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Language for reports

Some formulaic phrases

On this page you will find some language for reports. The language provides further
examples of the formulaic language used in academic contexts. As with other
formulaic language (e.g. the language for presentations), you do not need to learn all
of these phrases. You should be able to use at least one phrase for each function
(e.g. stating the aim(s) of your report, referring to figures in the Findings section or the
Discussion section). How many more you learn after this is up to you. Good writing
requires varying the expressions you use, rather than using the same ones all the
time. On the other hand, you will only state the aim once in a report, so one phrase
may be enough for life!

Preliminaries
The title of your report will depend very much on the subject matter, and will be very
individual. Nonetheless, there are some useful verbs and phrases which can be used
in titles, especially for science reports. These include:

Investigating X
Calculating X
Measuring X
Demonstrating X
Analysing X
Determining X
An Investigation into X
A Demonstration of X
An Analysis of X

There is no special language for writing abstracts or contents pages.

Introduction
Background
You may need to talk about something in general in the background section of your
introduction. The most common way is to use [No article] + [plural]. For example:
Mobile phones have become very popular in China in recent years.

It is also possible to use [The] + [singular]. For example:

The mobile phone has become very popular in China in recent years.

The background section of your introduction is likely to require in-text citations. Some
structures for citations are given below. For more, see the references and citations
section.

According to X (2000, p.115) ...

As X (2000, p.115) , ...

states/points out/suggests
X (2000, p.115) that...

X (2000, p.115) defines Y as ...

... (X, 2000, p.115).

Theory
You may need to give definitions and classify in this section. See the relevant pages
on the website for language for definitions and classification.

If you want to refer to theories or principles, you can use the following structures.

As stated by
Newton's First Law, ...
According to

Newton's First law states that...

The following structures can be used for presenting equations.

The equation for Z is...

The equation of Z can be written...

(where X is ... and Y is ...)
The Z equation can be given as ...
 The following equation of Z can be obtained: ...

The following phrases can be used for stating what something stands for or
represents.
X stands for/represents/denotes/symbolizes Y
Y is represented by X
Y is denoted by X
Y is symbolized by X
...where X is/stands for/denotes/represents Y

Aims
This part of the report explains why you are writing the report. The tense you use will
depend on whether the subject of the sentence is the report (which still exists) or the
experiment (which has finished). If you are referring to the report, you should use
present tense. If you are referring to the experiment, which has finished, you should
use past tense.

Theaim/purpose/objective of this report is firstly to

A second/third/final aim (of the report) is to research [sth]

discover [wh-]
investigate/find out [sth or wh-]
The aim/purpose/objective of the experiment was to measure [sth]

The experiment aimed to

Examples of aims, using the above structures, are given below.

The aim of this experiment was to measure the value of gravity in Guangzhou by using
a simple pendulum.
The aim of this report is to investigate whether class size has a significant effect on
student achievement.

Methodology
This section outlines how you gathered information. Because academic language
does not usually use 'I' or 'we', this section will often contain passive structures,
usually the past passive (because the experiment or survey is finished). It can be
useful to use transition signals to show sequence or process, such as the ones below.
First(ly)/Initially/ At first/At the beginning/To begin with...
Second(ly)/Then/ Next/Subsequently/After that...
Finally/At the end/Lastly...
After doing X, Y was done.
After X was done, Y was done.
 Before/prior to doing X, Y was done.
Before X was done, Y was done.
Prior to X being done, Y was done.

For example:
After measuring the length of the string, the bob was moved several degrees.

Science reports will usually include apparatus for conducting the experiment. The
following phrases can be used for describing the apparatus.

consisted of...
used in the experiment
The apparatus comprised...

was set up as shown in the diagram below.

Findings
If you use tables, charts, etc., the following language can be used to refer to these.
Note that this language is description, i.e. it does not analyse or draw conclusions.

Figure X gives
shows Y/information about Y
Table X indicates

Discussion
The following language can be used for referring to graphs etc. in the Discussion
section. Unlike similar phrases used for the Findings section, which merely describe,
this language discusses, i.e. it says what the information means.

As can be seen from

the chart,
According to the figure, ...
the table,
the graph,
As is shown in Table 1,
Figure 2,
It can be seen from that...

The following phrases can be used for science reports when comparing the results to
those expected.
 This result can be compared with

This result/value agrees with

the given/accepted value of X, which is...
This result/value is close to

The calculated answer is a little different to

The following phrases can be used when discussing how errors may have affected
the results.

Errors in the measurement of X, thereby affecting the results.

may have arisen
A further error from neglect of X, which might have affected the results.

Conclusion
There is not much language for conclusions, though conclusion signals such as 'In
conclusion' are useful. For science reports, the following phrases can be used to
indicate the degree of accuracy.

agree with

partly agree with

The results obtained the given/accepted/true value of X.
are close to

are a little different from

Recommendations
Recommendations can use the following modal verb constructions

X should
[verb]
it is recommended that X

Examples, using the above structures, are given below.

Based on the conclusions above, it is recommended that the company consider
paying more attention to above-the-line promotion in order to attract new
customers.
 Further research should be carried out to find out if these opinions are true in other
market segments.

If you are writing a lab report, the following conditional structures can be used to
indicate how the experiment could have been improved.

the results might have

If
been more accurate.
X had been [done] (instead of Y)
The results might have
.
been more accurate if

References
There is no language for reference sections, but you can refer to the section on
reference sections for more information on these.

Appendices
There is no language for appendices, though the following may be used in the main
body to refer to the appendices.
A complete copy of X is shown in Appendix 1.
For more detail, refer to Appendix 1, which shows...
See Appendix 1 for more information.
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Checklist
There is a downloadable checklist for reports (structure and language) in the writing
resources section.

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Author: Sheldon Smith. Last modified: 15 October 2018.