Preparing a Report
A report is an important aspect of academic writing but it is also common to write
reports in business organisations and government departments. The purpose of a
report is to present analyses of information, research findings or perhaps to
critique a situation or issue. The report varies from an essay in that the structure
of a report is prescribed.
The imposed structure of the report, the use of headings and the sequential
numbering of the various sections makes it a little easier to organise information.
Care must be taken to ensure that each section of the report leads to the next and
forms a coherent whole. The usual format for a report is as follows:
(a) Title Page
(b) Executive Summary
(c) Table of Contents
(d) Introduction
(e) Body
(f) Conclusion
(g) Recommendations
(h) Appendices
(i) List of References
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6.1 The Title Page
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Preparing a Report
A title page should always be included at the beginning of the report. It gives
specific information about your assignment such as:
! Student(s) Name
! Student(s) Number
! Title of the Report
! Subject and Course
! Date
6.2 Executive Summary
The executive summary is similar to an abstract or synopsis in that it offers an
overview of the report, a summary of the major findings and the recommendations
suggested. It should rarely be much more than a page in length and it should not
contain any sub-headings, direct quotes or unnecessary descriptive information. It
should simply include succinct statements on each of the following:
! The purpose and scope of the report
! The most important and significant findings
! The most important and significant recommendations
The executive summary is usually written when the report is complete and you
know what has been done, how it was done and the suggested conclusions and
recommendations. The page numbering of the executive summary, is usually in
lower case roman numerals (eg. “i”, “ii”).
Some major reports (eg. government initiated ones) have a very long number of
recommendations. If this is the case in your report, an extra section should be
included which is called a Summary of Recommendations. This usually follows
the executive summary and offers a condensed version of the full
recommendations which are outlined at the end of the report.
6.3 Table of Contents
The table of contents is important because it shows at a glance the structure of the
report. It should be listed on a new page of the report and, as for the executive
summary, this page is numbered using roman numerals (eg. “i”, “ii”). Sections
are listed in the order in which they appear in the report with the corresponding
page numbers. Sub-sections should appear indented one tab space from the left
hand margin. Sub-sub sections should be treated in a similar fashion, that is, two
tab spaces from the left hand margin. Page one of the report is the first section
after the table of contents and all subsequent sections are then numbered
sequentially (see Box 6.1 for an example). It is essential that all major headings
and sub headings are clearly identifiable.
Appendices should also be listed with their titles and corresponding page
numbers. Following this, tables, figures and graphs should also be listed
separately with their titles and corresponding page numbers. If a section covers
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Preparing a Report
more than one page, only the page number on which the section begins needs to
be shown.
6.4 The Introduction
Table of Contents
Page
Executive Summary .. .. .. i
1. Introduction .. .. .. 1
1.1 Significance of the Report .. .. .. 1
1.2 Sources of Information .. .. .. 2
1.3 Scope of the Report .. .. .. 3
2. The Current Situation .. .. .. 4
2.1 Basis for operations .. .. .. 5
2.1.1 Organisational Structure .. .. .. 6
2.1.2 Operations code .. .. .. 9
2.2 Sales Department .. .. .. 12
3. Planned Development .. .. .. 15
3.1 Objectives of the company .. .. .. 17
3.2 Priorities in implementing the plans .. .. .. 21
4. Conclusions .. .. .. 24
5. Recommendations .. .. .. 25
6. Appendices .. .. .. 26
Appendix 1 – The Organisational Chart .. .. .. 27
Appendix 2 – Competitor Analysis .. .. .. 28
8. Table 1 – The Financial Structure .. .. .. 29
9. List of References .. .. .. 30
The introduction outlines the general structure of the report so that the reader can
appreciate the approach taken. It defines your focus and lets the reader know
what you plan to do. An effective introduction allows you to set the limits of the
paper so that the expectations of the reader are confined and consequently met.
An introduction to a report includes at least the following:
! The aim/significance of the report
ie. the purpose of the report
! The scope of the report
ie. issues or topics the report covers
! The sources of information
ie. how and where you found the information for the report
6.5 The Body
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Preparing a Report
This is the major part of the report and contains the discussion and/or analysis.
This section is quite important because it is where your research and scholarship
will show. The information should be presented in a logical sequence, using
paragraphs to separate ideas; as a general rule there should be one main idea per
paragraph. Headings and subheadings should be used because they help to
identify different sections of the report and introduce new ideas or directions.
6.6 Conclusion
This section should be a summary of the major points or findings of the report.
Further issues raised by your research can be included in the conclusion, but it
should be primarily based on the information presented in the report and should
not introduce any new material at this point. The most pertinent question to
answer is, “What do the findings mean?”
It is also important to ensure that your conclusion is consistent with the outline
given in the introduction. That is,
! did you fulfil the purpose of the report?
! did you use the sources of information you specified?
! did you cover the areas that you said you would?
When writing the conclusion, avoid using direct quotes because the conclusion
should sum up your arguments/discussion.
6.7 Recommendations
If your assignment brief called for recommendations, these should emerge from
the conclusion and are a list of actions that in your view, should be considered to
solve the problem(s) which made writing the report necessary. They should be
brief statements which outline a specific course of action to be taken as a result of
your research. Each recommendation is numbered and begins with the same
phrase, for example:
1. It is recommended that …
2. It is recommended that …
3. It is recommended that …
It should also be clearly demonstrated that you have thought about how your
recommendations should be implemented and what implications might be
involved. The recommendations need to be:
! Realistic in light of current environmental conditions such as: economic
climate, competitor reaction, government policy, consumer reactions etc.
! Feasible in terms of the suggested timing, order of priority and available
resources (financial, physical and human) to support them.
6.8 Appendices
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Preparing a Report
Appendices generally consist of material that is too bulky to include in the body
of the report, or material which is essential to explain a point but if it were
included in the body it would distract the reader from the main message.
Appendices can be:
! Extracts
! Tables
! Diagrams
! Maps
! Charts
! Questionnaires
All appendices should be numbered sequentially (ie. 1,2,3 etc.) and be given a
title. It is essential that they are referred to directly in the body of the report
otherwise the reader does not know to look at the material in the relevant place
and context.
Each appendix should begin on a new page and only one major piece of
information should be contained in each appendix. There is no limit to the
number of appendices that can be included; the only criteria is relevance to the
report. It is important to remember to reference material which appears in the
appendices.
6.9 List of References
A list of references is an alphabetical listing of all the material that has been
actually referenced or cited in writing a report. Further information on how to
include a list of references is provided in Section 9.