How to write a report

One of the skills that business English students need to acquire/polish, is that of writing a report. Almost all the professionals have to deal with this from time to time, and knowing the right way to do it saves a lot of time, ensures the impact of the report is positive/as intended and is easily understood by the target audience.

Before we go any further, we need to clarify what a report is for. Normally, the target reader of a report is a person of higher authority (a manager, a client, etc). The purpose of a report is to inform someone about something in more detail. The style of the report is formal.

Here we’ll look at the most common type of a report for business English learners and some advice that can help you plan your lesson to better suit your students’ expectations.

The structure

Below you can see a company sample report based on which we’ll analyse the structure.

Situation

Your management is worried that the employees in your company are coming late to work every day. Your manager has asked you to write a report on the current issues related to this situation as the HR of the company. You must write about:

1. Attendance management issues.
2. Communication issues.
3. Your recommendations.

Write 180-200 words.

Sample

John Smith

June 24, 2020

The purpose of this report is to look into the reason people are late for work, go through possible miscommunication issues and come up with possible solutions.

In order to narrow down the scope of the possible issues, I’ve conducted a survey with our team and the below mentioned issues have come to my attention.

Attendance management

1. Based on the survey results, most of the employees are late as there is not a clear management system to track their time.
2. Another issue that needs to be highlighted is the absence of check-in points where employees need to register upon their arrival.

Communication issues

1. A number of employees have mentioned that they come late for work but leave late as well, meeting the 8 hour working limit. There has been no specific regulation on this by the management.
2. Another issue was that employees cannot contact their immediate managers in case they are being late for work as they are not available in the morning hours.

Recommendations

Firstly, it’s necessary to introduce check-in cards, which people will swipe upon their entrance to the office premises

Secondly, an email should be sent out to the whole staff clarifying the working hours to be set from 9-6 with a 15 minutes grace period for those who are late.

Appendices

See the survey results here.

As you can see from the sample report above, the first and the foremost things is to introduce the:

1. Purpose of the report — why we are writing it, what the underlying issue is
2. Body — what the issues/situations that we focus on are
3. Recommendation — what our solution to the situation is
4. Appendices — additional reading, results, etc.

DOs

• Use paragraphs

It helps to make your text more organized and reader-friendly. It is also a logical way of structuring ideas. Ideally, you’d use one paragraph for one idea. Also, make sure you address all the issues in your recommendations and provide solutions or action points. After all, the aim of a report, is not to merely state the facts, but also think of the possible way outs.

• Use headings

To make the report more coherent, use headings and titles. It will help the reader to more easily focus their attention. Headings will also make the text look neat and more professional.

• Formal style

You can use names and pronouns (I/he, etc.) or stick to impersonal, passive style. It all depends on whether you had taken an active part in forming the facts of the report or not. In any case, the style of the report should not vary. The way you start should be kept throughout all the text.

• Use linkers

To get your readers attention prepare them with the amount of information they still need to read. Use linking phrases like (firstly, secondly, additionally, finally). Use enumeration as well, if you’re about to introduce more than one idea under the same heading.

• Keep it short

Limit yourself to one idea per sentence. The shorter the sentences, the better its understanding and the more formal the style. After all, this is not an essay. Facts, figures, problems, solutions.

DON’Ts

• Informal language

Like stated above, the language of a report should be formal. “I suppose” and “delay” will be better than “I guess” and “put off”.

• Contractions

Avoid using short forms like (I’ve, I’d, etc.). Formal language includes using full words instead of their short counterparts.

• Irrelevant information

Make sure you stick to your guns. Don’t overlap the report with non-relevant information. Keep it concise and to the point.

This is just one style of a report mostly used in everyday business writing, academic preparation courses (BEC) and language assessment slots. There are many other report samples (medical report, financial report, course progress report, etc.) All of them have their individual style and requirements, much depending on the company preferences and the sphere of expertise.

Try out this structure of report writing with your students and let us know how it works. It has always been a great success in my classrooms.