REPORT WRITING- TEMPLATE AND LANGUAGE FOCUS

Dear students

We are pleased to post the learning material on ‘Report writing ‘today. (15 April 2020).It contains a template for a short formal report and the language focus. Tomorrow, a sample report will be uploaded. Please keep watching the blog for new learning materials and assignments.

PARK COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

STUDY MATERIAL

REPORT WRITING

Posted on 15 April 2020

What is a report?

A report is actually a piece of writing, based on evidence, containing organized information on a particular topic.

Characteristics of a good report:

·         A report can be oral or written.

·         A report has a structured format.

·         A report presents an analysis of facts after careful investigation.

·         A report is precise and concise.

·         A report is written in an impersonal style.

Purpose:

Reports are written for a number of purposes. They are written primarily to give information and facilitate the process of decision making.

Reports are also written

·         To make a record of events

·         To assess a situation/ event

·         To persuade someone about the need for a certain action

·         To make a recommendation

·         To evaluate the progress of a project

Template of a Short Formal Report:

To: Title: 1. TERMS OF REFERENCE/ INTRODUCTION      This section addresses three aspects:              1, Why the report is written              2. Who it is written for              3. What the scope of the report is 2. PROCEDURE:       In this section, the writer explains the procedures used or the process involved. For example, visit to places/ sites, interviews with people and so on. 3. FINDINGS:     This is the main part of the report because it gives facts and evidence collected by following the procedure. 4. CONCLUTIONS:    The inferences drawn from what is mentioned in he previous section are presented here. 5. RECOMMENDATIONS:     This section is optional. If the writer has been asked to make suggestion or recommendations, they will be presented here

LANGUAGE FOCUS:

1. Terms of reference:

                The sentence used in this section has two parts to it- topic+ purpose of a report.

A typical sentence construction here would be: The purpose of this report is to study the facilities available for sports and games in Park College of engineering and Technology

2. Procedure:

                Use past tense and passive voice in this section

3. Finding:

The findings in a report are generally presented in an impersonal style. Therefore the use of personal pronoun is avoided .Advised to use passive voice and reported speech.

4. Conclusions:

                Use of the present simple or past simple is preferred.

5. Recommendations:

                The key point here is the prominent use of the modal auxiliary verb ‘ should’

Reference:

1. A course in Communication skills (Special edition for EBEK)