Steps to write an Effective Report

The field of writing is a diverse one. It includes much more than you know about it. Writing is a portrayal of your thoughts and analytical abilities on paper. It tests your observation skills and creativity and the extent to which you can play with words.  

Report Writing is a difficult topic especially for students who have just started learning these complex compositions. Report writing is a form of guided composition because certain points to be included in the work are in the question itself. Report is a sort of concise document and of course a sharp one whose purpose is to inform the audience about something.

But it should not be confused with research paper writing due to its content. Essentially, a report is a kind of factual paper, thus a proper structure should be followed while writing it.

The points that you wish to include in the report should be written in a logical manner. This helps to convey most of the ideas elaborately. But the mere inclusion of the facts does not make the report anyway easy.

While writing a report your skills of amplification, selection, condensing, re-arrangement and re-statement are put to test. Besides this, your presentation should be up to the mark and language sophisticated.

All in all, draft out all the points to be included in the report before fairing it out because an important point missed can decrease the credibility of your report.

Like all other compositions, while writing a report, keep in mind the following points:

•  The ABC of writing- A (Accuracy)- The content you want to convey should be correct in facts and figures. Incorrect content challenges the credibility of your work. So be it working upon an official presentation or working upon your homework answers, accuracy is the key to conversation. B (Brevity)- Your content should be to the point. You should not be beating about the bush while trying to convey a single fact, therefore brevity is very important while you are conversing. Try to express yourself in the least possible words which are going to attract the audience. If you want the audience to focus on your words, avoid lengthy sentences. C (Clarity)- Again an important aspect for effective communication. Your intended message should so to the audience with all its clarity. Clarity augments the readability of your work and makes the content more lucid.

• Orderly presentation is another aspect which is important because disturbed flow of thought can lead to a non-clarity in the readers’ mind.
• The heading should be attractive and in conformity to the content written. 
• A report is not a big description but a concise one, therefore it should range between 300 to 400 words. 

Reports can be classified into different types:

• A newspaper report: You might have encountered and might be familiar with this type of report. Newspaper Report reports any calamity, natural or man-made like floods, drought, famines, cyclones, fire or accident. The newspaper reporter has to go to the actual place of the incident and minutely not down each and every fact of the event that happened. He takes account of the various eyewitnesses to fulfill the task of making the report more credible. Based on all these collected facts and observations, the reporter files his report. Conveying the right piece of information to the public comes as a moral obligation for the reporter. Since his report can influence the opinion of a number of people and is the only source of their information about the event. While you write a newspaper report, specify the date, time and place of the incident. Briefly present the number of people or places affected by the incident. Take down the statements of the Government officials dealing with the incident and present to the readers as many facts as possible. As already hinted in the description, newspaper reports should be mostly in passive voice using indirect form of narration. Don’t start presenting a research paper writing or an essay writing in your report because that is not required. The more short and crisp the report is, the more interesting and absorbing it becomes. Use reporting verbs like expressed, praised, urged, etc. in your newspaper report.

• Police report: Police report is the writing of a formal, accurate and precise report according to the complaint of the complainant. No exaggeration and ornamentation of language is required in this case. It should be solely based on the words of the complainant, devoid of any emotions. This report may also include the eyewitnesses account. 

Keep the following points in your mind to present an efficient report:

• Draw an outline of the ideas or points required as per the question. Just as you do in an essay, link one paragraph with the other.
• Not only newspaper report but also police report should use passive voice and reporting verbs.
• You may select more ideas related to the topic so that it may become more informative.
• Although the report should be less subjective but at a place or two you may expand a point suiting your own judgement. But make sure that you do not become subjected to a large extent.
• In case in your outline you think that the points are not logically arranged, arrange them accordingly before fairing them out.

Thus these points must be kept in mind in order to efficiently complete your report writing. Report writing is an important topic and is included in the senior secondary level. Therefore, students may require homework help in case they are asked to write a report.

Students who have just started understanding the intricacies of different forms of compositions might face problems compiling a proper report but these points would definitely provide homework help to such students.