Report Writing

BUSINESS REPORT
WRITING
WHAT IS BUSINESS REPORT?
WHAT IS BUSINESS REPORT?
 A report prepared on a specific problem related
to business, based on research and analysis
 It may range from short one-page report on why
fire Ramprasad to a book-length report of
business feasibility
 It follows standard processes—researching,
analyzing data, presenting findings, offering
solution
 It is usually in request of a company, a
department, or a employer
 A report seeks truth regardless of the
consequences
PROBLEM, ORGANIZATION,
AND INTERPRETATION)
WHAT YOU LEARN TODAY?
 An orientation to report
 Determining the purpose
 Gathering the needed information
 Applying the findings to the problem
 Organizing the report information
 Interpreting information
AN ORIENTATION TO REPORTS
 Involves applying many principles of clear
writing we have discussed so far
 Have some specific communicative needs
that have to be addressed separately
 Special Needs
 Communication problem created by great mass of
information
 Needs to tackle limitations of sensory preceptors by
organizing properly—graphic aids, good transition,
organizing in heading and subheading
DETERMINING THE REPORT
PURPOSE
 Preliminary investigation
 Involves gathering all the information to understand the problem
 Clear statement of problem
 Involves clearly stating the problem you’ve understood
 Determination of factors
 Determining the problem’s need
 Use of sub-topic in information reports
 One factor may have many sub-factors involved
 Hypothesis for problems of solution
 Tentatively proposed solution or findings
 Basis of comparison in evaluation studies
 On what basis to compare one situation to another
 Sub-breakdown
 each factor selected may have sub-factors involved
GATHERING THE NEEDED
INFORMATION
Having determined what you needed to know
about the problem and possible solution,
conduct research to gather required
information
 Information sources
 Secondary Sources: Company archive, printed matter,
public data, library research
 Primary sources: In rare cases, you may even have to
conduct primary research—interviews, observation,
surveys
APPLYING THE FINDING TO THE
PROBLEM
 Apply the gathered information selectively to
the problem
 Interpret your findings
ORGANIZING THE REPORT
INFORMATION
 Preliminary steps in determining order
 A written outline
 Patterns of report organization
 System of outline symbols
 Nature and extent of outlining
 Introductory and concluding part
INTERPRETING INFORMATION: FACTORS
LEADING TO WRONG CONCLUSION
 Desire for spectacular
 Belief that conclusions are essential
 Acceptance of evidence as proof to the
contrary
 Fallacious interpretation procedures
 Bias in interpretation
 Comparison of non-comparable data
 Cause-effect conclusion
 Unreliable data
ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES
LEADING TO GOOD INTERPRETATION
 Cultivating a critical point of view
 Maintaining a judicial attitude
 Consulting with others
 Testing interpretation
 Statistical aids to interpretation
 Interpreting for the reader
ORDERLY PROCEDURE IN
INTERPRETING
 Relate information to the problem
 Make all credible interpretations
 Reevaluate interpretations
 Select interpretation with most merit
 Derive conclusion from the interpretation
FOLLOW-UP HOMEWORK
 Select a problem that requires conducting
research and preparing a business/ research
report
 Prepare the following
 Introduce the situation
 Statement of the problem
 Hypothesis
 Determining factors
 Statement of how you plan to gather required
information (Methods)
Due in Wednwaday (upload to course webpage by 5 pm)
Researching for Business Report
FINDING, EVALUATING, AND

PROCESSING INFORMATION
PLANNING YOUR RESEARCH
 Plan
 Maintain research ethics
 Develop problem statement
 Identify information gaps
 Prioritize research needs
 Locate data and information

 Evaluate sources
 Collect secondary sources
 Document sources following required style
 Collect primary information through surveys and
interview
 Process data and information
 Quote, paraphrase, summarize; analyze numerical info
 Apply your findings

 Summarize findings; draw conclusion; make recommendations
MAINTAINING ETHICS IN
RESEARCH
 Don’t force specific outcome by skewing your
research
 Respect the privacy of your research participants
 Document sources and give appropriate credit
 Respect intellectual property rights of your
sources
 Don’t extract more from your sources than they
actually provide
 Don’t misrepresent who you are and what you
intend: sugging (selling under the guise of
research) and pretexting
IDENTIFYING INFORMATION
GAPS
 Decide what specific information the
problem needs
 What factors needs to be studied to find the
answer to your research question
LOCATING DATA/ INFORMATION
 Secondary research
 Books, print and online periodicals; online databases;
other research reports; company records/ policies/
data etc
 Primary research
 Surveys
 Interviews
 Observations
 Experiments
EVALUATING SOURCES
 Is the source honest and reliable?
 Is the source free from bias?
 What the purpose of the material?
 Is the author credible?
 Where did the source get its information?
 Can you verify material independently?
 Is the material current? Complete?
 Are claims supported by evidence?
 Are claims logically based on the analysis of
the supporting evidence?
PRIMARY RESEARCH
 Conducting surveys
 Provide clear instructions; keep questions short and
easy to answer; avoid leading questions; avoid
ambiguous questions; ask only one question at a time
 Conducting interviews
 Ask open-ended questions
 Ask closed questions
 Avoid assuming answers while questioning
REPORT MAKE UP
Part II
OVERALL VIEW OF CONTENT
 Preliminary parts
 Title fly
 Title page
 Letter of transmittal, forward, preface
 Table of content
 Executive summary
 The Report Proper

 Introduction
 The report body
 The report ending
 Appended parts
PRELIMINARY PARTS
 Title fly
 Contains report title; built around five Whs—who,
what, where, when, why (see page 447)

 Title page
 presents the report title; other identifying information
— your name, authorizer, recipient, date of reporting

(see page 448)
 Letter of authorization
 Letter of transmittal
 Personal communication from the writer to reader like
a cover letter
 Table of contents/ list of illustrations
 Executive summary
 Summarizes all the major ingredients of the report
INTRODUCTION
 Origin of the report
 Purpose
 Scope
 Limitations
 Historical background
 Definitions
 Report preview
THE REPORT BODY
 Bulk of report content
 Analysis of factors
 Analysis of data
 Interpretation of facts
 Examples, illustrations, diagrams, if any
ENDING
 Ending summary
 Conclusions
 Recommendations
 Solutions
APPENDED PARTS
 Appendix
 Bibliography
FINAL THOUGHT FOR WRITING
IN GENERAL
 Introduction: Tell them what you’re going to
tell them
 Body: Tell them
 Conclusion: Tell them what you told them
Part III
REPORTS: TECHNIQUES
OF WRITING
BEFORE WRITING
 Make sure that you’ve thoroughly researched
the problem
 You have gathered necessary data
 You’ve analyzed the data
 You’ve interpreted the data so as to reach to
a conclusion
 You’ve all your notes ready
 You have developed a working outline and
decided which type of outline to follow
TECHNIQUES OF WRITING
 Use all the features of good writing as we
discussed in previous classes
 Adaptation, care in word choice, emphasis on short
sentences, care in paragraph design
 Plus, these other report-specific qualities
 Adaptation
 Objectivity
 Time viewpoint
 Transition
 Interest
ADAPTATION
 Use words that have similar meaning to you
and your reader
 For general reader: What takes place can be
illustrated with the help of our rich man. The atom M
is a rich miser, who during his life, gives away no
money (energy). . .
 For specialist reader: The general theory of relativity

owes its existence to the empirical fact of the
numerical equality of inertial and gravitational mass
of bodies . . .
OBJECTIVITY
 Good report writing is objective as much as
humanely possible
 Being objective applies to both your thinking
and writing
 Keep out all biases
 Objectivity creates credibility
 Objectivity and Impersonal vs. personal-
writing
TIME VIEWPOINT
 Keep a consistence time-viewpoint
throughout the report
 There are two time viewpoints—present and
past; use one consistently
 For research and findings, use past
 For conclusion, good to use present
TRANSITIONS TO PRODUCE
COHERENCE
 Coherence means relationship between parts
and the logic of their arrangement
 Use introductory, concluding and
summarizing sections for a long report
 Work on transitions (bridges) between
sentences, paragraphs, and sections
 Make use of transitional sentences but don’t
show them as something added
 Use transitional words to show contrast,
likeness, cause-effects, and explanation
CREATE INTEREST
 Good report wiring should create interest for
better communication
 Generally, create interest with your word
choice, correctness, short and active
sentences
 Avoid flowery expression, overblown
sentiment in a report; it kills your credibility

Report Writing

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BUSINESS REPORT

 Statement of how you plan to gather required

FINDING, EVALUATING, AND

 Develop problem statement

 Identify information gaps

 Prioritize research needs

 Locate data and information

 Collect secondary sources

 Document sources following required style

 Collect primary information through surveys and

 Apply your findings

 The Report Proper

what, where, when, why (see page 447)

— your name, authorizer, recipient, date of reporting

 For specialist reader: The general theory of relativity

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