CHAPTER 5

FORMAL REPORT
 WHAT IS FORMAL BUSINESS REPORT?

• Discuss the results of investigation and analysis of research.

• Well-written formal business report:

• Organize information in a logical, systematic, and easy-to-follow format.
• Provide a framework for decision making.

• Steps in preparing a formal report:

(i) Defining the project
(ii) Collecting data
(iii) Organizing the data
(iv) Writing the final report
 DEFINING THE PROJECT
• It begins with the conceptualization of the overall project.
• You need to:
✔ Define the project – title of your report
✔ Access the resources available –e.g., time, budget
✔ Understand the constraints/limitation

• Next, write a statement of purpose.

• Defines the focus of the report and provides a standard that keeps the report
on target.
• Choose action verbs telling what you intend to do: analyze, investigate,
compare, justify, evaluate, explain, determine.
 COLLECTING THE DATA

• Two (2) categories of data:

Secondary data
❖ Consists of previously collected information.
❖ Can be found in published sources (i.e. articles, journal) and
nonpublished sources (i.e. company report).
❖ More easier and cheaper to obtain.

Primary data
❖ Consists of newly collected information.
❖ Generated using research methods, such as interviews,
observation, and questionnaire.
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Secondary
• Print Resources Data
Books
✔ Provide excellent historical, in-depth data.

Periodicals
✔ Refer to magazines, pamphlets, and journal.
✔ Articles in journal and other periodicals can be extremely useful,
especially with regard to specialized topics, current topics, and the
opinion and ideas of experts.
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Secondary
• Electronic Databases Data
• Become a major source of secondary data.

• It is a collection of information stored electronically so that it is accessible by

computer and digitally searchable.

• Databases provide bibliographic information (titles of documents and brief

abstracts) and full-text documents.

• Examples of databases that usually used – ProQuest, Emerald, Factiva (Dow

Jones), Academic Search Premier (EBSCO).
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Secondary
Data
• The Web
⮚The World Wide Web (WWW) includes an enormous collection of pages
created by people around the world.

⮚It is interactive, mobile, and user-friendly with multimedia content ranging

from digital sound files to vivid images and video files.

⮚Web Browsers – software programs that enable us to view the graphics and
text, as well as access links to web pages. Example – Internet Explorer, Google
Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox.

⮚Search Tools / Search Engine – a service that indexes, organizes, and often
rates and reviews Web pages. Example – Google, Bing, Yahoo Search,
Ask.com.
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Secondary
• Blogs and Social Networks Data
❑Used by business researchers, students, politicians, the media, and many
others to share and gather information.

❑Individuals’ opinion or news items are posted regularly, allowing visitors to

comment.

❑Usually produce honest, current, and inexpensive consumer feedback fast

and inexpensively.

❑Example – Twitter and Facebook

 COLLECTING THE DATA
Primary
• Surveys Data
❖Used to collect data from groups of people.

❖Methods of survey – snail-mailed, e-mailed, and online survey.

❖Advantages:
o Gather data economically, efficiently, and quickly.

o Can reach large sample populations nearby or at great distances.

o Respondents for online surveys may have time to consider their answers,
thereby possibly improving the accuracy of the data.
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Primary
Data
• Surveys
❖Disadvantages:
o The response rates may be extremely low.

o Those who do respond may not represent a valid and accurate sample of
the overall population, thus affecting the results of the research.

o Truthfulness – some respondents exaggerate their incomes or distort

other facts, thus causing the results to be invalid.
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Primary
• Interviews Data
▪ Interviews with experts produce useful report data, especially when little has
been written about a topic.

▪ Methods of interviews – in person, telephone, or online interviews.

▪ Techniques for a successful interviews:

✔Locate an expert – people who are considered
knowledgeable in their areas.

✔Prepare for the interview – know about the interviewee,

background of topic, and a list of questions to ask.
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Primary
Data
• Techniques for a successful interviews:
✔Maintain a professional attitude
▪ Call before the interview to confirm the arrangements, and arrive on time.
▪ Dress professionally, and use your body language to convey respect.
▪ Respect the interviewee and do not interrupt or disagree with the
interviewee.

✔Make your questions objective and straightforward

▪ The use of open-ended questions rather than yes-or-no questions will allow
the interviewee to elaborate on the topic.

✔Keep track of the time

▪ Tell interviewees in advance how much time you expect to need for interviews.

✔End graciously
▪ Express your appreciation, and ask permission to telephone later if you need to
verify information.
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Primary
• Observation Data
▪ Decide what or whom you are observing, and how often those observations
are necessary to provide valid and reliable data.

▪ Get permissions beforehand, particularly if you are recording.

• Experimentation
▪ Produces data suggesting causes and effects.

▪ Valid experiments require sophisticated research designs and careful

attention to matching the experimental and control groups.
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Documenting
Information
• In writing business and other reports, we may paraphrase or quote
ideas and words of others.

• Thus, we need to give credit to our information sources – this is called

documentation.

• Using the ideas of someone else without giving credit is called

plagiarism and is unethical.
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Documenting
Information
(i) Recognizing the Purpose of Documentation
⮚Reasons why we need to document report data properly:
To strengthen your argument
❖ Including good data fro reputable sources will convince readers of your
credibility and the logic of your reasoning.

To instruct the reader

❖ Citing references enables readers to pursue a topic further.

To make sure you do not plagiarize

❖ Careful acknowledgment of your sources shows that you are a professional
writer.
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Documenting
Information
(ii) Learning What to Document

To avoid plagiarism, give credit whenever we use the following:

✔ Another person’s ideas, opinions, examples, or theory.
✔ Facts, statistics, graphs, and drawings that are not common knowledge.
✔ Quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words.
✔ Paraphrases of another person’s spoken or written words.
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Documenting
Information
(iii) Developing Good Research Habits.
▪ It is a good idea to develop the habit of carefully recording
documentation data immediately after locating the information.

▪ By doing this, extra time does not have to be spent in relocating the
citations.

▪ Tips for gathering the documentation data:

 COLLECTING THE DATA
Documenting
Information
Sources What to Record? Sources What to Record?
Book Record the:
▪ Title Online Record the:
▪ Author(s) newspaper ▪ Article Title
▪ Publisher and ▪ Author(s)
▪ Place of publication magazine ▪ Publication title
▪ Years of publication articles ▪ Date the article was written
▪ Pages cited ▪ The exact URL

Newspaper Record the:

, ▪ Publication title
magazine, ▪ Article title
An entire Record the:
and journal ▪ Author(s)
Web site ▪ Name of the company or
articles ▪ Issue/volume number
organization sponsoring the site
▪ Date
▪ The URL
▪ Pages cited
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Documenting
(iv) Practising the Fine Information
Art of Paraphrasing.
❖Paraphrasing – restating an original passage in your own words and in
your own style.
❖Useful guidelines:
Read the original material carefully to comprehend its full meaning.
Write your own version while referring to the original material as little
as possible.
Avoid repeating the grammatical structure of the original and merely
replacing words with synonyms.
Reread the original to be sure you covered the main points but did not
borrow specific language.
 COLLECTING THE DATA
Documenting
Information
(v) Knowing When and How to Quote

Four (4) purposes of direct quotations:

(1) To provide objective background data and establish the severity of a

problem as seen by experts.

(2) To repeat identical phrasing because of its precision, clarity, or aptness.

(3) To duplicate exact wording before criticizing.

(4) To substantiate and lend credibility to your viewpoint on a controversial topic.

 COLLECTING THE DATA
Documenting
Information
(vi) Using Citation Format.

❑The most common citation formats are:

✔ American Psychological Association (APA)

✔ Modern Language Association (MLA)

 ORGANIZING DATA
Organizational
Strategies
• Once you have collected the data for a report , you are ready to
organize it into a coherent plan of presentation.

• The readability and effectiveness of a report are greatly enhanced by

skilful organization of the information presented.

• 2 important items that need to clarify:

(i) Where should I place the findings and conclusions?
(ii) How should I organize the findings?
 ORGANIZING DATA
Organizational
Strategies
(i) Where should I place the findings and conclusions?
The common sequence:

Presenting the findings (facts and discussion)

Provide conclusion

Provide recommendation
*Conclusion and recommendation are relate to the findings.
 ORGANIZING DATA
Organizational
(ii) How should I organizeStrategies
the findings?
Three (3) principals organizational patterns:
Chronological order
▪ Information sequenced along a time line.
▪ Effective for presenting historical data or for describing a procedure.

Geographical or spatial arrangement

▪ Information is organized by physical location.
▪ Appropriate for topics that are easily divided into locations, such as East Coast, West Coast, etc.

Topical arrangement from simple to complex

▪ Arrangement of topic from a simple concept to more complex ideas.
▪ Works well for topics with established categories, such as report about categories of company
expenses.
 CREATING EFFECTIVE GRAPHICS
Matching
Graphics
(1) Tables
❖Presents quantitative or verbal information in systematic columns
and rows.

❖It can clarify large quantities of data in small spaces.

❖Tips for designing good tables:

✔ Place titles and labels at the top of the table.
✔ Arrange items in a logical order (alphabetical, chronological, geographical,
highest to lowest), depending on what you need to emphasize.
 CREATING EFFECTIVE GRAPHICS
Matching
Graphics
✔ Provide clear headings for the rows and columns.
✔ Identify the units in which figures are given (percentage, dollars, units).
 CREATING EFFECTIVE GRAPHICS
Matching
Graphics
(2) Bar Graph
❖To make emphatic visual comparisons by using horizontal or vertical
bars of varying lengths.

❖Are useful for comparing related items, illustrating changes in data

over time, and showing segments as part of a whole.
 CREATING EFFECTIVE GRAPHICS
Matching
Graphics
❖Tips for good bar graph:

✔ Keep the length and width of each bar and segment proportional.

✔ Include a total figure in the middle of a bar or at its end if the figure helps the
reader and does not clutter the chart.

✔ Start the amount at zero.

✔ Place the first bar at some distance (usually half the amount of space between
bars) from the y axis.
CREATING EFFECTIVE GRAPHICS
Matching
Graphics
 CREATING EFFECTIVE GRAPHICS
Matching
(3) Line Chart Graphics
❖To demonstrate changes in quantitative data over time.

❖They show changes over time, thus indicating trends.

 CREATING EFFECTIVE GRAPHICS
Matching
Graphics
(4) Pie Chart
❑To visualize a whole unit and the proportions of its components.

❑Useful for showing percentages.

❑Tips for effective pie chart:

✔ Place the largest wedge near the top of the circle and arrange the others in
descending order.
✔ Include the actual percentage for each wedge.
✔ Use four to six segments for best results; smaller wedges can be grouped in a
segment labelled Other.
 CREATING EFFECTIVE GRAPHICS
Matching
Graphics
(5) Flowcharts.
❑Use standard symbols to illustrate a process or procedure.

❑It help the reader visualize the process.

 CREATING EFFECTIVE GRAPHICS
Matching
Graphics
(6) Organization Charts
❖Illustrate a company’s structure – for example, by function, customer, or product.

❖They may also be organized by the work being performed in each job or by the
hierarchy of decision making.
 CREATING EFFECTIVE GRAPHICS
Matching
Graphics
(7) Photographs, Maps, and Illustrations
⮚Photos – add authenticity and provide a visual record.
⮚Maps – depict activities or concentrations geographically.
⮚Illustrations and diagrams – useful in indicating how an object looks
and operates.
 CREATING EFFECTIVE GRAPHICS
Incorporating Graphics in
Reports
• Suggestion on how to put graphics into the report:

Evaluate the audience – Consider the reader, the content, schedule, and budget.

Use restraint – Don’t overuse color or decoration. Too much color can be distracting and
confusing.

Be accurate and ethical – Double-check all graphics for accuracy of figures and calculations.
Be sure to cite sources when you use someone else’s facts.

Introduce a graph meaningfully – Refer to every graphic in the text, and place the graphic
close to the point where it is mentioned. Be specific and summarize the main point of the
graphic.
 CREATING EFFECTIVE GRAPHICS
Incorporating Graphics in
Reports
Choose appropriate captions or titles - Graphics may use “talking” titles or generic,
functional titles. Talking titles are more persuasive; they tell the reader what to think.
Functional titles make general references using nouns without interpreting the data.
 PRESENTING THE FINAL REPORT
Front Matter
(1) Title Page Components
❑Name of the report, often in uppercase letters (no underscore and no
quotation marks).

❑Prepared by (or Submitted by) followed by the author’s name and title.

❑Prepared for (or Submitted to) followed by the name, title, and
organization of the individual receiving the report.

❑Date of submission.
 PRESENTING THE FINAL REPORT
Front Matter
Components
(2) Letter or Memo of Transmittal
❖A letter or memorandum of transmittal may introduce a formal report.

❖The transmittal document typically:

(a) announces the topic of the report and tells how it was
authorized;
(b) briefly describes the project;
(c)highlights the report’s findings, conclusions, and
recommendations; (d) closes with appreciation for the assignment
or instruction for follow-up actions.
 PRESENTING THE FINAL REPORT
Front Matter
Components
(3) Table of Content
o Shows the main sections in the report and their page numbers.
o The table of contents includes front matter items, the body section’s main
headings and subheadings, and back matter sections, such as the
appendix.

(4) List of Figures

o For reports with many figures or tables, you may wish to list the figures to
help readers locate them easily.
o For each figure or table, include a title and page number.
 PRESENTING THE FINAL REPORT
Front Matter
Components
(5) Executive Summary
⮚The purpose of an executive summary is to present an overview of the
longer report for people who may not have time to read the entire
document.

⮚The writer’s goal is to summarize the report’s major sections, such as the
purpose, background, conclusions, and recommendations.

⮚Readers often go straight to the executive summary and look for the
recommendations before glancing at the full report.
 PRESENTING THE FINAL REPORT
Body of
Report
(1) Introduction
• A good report introduction typically covers the following elements:
Background – sets the stage for understanding the content that will be
presented in the report. The reader is then prepared to understand the full
meaning of the report.

Problem or purpose – explanation of the problem or need that motivated

the report.

Significance - Account of the importance of the report topic, which may

include quotes from experts, journals, or Web resources.
 PRESENTING THE FINAL REPORT
Body of
Report

• Scope - Boundaries of the report, defining what will be included or excluded.

• Sources and methods - A description of secondary sources (periodicals, books,

databases) and methods of collecting primary data.

• Organization - A road map or structure of the report.

 PRESENTING THE FINAL REPORT
Body of
Report
(2) Discussion and Findings
❖The main section of the report.

❖This section discusses, analyzes, interprets, and evaluates the research

findings or solution to the initial problem.

❖Include tables, charts, and graphs, if necessary, to illustrate your findings.

 PRESENTING THE FINAL REPORT
Body of
Report
(3) Conclusions and Recommendations
❑Conclusion –explains what the findings mean, particularly in terms of
solving a problem.

❑Recommendation – advocating a course of action that are related to the

findings or data presented.
 PRESENTING THE FINAL REPORT
Supplementary Parts of a
Report
(1) References, or Bibliography
⮚Common method – Modern Language Association (MLA) and American
Psychological Association (APA).

⮚For all sources used in the report, include the author, title, publication,
date of publication, page number, and other significant data.

⮚For electronic references include the URL and the date you accessed the
information online.
 PRESENTING THE FINAL REPORT
Supplementary Parts of a
Report
(2) Appendixes
⮚Incidental or supporting materials belong in appendixes at the end of
a formal report.

⮚It may include survey forms, copies of other reports, tables of data,
large graphics, and related correspondence.
The End