Defining a Report

A business report is an orderly, unbiased

communication of factual information that
serves some business purpose.
 Purpose of Writing Report

• To provide the foundation for decision to be

made and action to be taken.
• To supply a record of work accomplished
• To record and clarify complex information for
future reference
• To document current status
• To record procedures
• To record problems encountered etc.
 Format, Style and Organization
THERE ARE FOUR COMMON FORMATS OF REPORTS:
a)Preprinted Form Format: Basically preprinted forms
are for “Fill in the Blank” Reports.
b) Letter Format: For reports of five or less than five
pages that are directed to people outside the
organization, the format of a letter is sufficient.
c) Memo Format: This is the most common format for
short (less than ten pages) informal reports
distributed within an organization.
d) Manuscript Format: Manuscript format is required
for reports (from few pages to several hundred pages)
that require a formal approach.
 COMMON FORMATS OF REPORTS: SPECIMEN

MEMORANDUM
Company’s name , to whom the report is written, the writer, date of submission and the
title of the report
 
ARUSHA TECHNICAL COLLEGE
To: The Principal/Rector
From: John Marwa
Date: 17th March 2014
Subject: A REPORT ON COMPLAINTS ABOUT POOR SERVICE AND FOODPROVIDE IN THE
STUDENTS CANTEEN
 
Who asked for the report? What was it requested? When was it requested? When is it to
be submitted?

TERMS OF REFERENCE
On 15th October 2015, the principal, Eng. Dr. Masika, appointed me to lead the
investigating team to investigate on poor service and food provided in the ATC canteen
and to make recommendations before 15th December 2015. 
 Classification of Reports
Reports may be classified in different ways. Reports may be:
a) Long and Short Reports-length criterion
b) Business or Academic/Research Reports-nature of
subject dealt criterion
 Classification of Reports
a) Long and Short Reports
• Long Reports are detailed analysis of a project or a
problem at hand.
• Long reports are lengthy and consume a lot of time in
making as well as presentation.
• Short Reports are a one to three page presentation of
a topic or an event. These are brief and precise in
nature and contain only the relevant facts.
• Examples: Feasibility Report of a Product: Long Report
• Report on Annual Exhibition of School: Short Report
 Classification of Reports

b) Business Reports and Research Reports

• Business Reports are the ones prepared in the
organizations for formal purposes.
• Research reports or Academic Reports are the
ones prepared in the course of study.
-They may be reports prepared after Summer
Training, to fulfill the requirements in a course of
study or after completion of a project of study or
research. These are based on a research topic,
which may be formulated in the form of a
research problem.
 Classification of Reports
Short reports
• Short reports are usually a simple affair-single, well
defined purpose and a short conclusion. So, they do not
require the elaborate structure of long reports.
Short reports involve five writing steps:
 Planning –study the terms of reference and analyze the
task assigned to you.
 Research-collect all information relevant to the issue.
 Drafting –ensure all relevant aspects are covered.
 Editing –nothing irrelevant, no repetition, no errors etc.
 Findings /recommendations –only if required.
 Classification of Report

Organization of a Long Report

There is no set outline/organization that can be used in
preparing reports. Three parts are involved: introductory,
body, addenda.
According to Pal and Korlahalli (2009) the following is the
suggested organization of a long report.
Long reports are usually organized in the manuscript format.
A complete report in this form includes three major parts.
a) Introductory parts
b) Body of the report
c) Addenda
 Classification of Report
Organization of a Long Report
The complete outline of such a report is as follows:
I. Introductory parts
• Letter of transmittal or letter of presentation
• Title page
• Table of contents
• List of illustrations
• Abstract/(summary) executive summary
 WRITING REPORT: ORGANIZATION OF A LONG REPORT

Organization of a Long Report

II. Body of the report
• Introduction
• Discussion or description
• Conclusions
• Recommendations
III. Addenda
• List of references/Bibliography
• Glossary
• Appendices
• Index
N.B. It is not necessary that a report contains all these parts. Long
reports containing most of these parts are generally submitted in a
book form.
 Classification of Report

Organization of a Long Report: Descriptions

A few important aspects regarding the various parts of the
reports are briefly narrated below:
(i) Letter of transmittal or letter of presentation is a routine
letter written to transmit report from the writer to the
reader. It performs several functions such as:
• Providing a permanent record
• To show the date on which the report was submitted
• It states the name and position of the writer of the report
• It also states when and by whom the report was authorized
• It may invite the readers comments
 Classification of Report

Organization of a long report: Descriptions

(ii) Title page –it gives the title or heading of the report, the
person to whom is submitted, date of submission, and the
name of the writer.
(iii) Table of contents –it gives the overall view of a report etc.
(for long report).
(iv) List of illustrations –it gives the number, title and page
reference of each illustration.
(v) Abstract or executive summary- (for long report), there
are no fixed rules about the length of summary. But it is
generally agreed that an abstract should be about two to
five percent of the report and the summary about five to
ten percent of the length of the report.
 Classification of Report
Organization of a Long Report: Descriptions
(v) Abstract/Summary: It is useful to all those who
have little time to read the whole text.
• Business executives mostly read summaries of
reports. The report is organized on the assumption
that everyone will not like to read all the matter
presented in the report. Consequently, a report
should unfold like a news paper article. In other
words a summary of the most important
information appears first and the detailed story is
shown later on.
 Classification of Report
Organization of a long report: Description
(vi) Introduction –it includes authorization of the report,
background, scope of the study, methods of collecting data
and sources and definitions of special terms and symbols.
(vii) Discussion or description-this is the main part of the
report. It presents the issue under headings and subheadings.
(viii) Conclusions and recommendations –on the basis of the
facts and data presented under the heading ‘Findings’, the
writer draws definite conclusions. The he puts forward
concrete suggestions or recommendations. If it is a committee
or subcommittee report to be presented in the meeting of
general board for adoption, recommendations are put in the
form of ‘motion’ or ‘resolutions’
 Classification of Report
• Organization of a long report: Description
(ix) List of references –the works cited in the text
are either credited in footnotes on the page on
which are cited or mentioned together at the
end by using any or the recommended
referencing style e.g. APA, MLA, Chicago, Oxford,
Harvard etc.
(x) Bibliography –if the report is based on the
extensive research, the works consulted by the
writer are given in the bibliography.
 Guidelines For Writing A Report
Use present tense and active voice
Results should be valid in the present. Otherwise there is no
use in presenting them.
•The tense use for purpose is present.
• Background use present and the past.
•The active voice should be used whenever possible.
•Passive voice does not put force.
Minimize technical language or jargons: But they are much
more important in technical writing.
•It may serve as a barrier when communicating with others.
• If there is a popular word that is equivalent to a technical
one, the popular word should be used.
 WRITING REPORT: Guidelines For Writing A Report

Use visual aids: There should be more and more

use of visual aids in the form of tables and
graphs.
Rough drafts: It is usually seen that in the initial
draft, the person preparing the report commits
some unknown errors ignorantly. Therefore, a
good and error -free report should go through at
least three drafts:
 Comprehensive draft
 Improvement in language and style of the draft.
 Accurate and authentic draft.
 Guidelines for Writing a Report
Numbering: there are two types of numbering systems: The Roman
numerals and letters system or the Arabic numerals and decimal
system. The report can follow any one of them.e.g
Roman numerals and letters system or the Arabic numerals
I. A.
B.
1.
2.
II
A.
B.
1.
2.
• Further
 Guidelines for Writing a Report
Further subdivisions may be done by capitalization
and different typography (as computer setting
facility is available today).
Arabic Numeral and Decimal System
1.0
1.1
1.2
1.2.1
1.2.2
 Guidelines for Writing a Report

Use Five W's and One H of Report Writing

WHY, WHAT, WHO, WHEN, WHERE AND HOW.
• This enables the writer to produce a highly
focused report. The queries are central on the
five W's and the one H.
What is the problem?
What is it that needs to be
ascertained/found out?
 Guidelines for Writing a Report
The five W's and One H are:
Why is it important to study the problem?
What is its relevance and significance to the
department in specific, and organisation in general?
Who is going to be the reader of this report?
When did the trouble start? When am I going to
write the report?
 Where would the reader be at the time when he
receives the report? Would the reader read the
report in a meeting or read it within the confines of
his room?