Writing Essays and Reports

Writing a report

When writing a report you must have:

A title page - the title, your name, who the report is for, the date it was written.

A contents page - this gives the page number of each section and the title of each section.

You must split the report into these sections:

Terms of reference - this should say who the report is for, what it is about, who requested it, when it was requested and when it was completed. It should also mention that recommendations were required.
Procedures - this section should state how you went about gathering your information.
Findings - this is the main section of the report where show the information you have discovered.
Conclusions - this is a short summary of your findings.
Recommendations - this is where, based on your findings, you state what should be done in future to improve the situation – the recommendations should be made up of five or six short, sharp statements – they should all contain the word “should”.
Appendixes - diagrams or information you feel is important but is too detailed to put in the findings – your report does not have to have appendixes.
• Bibliography - a list of books and websites you use author, title, publisher, date of publication.

You must use appropriate, formal language in the report:

Do not use colloquial language - avoid words you use in talking – “okay”.
Do not use contractions - don’t, can’t.
Do not use “I” - do not say “I visited the library,” say “The library was visited.” Do not say “I recommend” but “It was recommended”.
Do not use abbreviations without explaining them.
You should try to break up your information:
Give sections headings.
Break sections into subsections.
Give subsections headings.
Use bullet point or numbers.
Keep paragraphs short.
Use tables and diagrams.

Remember your report is to be at least 1000 words long. Try to get your information from a variety of sources. Good luck!

You can download our handy document to assist with your essay writing on the right hand side of this page.