Planning and structuring your
report
Dr Michelle Reid
Study Adviser, University of Reading
Overview of the workshop
• What are the features of good reports?
• Writing for an audience and purpose
• Sections of a report
• Planning your report and writing up
To start you thinking…
What do you want from this workshop?
Work in small groups:
• Each person to write on a post-it one question they
hope to have answered by the end of the workshop
• Swap post-its with another group
• Discuss the questions within the group and share
your answers
What is a report?...
Reports
Essays
• Formally structured
• Semi-structured
• Informative and fact-based
• Argumentative, idea-based
• Written with a specific
purpose and reader in mind
• Not written with a specific
reader in mind
• Always include section
headings
• Written in single narrative
style throughout
What is a report? (cont)
Reports
Essays
• Will sometimes use bullet
points
• Do not usually include subheadings or bullet points
• Often includes tables or
graphs
• Rarely include tables or
graphs
• May offer
recommendations for action
• Offer conclusions about
question
Features of good reports
A good report is:
• Well structured
• Relates results to purpose
• Uses appropriate writing style
• Has correct use of referencing
• Answers the brief and considers the audience
• Includes appropriate amount of relevant data
• Uses clear expression, avoids jargon
Writing for an audience and purpose
Reports are informative – they are aimed at delivering
information to an audience for a specific purpose.
Identifying the audience and purpose of your report
will help you to:
– Decide what to include
– Be relevant and concise
– Give the audience the information they need
Audience and purpose
Read the report brief carefully and decide:
• Who is your report for (more than one audience)?
• What does the audience know already?
• What does the audience want to find out?
• Why does the audience want the information – what
actions will they take based on the information?
Audience and purpose:
worked example
[Suggested example]
Write a report for your University’s Students’
Union on how alcohol manufacturers target
students when marketing their products.
Audience and purpose:
worked example
Who is the audience?
- The Union, especially the student welfare officers, and bar /
facilities managers.
What do they know already?
- The revenue the Union gets from alcohol sales.
- How the Union runs drinks promotions.
- The Union’s suppliers and their prices.
(As they have the info, you may not need to tell them all this in your report)
Audience and purpose:
worked example
What do they want to find out?
- How alcohol manufacturers target the student market.
- How much of their market is made up by student sales.
- The advertising techniques and strategies they use to appeal
to students.
- Are alcohol manufacturers trying to expand their student
market – future trends?
Audience and purpose:
worked example
Why does the audience want the information?
- To have a wider awareness of the topical and controversial
issue of student drinking.
- To discern if students are at risk from more aggressive alcohol
marketing.
- To consider whether the Union needs to run awareness
campaigns and offer more alternatives to alcoholic drinks.
A common report structure
• Abstract / Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Literature review
• Methods
• Results / Data / Findings
• Discussion
• Conclusion / Recommendations
• Bibliography / Reference List
• Appendices
How do your reports differ from this?
Where does it go in my report?...
• Does it provide background to your research?
(Introduction or Literature Review)
• Does it describe the types of activity you used to
collect evidence? (Methods)
• Does it present factual data? (Results)
Where does it go in my report? (cont)
• Does it interpret the results and place them in the
context of the background research? (Discussion)
• Does it make recommendations for action?
(Conclusion)
Activity: Analysing sections of a report
Working in small groups – each group has an extract
from a report and has to decide:
• Which section of a report does your extract come
from?
• How do you know – what is it about the content and
style that tells you this?
[Use own examples]
Planning Top Tips
• Make an outline structure of your report headings
• Group similar ideas under the same heading
• Plan what goes into each section
• If you are unsure where in your report some
information should go…ask yourself ‘what function
does this information perform?’
Where do I start?
• How do you start writing a report?
• Which sections do you write first and why?
• What sections do you find most challenging to write
and why?
Where do I start?
1) Literature survey (need this to shape the course of
your research)
2) Methods and Results (when you’ve done it,
describe it)
3) Introduction (to establish your research questions
and the purpose of the report)
4) Discussion and Conclusion (interpret your findings
in light of the research purpose / question)
5) Abstract (you can’t summarise what you’ve written
until you’ve written it!)
What makes a good report?...
• Read the brief carefully
• What does the audience know and what do they
want to find out?
• Check which sections you need
• Remember reports are meant to be informative
• Write simply and precisely
What makes a good report? (cont)
• Spend more time on your discussion section
• Make sure your references are complete and
accurate
• Plan your time
• Proofread carefully
Writing up Top Tips
• Write up as you go along if possible – avoids having
to write lots in a rush at the end
• Have a separate sheet / file for each section and add
notes when you think of them
• Link your findings back to your research questions
and to your background reading – do your findings
confirm or contradict what others have found out?
Further resources
LearnHigher report writing webpages
www.learnhigher.ac.uk/learningareas/reportwriting/home.htm
For guides and exercises on all aspects of reports.
Report writing (Napier)
www2.napier.ac.uk/getready/writing_presenting/reports.html
A clear and easy to follow introduction to report writing with
interactive exercises on report structure and layout.
Unilearning (Wollongong, Australia)
http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/main.html
Includes different types of report (business, technical, field,
scientific) as well as sections on writing style.
Any questions?
Thank you and good luck with your
report writing!