College Essay to Formal Report – Poof! It’s
Easy!
By Allen Brizee, PhD
Loyola University Maryland
1
College Essay to Formal Report – Poof! It’s
Easy!
Introduction
You’re familiar with how to write a college essay, but writing a
report may be new to you. Adjusting your essay writing to report
writing primarily consists of two steps:
1. Adjust how your document looks
• Make your text more accessible (HATS)
• Topic sentences can become headers for different sections
2. Adjust how your document reads
• Put the bottom line up front in introduction and paragraphs
• Compose tight, concise sentences (KIS)
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College Essay to Formal Report – Poof! It’s
Easy!
1. How Your Document Looks (HATS)
Here is an overview of how the documents look from a distance:
Traditional essay,
large blocks of text,
information difficult
and time consuming
to retrieve
Report format
with small, wellbalanced blocks
of concise data,
easy to access
data, topic
sentence can
become heading
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College Essay to Formal Report – Poof! It’s
Easy!
2. How Your Document Reads
Inquiry Essay taken from the Virginia Tech First Year Writing Program Guide for Students
This paragraph comes from the student essay, “The American Dream:
Remember, It’s Not in Full Color” by Douglas A. Dooley
Topic Sentence for New Section
Heading for New Sections in Report
Black corporate executives are
finally having an impact on
corporate America.
The Impact of Black Executives in the U.S.
• Topic sentence begins broad and
outlines what the next section of
the essay will discuss
• Heading is shorter and more concise
allowing for quick, easy access to
information
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College Essay to Formal Report – Poof! It’s
Easy!
2. How Your Document Reads
Inquiry Essay taken from the Virginia Tech First Year Writing Program Guide for Students
First Sentence in Paragraph
First Sentence in New Section in Report
Richard Carter, former president
of public affairs at a major cable
television company and current
free-lance writer, says that African
Americans are “indeed beginning
to penetrate the upper ranks of
corporate management” (Carter).
African Americans are “beginning to
penetrate the upper ranks of corporate
management,” according to Richard Carter,
former president of public affairs at a major
t.v. company.
• Provides more detailed
information from inquiry process
• Report sentence uses BLUF by stating the
most important data first, then the source
• Report sentence is also more concise
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College Essay to Formal Report – Poof! It’s
Easy!
2. How Your Document Reads
Inquiry Essay taken from the Virginia Tech First Year Writing Program Guide for Students
Second Sentence in Paragraph
Graphic Representation in Report
According to The Wall Street
Journal, in May of 1992, the
number of black professionals
managing 100 employees or more
has only risen 1.5%, from 3.7% in
1978 to 5.2% in 1992 (Rigdon).
As we can see in the line graph below, the
number of black professionals managing
100 employees or more has risen only
marginally.
• Provides statistical data as a
more detailed representation of
inquiry process
1978
1986
1992
Source: The Wall Street Journal, May 1992
• Provides a visual representation and
reinforcement of information – quick,
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easy access to data
College Essay to Formal Report – Poof! It’s
Easy!
2. How Your Document Reads
Inquiry Essay taken from the Virginia Tech First Year Writing Program Guide for Students
Conclusion
Conclusion
First Sentence: As you can see,
African Americans in corporate
positions face obstacles and
discrimination that are truly unique to
African Americans. However, being
African American in the United States'
corporate world is not an entirely
negative thing.
Report Conclusion Sentence: Corporate
African Americans still face race-based
obstacles. White Americans do not have to
face the same types of discrimination as do
many minorities. For black executives,
working hard and following the rules does
not guarantee success because according to
Cose, “a host of other factors, having
nothing to do with ability or merit, dictates
how high one can rise” (42).
Last Sentence: Working hard and
following the rules increases your
chance of success, but ultimately “a
host of other factors [including race],
having nothing to do with ability or
merit, dictates how high one can rise”
(Cose 42).
• Shorter, more concise, to the point, easy
access of information and conclusions
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College Essay to Formal Report – Poof! It’s
Easy!
Conclusion
So to wrap up, adjusting your essay writing to report writing
primarily consists of two steps:
1. Adjust how your document looks
• Make your text more accessible (HATS)
• Topic sentences can become headers for different sections
2. Adjust how your document reads
• Put the bottom line up front in introduction and paragraphs
• Compose tight, concise sentences (KIS)
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