Writing a report

Writing process
A. Pre writing
B. Writing
C. Re writing
D. Finalizing
E. Proof reading

Pre writing
 Careful preparation and execution of plan
 Define objective of the report

Steps

1) Define your purpose

2) Define your scope
3) Determine your audience
4) Collect data
5) Organize the material
6) Make outline
1.1.1. Defining your purpose
 Identify the problem to be studied and the objective of the report
 Answer the question why you are writing the report and what you hope to accomplish
1.1.2. Define your scope
 The boundaries of the report (what your report includes and exclude)
1.1.3. Determine the audience
 If your report is based on instruction from individual, it would not be difficult to
figure out its objective
 If the audience are large and varied, you should find out carefuly what they know and
what they don’t
1.1.4. Collecting data
 Methods (primary data)
 Personal observation
 Personal interview
 Telephone interview
 questionaries’
 Source (secondary data)
 Internal records
 Library
 o Primary data

Personal observation

 Experiment conducted in the laboratory

 A job performed
 Event to which you were an eye-witness

Telephone interview

 If some of the people are residence of long distance

 If the information you seek is of a routine nature and only brief answers are required
from a small number of people
 You may not as effective a feedback on the telephone as the case of personal interviews

Personal interview

 One can get qualitative data which can’t be obtained from yes/no answers

Questionnaires

When

 Wide geographical coverage is required

 Large number of people have to be contacted
 You can’t seek further clarification

Source of data (secondary data)

Internal records

o Organizational documents, letters, memoranda, reports, contacts, agreements, transcript

of talks, orders, office notes on files
o Business organization figures for annual statements of income and expenditure, sales,
purchase, production, distribution

Library

1.1.5. Make outline

o Break down the information using heading and sub heading and also decide upon the
logical order
o Serve as a frame work
Writing the report