RAWALPINDI WOMEN UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

ASSIGNMENT #02

SUBMITTED TO: Ma’am Saima Siddiquah

SUBMITTED BY: Sania Zaheer

ROLL NO: 1910131002

COUSE CODE: ENG-1005

COURSE TITLE: Business Communication

SECTION: 4th - A

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SESSION: 2019 – 2023

 REPORT WRITING

Report writing is a formal style of writing elaborately on a topic. The tone of a report is
always formal. The important section to focus on is the target audience.

For example – report writing about a school event, report writing about a business case,
etc. Let us briefly discuss the different kinds of reports.

 Kinds of Reports:

Based on some special characteristics, a report can be a certain kind. Why classify them
in kinds? Well, depending upon the purpose of the report, it’s always best to know what kind
would be the best for that case.

For example, informal reports in office formal contexts may not be suitable. In that case,
even if your report is on point and the best, just the structure or format or language could work
against your report.

Small things like that should not stand in the way of you conveying your point. And thus for
these reasons and more, let’s dive into the kinds of reports that exist so we can make
clear decisions of their usage.

 Long Report and Short Reports:

These kinds of reports are quite clear, as the name suggests. A two-page report or sometimes
referred to as a memorandum is short, and a thirty-page report is absolutely long. But what
makes a clear division of short reports or long reports? Well, usually, notice that longer reports
are generally written in a formal manner.

 Internal and External Reports:

As the name suggests, an internal report stays within a certain organization or group of
people. In the case of office settings, internal reports are for within the organization.
We prepare external reports, such as a news report in the newspaper about an incident or the
annual reports of companies for distribution outside the organization. We call these as public
reports.

 Vertical and Lateral Reports:

This is about the hierarchy of the reports’ ultimate target. If the report is for your
management or for your mentees, it’s a vertical report. Wherever a direction of upwards or
downwards comes into motion, we call it a vertical report.

Lateral reports, on the other hand, assist in coordination in the organization.  A report
traveling between units of the same organization level (for example, a report among
the administration and finance departments) is lateral.

 Periodic Reports:

Periodic reports are sent out on regularly pre-scheduled dates. In most cases, their direction is
upward and serves as management control. Some, like annual reports, is not vertical but is a
Government mandate to be periodic in nature.

That is why we have annual or quarterly or half-yearly reports. If they are this frequent, it
only makes sense to pre-set the structure of these reports and just fill in the data every period.
That’s exactly what happens in most cases too.

 Formal and Informal Reports:

Formal reports are meticulously structured. They focus on objectivity and organization,
contain deeper detail, and the writer must write them in a style that eliminates factors like
personal pronouns.

Informal reports are usually short messages with free-flowing, casual use of language. We
generally describe the internal report/memorandum as an informal report. For example, a report
among your peers, or a report for your small group or team, etc.

 Informational and Analytical Reports:

 Informational reports (attendance reports, annual budget reports, monthly financial reports,
and such) carry objective information from one area of an organization to maybe a larger system.

Analytical reports (scientific research, feasibility reports, and employee appraisals) show
attempts to solve actual problems. These analytical reports usually require suggestions at the end.

 Proposal Reports:

These kinds of reports are like an extension to the analytical/problem-solving reports. A

proposal is a document one prepares to describe how one organization can provide a solution to a
problem they are facing.

There’s usually always a need to prepare a report in a business set-up. The end goal is usually
very solution-oriented. We call such kinds of reports as proposal reports.

 Functional Reports:

These kinds of reports include marketing reports, financial reports, accounting reports, and a
spectrum of other reports that provide a function specifically. By and large, we can include
almost all reports in most of these categories. Furthermore, we can include a single report in
several kinds of reports.

 Elements of Simple Report:

Here are the main sections/elements of the report:

1. Title Section – This includes the name of the author(s) and the date of report
preparation. 

2. Summary – There needs to be a summary of the major points, conclusions, and

recommendations. It needs to be short as it is a general overview of the report. Some
people will read the summary and only skim the report, so make sure you include all the
relevant information. It would be best to write this last so you will include everything,
even the points that might be added at the last minute.
 3. Introduction – The first page of the report needs to have an introduction.  You will
explain the problem and show the reader why the report is being made. You need to give
a definition of terms if you did not include these in the title section, and explain how the
details of the report are arranged.  

4. Body – This is the main section of the report.  There needs to be several sections, with
each having a subtitle.  Information is usually arranged in order of importance with the
most important information coming first. 

5. Conclusion – This is where everything comes together. Keep this section free of jargon
as most people will read the Summary and Conclusion.       

6. Recommendations – This is what needs to be done. In plain English, explain your

recommendations, putting them in order of priority.

7. Appendices – This includes information that the experts in the field will read. It has all
the technical details that support your conclusions.

 Elements/Components of Research Report:

A research report has seven components:

1. Abstract or Summary: The abstract or summary tells the reader very briefly
what the main points and findings of the paper are.

– This allows the reader to decide whether the paper is useful to them.
– Get into the habit of reading only abstracts while searching for papers that
are relevant to your research.
– Read the body of a paper only when you think it will be useful to you.
2. Introduction: The introduction tells the reader what the topic of the paper is in
general terms, why the topic is important, and what to expect in the paper.
– Introductions should funnel from general ideas to the specific topic of the
paper.
– Introductions are sometimes folded into literature reviews.
 3. Review of Literature: The literature review tells the reader what other
researchers have discovered about the paper’s topic or tells the reader about other
research that is relevant to the topic.

– A literature review should shape the way readers think about a topic—it educates readers
about what the community of scholars says about a topic and its surrounding issues.
– Often what students call a “research paper” is merely a review of literature.
– Along the way it states facts and ideas about the social world and supports those facts and
ideas with credit for where they came from.
– If an idea cannot be substantiated by the community of scholars, the literature review
makes clear that the author is speculating, and the logic of the speculation is detailed.
– Irrelevant information is not discussed.
– The literature review has its own voice. The sources of information are not extensively
quoted or “copied and pasted.” Instead, the author puts facts and ideas into his or her
own words while pointing out where the information came from.
– Literature reviews have parenthetical citations running throughout. These are part of a
systematic way to document where facts and ideas came from, allowing the skeptical
reader to look up anything that is questionable.
– Each citation directs the reader to the references where complete details on sources can
be found.
– Citations consist of authors’ last names and the year of publication. One finds complete
information on sources by looking up last names and dates in alphabetized references—
so there’s no need to put all that information in the text.
– We have conventions that allow the reader to figure out where information is coming
from.
 In text, just pointing out where info came from: blah blah (Author
Year) or (Lee 2004).
 In text, where you quoted someone: “Quote quote” (Author Year:
Pages) or (Lee 2004: 340).
 In text, more than one source: (Author Year; Author Year) or (Lee
2004; Seymour & Hewitt 1997)
  In text, if you want to use the author’s name in a sentence: Author
(Year) says that… or Lee (2004) claims that girls…
 Quoting a person and using their name: Author (Year: Pages)
says, “Quote quote…” or Lee (2004: 341) says, “Girls are more
likely to…”

4. Methods: This section involves:

– Study design is selected (after the hypothesis is stated).

– The subjects to be studied are defined. Interventions (such as treatments
are decided on in detail.
– Measurements and other observations to be made are specified, including
the methods.
– Statistical procedures for assessment of data are selected.

5. Results: The results section chronicles the findings of the statistical analyses and
assesses whether your expectations (hypotheses) were correct. The results section
includes:

– Professional tables showing descriptive and inferential statistics

– Narrative describing most relevant findings.
– The narrative and tables are complementary.
– Evaluations of the hypotheses. Were the research hypotheses supported?
– Statements about new discoveries or surprises encountered in the analyses.

6. Conclusions and Discussion: This section assesses how one’s research findings
relate to what the community of scholars knew already.

– You should summarize the most salient points of your research (tell the
reader what you found out about your topic).
– You should discuss the shortcomings of your study and what implications
these have for your findings.
– Discuss things future researchers should investigate about your topic.
– Leave the reader with the understanding he or she ought to have about the
topic you spent so much time exploring.
 – Discuss the general significance of your topic and findings.

7. References: The references are just as important as any other part of your paper.
They are the link to the community of scholars that will permit your reader to
assess the worthiness of the claims you make in your paper. References also
make the research process much more efficient because they make it very easy to
look up sources of facts and ideas.