SUBJECT CODE: APPLIED 004

SUBJECT TITLE: English for Academic and Professional Purposes

LESSON TITLE: Writing a Report

MOST ESSENTIAL EARNING COMPETENCIES (MELCs):

 Determine the objectives and structures of various kinds of reports.
 Write various reports.

CONTENT/CORE CONTENT: Types of Reports, Technical Report, and Structure of

Report

Good Day learners!

Document writing is important not only in academic writing, but it also serves as proof of
what happened in real incidents in various fields of work. In this lesson, you will learn
how to write different reports. A crime, for example, necessitates a police report, a
patient's condition necessitates a medical report, school events and activities
necessitate a narrative report, and so on.

Reports are documents that wish to inform, analyze or recommend. It is written for a
clear purpose to a specific audience.

Report writing is a structured style of writing that focuses on a specific subject in depth.
The tone of a report, as well as the style in which it is written, is often formal. The target
group is a critical section to concentrate on. For instance, writing a report about a school
occurrence, writing a report about a business case, and so on.

Major types of reports

A. Formal Reports

These are considered official reports that contain detailed information taken from
research and data necessary in making decisions.
Two types of Formal Reports

a. Informational Report (annual report and audit report)

b. Analytical Report (incident report and research report or technical report)

B. Informal Reports

These are documents shared within an organization. They are usually shorter in length
and have fewer sections.

Examples: Progress Report, Minutes of the Meeting, Memo, Emails

Structure of a Report

A key feature of reports is that they are formally structured in sections. The use of
sections makes it easy for the reader to jump straight to the information they need.

Unlike an essay, which is written in a single narrative style from beginning to end, each
section of a report serves a distinct purpose and must be written in a style that is
suitable for that purpose – for example, the methodology and results sections are
primarily descriptive, while the discussion section must be analytical.

As general guidance, reports are usually arranged in sections, each with a clear
heading. A simple report is likely to include at least the following:

Introduction, including aims and objectives

State what your research/project/enquiry is about. What are you writing about, why and
for whom? What are your objectives? What are you trying to show or prove (your
hypothesis)?

Methodology

State how you did your research/enquiry and the methods you used. How did you
collect your data? For example, if you conducted a survey, say how many people were
included and how you selected them. Say whether you used interviews or
questionnaires and how you analyzed the data.

Findings/results

Give the results of your research. Do not, at this stage, try to interpret the results –
simply report them. This section may include graphs, charts, diagrams etc. (clearly
labelled). Be very careful about copyright if you are using published charts, tables,
illustrations etc.
Discussion

Interpret your findings. What do they show? Were they what you expected? Could your
research have been done in a better way?

Conclusions and recommendations

These should follow on logically from the Findings and Discussion sections. Summarize
the key points of your findings and show whether they prove or disprove your
hypothesis. If you have been asked to, you can make recommendations arising from
your research.

Structure of a Survey Report

A survey report is a formal piece of writing based on research

1. Introduction

The introduction of a survey report contains the aim or purpose of the report. It also tells
when and how the information was gathered. This section provides the background of
the study.

2. Main body

All the information collected and analyzed are presented clearly and in detail. The
respondents are broken down into groups according to sex, age and place of residence.
It also states the main differences between groups. Subheadings, numbers or letters
can be used to separate each piece of information.

The information contained in this section shows the key results from the survey. It does
not need to include every possible breakdown of the data. Rather, it should highlight
results that are both statistical and practical significance.

3. Conclusion

This section sums up the points mentioned in the introduction and body of the survey
report. If necessary, a recommendation can be included as well. One way of summing
up is also making some general comments on the survey.

Useful Hints and Phrases in Presenting the Gathered Results in a Survey

Present tenses, reported speech and an impersonal style should be used in survey
reports. Use a variety of reporting verbs such as claim, state, report, agree, complain,
suggest, etc.

When reporting the results of a survey, the figures gathered should be given in the form
of percentages and proportions. Expressions such as “one in four” be used.
Useful language for Survey Report: or “six out of ten” can be used, or exact
percentages e.g. 25% of the people questioned, 68% of those who filled in the
questionnaire, etc. Less exact expressions such as: the majority of those questioned, a
large proportion of, a significant number of, etc.

TECHNICAL REPORT

A technical report is an
Technical reports are
academic paper that
major resources of
dives into the details of a
scientific and academic
specific problem, issue
information
or topic.

Technical report, known also as

scientific report or research paper, is a
well-written academic paper that
includes the process of identifying a
problem, progress in determining the
treatment of data, and the
interpretation of the results.
 TIPS IN WRITING A TECHNICAL REPORT

Your thesis will say it all. The thesis statement is the center or your technical
report and will give readers a glimpse of the content of
your work.

Books are better than Although the Internet is the major source of information
the Internet. nowadays, books should still be used to gather important
data.

Look for similar Using researches that are similar to what you are
researches. planning to do is a great start.

Be in the most formal You are writing an academic paper not a fairytale, so you
tone. have to make sure that you use formal and technical
words in creating your sentences and paragraphs.

Be less subjective. Be The way you present your findings is to interpret and
more objective. show what you found out without sounding too personal.
 MECHANICS TO OBSERVE IN WRITING A REPORT

PAPER
Use short bond
papers
FONT
Use formal types like
Times New Roman,
Arial, Calibri, or
Tahoma

SPACING
Double

MARGINS
Left – 1.5, Top, Right,
& Bottom – 1 inch

PAGINATION
At the upper right
hand corner

USAGE
Observe correct
spelling, grammar,
and punctuation
INDENTION
Beginning every
paragraph

INTELLECTUAL
HONESTY
Cite all sources, lists
all references cited, PARAGRAPH
and never DEVELOPMENT
plagiarize. Observe
coherence, unity,
and emphasis
References:

Bernales, R.A, Biligan, R.J.G., & Aldaca, V.A.T. (2018) English for Academic and
Professional Purposes: A Work-Text for Senior High School, pp 26-38. Malabon
City: Mutya Publishing House, Inc.

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