Business

Reports

Planning And Writing Reports
important skills to acquire
Reports can be long or short, formal or
informal.
Purposes:
inform,
provide background information about
something,
make recommendations
suggest a course of action.

Layout Of Short Reports
a short report is to place information on a
page in such a way that the information is
easily seen and understood
a good short report should contain the
following characteristics:
clear indication of your purpose
accurate and objective information
suitable ordering of information
appropriate formatting
ordering of information is important
Use direct approach if reader is familiar
with situation
Use indirect approach if reader is
unfamiliar with the situation, or resist a
proposal for changes, or report contains
bad news.

Short Report Format
Formal report
Letter
memo
Formal report format
A title page title of report, recipients name,
position and/or organization, writers name &
position
An introduction
Sections with headings in the body
Conclusions
Recommendations
Attachments include
Types of short reports
a) Justification report
- highlights a course of action or idea
- presents evidence to support why something
should, or has been done
- Format:
Introduction. Presents purpose of report and
describes proposal / course of action.
Body. Describes the present situation, need for
change, costs and benefits
Conclusion. Evaluates changes and provides
recommendations

b. Progress report
- provides information on the progress of a
project
- predicts future development
- Format:
Introduction. Identifies the reports purpose with a
subject line and describes the current status of the
project.
Body. Presents positive features of the operation,
describes problems that arose and how they were
solved, and includes schedule and costs
Conclusion. Points to the future.
c. Periodic report
- keeps management informed on aspect of
the organisations operations over a specific
period.
- Format:
Introduction. Identifies the reports purpose with a
subject line and then presents relevant facts and
figures. .
Body. Presents objective information on
achievements and problems.
Conclusion. Summarises the findings and closes
with a recommendation .
Prepositions
Words that are used to show position,
direction, location of something etc;
to, by, at, for, in front of, about, between,
across
Prepositions can be used alone in
phrases
On the table, in my bag

about before despite of to
above behind down off toward(s)
across below during on under

after beneath for out until
against beside from over up
along besides in since upon
among between into through with
around beyond like throughout within

at by near till without
Prepositions
Writing Long Reports
documents written to provide
comprehensive information and expert
opinions
written for specific purposes (investigating
suitability of site)
usually long and require careful
organising.

1. Develop an outline with main headings & sub-
headings
2. Begin with purpose statement and intro
3. Write the main body of the report
4. Draw conclusions from the info presented in the
body
5. Write conclusions the recommendations
6. Optional preface, abstract, synopsis or executive
summary
7. Include a list of references
8. Include a table of contents and table of graphics
(diagrams, charts, graphs)
9. Write the letter of transmittal
10.Prepare the title page to complete the report
Sequence of long report
Presentation
headings
Underlining
Indentation
Shading
Numbered lists or sections, as in reports
Space between paragraphs, left and right
margins
Headers and footers
Parts of a Long Report
a) Introductory section
- Title page
- Letter of transmittal
- Table of contents
b) The body (main text)
- Introduction
- Discussions and analysis of findings
- development of ideas
- Conclusions
- Recommendations
c) Final section
- References
- Appendices
Writing Introductions
can be written differently
convey different kinds of information
ordering of information differently
Writing conclusions
Summarises all main points discussed
earlier
State all the main points (list)
Adjective
adjective is a word that describes a noun
or pronoun
It adds information on number, colour, type
and other qualities
Formation of adjectives:
Single-Word Adjectives
Production Department, persistent patterns
Two-Word Adjectives
small-scale operation, problem-solving
approach