REPORT WRITING

A report should be ...

ACCURATE
 true facts, precise wording, supporting data, reference to
sources
CONCISE
 all the important ideas in as few words as possible
 avoid repetitions (KISS)
CLEAR
 easy to read
 clear organisation of the text: sections, subsections,
headings, subheadings, paragraphing, numbering….
 not too long sentences
OBJECTIVE
 content: include all the relevant information (do not be
biased)
 impersonal style (e.g. do not use emotional words...)
 PROPOSED STRUCTURE
OF A SHORT REPORT
 TITLE

 INTRODUCTION (TERMS OF REFERENCE)

 PROCEDURE (or METHOD)

 FINDINGS

 CONCLUSIONS

 RECOMMENDATIONS (if required)

Which sections of the report do
the following belong to?
1. The purpose of this report is to ...
2. The report was requested by Mr Jasons, Sales Manager.
3. It was concluded that ...
4. The recommendations are that ... should be ...
5. This report has been written because ....
6. The objectives of this report are to ....
7. The main findings were that ...
8. It was to be submitted to the Sales Manager by 02 November
2006.
9. This report examines (presents) .... .
10. 200 respondents, chosen by the random sample method, were
surveyed. Of these, 167 were invited for interview.
11. The findings indicated that...
12. Report on the Croatian National Bank’s Monetary Policy
13. The major finding of the investigation was that ...
14. I recommend that ... should be ...
15. This report was requested on 14 October 2006.
Rewrite the following sentences to improve
objectivity and to incorporate an impersonal style.

 The enormous increase of 32 percent proves the sales

department has done a superb job.
 The proposed procedure is bad because it would
require 15% more employees.
 The enormous increase of 33 percent was a result of
the amazing growth in city population of 10,000
during the past year.
 The horrible effect on employees from the change in
parking regulations will be one of creating massive
traffic problems.
 You can hardly imagine the effect of incentive pay on
employee morale.
 I feel certain that the new plan is better than the old
method.
 Most of us agree that a monthly status meeting will
be helpful.
 Blue words out, red sentences in

 The enormous increase of 32 percent proves the sales department has

done a superb job. The sales department has increased sales by
32 percent during the past quarter.
 The proposed procedure is bad because it would require 15% more
employees. The proposed procedure would require 15 percent more
employee time.
 The enormous increase of 33 percent was a result of the amazing
growth in city population of 10,000 during the past year. The city
population increase of 10,000 during the past year represents a
33 percent growth rate
 The horrible effect on employees from the change in parking
regulations will be one of creating massive traffic problems. The
change in parking regulations will create additional traffic congestion.
 You can hardly imagine the effect of incentive pay on employee morale.
Incentive pay improved employee morale in the following ways:...
 I feel certain that the new plan is better than the old method. The new
plan is more effective than the old method for the following reasons:...
 Most of us agree that a monthly status meeting will be helpful. In the
quarterly staff meeting 15 out of 18 members of staff supported having
a monthly meeting.
 PROPOSED STRUCTURE
OF A LONGER REPORT
 TITLE

 ABSTRACT (SUMMARY)

 INTRODUCTION: general background

 PROCEDURE (or METHOD)

 FINDINGS

 CONCLUSIONS

 RECOMMENDATIONS (if required)

 REFERENCES
WRITING LONGER REPORTS

 based on small research

 follows a presentation?
 rules for summary writing
 sample of students’ assessed reports
(teacher’s office)
 if necessary, consultations during the
writing process (topic, data collection,
structure, ...)
Technicalities
 referencing (in-text and end of text)
 footnotes if necessary
 paragraphing
 Times New Roman, 12, spacing: 1.5
Typical mistakes
 abstract (summary) vs. introduction
 unclear structure in the abstract
 referencing: unclear sources (in the text and in the
references/bibliography)
 unreliable sources (Wiki?)
 spelling and grammar (spellchecker)
 insufficiently researched
 lack of objectivity (advertising or report?, writer
emotionally attached → biased)
 out-of-date facts and figures
 plagiarism
REFERENCING
References defined as
“A set of data describing a document or
part of a document, sufficiently
precise and detailed to identify it and
enable it to be located. (British
Standards Institute (1990) p3)

Major source: University of Southampton, 2003

When should you use references in
your reports?
 When quoting directly from someone else’s
work.
 When paraphrasing the work of another
author
 When using something as background
reading, but where it still has influenced
over your thinking towards your piece of
work ...
(*In your future research: When referring to previously published
work of your own.)
What information to include in
references?
 Author’s surname and initials
 Title, with any sub-titles
 Year of publication
 Edition if other than the first
 Publisher:location and name
 journals: name, volume number, part
number, pages (e.g. p.5, pp.45-60)
 Web or e-mail address.
TIPS
 “Plagiarism often begins unwittingly
at the note-making stage”
 Distinguish in your notes between
direct quotes and own paraphrases.
 Three or more authors – cite the first
author and use ‘et al.’ in place of the
others.
Read the handout on referencing
and do the following ex.:
 You are using a book called ‘Developing
essential study skills’, published in 2000 and
written by Elaine Payne. It was published by
Pearson Education Limited, who are based in
Harlow and it is a first edition.
 You have an article from the journal
‘Sociology’. It is written by Claire Wallace and
is entitled ‘Household strategies’. It is to be
found in volume 36, number 2 and pages 275 -
292. The date of the publication is May 2002.