What Is A Report ??

 A Report Is A Formal Piece Of Written Work Based On Facts,

Process Or Test. It Is Usually Written In A Concise Style,
Giving Precise Details. It Is Useful To Draw The Attention Of
Your Learners To Three Important Points:

 Audience - Who Is The Report For?

 Aims - What End Result Do They Want - To Inform, Persuade,

Recommend?

 Topic And Focus - What Is The Main Subject Area And Which
Particular Aspect/Issues Will The Report Cover?

 A business report is an orderly and objective communication

of factual information that serves a business purpose
Classification of Reports

 Formal Reports

 Informal Reports
Formal Reports

 A Formal Report Collects And Interprets Data And

Reports Information.

 The Formal Report Is Often A Written Account Of A

Major Project. Examples Of Subject Matter Include
Results Of A Study Or Experiment, New Technologies,
Analysis Of Locations For Business Relocation, The
Advisability Of Launching A New Product Line, And
An Annual Report.
 Informal Reports
 An Informal Report is based on facts and only facts. Do
not give your own opinion, unless referring to it as your
own opinion.

 When deciding which report-writing format to use, it is

important to note that an Informal Report should be
used for short, structured informal writing. An Informal
Report does not use bibliographical references.
Points to remember
Why Is The Report Being
Written??

It May Be Necessary To Give Some Background

Information So That There Is A Framework Into
Which Your Readers Can Fit The Information You
Are Presenting.
For Whom Is The Report Being
Written?
It Is Helpful To State Whether You Are Writing
For A Technical Or General Reader - Or Any
Other Particular Group. This Will Help Your
Potential Readers To Decide Whether It Is
Worthwhile Reading The Report.
Methods And Materials

Its important to state the source of material especially if you

have used references.

Its Purpose Is To Enable Someone Else To Check That What

You Have Done Is Valid.

There Is No Need To Give Detailed Descriptions Of Standard

Equipment Or Techniques. It Is Sufficient To Refer To
Procedures By Name.
 Findings

This Is The Place Where You Present Your Evidence.

It Should Be Organized Logically So That Your
Conclusions Arise Naturally From The Facts You
Have Written. Resist The Temptation To Indulge In
Personal Views. It Is Sometimes Helpful To Use
Tables, Diagrams Or Graphs To Make Your
Information More Easily Understood.
 5 STEPS TO WRITE A REPORT

 DEFINE THE PROBLEM

 GATHER NECESSARY INFORMATION

 ANALYSE THE INFORMATION

 DETERMINE THE SOLUTION

 WRITE THE REPORT

DEFINE THE PROBLEM
 State the problem clearly i.e. accurate describe
the problem at hand.
 Set the boundary:
 Define Scope of the problem (identify the key
factors) .
 Time schedule (anticipate the completion ).
 Analyze the audience (eg management ,staff
,stakeholders etc.) .
GATHERE NECESSARY
INFORMATION

 Two type of resources:

 Primary : individuals, company files, observations
,experiments.
 Secondary: published material (electronic or
print).
 PRIMARY SOURCES
1. Survey:
used to gather information from people using
questionnaire . Conducted using samples.
2. Observations:
carefully controlled observations are a good
source of information.
3. Experiments :
used to compare two ways of doing
something to have the best way.
4. Personal interviews:
is a qualitative research technique as
it encourages in depth responses which enables to
have a unbiased view .
 SECONDARY SOURCES
 Published material are readily available in
libraries.
 One can refer to catalogs ,printed documents
,computer databases etc for information.
 One should examine the following features in a
secondary source of information:
 Timeliness (is the information latest?)
 Relevance (is the information related to search?)
 Approach (opinion or research work)
 Outlet (publication reputable?)
 Author (author an authority on the topic?)
 ANALYZE THE INFORMATION
 Analysis means to look at parts of things
separately or in relationship to the whole .
 Various parts of information are compared and
contrasted in order to develop new ideas.
 Analysis should be done in an unbiased manner.
DETERMINE SOLUTION
 Based on analysis we offer solutions to the
problem concerned.
 These solutions are framed aa conclusions and
recommendations.
 Conclusion is inference drawn from facts.
 Recommendations are based on conclusions.
 Both must be based on findings and must be
away from any bias.
Writing The Report
 Requirement of objectivity
 Consistency in time viewpoint
 Maintaining interest
 Brief writing style
 Omit needless words
 Combine sentences
 Rewrite
ANATOMY OF REPORT
 Cover Page
 Title Page
 Letter of Transmittal
 Table of Contents
 List of Illustrations
 Executive Summary
 Report Body
 Supplementary section
TITLE PAGE
 Contains title of the report,
 Writer’s name, title and department ,date of
submission.
 Purpose and content of the report.
 Title should be all capitals.
 Some company’s have fixed formats some allow
creativity.
 Titles spanning more than one line are single
spaced.
 Traditionally each line on title page is centered
horizontally with equal vertical spacing between
items.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
 For external users it’s a letter and for internal
users it’s a memo.
 Should be Concise and it maybe subjective that is
writer may include personal suggestion and
comments.
 May suggest special uses of information to users.
 Typically ends with a statement expressing
appreciation to have an opportunity to participate
in project.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Lists all the major sections that follow it and the
page on which each begins.
 Aids the user in quickly locating the specific
information.
 Used for reports having more than five pages.
 Section heads to appear exactly the same way as
they are in the report.
 Prepared after the report has been keyed or
printed.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
 Visual aids are classified as illustrations.
 May or may not begin on same page as table of
contents.
 Same format as table of contents.
 Illustrations can be grouped according to their
nature like all graphs in one ,all tables in one etc,.
 Prepared after the report has been keyed in or
printed.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
 It’s a brief version of the report.
 Restates each section of report with emphasis on
findings, conclusions and recommendations .
 Usually one tenth of report’s length.
 Saves a great deal of time by giving the overview
of the report
REPORT BODY

 Introduction:
provides background about the study.
 Purpose and Scope :
provides the reason to study and sets
the boundary limits.
 Assumptions, and Methods:
includes the various
assumptions made before making the report and the
methods adopted for it.
 Procedures:
describes steps used to conduct the study.
 REPORT BODY
 Findings:
results discovered during the research .positive as
well as negative both type of findings should be mentioned
 Analysis:
contains writer’s interpretation of the qualitative or
quantitative assessment of findings. the analysis can be
compared with prior results if available .
 Conclusion :
is a statement of reasoning made by a researcher
after a thorough investigation .findings and analysis should
support or substantiate the conclusion.
 Recommendations :
is the writer’s suggestion to the reader as
to the actions that should be taken to solve the problem that
was studied .It should develop logically from the findings and
 SUPPLEMENTARY SECTION
 Final section of written report that contains material that
relates directly or indirectly to main topic of study.
 Contains one or more subsections such as glossary ,an
appendix, bibliography or reference list .
 GLOSSARY:
is an alphabetic list of terms used in report with
a brief definition of each .used when numerous unfamiliar
terms are used.
 APPENDIX :
contains related information excluded from the
body to improve its readability.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY:
is an alphabetic list of all references used
as a source of information in the study .
COVERS
 It protects the content of report .
 Should be attractive and have pictures that add to
the reports impact.
 Generally the title of report, name of the author,
date of submission are present on the cover .
 Title is in upper case ,and author’s name has
initial capital letters.
 Used usually for long reports.
MARGINS AND SPACING
 Important as it makes report looks visually
appealing.
 As a rule report margins should be one inch on
every side .
 Preliminary parts, supplementary parts and
opening page have bigger margins.
 Reports must be single spaced or double spaced.
 Single paced more to save paper.
 In double spaced .use paragraph indentation that
are one half inch from the left margin.
HEADINGS

 Help in report organization.

 Helps in navigating to specific topic quickly.
 Two types: informative and structural.
 Informative indicates the content of a section .
 Structural heading emphasizes the functional
sections within report.
 Ways headings are presented vary from
organization to organization.
FOOTNOTES OR CITATION
AND PAGE NUMBERS

 Footnotes or citations are used to give credit to

the source of quoted or paraphrased material.
 Information from secondary sources must be
footnoted.
 Long reports need to be numbered.
 Preliminary pages to be numbered in romans and
body should be numbered in numerals.
Example of a report
 SPECIAL REPORT FORMS

 Progress reports
 Periodic reports
 Proposal
 Policies
 News releases
 Performance appraisal
 Minutes
PROGRESS REPORTS
 Used to inform readers about status of a project.
 Assists managers in decision making and
monitoring.
 Informs about the work accomplished ,work
currently going on, work scheduled to be done.
 Problems occurring in project are discussed.
 Frequency depends on type of project .
PERIODIC REPORTS
 Provides managers with updated information at
regular intervals.
 No set format.
 Many organization have their own printed forms
for it.
PROPOSAL
 A persuasive message in which writer analyzes
the problem and recommends a solution.
 Must be clear, concise and meet readers
expectations.
 Two types :formal and informal
 Informal : generally takes the form of letter.
 Formal : structured document resembling reports.
POLICIES
 Serves as a guideline for employees, customers
or others to follow .
 Should be written in third person with clarity and
conciseness and completeness.
 Policy affecting the employees is assembled into
manual records or posted on web.
 Policy affecting customers are posted at highly
visible positions or printed on transaction
documents.
 Policy for managerial position are broad and for
non managerial people are restrictive.
 NEWS RELEASES

 Special business report containing information of vital

interest to customers.
 Need to be newsworthy, accurate ,timely, concise and
positive.
 Common topics are employee hires, promotions,
business expansion, employee layoff ,product recalls
,introduction of new product.
 Should be written in inverted pyramid format i.e. it begins
with summary lead that tells who, what, where, when
and sometimes why and how.
 Company’s name and address should be there .
 Contact person’s name and telephone number should be
there.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
 Reports a supervisor’s evaluation of na
employee’s job performance.
 Tool for providing feedback that reinforces
positive behavior and identifies weak area to be
worked on .
 It is discussed with the worker prior to its printing.
 Disagreement on employee part is also noted in
that file.
 Brevity is a key factor .
 An honest appraisal devoid of any sarcasm and
humor is most effective.
 Act as a basis for pay raises, promotions ,
termination and assessment.
 MINUTES
 Should report concisely all the pertinent information.
 all motions and resolutions to be recorded word for word
as it is.
 Individual presenting the motion and people who
seconds the motion should be addressed by their
names.
 Outcome-defeat or approval must be indicated .
 Parts included in minutes:
 Committee or organization name ,date ,time and location
of meeting, list of who all attended, reference to approval
of minutes of last meeting ,chronological recording of
events in the meeting ,time of adjournment ,signature of
the secretary or the chairperson.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Business Communication
-Krizan,Merrier,Logan,Williams