REPORT WRITING

A business report should be... ACCURATE CONCISE CLEAR OBJECTIVE

A report should be... ACCURATE  true facts, precise wording, supporting data, reference to sources CONCISE  all the important ideas in as few words as possible  avoid repetitions (KISS) CLEAR  easy to read  clear organisation of the text: sections, subsections, headings, subheadings, paragraphing, numbering….  not too long sentences OBJECTIVE  content: include all the relevant information (do not be biased)  impersonal style (e.g. absence of emotional words, use of passive?,...)

PROPOSED STRUCTURE OF A SHORT REPORT  TITLE  INTRODUCTION (TERMS OF REFERENCE)  PROCEDURE (or METHOD)  FINDINGS  CONCLUSIONS  RECOMMENDATIONS (if required)

PROPOSED STRUCTURE OF A SHORT REPORT  TITLE  INTRODUCTION (TERMS OF REFERENCE) What? Purpose? Upon whose request? Deadline?  PROCEDURE (or METHOD) How were the data collected and processed?  FINDINGS Data?  CONCLUSIONS What do the data show (interpretation)?  RECOMMENDATIONS (if required) What can be recommended based on the data?

PROPOSED STRUCTURE OF A LONG REPORT  TITLE  CONTENTS PAGE  SUMMARY (EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, ABSTRACT)  INTRODUCTION (TERMS OF REFERENCE)  PROCEDURE (or METHOD)  FINDINGS  CONCLUSIONS  RECOMMENDATIONS (if required)  SOURCES (LITERATURE, BIBLIOGRAPHY)  APPENDIX (APPENDICES)

PROPOSED STRUCTURE OF A SHORT REPORT  TITLE  INTRODUCTION (TERMS OF REFERENCE)  PROCEDURE (or METHOD)  FINDINGS  CONCLUSIONS  RECOMMENDATIONS (if required)

Which sections of the report do the following belong to? 1.The purpose of this report is to... 2.The report was requested by Mr Jasons, Sales Manager. 3.It was concluded that... 4.The recommendations are that... should be... 5.This report has been written because The objectives of this report are to The main findings were that... 8.It was to be submitted to the Sales Manager by 02 November This report examines (presents) respondents, chosen by the random sample method, were surveyed. Of these, 167 were invited for interview. 11.The findings indicated that Report on the Croatian National Bank’s Monetary Policy 13.The major finding of the investigation was that I recommend that... should be This report was requested on 14 October 2006.

Rewrite the following sentences to improve objectivity and to incorporate an impersonal style.  The enormous increase of 32 percent proves the sales department has done a superb job.  The proposed procedure is bad because it would require 15% more employees.  The enormous increase of 33 percent was a result of the amazing growth in city population of 10,000 during the past year.  The horrible effect on employees from the change in parking regulations will be one of creating massive traffic problems.  You can hardly imagine the effect of incentive pay on employee morale.  I feel certain that the new plan is better than the old method.  Most of us agree that a monthly status meeting will be helpful.

Blue words out, red sentences in  The enormous increase of 32 percent proves the sales department has done a superb job. The sales department has increased sales by 32 percent during the past quarter.  The proposed procedure is bad because it would require 15% more employees. The proposed procedure would require 15 percent more employee time.  The enormous increase of 33 percent was a result of the amazing growth in city population of 10,000 during the past year. The city population increase of 10,000 during the past year represents a 33 percent growth rate  The horrible effect on employees from the change in parking regulations will be one of creating massive traffic problems. The change in parking regulations will create additional traffic congestion.  You can hardly imagine the effect of incentive pay on employee morale. Incentive pay improved employee morale in the following ways:...  I feel certain that the new plan is better than the old method. The new plan is more effective than the old method for the following reasons:...  Most of us agree that a monthly status meeting will be helpful. In the quarterly staff meeting 15 out of 18 members of staff supported having a monthly meeting.

Report writing assignment  Write a short report (handwritten) on Interbrand’s ranking of top 10 best global brands in Submission: tomorrow (Wednesday) Attention! A)Include all the necessary sections B) Use appropriate phrases (R + slides

Check the following:  Title (Report on...)  Introduction – TOR (who, what, why, deadline?)  Procedure (how?, sources?)  Findings?  Conclusions?  Recommendations?  Signed?, Name in printed letters?, Date?  Phrases?  Spelling/grammar?

Phrases to use:  We strongly … that we should …  The key … are outlined below.  The … of this report is to … the possibilities …  Information for this report was … from the following sources:  This report … to identify potential problems in..  The report was … by Kim Jam last week. It was to be … by 15 March, 2011.

 No conclusions were … regarding …  It is … that the following should be done:  It would be … if …  This … a number of issues. Firstly, …  Contrary to our expectations, it was … that …  The data for this report were … from the following sources.  Mark Smith, HR Manager, … this report on incentive policies.