Report Writing

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• Report Writing

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Report writing

• Before writing a report, the writer should ask
• What is the purpose of the report?
• What action is it intended to trigger?
• Who will read the report?
• How many people will read it?
• What do they need to know?
• What is their current level of knowledge?

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Report writing cont...

• Some considerations
• Assembling data
• - Direct - look, ask, send a questionnaire,
  conduct experiments or tests
• - Personal - who can you write to, speak to,
  phone, with relevant experience/ knowledge
• Style clear, concise English!

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Report writing cont...

• Objectivity
• - The writer must appear to be neutral.
• Never use emotive language and always write
  logically.
• Back up assertions with evidence

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Report Writing Stages

• The five major stages of report preparation are
• Gathering the data
• Analysing and sorting the results
• Outlining the report
• Writing the rough draft
• Revising the rough draft

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Gathering the data

• Plan what information/results you are going to
  need
• Maintain orderly records as the data is gathered
• The little extra effort required to record the
  results carefully can be of great value later

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Analysing and sorting the results

• During this review, conclusions should be drawn
• This is best done by first writing down all
  significant results in no particular order and
  then sorting them so that the results pertaining
  to a common factor are grouped together.
• Once the conclusions are drawn, list them in
  descending order of importance.

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Analysing and sorting the results

• Sort through the information and select only the
  Relevant data
• Too much irrelevant information will confuse the
  reader
• Do not discard information that contradicts your
  ideas
• Consider how to represent your data

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Analysing and sorting the results

• Before writing the outline report - Create a
  limiting sentence
• SUBJECT
• The HND module to Report Writing
• SCOPE
• covering the fundamentals of organizing, writing,
  and reviewing reports,
• PURPOSE
• was written to improve the writing skills of HND
  students and the overall quality of their
  reports.
• This focuses your attention on the scope of the
  report

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Outlining the report

• In the sorting stage concentration is on what
  results should be presented in a report.
• In the outlining stage attention is directed to
  how these results should be presented.

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Outlining the report

• The outline should contain descriptive headings
  of each significant part of the report.
• It should show the complete scope of the report,
  the relation of the various parts of the work
  discussed, the amount of space to be given each
  part, the places for inclusion of illustrations,
  and the conclusions

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Outlining the report

• Descriptive headings provide a means of ready
  reference and aid clarity.
• The final outline should show the exact form,
  wording, and value of the headings to be used in
  the report. The headings, although brief, must
  serve as a reliable guide to the included
  material

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Writing the rough draft

• Concentrate on what you want to say rather than
  how to say it. Keep writing down the thoughts as
  they flow into your mind, following your outline
• Then review this versionbut only for its
  technical content. Are all of the ideas you
  wanted to express included? Have you included
  irrelevant ideas? Does the report organization
  still seem logical?

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Revising the rough draft

• The first review is of the material in the
  report. In this check ask yourself these
  questions
• Are the conclusions valid? Is sufficient
  information given to support the conclusions? Is
  enough background information given to explain
  the results? Have all irrelevant ideas been
  deleted? Are the illustrations pertinent and
  necessary?

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Revising the rough draft(2)

• The second review is of the mechanics and
  organization.
• Are the subject and purpose clearly stated?
  Does the report flow smoothly from topic to
  topic? Are the relations between topics clear? Is
  each illustration clear and properly labelled?
  Are all required parts of the report included?

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Revising the rough draft(3)

• The third review is of spelling and grammar.
• Is each sentence written effectively? Are
  the sentences varied in length and complexity to
  avoid monotony? Are the words specific rather
  than vague? Have all unnecessary words been
  deleted?

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Language

• Be clear, concise and correct. Use
• Familiar words
• technical terms should be defined within the text
• Active verbs for majority of the report
• Avoid
• Ambiguity
• Loaded words
• Clichés e.g. a can of worms
• Jargon

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Language cont.

• Avoid
• Superfluous words and phrases e.g. in order to
  to, in the event that if
• Tautology - saying the same thing twice with
  different words in the same sentence e.g. the
  brevity of the notice given was far too short
• Split infinitives e.g. to boldly go
• Double negatives not never sometimes

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Language cont.

• Avoid
• Joining two sentences which are not logically
  related
• Sentences ending with prepositions e.g. to put up
  with
• Long sentences
• Professional report may have to be written in the
  third person

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Spelling and punctuation

• Spelling
• Word processed material should always use the
  spell checker
• Word uses the American spelling e.g. formalize
  not formalise
• Punctuation
• See handout

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Report writing cont...

• Report layout
• - Title page title of report, name of the person
  who wrote it, date, reference no. (if
  applicable), circulation list.
• - Table of contents with section and page numbers

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Report writing cont...

• - Abstract or summary
• Usually written last. Not more than about a
  1.5 spaced, 3/4 of a page of A4. Should include
  the main bones of the report for ease of
  reference.

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Report Writing

• - Introduction
• Background to the report
• specify the purpose of the research
• terms of reference
• reference to similar work being done elsewhere
• acknowledgement of any help and cooperation.

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Report writing cont...

• - Methods of investigation Specify your methods
  used. If you are writing a systems analysis and
  design report for example, you may wish to
  specify the methodology used here.
• - Findings The results of your investigation
• - Conclusions Your assessment of these findings
  and their implications

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Report writing cont...

• Recommendations
• Your suggestions for following up the research
  contained in the report

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Report Writing

• - References a complete list of material
  directly referred to in the main text. After a
  quote in the main body of the text you may put
  (Jones, 199478) author of book used, date of
  publication, page number.
• In your references at the back, the entry for
  this would be
• Jones, M A (1994) An introduction to SSADM,
  McGraw Hill, Maidenhead.

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Report writing cont...

• - Bibliography A complete, alphabetical list of
  all sources consulted.
• - Appendices Detailed information which could
  have cluttered up the main body of the report,
  i.e. charts, graphs, tables of figures,
  supplementary information...

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Report writing cont...

• - Use a numbering system
• This can be either decimal or a mixture of
  numerals and letters. The example on the next
  slide is the decimal system.

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Report writing cont...

• 1. Main section
• 2. Main section
• 2.1 first subsection of 2
• 2.2 second subsection of 2
• 3. Main section
• 3.1 first subsection of 3
• 3.1.1 first subsection of 3.1 etc...

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Report writing

• Exercise
• Fog index
• An indicator that sentences are too long and
  there are too many long words
• Calculate average number of words in a sentence
• Calculate the percentage of words of two or more
  syllables
• How would you write these differently?

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Summary

• Remember the 5 stages of report writing
• Good planning is essential
• Clear well presented style
• Subject, Scope and Purpose - limiting sentence
• Well referenced
• Recommendations