Writing a report

What is a report?
A report is a piece of writing addressing a specific person or
organisation/authority/governmental body, etc. It usually consists of a description of
something as well as suggestions and recommendations for future actions.
Style: Formal
Tense: Present, Future and maybe past tenses.
In the course of your professional career or university studies, you will might be called to
make a report for a specific financial organisation, a talk or lecture given by a professor,
etc. Therefore, it is extremely vital for you to know how to produce the right report.
What differentiates this kind of writing from other types of writing is that each topic/piece
of information is presented in a separate paragraph and each paragraph is given the
according heading.
First paragraph (Introduction): The purpose of the report and what it contains. It could
be named ‘Purpose’ or ‘Introduction’.
Second-fourth paragraphs (or more) (Main Body): It is divided into further
subsections, each with a unique heading. Each paragraph deals with a specific
suggestion/detail and the relevant examples or justifications.
*Be careful: Your points must be clearly made and be logically developed in a smooth
transition. Therefore, you should use the appropriate transitional phrases.
Final paragraph: It summarises the aforementioned points and includes a general
recommendation. You may provide your personal opinion as well. It could be named
‘Conclusion’.

To get the register right, it is better to use passive voice as much as

possible and avoid slang expressions and abbreviations.
Example
*The following example is from ‘On Screen B2’ by Express Publishing.
Useful Vocabulary

 The present report aims to...

 The purpose of this report is ...
 This report contains information/suggestions/recommendations on...
 To begin with, / First and foremost, / In the first place / Secondly, / Thirdly, ...
 An efficient possibility would be ...
 A suggestion I believe would help is ...
 It would also be a good idea if..
 In my view, / In my humble opinion, / I am confident that...
 In this way, / Thus, / Consequently, / Therefore, / Hence, / As a result,
 Since / As / Because / Due to the fact that
 In conclusion, / Taking everything into consideration, / To sum up, / All in all, ...
(from ‘On Screen B2’ by Express Publishing)