Reports:
Research, Format, and Tone
Includes materials from Guffey: Chapters 12, 13, and 14
What Are Business Reports?
Business reports are systematic attempts to
answer questions and solve problems. They
include the following activities.
Planning
Research
Organization
Presentation
Audience Analysis and
Report Organization
If readers
are informed
Report
If readers
are supportive
If readers
are eager to
have results first
Direct Pattern
-----Main Idea --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Audience Analysis and
Report Organization
If readers
need to be
educated
If readers
need to be
persuaded
If readers
may be hostile
or disappointed
Report
Indirect Pattern
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Main Idea ----
Report Components

Refer to separate packet
Formal Report Tone
Goal: come across as
objective and credible
 Avoid first-person pronouns
(I, we, me, my, us, our)
 Use second-person
pronouns as needed
(he, she, they)
 Use ‘it’, not ‘they’ when
referring to the company

Formal Report Tone
Avoid attributing action to “the
company” (it is inanimate)
 Use “the client(s)” (or names)
 Use your consulting name to
refer to yourselves and/or use
“the analysts”

Formal Report Tone

Avoid passive voice
Not:
Periodicals were consulted
 The study was conducted

Instead:
Periodicals indicated
 The study revealed

Formal Report Tone
Be consistent in tense





Use past-tense to describe completed actions (the
respondents said, the study showed)
Use present-tense to explain current actions (the
purpose of this report is to.., this table shows…)
Use present-tense in conclusions and
recommendations
When citing references
use past-tense verbs
(Jones reported that…)
DON’T switch back and forth
between tenses in a sentence
Highlighting: Making Your
Report Accessible
Structural Cues
o
o
Topic Sentences
Transitions
•
•
•
•
•
Present additional thoughts
(additional, again, also, moreover)
Suggest cause and effect (accordingly,
as a result, consequently, therefore)
Contrast ideas (however, though, but, at
the same time)
Show time and order (after, before, first,
finally, now, previously, then)
Clarify points (for example, for instance,
in other words)
Headings
At least 1 heading per page
 All headings parallel within level
 Do not repeat heading in topic
sentence
 Do not use pronoun for heading in
topic sentence

Levels of Report Headings
MAJOR SECTION HEADINGS




Bold, centered, all caps.
Double-space after (1 blank line)
Start new page for each
Use for
•
•
•
•
•
executive summary
introduction
research and analysis
conclusions and recommendations
appendices
Levels of Report Headings
First-Level Sub-heading
Left-justified, bold, title case
 Double-space (leaving one blank line)
before and after.

Levels of Report Headings
Second-Level Sub-heading. Part of
the paragraph that follows it. Use
bold, title case, ending with a period.
RESEARCHING
REPORT DATA
Secondary Data
Books
 Periodicals
 Web sites




How current is the information?
How credible is the author or source?
What is the purpose of the site?
Researching Primary Data
Surveys
 Interviews
 Observation
 Experimentation

Preparing Effective Surveys
Provide clear instructions
Keep it short and easy to answer
Use questions that are easily tabulated
Avoid leading questions
Ask only one thing at a time
Pretest the questionnaire
Next Steps

Analysis (next lecture)

Conclusions and
Recommendations
(next lecture)