REPORT WRITING

A report should be ...ACCURATE true facts, precise wording, supporting data, reference to

sourcesCONCISE 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 sentencesOBJECTIVE content: include all the relevant information (do not be

biased) impersonal style (e.g. do not use emotional words...)

PROPOSED STRUCTUREOF 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 Policy13. 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 STRUCTUREOF 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.