REPORT WRITING CONTENT, WAYS, IMPORTANCE

Report Writing

1. REPORT WRITING

2. MEANING OF REPORT REPORT MEANS A STATEMENT OR DESCRIPTION OF WHAT HAS BEEN SAID,SEEN,DONE ETC. A TREATISE CONTAINING FACTS,FIGURES,INFORMATION,ANALYSIS,OPINIONS,SUGGESTIONS,RECOMMENDATIONS,MAPS,GRAPHS,CHARTS,PICTURES,STATISTICAL TABLES,SPECIALLY COMPILED FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ACCORDING TO C.A. BROWN “A REPORT AS A COMMUNICATION FROM SOMEONE, WHO HAS TO INFORM SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO USE THAT INFORMATION. IT DESCRIBES THE EVENTS OR INDIVIDUALS TO SOMEONE EHO REQUIRES IT.

3. FORMAT/ PARTS OF A REPORT PRELIMINARY SECTION REPORT TEXT OR BODY OF THE REPORT SUPPLEMENTARY SECTION COVER INTRODUCTION LIST OF REFERENCE FLYLEAF BODY OF THE REPORT APPENDIX TITLE ABSTRACT GLOSSARY AUTHORISATION OR ASSIGNMENT DISCUSSION INDEX LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL HEADING AND SUB HEADING BIBLIOGRAPHY ACCEPTANCE OF MESSAGES FINDINGS PREFACE CONCLUSION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS CONTENT PAGE SIGNATURE LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES LIST OF ABREVIATIONS

4. BUSINESS REPORT A business report is a standard form of business communication that combines qualitative and quantitative information in a logical format, serving as critical corporate documentation. Business reports present information-based views of the enterprise to appropriate audiences and can be automatically individualized for each user. Business reports: Assess business performance, provide a quick status check, and monitor progress towards the strategic goals of the business Summarize key business indicators by presenting them in visually intuitive charts and graphs, easy-to-read grids and spreadsheets, pixel-perfect documents, and interactive dashboards and scorecards. Use statistics - such as key performance indicators and financial ratios - to present key business metrics Access data online or offline through various means of communication (by Web; e-mail; mobile device; desktop application; Microsoft® Office application – Excel, Word, PowerPoint; file server; or printer)

5. TYPES OF BUSINESS REPORTS Business Reports are of two types: Information Reports: The information report is to keep an executive upto date with events, developments and projects. Research Reports: The research report is the outcome of investigation of phenomena. This may be in any branch of human activity, from politics to labour relations, from some crank’s idea about taking electricity out of the air to a plan for extending customer use of the power already developed.

6. FORMAT/ PARTS OF A BUSINESS REPORT PRELIMINARY SECTION REPORT TEXT OR BODY OF THE REPORT SUPPLEMENTARY SECTION COVER INTRODUCTION LIST OF REFERENCE FLYLEAF BODY OF THE REPORT APPENDIX TITLE ABSTRACT GLOSSARY AUTHORISATION OR ASSIGNMENT DISCUSSION INDEX LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL HEADING AND SUB HEADING BIBLIOGRAPHY ACCEPTANCE OF MESSAGES FINDINGS PREFACE CONCLUSION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS CONTENT PAGE SIGNATURE LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES LIST OF ABREVIATIONS

7. OUTLINE FOR WRITING BUSINESS LETTER Comprehend what you are required to report on. Ascertain all possible sources of information. Decide upon what sources to draw. Gather information and explanations. Sift the evidence. Synthesis the acceptable evidence. Abstract what is to the point as discard the rest. Throw what is left into report form. Summarise the findings.

8. ACADEMIC REPORT Writing an academic report or paper involves reading about, thinking about, making a case about and finally writing about a scholarly topic. Generally speaking, the idea is to get your readers to see the topic in a new light. Your academic report differs from other types of reports you have done (perhaps ones written for high school assignments) in that it presents both researched facts and your own assessment.

9. Contents special to an Academic Report Statement of the Problem Overview of Literature The Conceptual Framework Research Questions/ Hypothesis Coverage Data Collection Data Processing

10. DIFFERENCE Academic writing is typically research or knowledge paper. In it, the author is writing to inform the reader. Business writing is writing to influence actions or opinions. In it, the author seeks to persuade the reader to take the author's suggested course of action. Business reports act as business communication while the research reports present research findings on a particular study.

11. PROCESS OF REPORT WRITING A useful writing process for longer reports is to: organise your information write an outline write a first draft re-write to improve the draft edit and proofread

12. ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS OF GOOD REPORT WRITING SELECTION OF TITLE CLEARNESS COMPLETENESS CONCISENESS SIMPLICITY UNDERSTANDABLE LANGUAGE COUTESY ACCURACY BREVITY COHERENCE HONESTY READABLE SEQUENCE EMPHASIS COST TIMELY PRESENTATION ADOPTABILITY MEDIA OF REPORT FACILITATES COMPARISON ATTRACTIVENESS

13. SAMPLE BUSINESS REPORT ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGION III LIBRARY  March 5, 1979    Mr. John J.Sherman Regional Administrator U.S. EPA Libraries 1960 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19101   Dear Mr. Sherman:  Presented in this report is my investigation of, and recommendation for, the purchase of an electronic security system for the EPA Region III Library.  The installation of such a system would greatly reduce the incidence of theft in the library. For this investigation, I established quality criteria for the selection of a system.  The “Checkpoint Mark II” security system, manufactured by Checkpoint System, Inc., ranked consistently higher in all areas than any of the other systems. The checkpoint system will provide safe, efficient security for the EPA Region III Library.  At a cost of about $, 4,400, the system will provide savings of about $3,000-$4,400 annually. If you have any questions concerning this report, please feel free to contact me.  I shall be happy to discuss them with you, at your convenience.  Sincerely,  Catherine M.Swift   Information Specialist EPA Region III Library

14. ACADEMIC REPORT Title Page The Title; e.g. 'A Report on ....' 'An Investigation into...' 'An Analysis of ...' 'A Comparison of ... and ...' Your Name Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the ............................course. If you are a HKPU student, your student number. The date.

15. Acknowledgments "I would like to thank my supervisor, Mr. _______, for the valuable advice and support he has given me in the writing of this report. I would also like to thank my teachers, Mrs. _______ and Mr. _______ for their encouragement and guidance. Thanks also to my typist, Ms. _______, for her immaculate job and her suggestions. My deepest thanks go to my wife/husband, for her/his love, understanding and support."

16. Summary / Abstract This study was to ______________________________ It was requested by ____________________________ It was requested on (date). The investigation was done by ____________________ The main findings were that ______________________ It was concluded that __________________________ The recommendations are that _______should be ______

17. Contents Page Section......................................................Page Number Introduction .............................................................................1 Literature Review ....................................................................3 Methodology ...........................................................................5 Findings ...................................................................................7 Conclusions ............................................................................14 Recommendations ...................................................................16 Appendices ............................................................................18 Bibliography ...........................................................................25 List of Figures Bar Chart of Answers to Question 1...................................8 Pie Chart of Socio-economic Status of the Respondents.....9 List of Tables Survey Findings by Gender and Age Group........................10

18. Introduction Background This report has been written because .... It was requested by ... It was requested on (date). Objectives The objectives of this report are to .... Scope This report examines .... . It does not examine ..... because ......

19. Literature Review The area of investigation has been commented on by Channel (1994), Hoey (1993), Halliday (1993) and Lesser (1979), who are in agreement that...

20. Methodology (also called the 'Method' or 'Procedure') ___ respondents, chosen by the method of _____ were surveyed from (start date) to (end date). Of these, ______ were invited for interview on (date). The statistics were analysed using a _______ test because ......... The significance of the results was __________

21. Findings 4.1. Introduction In general, the findings indicated that... The major finding of the investigation was that... In addition, .... Surprisingly, ........ , which was an unexpected consequence of .....

22. Conclusions The main conclusion that can be drawn is therefore that... In the light of this, it is recommended that... (+ a general recommendation; e.g. that something needs to be changed. The detailed recommendations should go in the Recommendations section below. )

23. Recommendations In the light of these conclusions, I recommend that _____ should be ____ In addition, a _______ could ______ Grammar Note:

24. Appendices Appendix 1: Sample Survey Form

25. Bibliography (Click here to find out more about references .) Channel, J. (1994). Vague language . Oxford: Oxford University Press. Halliday , M.A.K. (1993). Quantitative studies and probabilities in grammar. In Hoey , M. (Ed.) Data, description, discourse. London: HarperCollins, 1-25. Hoey , M. (1993) . Data, description, discourse. London: HarperCollins, 1-25. Lesser, R. (1979). Linguistic investigations of aphasia. Studies in language disability and remediation 5. London: Edward Arnold.