REPORT WRITING

Prepared by S.Srinivas,

MBA ( Fin. & HR) and MCJ

COMMUNICATION IS AN ART• Communicating effectively is an art. • Is it so easy to acquire? Of course not!!• Complexities are numerous. • To understand the complexity, let us see the

following two similar sentences that provide us two different meanings:• Journalists who distort facts are not to be

trusted. • Journalists, who distort facts, are not to be

trusted. • Ramudi tho kapivaru ditlaniye • Ramudi thoka pivaru ditlaniye

WHAT IS A REPORT❑ The word “report” derived from Latin word “Renuntio” which means “to declare/ announce”

❑ Report - logical presentation of facts and information. It is an impartial, objective, planned presentation of facts to one or more persons for a specific, significant purpose.

❑ Thus a REPORT is a formal communication, written for a specific purpose, it includes a description of procedures followed for collection and analysis of data, their significance, the conclusions drawn from them and recommendations, if required.

❑ Reports plays a very important role in the progress of any organisation.

HOW DOES A REPORT DIFFER FROM AN ESSAY?

• Written for specific purpose • Targeted at specific audience • Systematic presentation of facts • Focus on facts, not personal view • Highly structured format to lead reader quickly

to main themes and findings • Use of headings, sub headings, numbering and

bullet points • Use of graphics to present information

BASICS OF GOOD REPORT1. Facts supported by figures and

documents.2. Should be cogent and clear3. Reader orientedness4. Accurate5. Coherent6. Recommendations should not be Utopian7. Should not deviate from the specified

objective8. Should be concise and precise9. Relevancy shall be maintained10. Source acknowledgement

TYPES OF REPORTS➢ Basically report can be oral or written. Oral is

fact to face information where as written report is more accurate and permanent.

➢ Written reports can be formal and informal.➢ Formal written reports can be further divided

into- Informational, interpretative and routine.

➢ Informational report contains only the data collected or the facts observed

➢ Interpretative reports also contains facts but they are evaluated or interpreted and can suggest recommendations as well

TYPES OF REPORTS (Contd.)Progress Reports – it’s a kind of routine

report. They can be periodical, regular and occasional.

Reports could be business reports or non-business reports

Non-business reports are “Government Reports and Non-Government Reports.

Governments run virtually on reports.

PREPARATORY STEPS

To generate an effective report, careful planning/preparation is required

Preparatory steps include :

➢ Defining the problem, purpose and scope

➢ Knowing your audience ➢ Collecting the material required➢ Organising the collected material

QUALITIES OF GOOD REPORTING A good report is

➢ Reader oriented ➢ Brief➢ Well Sequenced➢ Complete➢ Presented in appropriate language

Reader oriented – Know your client and his requirement

Brevity – means cutting the irrelevant information and presenting what is required. However, it’s a relative term, the length is determined by the reader’s position, time availability and the need.

QUALITIES OF GOOD REPORTING (Contd) Well sequenced – Logical presentation of specific

information. There may be too many ideas, structuring these ideas around the objective of reporting is the real challenge

Completeness – Information provided with sufficient supporting evidence gains the credibility. Sufficiency of information again depends on many factors.

Presented in appropriate language – Readability and understandability are the two factors to be kept in mind.

IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAUGECorrect language, style and sequencing –

Appropriate language varies from individual to individual and context to context.

Certain aspects of language that suits all contexts are:-

a) Linguistic correctness – Grammar is not so important when you report orally, but when it is put on paper it should be grammatically correct enabling the reader to understand in the sense you intend to express.

b) Readability – Exercise care while choosing the words. Ensure that every word used contributes something to the meaning intend to convey. Style lies in successful communication of meaning to the reader but not in displaying your vocabulary.

IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAUGE(Contd)c) Construction and length of sentences – It is

better to prefer short sentences to long to reduce the errors. There is no hard and fast rule about the length of sentence (but a sentence having more than 20 words would pose problems), the main concern should be to keep the reader’s attention focused on the meaning.

d) Construction and length of paragraphs –

i) language should be simple ii) style should be lucid iii) avoid using big words if a small word can convey

iv) the longer the sentence, the less the clarity. v) avoid grammatical errors

vi) spell check and vii) edit for uniformity

SIMPLE SENTENCES A sentence is a set of words that contain: a subject (what the sentence is about, the topic of the sentence) and a predicate (what is said about the subject)Look at this simple example: 

A sentence can be longer and more complicated, but basically there is always a subject and a predicate. Look at this longer example:

Subject PredicateVerb

You Speak English

Subject PredicateVerb

Rama and Tara Speak English when they are working.

SIMPLE SENTENCES (Contd.) A sentence shall express a complete thought. Here are some examples of complete and incomplete thoughts:

Complete Sentences Examples 1. He opened the Door

2. Do you like coffee.

Incomplete and fragmented sentences Examples

Fragment: Osmania offers many majors in engineering. Such as electrical, chemical, and industrial engineering.

Possible Revision: Osmania offers many majors in engineering, such as electrical, chemical, and industrial engineering.

Fragment: The current city policy on housing is incomplete as it stands. Which is why we believe the proposed amendments should be passed. Possible Revision: Because the current city policy on housing is incomplete as it stands, we believe the proposed amendments should be passed.

COMPOUND SENTENCESA compound sentence refers to a sentence made up of two independent clauses (or complete sentences) connected to one another with a coordinating conjunction. Coordinating conjunctions are easy to remember if you think of the words "FAN BOYS":

ForAndNor

ButOrYetSo

Examples of compound sentences include the following:Joe waited for the train, but the train was late.Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon, and they left on the bus before I arrived. Mary and Samantha left on the bus before I arrived, so I did not see them at the bus station.

POSITIONING OF CLAUSES: ❑ We usually try to write compound sentences, but we miss the importance of proper positioning of clauses and thus leaves space for a lot of confusion.

Ex: I went to a town that was 20 miles away on Tuesday.

What is the distance on Friday?Ex: I knew a man with a dog named George. Who is George? The man or the dog? Look at the difference between following two sentences.

Ex: I almost wrote a cheque for $ 1000. Ex: I wrote a cheque for almost $ 1000..

MODIFIERS - INFLUENCEModifiers are words, phrases and clauses used to influence the

interpretation of other sentence elements. Place modifiers next to the element you intend them to affect.

Ex1: Only you have invested Rs. 8000 in Project X (Meaning : You alone have put that sum into the project).

Ex2: You have only invested Rs. 8000 in Project X (Meaning : You have participated financially but in no

other way)

Ex3: You have invested only Rs. 8000 in Project X (Meaning : You have put neither more nor less than that

sum.)

Ex.4: You have invested Rs. 8000 in Project X only. (Meaning : You have put that amount into no other

project).

ACHIEVING CLARITYAchieving clarity is one of the most

important objectives of a report writer. Lack of clarity may not only lead to not understanding of the report but many a times it leads to greater misunderstanding and chaos.

Clarity by Grammatical Agreement Message with incorrect grammar do not

convey the proper meaning and at times create chaos

Ex: Unless you plan your messages, it wastes time and money (Inconsistent)

Ex: Unless you plan your messages, you waste time and money.

ACHIEVING CLARITY (Contd.)Clarity by pronoun reference:

Antecedents are those words, which pronouns represent.

Unclear reference:Ex:- When Mrs.X and Mrs.Y discussed that

decision, she emphasized production schedules.

Clear reference:Ex: When Mrs. X and Mrs.Y discussed that

decision, Mrs. X emphasized production schedules.

PUNCTUATION – IT’S IMPORTANCE

PUNCTUATION:• One of the most important parts of writing is proper

punctuation.

• Punctuation is the system of symbols: full-stop, comma, exclamation, hyphen, colon (. , ! - : etc) that we use to separate sentences and parts of sentences, and to make their meaning clear.

Punctuation – how important it in deriving meaning

Ex: A teacher asked her students to punctuate the following words correctly.

woman without her man is nothing

Male students write it as belowWomen, without her man, is nothing.

Girl students write the same as below.Women! Without her, man is nothing.

 

❖Awkward construction often arises while aiming at being bombastic or flowery or poetic.

Ex: Chemical engineering is what he took his degree in. “He took his degree in chemical engineering.”

Ex: The paper concludes with a summary of the evidence indicating that A may be, under carefully limited circumstances, an effective agent against infections caused by gram-negative organisms.

“The trend suggests that A is effective against infections caused by gram-negative organisms.”

AVOID AWKWARD CONSTRUCTION

STRUCTURE OF A REPORTStructure means the manner of building,

constructing or organising all parts of a whole into an integrated one.

For a structure to be good

➢ Steps should be logical➢ Ideas should flow smoothly➢ Good introduction at the beginning and

summarize them at the end➢ Provide your findings and

recommendations at the end.

STRUCTURE OF A REPORT (Contd.)

Order of various elements in a report:

1. Front matter – Introduction. Here the subject matter is discussed briefly and provides information to the reader about what the report is all about.

2. Main Body –The main business of this section is to discuss the subject at length, its back ground, its significance and analysis.

3. Back Matter - This section brings the discussion or description to a close and provides the body of logical inferences drawn and judgements arrived on the basis of analysis of data. Basing on the inferences and findings some suggestions are made for the reader. A summary of the total discussion in a para is suggested.