LEARNING UNIT 3

INFORMATION REPORT
 By the end of this unit,
you should be able to:
• Identify the structure of an
Learning Information Report
Objectives • Practice the language
features of an Information
Report
• Produce an Information
Report with proper citation
and referencing
 PART 1: PURPOSE OF
INFORMATION REPORT
An Information Report serves to classify
and describe the phenomena of our
world – it describes the way things are.
It talks about a class of things –living
things (like plants, animals) or non-living
things (like satellites, social systems). In
this case, only facts about the class of
things are reported, not your opinions.
Types Type 1: Classification into Type 2: Description of characteristics of
sub-classes and one class
description of sub-classes

Examples • Types of blood cells. • Description of red blood cells.

• The types of whales. • Description of baleen whales
• The various types of characteristics of the different types of
cancer. whale
• Similarities and • Description of lymphoma.
differences between • Classification of non-flowering plants.
flowering plants and
non-flowering plants.
PART 2: STRUCTURE/ORGANISATION OF
INFORMATION REPORT
 Statement Descriptions
of types for type
General • Body 1/2/3…:
Introduction consisting of
statement paragraphs
• Conclusion
(optional)
on each type
PART 3: LANGUAGE FEATURES OF INFORMATION REPORT
 1. Generalised participants/generic
participants

This refers to a whole class of things in general

(e.g., planet, mountains, human being,
computers) rather than specific participants
(e.g., My Family, Gunung Mulu, my i-Phone).
 • These are verbs which show states of being and of having
(are, is, have, belong, etc…). These are needed because they
help locate the phenomenon being described within a class
[Example 1] or describe parts and characteristics of the
phenomenon [Examples 2 and 3]. Linking verbs should not be
confused with passive (e.g. have gone) or continuous verb
forms (e.g. are going)

Example 1:
• Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are terrestrial planets.
2. Linking • (linking the thing/phenomenon to its larger group –
classification)

verbs Example 2:
• An example of a superior planet is Mars.
• (linking the thing/phenomenon to its sub-classes)

Example 3:
• The surface of terrestrial planets is solid and rocky.
• (linking the thing/phenomenon to its characteristics: size,
colour, shape, etc.)
 3. Action verbs

• These are verbs which describe behaviour, actions and

happenings.
• e.g., The asteroid belt forms the boundary between the inner
and the outer solar system. The presence of iron minerals in the
Martian soil affects its physical appearance.
 • This is used because an Information
Report describes a phenomenon
which exists all the time, not one
which is located at a particular point in
4.Timeless time. The information Report
presents universal truths/facts which
present tense are not open to argument.
• e.g. The sun rises in the east. The sun
is the centre of our solar system.
 Defining Classifying
are called … belong to …
… classified into … classes
Example: Oxygen is a type/ kind/ form/ … categorised … categories
example of a gas. … grouped … groups
… divided … divisions
Definitions are usually found in the … arranged …
Introduction. … put into …
… placed in…
… distinguished into …
… differentiated into …
Scientists classify … classes
5. Language … consists of …
… comprises …

for defining … contains …

Example of Classification Statement: Whales are

and classifying sub-categorised into (two main/two broad) groups

of whales, that is, toothed whales and baleen
whales.
To reduce the certainty of classification, “are” can
be replaced by “can be”, “could be” or “may be”.
Sub-classified
Sub-categorised
Sub-grouped
Sub-divided
 7. Factual and precise language

To describe:
• what the phenomenon looks like (colour, shape, size)
• what is has (body parts, components)
• what it does (habits, behaviour, functions, uses)
• May involve technical vocabulary for precision in description
• Language must be relatively formal and objective - no expression of personal feelings and
attitudes. Hence, avoid use of personal pronouns (e.g., I, you, we).
 6. Language for comparing and
contrasting

Comparing similarities Contrasting differences

Are similar to Are more powerful than
Like A, B is also … Are different from …
Similarly Compared to A, B is more/less than …
In the same manner Unlike A, B is …
A is like this whereas B is …

Besides However,
In addition to On the other hand,
Furthermore Although
Moreover Even though
Other than that But
Apart from that On the contrary
Not only that In contrast
Instead of
Rather than
Whereas