REPORT WRITING

• Form of professional communication.

• Professional report -communication written -specific
purpose-conveying authentic information to a well
defined audience in an impartial & objective manner &
containing recommendations.
The primary qualities of any report has
• Usefulness
• Clarity
• Economy
• The writer should understand purpose & scope
• He has to understand audience.
• The writer should collect data & interpret it logically &
come out with recommendations finally.
Types of report:
 Periodic report
 Progress report
 Interim report
 Completion report
 Status report
• Like any writing, report has front body&end material.
• Elements of a formal report - front material & method of
presenting body.
• Other elements include appendixes & reference section.
• Reports often present recommendations.
• two organizational patterns: traditional & administrative report
• Traditional pattern leads reader through data to conclusion.
• Conclusions & recommendations appear at end of the report.
• administrative pattern presents readers with information they
need to perform their role in organization, so conclusions &
recommendation appear early in report.
The layout of traditional ad Administrative
report are as follows:
Traditional Administrative
Title page Title page
Table of contents Table of contents
List of illustrations
List of illustrations
Summary or abstract
Summary or abstract
Introduction
Discussion Body Section
Introduction
Conclusions Conclusions
Recommendations Recommendations
References Discussion
Appendixes References
Appendixes
• Front Material
Transmittal Correspondence
• A memo or letter that directs report to someone.
• A memo is used to transmit an internal, or in-house report.
• An external, or institution to institution or firm to firm,
report requires a letter.
The correspondence contains,
• title of report.
• A statement of when it was requested
• A very general statement of report's purpose&scope.
•An explanation of problems encountered (for example, some
unavailable data).
• An acknowledgment of those who were particularly helpful in
assembling the report.
 TITLE PAGE
• A good title page, gives a quick overview of report, while at
same time making a favourable impression on reader.
Here are some guidelines for writing a title
page:
• Place all elements at left or at Centre depending on local
policy.
• Name contents of report in title.
• Use a 2-inch left margin.
• Use either all caps or initial caps & lowercase letters; use
boldface when appropriate.
• Do not use ' ornamental' typeface.
• Include writer's name & title or department , date, recipient's
name &title or department , & a report number (if
appropriate).
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
• A table of contents lists the sections of report & pages on which
they start.
• Previews report's organization, depth & emphasis.
• Readers with special interests often glance at table of contents,
examine abstract or & summary& turn to a particular section of
report.
• Do not underline in table of contents.
• Do not use “page” or “p” before page numbers
• Use only page number on which section starts.
• Set margins so that page numbers align on right.
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
• Illustrations include both tables & figures.
• List of illustrations gives number, title &page of each visual
aid in report.
Guidelines for preparing a list of illustrations
• Use title List of Illustrations if it contains both figures &tables.
• If list contains only figures or only tables, call it List of Figures
or List of Tables.
• List number, title &page of each visual aid.
• Place list on most convenient page.
• If possible, put it on same page as table of contents.
 SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
• A summary or an abstract is a miniature version of report.
• In the summary, present main points & basic details of entire
report.
After reading a summary, reader should know:
• Report's purpose & problem it addresses.
Conclusions
• Major facts on which conclusions are based.
• Recommendations.
GUIDE LINES TO SUMMARISE YOUR FORMAL REPORT
• Condense information into a few words one page at most.
• Write summary after you have written rest of report.
• Avoid technical terminology.
 INTRODUCTION
• introduction orients reader to report's organization
&contents.
• Formal introduction, scope, procedure& background, orient
readers to report's overall context.
• To give gist of report right away, many writers place
conclusions / recommendation right after introduction.
Purpose Statement
• State purpose in one or two sentences.
Follow these guidelines:
• State purpose clearly.
• Use one or two forms:” The purpose of this report is to present
the results of the investigation” or “
• This report presents results of my investigation”.
Use present tense
• Name alternatives if necessary.
• ( In the purpose statement in example below, author names
the problem [ lack of employment assistance programme]
&alternatives that author investigated.)
 SCOPE STATEMENT
• A scope statement reveals topics covered in a report.
Follow these guidelines:
• In feasibility & recommendation reports, name criteria;
include statements explaining rank order & source of criteria
• Identify main sections, or topic , of report.
• Specify boundaries or limits of investigation.