FORMAL REPORT COMPONENTS

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FORMAL REPORT COMPONENTS
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Basic Format

• Total 10-15 pages, including appendices. No
  penalty for longer reports as long as appropriate
  writing style maintained.
• Single spaced, no indent, left justify only
• Page numbers in upper right corner
• 1 blank line between new paragraphs
• Final report must be bound, with loose letter of
  transmittal clipped to cover.

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Headings

• Major section headings start a new page, 1 blank
  line after.
• 1 blank line before and after sub-headings.
• 3rd level subheadings must be easily
  distinguished from others
• There should be at least one sub-heading on each
  page (a whole page of text with no sub-heading
  will be penalized)
• No orphan headings.

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Page 4
HEADINGS
Sub-Heading Note how easy it is to distinguish
between the major, section heading and the
sub-heading. Sub-Heading Note that consistent
spacing is used, skipping one line both before
and after a sub-heading. Third-level headings.
If used should be easy to distinguish from major,
section headings and sub-headings.
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Letter of Transmittal

• Announce the topic and explain who authorized it.
• Briefly describe the project and preview the
  conclusions if the reader is supportive.
• Close expressing appreciation for assignment,
  suggesting follow-up actions, acknowledging the
  help of others, and offering to answer questions.

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Title Page

• Balance the following lines
• Name of the report in all caps (e.g. Final
  Report)
• Receivers name, title, and organization
• Team name and team members
• Date submitted (month/year)
• No page number on title page (page 1 is executive
  summary)

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FINAL REPORT XYZ Corporation Jane Smith, VP
Marketing
Longhorn Consulting Bruce Springsteen, Faith
Hill,Huey Lewis, Melissa Etheridge April 2006
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Table of Contents

• Show the beginning page number where each report
  heading appears in the report (do not put page
  number range, just the first page number).
• Connect headings to page numbers with dots.
• Headings should be grammatically parallel
• Include major section headings and sub-headings
• No page number on TOC page

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary...........................
1 Introduction ...................................
.... 2 Background Purpose
Scope Research Questions Report
Organization Research and Analysis................
...... 4 Methodology
Findings Conclusions Recommendations.....
6 Appendices......................................
.. 7 Appendix 1 Survey questions
Appendix 2 Client proposal Appendix 3
PowerPoint slides
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Executive Summary

• Include
• challenge statement (client focused)
• a little background (type of organization, what
  they do, size, when established)
• SMART goal (team focused)
• a little research summary (techniques/sources
  used, research questions if have room)
• conclusions and recommendations (all, but
  summarized)

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Executive Summary (cont)

• This is first page of report (page 1)
• Typically 1-2 pages
• OK to copy/repeat portions of report in E.S

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Introduction

• Background Provide a full description of the
  client and the challenge.
• Purpose Clients perspective on the
  challenge/motivation for report (e.g. XYZs goal
  for this project is to....). Include
  significance of challenge (what difference will
  it make?).
• Scope Clarify the scope and limitations of
  report. (include your SMART goal)

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Introduction (cont)

• Research questions from proposal your broad,
  upper level questions/areas of investigation (NOT
  detailed survey questions). Must include
  benchmark question.
• Preview reports organization. The next section
  presents our research and analysis followed by
  our conclusions and recommendations.

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Research and Analysis

• Introductory paragraph for the section (this can
  also be used for executive summary)
• Methodology
• For all types of research provide
• Goal for each piece of research (what is your
  question/hypothesis?)
• Data source
• For surveys give surveys distributed, how
  distributed, how population chosen
• For observations give how, when, where
  observations occurred
• Refer to more detailed information in appendix

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Research and Analysis

• Analysis/Research Findings
• Goal supply proof for conclusions
• Discuss, analyze, and interpret (dont just give
  results, also say what they mean particularly
  with benchmarking)
• Remember to report on all your research,
  including interviews with client and personal
  observations (discuss in methodology too)
• Support your findings with evidence
• (new) Provide summary paragraph of key findings
  and their significance at end of section

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Research and Analysis

• Explain all graphs in writing
• Arrange the findings in logical segments that
  follow your outline. Findings should be
  presented in the same order as discussed in
  methodology.
• Use clear, descriptive headings.
• Present just the facts, no opinions, no
  feelings.
• At end of section, introduce next section
  (conclusions and recommendations).

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Conclusions/Recommendations

• Conclusions explain what the research findings
  mean in relation to the challenge.
• Recommendations Start with a verb and suggest
  actions to address challenge.
• Enumerate conclusions and bullet related
  recommendations.
• Conclusion answers the question, why will your
  recommendation work?
• Conclusions are clearly drawn from the presented
  research (based on....)
• (new) Introduce section with challenge statement
  and significance
• Provide a final focus paragraph that relates
  recommendations back to SMART goal.

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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• Based on our survey results and literature
  review, volunteer retention is increased when
  volunteers report feeling appreciated.
• Initiate a volunteer reward program to recognize
  hours of service and leadership (see appendix for
  an example from abc organization).
• Based on the experience similar organizations,
  volunteer retention is increased when volunteers
  report their skills are utilized and they feel
  part of the organization.
• Introduce an initial interview system to identify
  the skills of volunteers.
• Match new volunteers with a mentor to speed the
  volunteer assimilation.

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Appendix

• Begin section with a cover sheet that includes a
  list of all items in appendix
• Items should be numbered and titled (e.g.
  Appendix 1 Volunteer Survey). If difficult to
  put a number/title on the appendix item, use a
  cover sheet with the items number/title.
• Include items of interest to some, but not all,
  readers (questionnaires, detailed budgets, etc).
• Include a reference list showing all the works
  cited and consulted arranged alphabetically by
  author/source. For help with reference
  formatting, you can consult the website EasyBib
  at http//www.easybib.com/.
• Include signed copy of your client proposal.
• Include your PowerPoint slides.
• (new) Include your team agreement.

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Format/Content Considerations

• Use present or past tense except for conclusions/
  recommendations, which may be future tense.
• Stay positive (no problems)! Any negative
  information should be buried in the findings
  section and reported briefly, factually.
• No we feel or we think outside of the
  recommendations just the facts.