On a school outing, the owner of a food stall accused a member of your group of not paying for a

drink. You were the most senior student present and you have been asked to give your school
principal a clear picture of what happened.

Your report should include the following

Write a report with a title, a date, and your signature.

 When, where and what happened

 Who was involved and what your teacher did
 Who in your opinion was in the wrong.

You may add further details if you wish.

Report 1:

Report on the incident during School Theatre Outing

Last Friday on March 10th 2006, I was with my class travelling on the school bus from
Abbottabad to Lahore. We were going to the theatre to see ’Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare,
which we are studying for pur exam. It was a very hot day and we had been travelling for more
than two hours when the driver stopped by the roadside where there were many stallholders
selling snacks and drinks. Mr Rizvi gave us permission to buy what we wanted and return to the
bus in five minutes.

Some girls shared their money with those who did not have any, but nobody shared with
Rukhsana. I saw her join a crowd of girls around one stall and take one of the bottles of cola and
run back to the bus. The stallholder saw that Rukhsana had taken it without paying and when the
other girls had bought their drinks, he ran to the bus to demand payment. By that time, Mr Rizvi
had told the bus driver to set off, and the stallholder banged on the window, claiming that one
girl had not paid him. Mr Rizvi asked us all if we had paid for our drinks and we all, including
Rukhsana, swore we had. Mr Rizvi then told the man that his accusation was false because all
the girls had paid. Our bus then left the stallholder behind shouting and looking very angry.

Rukhsana brought dishonour on her herself and the school for stealing, and she made her crime
even worse by lying to Mr Rizvi. Perhaps, I should have shared my money with her, but I only
had enough for one drink.

Mina Latif

15 March 2006
Assessment

1. The report is an excellent example of a short formal report.

2. It begins with a subject underlined about what the report is actually about. Now, as said
earlier(see my post on the format of report writing) even if the candidate begins without
writing a subject line, the examiner will not deduct marks. In CIExaminer is more
concerned with how the report is addressed to the recipient. What matters most is if
appropriate tone is used or whether the candidate uses an accurate register.
3. In the above example the first paragraph answers the questions of ‘What’, ‘Where and
‘When’ the incident took place. Students often confuse the beginning of a report with
letter writing and begin with ‘Respected Sir, Madam,’ (this is a big error. See the below
example as well). Secondly, they also state ‘I was asked to write a report to you on the
incident that…’ (this is another wrong way to begin/write a report). In a report you must
not directly address the person to whom you are writing.
4. In the next paragraph the student tells ‘How’ the incident took place, ‘Who’ was involved
and he also very carefully answers the rubric where he is asked about ‘what did the
teacher do?’
5. Reports are supposed to be unbiased. The candidate is expected to write details keeping
aside all his/her emotions. In this example you would see that the student gives her
opinion in the last paragraph which goes against the norms of report writing. However, a
close reading of the question will show that the last rubric demands an opinion from the
observer to write about what went wrong on that day.
6. Reports often end with a signature of the writer. Thus, the candidate complies with the
format and closes with his signature.
7. The ‘I’ pronoun is strictly prohibited in report writing because it gives a
subjective/personal touch to what is being reported. This is advised when the reports are
to inform about certain topics like corruption, price hike, growth rate, education, inflation
etc. On the contrary, if some incident is witnessed by the candidate and he/she is asked to
report on it then, the candidate can use the ‘I’ pronoun and in that case it would be
appropriate to use it sparingly and avoid adding any personal emotions (as illustrated
above in the example). In the above example it is seen that the student, in spite of using
the ‘I’ pronoun, keeps her tone completely impersonal and only gives her opinion where
she is asked to.
8. Try to keep the information simple and precise. Do not plunge in describing unnecessary
details because remember this is not a descriptive essay. Do not get carried away in
providing extra/irrelevant information. In the above example the student provides all
required information in a terse manner.
9. Do not confuse the tenses. See that the incident took place in the past so it should be
written in a past tense.
10. The incident is sketched in an indirect way ‘the stallholder said that, the bus driver asked
us…’instead of adding any direct speeches.
11. Use simple vocabulary (the purpose here is to inform not to entertain) and use Standard
English expressed in simple and compound sentences.
12. Structure your information through linking your points coherently in paragraphs.
13. Do not exceed the word count.
14. Remember! A report is to inform or explain about certain matter(s). Its purpose is not to
entertain the reader.