Reports

"Reports are formally structured and communicate the findings of investigations in a clear, logical way."

Reid, 2018

In a report information and evidence are presented, analysed and applied to a particular problem or issue. Your report brief will give the purpose, audience, problem or issue that your report must address, together with requirements for format or structure. Although you may have been asked to write a report, there are different 'types' so make sure you know what type of report is expected, before you start to write.

A report may:

• Be more research focused and involve collecting some primary research
• Present and analyse relevant information or data about a particular situation, problem or issues.
• Be reflective and focus on personal experience
• Focus on professional creative practice such as a critical reflective report or contextual report.
• Just not be an essay. Is a piece of informative writing that uses headings, bullet points, images, tables and charts.

To show that you can find, collate, analyse and interpret relevant information and data, drawn together from a variety of sources and to show that you can organise this information clearly for your audience effectively in writing.

Always check your brief for instructions. They may give a structure to follow. Headings and subheadings are generally used to guide your reader. Ensure your report is correctly formatted, logically ordered and well spaced out.

• Reports are written in a concise, precise and usually impersonal way using appropriate technical language where it is needed. The evidence you use should 'speak' and you don't need to be overtly persuasive. However, it is really important to make sure that your writing is clear for your audience.
• While some reports need to be academic in tone (especially research reports) other reports may address a general and/or professional audience and take a different tone. Check your brief for guidance and think about who is the 'imagined' audience.
• Although reports are usually written in the third person, if they include an element of reflection, you can use the first person 'I' and if they related to group work use 'we'.
• Images bullet points, graphs and tables can be used in reports, but they need to be relevant, referenced and referred to in text.
• Sources of information used must always be cited and referenced.

Don't just describe your information, analyse and evaluate it for your reader.

Try to avoid:

1. Using inaccurate or irrelevant information
2. Muddled writing - try to clarify your ideas, talk it through first and make a plan
3. Jumping around when you write. Keep all the information that you want to make about a point together.
4. Too much emphasis on appearance and not enough on content.

Reid, M. Report Writing. 2nd Ed. London:Red Globe Press