Steps in Report writing

The actual process of report writing can be divided into 3

stages :

(I) Pre writing

II) Writing stage

(III) Rewriting Stage

 Prewriting Stage
■ In the prewriting stage, the following steps
should be followed.
1. Establish the purpose of your writing report.
2. Determine the intended readers of your report
– (Top level , middle level, general public ,
workers etc)
3. Narrow down the subject to a few listed topics
in the light of the purpose of the report.
4. Collect the background research material from
libraries , industrial & government data on the
relevant subject.
 Steps in report writing (continued)
■ Obtain information on the topic under study by:
(a) making personal observations
(b) Interviewing the concerned parties,
(c) Asking & helping various concerned persons to fill up the
(pre-designed) questionnaire.
6.Analyze & evaluate the collected data.

II Writing stage
After gaining & gathering the relevant information to be
presented, next step involves outlining & organizing the
matter in logical sequence to write the first draft of the
report. Business report may be short , written in letter
or memo form, or long. The short form is written in an
informal way whereas long report is prepared &
presented in formal structure .
Rewriting Stage

■ This is the third stage of writing business reports. This involves

reviewing , revising & recopying the matter already written .For
this , the following points must be kept in mind:

1.Is this report Coherent with the overall purpose & selective
objectives of its writing>

2.Is the information presented completely?

3.Is the matter written concisely (no wordy expressions are used)

4.Are the facts & figures recorded correctly?

5.Are they free from grammatical errors?

6.Is the report written in a courteous way?

7.Is it free from personal attack / unparliamentary language ?

 Structure of Short reports –Informal
reports
■ Subject & purpose of the report

■ Data & its sources

■ Methods of study

■ Findings & conclusions

■ Recommendations
 Contents of long reports
(Formal reports)
■ Prefatory Part:

1. COVER
This is the hard sheet/outer wrapping intended to protect the
manuscript & to give the report a nice appearance. The
cover contains the following :

a) Title of the report

b) Its number
c) date
d) Classification as top secret , secret , confidential
e) Name of the author or agency presenting the report.
f) Name of the receiving authority.
SPECIMEN COVER PAGE

Confidential
Report No:2392

VISHAKA FERTILIZERS LIMITED

Jodhpur
A Report on Purchasing Practices
By
AIMIT
Dec-10 , 2014
 Prefatory Part of formal report

2.Title Page: Title page is the first right hand page of the report. It
usually contains the same information & contents which appear on
the cover of the report.
■ This contain all the identifying information – Title of the report,
name of the company recipient , date & name of the writer etc.,

3. Authorization Letter:
This is required to be inserted in the report. This authorizes the
researcher to begin the investigations & present findings. It
contains the following:
■ A brief statement of the problem
■ Scope & limitations of the investigations
■ Time & cost constraints
 Specimen – Forwarding letter
Nag fertilizers & chemicals Ltd.
Mall road, Vishakapatnam.
To
Dec-10, 2014.
The Managing Director,
Nagarjuna Fertilizers &chemicals
Mall road, Vishakapatnam.
Sir,
I feel immense pleasure in submitting the report on problems of
Human Relations in Vishkapatnam plant. This work was assigned to
me on 22 Nov 2014 . This study was necessitated due to human
relations problems at the plant. I wish to thank you for this
opportunity as this experience has helped me to have a better
insight into human behavior practices in the company.
After studying the problems , I have found that deteriorating human
relations has adversely affected the performance & profitability of
the company. The present environment is not conducive to
encourage creativity & innovation among employees.
 Sample letter -continued
The management should, therefore, look into the genuine
demands of the employees & initiate necessary steps to
empower them.
I hope , by following the recommendations mentioned in
the report, the management will create congenial
environment for work.
With regards,
Yours Sincerely,
N.M. Nina
 Prefatory Part
4.Forwarding Letter / letter of transmittal: Most formal reports
contain a letter of transmittal , a kind of personal communication
from the writer to the reader. It helps to have a bird’s eye view of
the report even without reading the whole report.

This letter contains the following:

A brief introduction of the report

The methodology adopted &a brief account of the work done.

Expressing gratitude to the people who assisted in the study

Problems faced during the study.

 Prefatory report

5. Preface : This is the preliminary message from the writer

to the reader.
■ It gives an account of the following:
1. Brief reasons for taking up the study.
2. Important findings
3. Its uses & problems encountered during the study.
4. It is normally contained in not more than 1or 2 pages.

6. Forward :To add grace & credibility of the report, a

forward by some expert / authority on the concerned
subject is added. While preface is written by the author
himself , the forward is written by someone who is an
expert in that particular area.
7. Acknowledgement: This contains the author’s expression of
gratitude & indebtedness to those who have helped in
preparation & presentation of the report.
 Prefatory of the report

8. Table of contents : This contains a list of all topics & tables , with
their corresponding page number in the report. It is like a route
map to locate a particular topic.

9. List of illustrations: If the report has a number of tables, charts,

diagrams – a separate list of illustrations is given after the contents
of table. This enables easy references to the reader of the report.

10.Executive Summary: This is also called synopsis or highlights of the

report. It summarizes all the ingredients of the report.
 Main Body of the report
1. Introduction:

The purpose of introduction is to introduce the subject

matter the reader& to orient him to the problem at
hand.
The following items are included in the introduction of the
report.
■ Origin of the report specifying the historical &
technical background.

■ Scope of the study ( coverage area of the problem).

■ Methods of collecting data & techniques of analyzing

data.

■ Definition of special terms

■ Limitations of study.
 Main Body (continued)
2. Analysis & Description :This part of the report deals with the
collection of data, analyses it & relates it to the problem.

3. Conclusion : The outcome of the report is mentioned in the form of

conclusions.

4. Recommendations: This is contained in the investigation reports,

market reports etc. This contains a specified course of action to be
taken .It is based on the writer’s interpretation derived from the
conclusion of the report.
 Back Matter of the report

■ Appendix :All supportive materials & documents –questionnaire ,data,

new clipping , pictures –are presented in this part of report under
the head Appendices /Appendix

■ References: If the writer has referred to certain books , articles ,

reports & other un published material

■ Bibliography: This is alphabetically ordered list of publications &

unpublished works which the writer has consulted before or during
the preparation of the report. This is different from references.
The Bibliography lists the works in alphabetical order , whereas the
References are in the order (sequence) in which they are cited in
the text.