Long Reports:

An Introduction
 Importance
• Highlight your ability to organize and
present ideas clearly
• Highlight your ability to find information
• Highlight your ability to solve problems
• Highlight your potential to take on
additional responsibility
 Similarities to Short Reports
• Communicate new information
• Guide decisions
• Present complex materials
• Employ principles of effective page
design
 Differences
• Length
• Complexity of subject material
• Use of source material
• Standard components
 Text of Report
• Introduction
• Body
• Conclusions and Recommendations
 Introduction
• Purpose—what report is intended to
accomplish
• Scope—what report covers (and perhaps
what it doesn’t cover)
• Procedures—how report was compiled
(especially how information was gathered)
• Context—overall issue being addressed,
circumstances surrounding report
• Limitations—problems, shortcomings, items
not covered in report
 Body
• Presents findings of report
• Organized roughly into problem
(including causes and effects) and
solutions (including how and why)
• May include visuals
 Conclusion and
Recommendations
• Conclusion: Summarizes main points
of report
• Recommendations: Summarize
actions to be taken, often in list format
 Front Matter—prefaces report
• Transmittal Document
• Title Page
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Glossary
Transmittal Document (1 page)
• Letter or memo that accompanies report
• Brief summary of report context and
contents
• Thanks reader for cooperation/interest
• Builds positive relationship with reader
• Uses standard forms and direct or
indirect approach
 Title Page (1 page)
• Title of report
• Name and title of writer
• Name and title of reader
• Name of company or organization
• Date of submission
• Centered on page
 Examples
Not—Preliminary Site Investigation
(Which site? What about it?)

Instead—Investigation of Coal
Gasification Site #1, First Street,
Chalmers, New York
Computer Availability
(Where? For whom?)
Compute This: Student Access to Computers
at IVCC
(Too cute/clever. May turn off some readers.)

The Need for Extended Student Computer

Lab Hours at Illinois Valley Community
College
 Abstract (1 paragraph)
• Summary of report’s contents and
recommendations
• Designed to stand alone
• Formatted as one paragraph
• Abstract as title
 Table of Contents (variable
length)
• List of headings exactly as they appear
in report
• Lower case Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv,
etc.) for front matter, beginning with list
of illustrations
• Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) for rest of
report
• Table of Contents or Contents as title
 Types
• Traditional—numbered, indented,
dotted lines to page numbers
• Contemporary—no numbering,
indented, no dotted lines
• Decimal—numbered (whole numbers
and decimals), indented, dotted lines
optional
 List of Illustrations (variable
length)
• Lists exact titles of illustrations and
corresponding page numbers in report
• e.g. Figure 1: Student Support for
Renovation of Main Campus Buildings
• Distinguishes between tables and figures
• Typically its own page(s)
 Glossary (variable length)
• Defines all potentially unfamiliar
words, expressions, or symbols
• Need determined by audience
• Alphabetizes terms
• Lists symbols in order of appearance
 Back Matter—follows report
• Appendixes
• Bibliography
 Appendixes (variable length)
• Supplementary material, such as interview
questions, survey questions, additional
figures and illustrations, copies of relevant
sources, other relevant documents—
anything that you want the reader to have
access to but that doesn’t fit directly into
your report
• Includes title listed on Table of Contents
(e.g. Appendix A: Interview Questions for
Bill Gates)
• Each appendix a separate page or pages
 Bibliography (variable length)
• List of sources
• Title and format depend on specific
documentation format
• APA (American Psychological
Association)— References
• MLA (Modern Language Association)
—Works Cited