What is a Repor1t

8/6/2019 What is a Repor1t

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What is a Report?

A report is a very formal

document that is written for a

variety of purposes, generally in

the sciences, social sciences,

engineering and business

disciplines. Generally, findings

pertaining to a given or specific

task are written up into a

report. It should be noted that

reports are considered to be


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legal documents in the

workplace and, thus, they needto be precise, accurate and

difficult to misinterpret.

How many different types

of reports are there?

laboratory reports health

and

safetyreports


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research reports case

studyreports

field study reports cost-

benefit

analysis

reports

proposals

rative

advant

age

reports progress reports feasib

lity


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studies

technical reports instruction

manua

ls

financial reports

When would I beasked to write areport?

Engineeri Reports can

Andon it

goes

ould


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ng outline a

proposal for aproject; report

on progress o

a project;

presentresearch and

findings from

a project;

detail thetechnical

aspects of

innovations;present

results from a


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feasibility or

cost-benefitanalytical

study.

Educatio

n andHealth

Science

Practicum

reports arebased on

experiences at

prac. school

or hospital.

Ongoing

ournal

entries arewritten up

into a report


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at the end of

term. Thereare field and

research

reports.

Scienceand some

Social

Sciences

Laboratoryreports

outline,

analyse and

evaluate

results from

experiments.

Research orfield reports

are findings


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from the field

and makerecommendati

ons based on

this.

Feasibilitystudies report

investigations

into the

feasibility ofsomething

and make

recommendations

accordingly.


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Case study

reports arefound

especially in

the areas of

socialwelfare,

social work,

and

psychology.

Business Report

writing is

frequentlyused in

business


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subjects.

Reports canrange from

short memos

to lengthy

reports suchas cost-

benefit

analysis

reports;research and

field reports;

financialreports;

proposals;


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progress

reports;health and

safety reports;

quality

reports; casestudy reports.

How does thestructure of a reportdiffer from thestructure of an

essay?

Reports are organised


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into separate sections

according to the specificrequirements of the

given task. While it is

important that

paragraphs arestructured and there is

unity, coherence and

logical development to

the report, it is not acontinuous piece of

writing like an essay.

Each type of reportserves a very specific

purpose and is aimed at


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a very particular

audience.Report writing may

seem repetitive to us,

but this is because

reports are not usuallyread from cover-to-

cover by one person.

For example, a managermay read only the

synopsis or abstract and

act on the advice it

contains while atechnical officer may

read only the section


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that explains how things

work. On the otherhand, a personnel officer

may look at only the

conclusions and

recommendations thatdirectly affect his or her

working area.

What should Iinclude in a report?

Because there is such a

wide range of reports


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that serve different

purposes, your facultywill generally have

guidelines that they

want you to follow. As a

general rule, however,the following should

give you some

indication of what to

include in a formalreport.

A letter of transmittal

This is a covering letterwhich is sent with the


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report to the person or

organisation thatrequested the report.

(Your assignment may

not require you to

provide this with yourreport.)

Sample letter of

transmittal

Sample letter of

transmittal


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A title page

This outlines the nameof the report; who

prepared the report; for

whom the report wasprepared; the nature of

the report; the date the


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report was prepared.

Sample title page

An abstract or

synopsis

An abstract or synopsisoutlines, very briefly,


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the entire report. It

contains: the aim orpurpose, the procedures

followed, the main

findings and

conclusions andrecommendations that

are outlined in the

report. The abstract or

synopsis is like anintroduction of an

essay.

Sample abstract

This report discusses


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the feasibility study

carried out from 12June 2001 to 7

December 2001 into

the damming of the

Blue River betweenJohnson's Creek and

Blackstump Creek.

Water flow rates,

sediment levels, fish

stock numbers, weed

infiltration rates and

salinity tests have beencarried out and positive

conclusions have been


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drawn. It should be

noted that areasflooded by the

proposed dam include

only those areas

already declaredunusable for

agricultural purposes.

It is expected that

economic opportunities

for a fishery, council

caravan park, irrigation

leases and householdwater meter reservoirs

will be forthcoming


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within twelve months

of the dam'scompletion. It is

recommended that the

council approves dam

construction and seeksfirm financial backing

immediately.

A contents page

This includes the pagenumbers of each


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section within the

report and anyappendices that are

attached to the report.

It does not include the

title page or abstract.These are attached to

the report before the

contents page.


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The report itself

The report is brokeninto sections and each

section and subsection

has a heading. Often, a

numbering system is

used to indicate each


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section or subsection.

Becoming morepopular, however, is

changing the font size

of headings to indicate

the importance of eachheading. Only

numbering style is

indicated below.

Sample numbering

system used in report

writing

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Aim


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1.2. Scope

1.3. Background to study2. PROCEDURE

2.1. Data collection method

2.2. Literature review

2.2.1. Literature review of journ2000 2001

3. ANALYSIS Of DATA

3.1. Water flow of Blue River3.2. Sediment levels of Blue Ri

3.3. Fish stock numbers

3.4. Weed infiltration rates

3.5. Salinity levels of Blue Rive3.6. Likely areas to be flooded

4. CONCLUSIONS


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Parts of the report

Introduction

Aim

In this section you indicate the

purpose of the report.

Scope

5. RECOMMENDATIONS

REFERENCESAPPENDICES


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This shows what the report

includes and excludes. Forexample:

This feasibility study indicates

the environmental feasibility of

the proposed damming of theBlue River between Johnson's

Creek and Blackstump Creek. It

does not include buildingspecifications of the dam itself.

A further proposal would be

offered if council decides to

proceed with therecommendations of this study.


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Background to study

This section contains anyrelevant details regarding the

background information that

may be needed to make sense o

the information in the report. Itmay outline the history of a

project, or major players in the

project. For example:In January 2008, Kalkadoo

township experienced severe

water shortages as a result of

prolonged drought periodsduring 2005 and 2006. The


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Kalkadoo Shire Council has

made it a priority for thissituation to be remedied so that

this situation does not occur in

the future. The Shire Council

had conducted investigationsinto providing a dam for the

region in the late-1980s but

plans were halted due to public

dissatisfaction with the outcomeof those investigations. Further

environmental studies needed to

be conducted over a longerperiod to determine the impact

of the dam on neighbouring


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farms and Crown land reserves.

This series of investigations wascompleted in December 2003.

The outcome suggested no

significant negative

environmental or economicimpacts would be felt. In June

2004, the Shire Council

proposed that the final stages of

the feasibility study should beconducted, and conclusions and

recommendations from the

entire study should be tabled atCouncil's Planning Committee

meeting scheduled for 12


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January 2005. This feasibility

study report should thus enableCouncil to make a final decision

regarding improving water

supplies to the Shire. This is

one of its three priority areas forthe period 2004-2009.

Data collection methods

In this section, you wouldbriefly outline how you

collected the data that will

provide the basis for analysis

that will produce conclusionsand recommendations. Even


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though it may be called

something different, all reportsuse specific data and ways of

collecting it that would be

included in this section.

y In research reports, youwould probably use a

different heading because

your data would come mainlyfrom texts and journal

articles. This is the section

where you would discuss the

main issues arising from yourresearch.

y In reports that are based on


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data you have collected

yourself, like the report usedin the example so far, this

section would detail the

methods you used to collect

that data and why thosemethods were chosen. You

would also outline the steps

taken during the process of

collecting data and carryingout research. An example is

set out below:

During this six-monthfeasibility study, data were

collected and analysed


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according to the criteria

outlined for environmentalimpact studies as set out in

the Queensland Department

of Primary Industry's

Environmental StudiesHandbook (2003). Water

flow rates were measured

according to rate of flow 100

ml per hour. These rates wererecorded three times per

week during the study.

Sediment and salinity levelswere measured according to

the percentage of suspended


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siltation carried in the fastest

flowing section of the riverchannel. These measurements

were also taken three times

per week, and more often

during the change of tides.Fish stock numbers were

recorded once per month

where tagged fish were

counted and measured.Specific areas within the

study region were targeted

and fish stock numbersrandomly checked using

sonar equipment. Weed


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infiltration rates were

recorded, both in the riveritself, and in the land regions

that would be directly

affected by flooding. Weekly

recordings were made of thetypes of species already

present in the areas of study,

and identification of new

varieties was monitored.

Analysis of data

This section is perhaps the

longest section in most reportsand it is where, using visual


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displays, you outline the data

you have collected.y Graphs, charts, tables, maps,

graphic displays should

always be used to summarise

the findings you have madefrom the data you have

collected.

yEach set of data may bedisplayed in more than one

way and each diagram or

visual should have a title,

figure or table number, andshould be clearly labelled.

y Each set of data is


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systematically displayed and

analysed in a paragraph underthe appropriate diagram. For

example:

Water flow rates

Table 1: Water flow rates

Blue River, 1 June 2003 7

December 2003

Date

Time

Volume/Hour

100ml/H

our

Recommended

flow rate

for viabledamming


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The table indicates that periodsof peak flow occurred between

July and September 2003. The

rates of flow are 50% higher

than those rates recommended

to be viable for substantial

damming of an area. The lowest

flow recorded occurred duringNovember but is still

significantly higher than the

recommended flow rate for

viable damming. There is noevidence to suggest that these

levels are unusual for this


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region. Table 2 compares water

flow rates for the same periodsfrom studies conducted over the

period 1999-2001. (See Table 2,

page 12.) This indicates that the

water flow rates are stable andthere is very little variation

from year to year or month to

month.

Conclusions

The conclusions are dot pointed

and are drawn directly from the

analysis section of the report.Dot points are used when the


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sequential order is not

important. For each sectionunder the main heading

'Analysis', there should be at

least one corresponding

conclusion. For example:y The Blue River flow rate is

significantly higher than was

expected. Damming the BlueRiver between Johnson's

Creek and Blackstump Creek

would not affect average

water flow rates upstream ordownstream from this area.

y Sediment levels remained


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between 0.02% and 0.05%

during the dry months.Sediment levels of 1.2% are

considered to be acceptable.

Damming the river will not

significantly increasesedimentation downstream.

Upstream, sediment levels

will increase between 0.5%

and 1.0%. This increase isstill within the acceptable

range according to guidelines

(given by the Department ofPrimary Industries).

Recommendations


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These are your suggestions for

further action based on yourconclusions. Not all reports will

ask for recommendations. Some

will have a section where both

conclusions andrecommendations are given.

Recommendations are

numbered as they normally

follow sequentially. Forexample:

1. The damming of the BlueRiver between Johnson'sCreek and Blackstump Creek

should proceed.


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2. Damming of this areacould lead to significanteconomic advantages.

References

A reference list with publicationdetails of sources used should

be included after the

conclusions/recommendations

section. Any appendices followthe reference list.

Additional sections thatmay be required


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Appendices

Appendices include things like

raw data sheets, extra or

supplementary information ordiagrams, maps of regions etc.

You draw your reader's

attention to the appropriate

appendix by indicating thisbriefly at the appropriate place

in the report. For example:

Water flow rates indicate thatthere is no significant change

between 1998 and 2001.


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Comprehensive flow rate charts

for the period 1998-2000 areincluded as Appendix A.

Glossary

Sometimes, when there is a lotof 'jargon' contained in a report

(as in Science or Engineering),

a glossary of terms should also

be included. This ensures thatthose reading the report

understand the way you have

used the terms or jargon in your

report. Sometimes words canhave different meanings in


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different disciplines. If you

need to include a glossary, itwould generally be placed just

after the contents page.

Language style

The style of language used in

reports is concrete, active and

formal as a rule. The rules of

plain English definitely applymost of the time.

There is no room for bias or

'fudging' results especially when

they are considered to be legal

documents. This is particularly


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the case in engineering,

business, the sciences and somesocial sciences.

Layout

The use of white space is veryimportant in report writing.

Spacing between headings,

subheadings, paragraphs, ends

of sections, diagrams etc. needto be uniform. As a guideone

space between heading and

subheading, one space between

paragraphs, and two spacesbetween the end of a section


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and the next heading. Whatever

you choose, make sure you aimfor consistency.

Documents

What is a Repor1t