REPORT WRITING

Organization of the Report:

 Part I – A brief introduction of

the report.
 Part II – The report
 Part III-
Attachments/Reference
Material
 PART – I
 The cover
 The title page
 Authorization
 Acknowledgements
 Table of contents
 Executive
Summary/Synopsis/Abstract
 COVER
 The title of the report (refer
to statement of the
problem/purpose)
 Author (s)
 The name of the
organization to which the
report is related
 A Report
on
(Title in Capital Letters)

By
( Name of the Student)
Enroll. No.
(Name of the ORGANIZATION )
 Title
 Should be carefully arrived at
 should be precise and comprehensive
 Should convey what the project is
about
 To which organization does it relate
to. An example of a title is given
below:
 “An Analysis of the Sales of ABC 29-
inch TVs in Hyderabad during the year
2002-2003 and Recommendations
thereof”
 Title Page
 The title
 The organization for
which the report is
prepared
 The author (s)
 Date of submission of
report
 A Report
on
(Title in Capital Letters)
By
( Name & Enroll. No of the Student)
(Name of the ORGANIZATION for whom it was written )
A Report submitted in partial fulfilmentof the requirements of
MBA Programme of the ICFAI University, Dehradun

Distribution list:

Date of Submission:
 Authorization
 Indicates the person or the
department which authorized the
making of the report
 Includes the form of authorization
e.g.

“The report is submitted as partial

fulfillment of the requirement of
MBA Program of ICFAI Business
School”
Or
 “The report as authorized by
Mr. A B Singh, Vice President
(Sales), ABC Electronics vide
Letter Number __________
dater ____________.”
 When a report is authorized
orally - authorization has to
be worded suitably
 Acknowledgements

 Here the author acknowledges the

contributions of those who helped
him/her in making the report

 Made to the sources of

information, publishers who have
been the source, persons who
guided and anyone else who
contributed
 Table of Contents
 This part indicates the pages in which
each part is contained

 Two parts of Numbering Style

1st - till Abstract in lower case Roman
2nd - Introduction and after, in Arabic

 Sub headings of a topic to be

in decimal number system
 Illustrations to be separately
listed
Executive Summary/Abstract/
Synopsis
 This summarizes the report.
 Should contain all major
conclusions and recommendations
 it is a report in miniature
 Since a summary, the length to be
much lesser than the report
 A rough guide, the synopsis
expected to be about one tenth of
the original
 Therefore, the language used
-precise and concise
 To master this, practice precise
writing
 Executive Summary

 A document containing the gist

of the project report
 The reader (normally, senior
manager) gets an idea about
- the purpose of the report,-
- broad findings and
recommendations by the
author
 In most cases, managers
prefer the executive summary
to the complete report

 Managers are not concerned

or much interested in
technical details
 Technical jargons and details not
to be included

 Managers interested in the broad

substance of the report and the
findings and recommendations
 Executive Summary
- two parts
Background:

 the project is discussed at length

puts the report in a correct

perspective

highlights the factors necessitating

the project

The problem/purpose statement is

clearly enunciated
Major findings:

Major findings, interpretations

fully discussed
Recommendations to be
included
Executive summary very
important
Invariably listed in the table of
contents
 Abstract
 A technical summary
 Normally read by persons
familiar with the report
 Technical terminology can be
used
 May be read before, during or
after report is read
 Sometimes, only the abstract
is read than the report proper
 Can be a part of the report
 PART II

Contains the main body of the

report. These are discussed in
the succeeding paragraphs
 Introduction
The purpose is to prepare the reader
for what follows in the report.
Introduction normally comprises the
following:
- The background
- The circumstance necessitating
the report
- The purpose of the report
- The broad layout of the report
 Main Text
This part comprises the following:

The factors considered

Interpretation/analysis
- The description of each factor and
the analysis can be clubbed
together
- Alternatively, the factors can be
described in detail followed by
combined analysis
Conclusions and recommendations
 Avoid including too much
data in paragraph form

 Make use of tables and

attachments in the form of
appendices, annexure, etc.
 PART III
 Attachments/ Reference
Materials
- Appendices and annexures
normal attachments
- Customary to attach any
references from which
information has been
accessed
- These are discussed
 Bibliography

It is customary to list out

references at the end.
Normally, a separate appendix
is attached for this purpose.
Two methods of
acknowledging sources:
i. Author-date reference
within the text and
ii Footnotes
 Author-Date Reference
 The source / reference is mentioned
within brackets.
 The sequence of reference is:
- the author’s surname
- year of publication
- page reference
More than one author (less than four)
author’s surnames mentioned
More than four authors - surname of
one author, followed by ‘et al’
mentioned
 REFERENCE
- Some examples :
 (Prasad 2002), (Prasad 2002, pp, 82-
88), (Prasad, Murthy and Shantha,
2001, 95-102)

 (Prasad et al 2002, (pp 99-103)

 In case there is no specific author

and it is a publication then the
publisher becomes the author

 For example: (Government of India,

Ministry of Finance 2002) could be
the way to refer such sources
 Footnotes
 References generally made at
the end / foot of the page
 Each text, intended to be
acknowledged, is numbered
(as a superscript), serially as
they appear on each page
 Are conventional explanatory
procedures, used only when
material clearly needs
amplification or
acknowledgement
Footnotes commonly
used to:
 Validate a point of statement or
argument
 Explain, supplement or amplify
material included in the main body
 Provide a cross reference to other
sections
 Acknowledge a direct or indirect
quotation
 Provide reader with sufficient
information to enable him to
consult sources independently
Information in footnotes
Sources of information
usually the name of the
author
Title of the source
Exact page (s) of the
source of reference
Date of publication
Publisher and place of
publication (optional)
 Format of footnotes
 Those occupying more than
one line are single spaced
and only the first line is
indented

 Footnotes are usually

numbered consecutively
throughout a chapter or the
entire assignment
Points to remember:
 Footnotes to be concise
 Clarity and readability never to be
sacrificed for brevity
 All footnotes single-spaced but
separated by a double space
 All footnotes, regardless of their
length, are terminated by a full
stop
 The same bottom margin should
be maintained on each page of the
typescript regardless of the
number of footnotes
 Reference to Books
Format for References :
 Name (s) of author (s)/ editors with
initials, title of work in full,
underlined or in italics,
publishers, edition in brackets (if
this is not the first edition), place
and year of publication in
brackets, pages referred to
 Example: Handy C, Understanding
Organization, Penguin (1999), UK,
pg59
 References to Articles
 Reference should be in the
following format:
 Name (s) of author (s), title of
article (between single quotation
marks), title of periodical (in italics
or underlined), volume number,
and part number, year of
publication in brackets, pages to
referred to
 Example: Anon, ‘Hot-filament
noise’, Electronics Dissertation,
Vol.15, No.10 (October 1999), pg67
 References to Chapters
in Edited Collections
 Format for References :
- single quotation marks
- title of collection, underlined
or in italics
- editors (ed.) or (eds.) followed
by
- place and year of publication
in brackets, pages referred to
 References to Internet
Resources
 The principles same as any
other form of referencing
 Author/title of item location)
e.g. web site) and date of
posting and/or date accessed in
brackets
 Example:
http://www.videocon.com/mark
eting (January2005)