Report Writing

Reports are documents which presents specific, focused content -often the result of an experiment, investigation, or inquiry to a specific audience.

Purpose of Report WritingTo give the information.To records events for decision

making.To recommend specific action.

Types of Reports Formal or InformalShort or LongInformational or AnalyticalVertical or LateralInternal or externalPeriodic ReportFunctional

◦Accounting◦Marketing◦Financial

Proposal Report

Five stages of Report WritingDefine the problem and purposeIdentifying and organizing the

issues for investigation Conduct ResearchAnalyzing and Interpreting dataConclusions and

Recommendations

Defining Problem Statement of problem

◦ What needs to be determined?◦ Why is the issue important?◦ Who is involved?◦ Is there trouble? If yes, where?◦ When did it start?◦ How to resolve the issue?

Statement of Purpose◦ To investigate◦ To determine◦ To identify◦ To analyze◦ To select

Identification of areas affecting investigationIdentify the factors that influence cause

and/or affect the problem. Three types:◦ Informative or factual data◦Explanatory of hypothetical◦Comparative factors

• Preliminary Outline

• Gathering Background information◦Primary Research◦Secondary Research

Conducting ResearchIdentify information through

Questionnaires/ Surveys/ Interviews/Observations

Collect dataSurveys

◦Reliability◦Validity

• Types of questions◦Open-ended or Closed-ended◦Multiple options/ Grades/ Ranking

While administering questionnaires…

Detailed instructionsShort and easy questionsCollation of data, e.g.

table/graphs/chartsLeading and suggestive

questions should be avoid

Evaluation and Analysis of Data

Quantitative or Qualitative analysis

Interpretation of resultsDrawing ConclusionsRecommendations

Structure and LayoutFront Matter1. Letter of Transmittal2. Frontispiece3. Title page4. Copyright Notice5. Preface (By Author)6. Acknowledgement7. Table of Contents8. List of Illustrations9. Glossary and List of Symbols10. Abstract and Executive Summary

Copyright Symbol

Three elements:

The copyright symbol © (the letter C in a circle), or the word "Copyright," or the abbreviation "Copr."

The year of first publication of the work.

The name of the owner of copyright in the work, or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of the owner.

Example: copyright © 2002 John Doe

Cover Title of the reportAuthorsName of OrganizationDate of submission of report

Structure and Layout

Main BodyIntroduction

◦Purpose (Why and What )◦Scope ( areas and factors covered)◦Limitation◦Perspective (expectations from the

report)◦Research Methodology◦Results and Discussion/ Findings◦Conclusions and Recommendations

Back MatterAppendicesList of ReferencesBibliography

AppendicesMaterial needed to support main bodyKind of material included

◦Questionnaire◦Statistical calculations◦Sample of forms◦ Illustrative material◦Specimens◦Transcripts◦Corrspondance◦Summaries of specific results◦

List of ReferencesUsed to give credit to the work

quoted in reportAcknowledge the sourceFollow Alphabetical orderGiven in the form of

◦Footnotes◦Author-Date reference

FootnotesUsed if there are small number of

referencesMade at the end of pageText to be acknowledged numbered as

subscriptE.g. The results are in keeping with the

recent findings at the Marol1 branch.

1. Sanjay Upadhyay, “The working of the Micro Finance Department, Western Region”, Management Review, April 2010, 22-27.

ReferenceBook:

Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and family therapy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

Department of Community Health, 2008. Report on longeivity and health concerns. New Delhi: Govt. of India

Reference

Anthology (different authors writing different chapters)Salovey, P., Bedell, B. T., Detweiler, J. B., & Mayer, J. D. (2000). Current directions in emotional intelligence research. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed.). (pp. 417-520). New York: Guilford Press.

ReferenceThesisRosete. D. (2007). Does

Emotional Intelligence play an important role in leadership effectiveness. Unpublished dissertation. University of Wonglongong. Wonglongong.

ReferenceJournal

Ross, S. M., & Offermann, L. R. (1997). Transformational leaders: Measurement of personality attributes and work group performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 23(10): 1078-1086.

ReferenceConferenceSinha, A., (2005) Creativity and

innovation: The only survival tool. In: Ghosh, B. (ed.) Managerial Growth and Innovation. Proceedings of fifth International Conference of Innovation and Creativity. 3 – 7 March 2005. New Delhi: University of Delhi. Pp. 44-65

Exhibition CatalogueIndus Art Gallery. 2008. Printing

Technology. Catalogue of an exhibition at Indus. January 17 to February 5, 2008. Mumbai Indus Gallery

Online sourceMayer J D, Salovey P and Caruso

D R. 2003. Calculation for local consensus scoring pattern. Psychotheme Journal (online) 17(2). Available from: http://www.unh.edu/emotional-intelligence/ei.com/ (Accesed July 7, 2009)