How to write a Professional Report
How to write a Professional Report
Writing Reports
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• Understand the purposes of a report
• Plan a report
CONTENTS
• Understand the structure of a report
OBJECTIVES
• Collect information for your report
• Organise your information
• Use an appropriate style of writing
• Present data effectively
• Understand how to lay out your information in an appropriate way
• Writing reports
• Different types of reports
• Stages in report writing
• Terms of reference
• Planning your report
• Collecting information
• Organising information
• Structuring your report
• Style of writing
• Layout
• Presentation
• Redrafting and checking
• Checklist
Writing reports
A report is a statement of the results of an investigation or of any matter on which definite information is required.
(Oxford English Dictionary)
Reports are a highly structured form of writing often following conventions that have been laid down to produce a common format. Structure and convention in written reports stress the process by which the information was gathered as much as the information itself
Different types of reports
During your time at university you may be asked to write different types of reports, depending upon the subject area that you have chosen. These could include laboratory reports, technical reports, reports of a work placement or industrial visit, reports of a field trip or fieldwork.
Reports vary in their purpose, but all of them will require a formal structure and careful planning, presenting the material in a logical manner using.
The following section explores each stage in the development of your report, making recommendations for structure and technique.
Stages in report
The following stages are involved in writing a report:
• clarifying your terms of reference
• planning your work
• collecting your information
• organising and structuring your information
• writing the first draft
• checking and redrafting.
Terms of reference
The terms of reference of a report are a guiding statement used to define the scope of your investigation. You must be clear from the start about what you are being asked to do. You will probably have been given an assignment from your tutor but you may need to discuss this further to find out the precise subject and purpose of the report. Why have you been asked to write it ?
Knowing your purpose will help you to communicate your information more clearly and will help you to be more selective when collecting your information.
Careful planning will help you to write a clear, concise, and effective report, giving adequate time to each of the developmental stages prior to submission.
• Consider the report as a whole
• Break down the task of writing the report into various parts.
• How much time do you have to write the report?
• How can this be divided up into the various planning stages?
• Set yourself deadlines for the various stages.
Draw up an outline structure for your report and
Set the work within a sensible time scale for completion by the given deadline.
Some of the most time-consuming parts of the process are collecting and selecting your information, and checking and revising your report.
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