What is a report?
In technical terms, the definition of a report is pretty vague: any account,
spoken or written, of the matters concerning a particular topic. This could
refer to anything from a courtroom testimony to a grade schooler’s book
report
When people talk about “reports,” they’re usually referring to official
documents outlining the facts of a topic, typically written by an expert on
the subject or someone assigned to investigate it.
Feature of reports depends on these types of content:
1. Details of an event or situation
2. The consequences or ongoing effect of an event or situation
3. Evaluation of statistical data or analytics
4. Interpretations from the information in the report
5. Predictions or recommendations based on the information in the
report
6. How the information relates to other events or reports
Reports are closely related to essay writing, although there are some clear
distinctions. While both rely on facts, essays add the personal opinions and
arguments of the authors. Reports typically stick only to the facts, although
they may include some of the author’s interpretation of these facts, most
likely in the conclusion.
Moreover, reports are heavily organized, commonly with tables of contents
and copious headings and subheadings. This makes it easier for readers to
scan reports for the information they’re looking for. Essays, on the other
hand, are meant to be read start to finish, not browsed for specific insights.
Type of reports
There are a few different types of reports, depending on the purpose and to
whom you present your report. Here’s a quick list of the common types of
reports:
1. Academic report:
Tests a student’s comprehension of the subject
matter, such as book reports, reports on historical events, and
biographies
2. Business reports: Identifies information useful in business strategy,
such as Annual reports, Weekly reports, Project report, sales/
marketing reports, internal memos, SWOT analysis, and feasibility
reports
3. Scientific reports: Shares research reports or research findings,
such as research papers and case studies, typically in science
journals
Reports can be further divided into categories based on how they are written.
For example, a report could be formal or informal, short or long, and
internal or external. In business, a vertical report shares information with
people on different levels of the hierarchy (i.e., people who work above you
and below you), while a lateral report is for people on the author’s same
level, but in different departments.
What is the structure of a report?
The structure of a report depends on the type of report and the requirements
of the assignment. While reports can use their own unique structure, most
follow this basic template:
1. Executive summary: Just like an abstract in an academic paper, an
executive summary is a standalone section that summarizes the
findings in your report so readers know what to expect. These are
mostly for official reports and less so for school reports.
2. Introduction: Setting up the body of the report,
your introduction explains the overall topic that you’re about to
discuss, with your thesis statement and any need-to-know
background information before you get into your own findings.
3. Body: The body of the report explains all your major discoveries,
broken up into headings and subheadings. The body makes up the
majority of the entire report; whereas the introduction and conclusion
are just a few paragraphs each, the body can go on for pages.
4. Conclusion: The conclusion is where you bring together all the
information in your report and come to a definitive interpretation or
judgment. This is usually where the author inputs his or her own
personal opinions or inferences.
What should be included in a report?
There are no firm requirements for what’s included in a report. Every school,
company, laboratory, task manager, and teacher can make their own format,
depending on their unique needs. In general, though, be on the lookout for
these particular requirements—they tend to crop up a lot:
:
1. Title page: Official reports often use a title page to keep things
organized; if a person has to read multiple reports, title pages make
them easier to keep track of.
2. Table of contents: Just like in books, the table of contents helps
readers go directly to the section they’re interested in, allowing for
faster browsing.
3. Page numbering: A common courtesy if you’re writing a longer
report, page numbering makes sure the pages are in order in the case
of mix-ups or misprints.
4. Headings and subheadings: Reports are typically broken up into
sections, divided by headings and subheadings, to facilitate browsing
and scanning.
5. Citations: If you’re citing information from another source, the
citations guidelines tell you the recommended format.
6. Works cited page: A bibliography at the end of the report lists credits
and the legal information for the other sources you got information
from.
The Ultimate Report Writing Format
Following along with this format is always going to be a great way to start off
any report.
1. Title: A clear and concise report title.
2. Table of contents: A page dedicated to the contents of your report.
3. Summary: An overview of your entire report — you’ll need to wait
you’ve completed the full report to write this section.
4. Introduction: Introduce your report topic and what readers will find
throughout the pages.
5. Body: The longest section of your report — compiles all of your
information and use data visualization to help present it.
6. Conclusion: Different from the summary, this concludes the report
body and summarizes all of your findings.
7. Recommendations: A set of recommended goals or steps to complete
with the information provided in this report.
8. Appendices: A list of your sources used to compile the information in
your report.
Each of these eight elements ensures that you leave no stone unturned and
that your reader knows exactly what they’re learning in your report and how
you gathered this information.
Your next step is to get started with an outline. At each point of the outline,
use one or two sentences to describe what will go in there. It doesn’t need to
say much, just an idea for you to follow later. Input some design ideas for
the overall design as well.
For example, in the Table of contents section, simply add that you want it to
only cover one page or slide, make a note if you’d like to add the pages for
only the main sections or maybe also the subsections.
In the Appendices section, list all the links to the sources you used and add
on as you do more research. Every source you reference in your report must
be listed here.
The most important part of your outline is the Body section. In there,
create an internal outline of sections and subsections that you can follow
later when writing.
After you’ve drafted the outline, it’s time to put together all of the content
into the report. The outline we provided above is the only report-writing
format you’ll ever need. You can add sections if needed but don’t take any
away.
Let’s take a look at every section in detail.
Title
The title of your report should be clear in its wording. It must say exactly
what the report is about. Remember that this isn’t a novel. Include a subtitle
if necessary, making sure the font size of each subtitle is smaller than the
Title:
In terms of design, your title can be designed as an inviting cover page.
There needs to be a clear hierarchy in how the title looks.
On your title or cover page, be sure to include the following:
1. Report title
2. Report subtitle (if necessary)
3. Author of the report
4. Who the report is meant for
5. Date the report was written
6. Table of Contents
Always leave the Table of Contents page until the end. After all, you can’t
write a table of contents if you don’t know all of your page numbers yet.
However, if your Body outline already has each of your section and
subsection titles defined, you can add those to the contents and leave the
numbering for later.
Having a Table of Content pages makes it easy for your readers to find the
information they’re most interested in quickly and easily, improving overall
readability. So you absolutely do not want to skip this step.
Summary:
The summary (also known as the abstract) of the report is best done after
you’ve finished writing the report. You can draft a summary at the beginning
to help you continue with the work, but you’ll definitely want to revisit it at
the end.
A summary is a blurb of the entire report. It must include the purpose, the
process and a snippet of the resolution. This should be no longer than a
single paragraph or two.
Introduction
In the introduction, state what the report is about and why it has been
created. Depending on the length of your report, the introduction could
range from one single paragraph to an entire page long.
For example, one paragraph is enough for a social media report introduction
while an entire page would be more suitable for an annual report.
Take this time to introduce why your topic is so important, especially if it’s a
research report. You need to focus on why your readers should care about
what you have uncovered.
Body
The body of your report is where all the information is put together and will
be the longest section of your report. This will likely span several (anywhere
from 5-50) pages. Follow your initial outline to maintain consistent flow in
the content creation. Write the body content as sections and subsections.
Furthermore, use bullet points and data visualization as visual cues. These
will help your audience to better understand the content of your report.
Conclusion
Close your report with a well-crafted conclusion. Formulate it as a brief
summary of what was covered within the report, and be sure to include a
mention to the recommendations section and the resources in the appendix.
This section should never bring new information to the table — instead, it
should simply summarize all of the findings you’ve already mentioned into
one concise final section.
Recommendations
Craft the recommendations section as a set of actionable steps with smart
goals associated along with possible solutions. This section is irrelevant for
school reports or book reports, but is essential in a business setting.
Appendices
This is the section where you list all your sources if it’s a research report.
You should also add any links that are relevant to the report — or previous
reports about the same topic.
A good rule of thumb when creating your appendices is to only add
information that is relevant to the report or that you referenced when writing
your report. Use reference annotations inside the report to link to the
content in the appendix.
Some tips to help you make amazing reports
1.Write the body of the report before writing the introduction or
conclusion.
2. Use as much visualization as possible, but not “just for the sake of
using visuals.” Make sure every visual has a purpose.
3. Review your writing skills to craft a well-written report. For example,
use active voice and refrain from using too many acronyms. Also, use
simple language and stay away from word stuffing.
4. Stick to the facts! Be clear and concise.
5. Use a grammar checker like Grammarly. Even your best KPIs and
ROIs won’t save you from bad grammar.
6. Try to keep the appendix small. Don’t make it so long that it gets
burdensome.
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