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REPORT
1.0 What is a
report?
A report is an important workplace document. It can be short or long. It can be routine or not so routine. It can be purely descriptive, free of any intent to persuade the reader, or it can be a mixture of description and persuasion. It can be in handwriting, produced on a typewriter or word processor, or it can be professionally typeset, designed, illustrated and published.
There might be just one copy of a report, or there might be many copies. The audience for a report might be small or very large. A report is any representation of information ranging from the extremely formal to the highly informal. Narrower definitions limit reports to the more formalized presentations of information. In other words, a reports is an orderly and objective communication of factual information that serves some business purpose.
The report is obviously a written piece of communication. The writer usually receives oral or written feedback or response from the reader or readers of the report. It is becoming more common in organizations. However, to ask the writer of a report to be a speaker as well; a person may not only be expected to write a report, but to also deliver an oral presentation upon its subject matter.
In Writing and Presenting Reports, we will explore the
communication skills needed to create written and oral reports. These skills include planning, researching, creating graphics, writing, editing,
and, speaking.
The objective quality of a report is its unbiased approach to the facts presented. The report seeks truth, regardless of its consequences. Because few people can be thoroughly objective, it is true that report writers seldom achieve complete objectivity. Nevertheless, they must work for it.
The basic ingredient of the report is factual information – events, records, and the various forms of data that are communicated in the conduct of business. In no way is the content fictional. Nor is there major stress on opinions, except in those rare cases when in the absence of facts authoritative opinions are the best information available. This statement does not mean that interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations (which may border on opinions) may not be included. They can and should be part of most reports. But it does mean they should either be supported by fact or clearly labeled as opinion. As far as possible, the emphasis should be on fact.
Why is a report necessary? A report can be used:
Reports can be purely descriptive or informative, recording routine events such as the weather forecast and monthly sales. Descriptive or informative reports can also describe non-routine event such as disaster. These reports tend to be short in length (for example, one page), are often done on pre-printed forms, and rarely contain conclusions or recommendations. Computer reports are among the most frequently requested descriptive or informative reports. They are mainly presentations of data, drawn from software data bases and spreadsheets.
Reports that are more analytical of persuasive can be used as the basis of making decisions. The topics of such reports usually require a large amount of information. Analytical or persuasive reports can be short, for example, a memo or letter. It might be long depending upon the scope of the report. In some situations reports are used as a basis for avoiding decisions. Researching and writing a report can take up a lot of time, and even when the report is completed, there is no guarantee that recommendations made in the report will be implemented. In other perspective, a report is needed for reference, budgeting (for planning and evaluation), selling ideas (to promote the project to the customer) and documentation/resources.
Reports can be presented in a variety of formats, any of which should make the report easy to read. The format presented in this handbook is typical of the ways in which reports are structured.
A report may include these sections: transmitted document, title page, table of contents, list of illustrations, summary section, introduction, body of the report, conclusion, appendices, notes, bibliography, and graphic illustrations.
Once you have decided what your report is for, you need to decide who it is for. If you need to deliver an oral report, who will you eventually speak to? Is there an unofficial, as well as an official, audience?
Reports are normally commissioned or authorized by a person or persons further up the organizational pyramid than the report writer/presenter, if the culture of your organization encourages initiative, you might find it useful to volunteer to write and present a report, perhaps even suggesting the topic yourself. You need to know certain things about your audience. Once you know these things, you can respond appropriately. Four essential factors should be analyzed from your audience:
Things that we must concerned about when we write a report are:
a) Reader
b) Purpose of the report
c) Title of the report
d) Format/content
Andrew, J. D., May, C. B. (1999). Effective Writing: A handbook for finance people, 1st ed., Prentice Hall.
Batteiger, R. P. (1985). Business Writing: Process and Forms, Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Eunson, B. (1994). Writing and Presenting Reports, John Wiley & Sons.
Lesikar, R. V., John, D. P. (1998). Report writing for business, 10th ed., Mc-Graw Hill.
Newman, G. (1980). How to write a report, Franklin Watts.
http://www.roma.unisa.edu.au/0718/language/reports.html