“Prepare for Success” Academic Year 2011/2012

What is a report? A presentation of facts and findings, often as a basis for recommendations Written for a specific readership Typically intended to be kept as a record

Tackling report writing The task (before you write) – Define the purpose – Know your audience – Preparation – Clarify the structure Then: – Write it (first draft) – Check it – Write next/final draft…

Purpose and audience Define the main purpose – Factual report (inform) ? – Instructional report (explain) ? – Leading report (persuade) ?(Crouch, undated) Know your audience – What does the reader know? – What are their attitudes?(e.g. special interests?) – What does (s)he really want? (expectations?)

Preparation and Structure Preparation – Collection (gathering material, generating ideas) – Selection (of material/ideas) – Planning (produce outline plan ) (based on Crouch, undated) Clarify the structure

Writing the report Then: Write it (first draft) – Style – Citing sources in the text Check it – Right material? – Design – Language Write next/final draft…

Report Structure/1 (based on Crouch, undated) The title page Contents list The summary/abstract – Report’s purpose, who written for, Clear foresight of main thrust of report, key conclusions & recommendations. Usually no more than one or two paragraphs. The Introduction – Relevant background information

Report Structure/2 (based on Crouch, undated) Main section – Main content of the report Conclusions – Section summarising the conclusions you have reached. They should follow from the arguments/information presented in the report Recommendations? – Precise statement of the course of action you would like those who read the report to follow at this stage. – Recommendations should follow from your arguments and conclusions and should take no more than one or two paragraphs

Report Structure/3 (based on Crouch, undated) Appendices References Glossary (if appropriate) Note: No new material (content) should appear in the summary, conclusions or recommendations

Short reports involving statistics/1 Summary (comes first but written last) – What is the report about? What is it specifically trying to find out? – main points of the report – key conclusions & recommendations. Introduction – Relevant background information – What are the details of the raw data (expanded in the appendices) – How was the raw data originally obtained e.g. details of survey, experiment etc.? – Source of raw data (briefly) – expanded on in References and /or Appendices

Short reports involving statistics/2 Main section – Analysis of data (not contributory calculations – see appendix) – How was the data analysed? – What were the specific results?

Short reports involving statistics/3 Conclusions – What conclusions can justifiably be drawn from the analysis? – Is the evidence sufficient to justify them without qualification? – What are the range and validity of the conclusions?

Short reports involving statistics/4 Recommendations – What are the reports recommendations regarding next course of action/further research, given the conclusions above? References – Original source of raw data e.g. full details of author, title, journal/book/WWW address (URL) in HARVARD format

Short reports involving statistics/5 Appendices (labelled) – Copies of raw data IN FULL e.g. counts, survey questionnaires and so on – Calculations (from data analysis) – Anything else required

Structure your report Make your points clearly and support each one with your evidence Arrange your main points in a hierarchy of importance with appropriate headings Make sure first sentence of each paragraph and section states clearly what they are about Make sure each section relates directly to its heading and follows on logically from the section before

Summary/1 We understand information by remembering the main points To do this we need to see how the main points connect together, the evidence for them and what they mean We need the info presented in a way that draws attention to the specific main points, the logical connections between them, and the supporting evidence

Summary/2 We need to have info set in context We need to have conclusions showing what inferences and interpretations can be justifiably drawn from the facts presented Writers need to use a report structure to meet the readers’ needs above Graphs, charts etc. need to be sufficiently labelled and the main points explained in words

References and further reading Crouch, R.M. (undated) Report Writing Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire. Northedge, A. (1990) The Good Study Guide, The Open University. Core text by Cottrell (suggested reading for week 8 listed in module handbook) The Race text has section on essay and report writing (see Chapter 3)