiders. It uses the standard event study procedure proposed in MacKinlay
(1997) to determine whether insiders earn abnormal returns from their trades. The
study found evidence that insiders are capable of timing their purchases, typically,
buying shares at the end of a downward trend in prices. No significant abnormal
returns were generated on the day that the information on insiders’ purchase is made
public and 20 days following the announcement. Abnormal returns on the
announcement day are -0.57% and cumulative abnormal returns for up to 20 days
following the announcement are 1.05%; both statistically insignificant.”
Table of contents

The table of contents helps readers find specific information in the report quickly. It is usual
to present it as a list of headings with corresponding page numbers. The sections should be
given informative sub-headings that should be chosen with as much care as the main title of
the report.
Example:
Introduction

The purpose of the introduction is to set the scene for your readers so that they know what to
expect from the report. It is important to remember that the introduction introduces the
report. It does not introduce the subject. You should leave any material facts until the main
body of the report. The introduction answers the questions: Why is the report being written?
What kinds of information does it contain? How is the problem being approached?

Example (How is the problem being approached?):

“Section 1 discusses ... Section 2 outlines … An evaluation of … is provided in

section 3”

Background

In this section, you should provide a brief history of the organisation, its business
divisions/ products and highlights of the main issues that its faces or has faced.

Challenges, opportunities and strategic priorities

It is important that you analyse the past, present and future state of the industry and
influences on businesses operating in that industry

Here, you may consider applying various frameworks learnt to understand the organisations
strategic position (e.g. PESTEL, Porter’s 5 forces framework, competitors and markets
analysis, Stage in the industry life cycle, etc.…)

Introduction, background and review of the problem faced. This section should provide a
brief history of the organisation (15 marks)

Review of the literature

This section should critically review relevant literature on various challenges / opportunities /
strategic priorities as identified in the previous section.
At the end of the literature review, you should clearly show the research gap (i.e. the current
literature review discusses various issues and proposes solutions. How does company
effectively implement these in dealing with their strategic priorities as identified above?)

Literature review. A critical review of the relevant literature and the development of a
research gap (25 marks)

Research objectives and methods

In this section, you should clearly explain the objectives of your research. In essence, having
identified research gaps, you should specify the research questions here.

You should also explain research methods that you used for your research and justify their
choice.

Discussion of the secondary and primary research undertaken. A review of the research
methods used and the choice of data (15 marks)

Research findings

Critical review of the results of the research, How the results relate to the objectives of the
research and the conclusion of the literature review. (25 marks)

Recommendations

Recommendation and action plan. What the organisation should do based on the research
findings. (15 marks)
Conclusion

The conclusions should arise naturally from the evidence that is presented in the main body
of the report. You should not include any new information that does not appear in the main
body of the report. You should not make statements that you cannot support from the
evidence.

References
Use the Harvard style of referencing

Appendices
The appendix contains peripheral matter which would overload your main argument. Some
of the kinds of material that can be included are:

 Tables
When you have to present a large amount of statistical data, it is sometimes more
convenient to collect it together in the Appendix. If you do so, then it is most
important to give informative titles to your tables and to ensure that they are presented
in the order in which they are referred to in the text.
 Diagrams and illustrations
It is quite acceptable to present diagrams and illustrations within the main body of the
report. Sometimes, however, you may feel that they would split up the text too much,
or that they would interfere with the main the argument. In that case, they may be
presented in the Appendix.
 Others
Other materials going the appendix may include questionnaires, schedules of
activities, etc…