1. The Importance Of Report Writing In The 21st Century

A short introduction on report writing skills and the motivations behind this blog. 

Report writing is the soft skill for the 21st century, whether in an academic context to improve your grades or professionally to further your career. Indeed, while writing a report sounds like a deceptively simple task, it is in fact an art that must be mastered, allowing you to achieve that high grade you need at University this semester, or impressing your boss get that promotion and pay raise you have been waiting for.

There are a number of "report writing guide" available online, mostly published on University website... but none of those seems quite right, elements are often missing, and there is a complete absence of real examples. And what better way to illustrate what a proper report should look like than with examples? Moreover, there is no applications of the report writing skills to a professional context. Those are the motivations behind this blog.

And at this stage, I believe I ought to introduce myself. Under the cover of my online anonymity, as Mister Report Writing, I want to present, detail, explain and illustrate what an excellent report is, and help you develop the skills required to reach an outstanding standard. As a lecture, I have suffered through thousands and thousands of pages of blend and boring student papers. As a businessman, I have wasted hours and hours flicking through endless reports. With this blog, I want to provide students and professionals with the most honest inside advice on crafting a concise, pertinent, captivating report, in its content but also form, with an efficient layout that will attract and retain your reader's attention.

This blog aims at providing a complete guide to all the aspects of report writing, as detailed in the article list below, constantly updated as the blog progresses:

1. The Importance Of Report Writing In The 21st Century
2. The Anatomy Of The Report
3. Know And Target Your Audience
4. The Cover Page
5. Executive Summary And Abstract
6. Page Layout
7. Page Numbers
8. Table Of Contents And Section Numbering
9. Table Of Figures, Table Of Tables, Table Of Equations
10. Nomenclature and Acronyms
11. Introduction
12. Literature Review And Previous Work
13. Method, Procedure Or Protocol
14. Results
15. Creating Graphs
16. Creating Tables
17. Creating Equations
18. Discussion
19. Recommendations And Future Work
20. Conclusions
21. References
22. Appendices
23. Proofreading
24. Getting Help

If you have any suggestions or particular aspects of report writing you would like me to tackle, please leave a comment below :)

2. The Anatomy Of The Report

A detailed presentation of the different sections of a report.

The skeleton of a report is based on three main and distinct sections, namely:

• The front matter
• The main body
• The back matter

The front matter is serves as a guide to potential reader, it therefore need to be attractive to ensure the reader will pursue to the main body. But the front matter also help the reader locate a particular area of the report. The front matter typically comprises:

• The cover/title page
• The abstract of executive summary (sometimes replaces by a preface of foreword)
• The acknowledgment
• The table of contents
• The table of tables/figures/equations
• The nomenclature

This then leads onto the main body, which is the core of the report. In this section, the work undertaken, its purpose and the results should be presented in a thorough yet clear and concise manner. The main headings of the main body can vary widely depending on the subject of the report; for instance, a philosophical essay should present the thesis, antithesis and synthesis, while a technical report will focus on the method, results and discussion. There are nevertheless some key sections common to all report, such as:

• Introduction
• Main headings
• Conclusions
• References

Finally, the back matter should not be neglected, as it can provide to some reader some much needed information in order to complete the main body of the report. In addition, the back matter offers another opportunity to guide the reader towards specific content. Generally, the following sections are found:

• Appendix
• Glossary
• Index

To better understand the role of the three main sections, namely the front matter, main body and back matter, it is vital to consider the target audience, as each section is aimed at a very specific type reader.

3. Know And Target Your Audiences

The key to report writing is to know who your audiences are.

The question I probably get asked most often by my friends is: "Come on, do you really read all of the reports? Or just the beginning?" Now this is a very interesting question, and my answer will depend on who you ask this question to.

As a lecturer, I will read everything, not matter how awful and boring; and even if I lose the will to leave half way through the first page, I will carry on. The reason is that it is my job.

As a businessman however, my answer will be very different. If I am given a great report (the kind I am detailing in this blog), I will only read the cover page, and it will provide me with all the information I need, thus making efficient use of my limited time in a busy schedule. If the report is not good however, it will earn a one way-trip to the round filling cabinet, i.e. straight to the bin.

Behind the two different answers lies the key stone to good report writing: you much know and target your audiences. And note that, since the beginning of this post, I keep using the plural: audiences. This is because there are three types of reader that will take interest in your work.

• The boss
• The average guy
• The technical person

Your boss is busy, and has not time to read through pages and pages. Yet he needs to be aware of the work you have done, why you have done it, and what you have found. This is critical as he will sign you pay check, but will also decide on your pay raise and promotion. This is where the front matter, or more precisely executive summary comes into play: you need to get across as concisely as possible what the report is all about. This is the reason why I always advise to feature the summary on the cover page.

The average guy will then move onto the main body of the report, curious to know more. This is why you need to provide clear and precise explanation, supported by appealing visuals, to retain the attention of the reader right until the end. This reader my however not have the same level of technical understanding as you do, and may therefore not question of be critical of the work you have done.

Finally, the technical person is on the same level of understanding as you, if not on a higher one. This person will therefore be very critical of your work, and will want to question your report in greater details. This is why the back matter, and principally the appendix is vital: it allows for the technical person to check all your detailed calculations for instance, so that he can be convinced the work has been performed without any mistake.

Now coming back to my earlier answers: as a businessman, I am the boss, and I am looking for an extremely succinct outline, without the details, and therefore I am satisfied with the executive summary. As a lecturer however, I am the technical person, I need to make sure the work presented is fully accurate, so that I can award marks and provide constructive feedback.

So, when writing your next report, keep in mind your target audiences for each section:

• The boss for the front matter
• The average guy for the main body
• The technical person for the back matter

4. The Cover Page

A report is judged by its cover... so make it good!

Whether you like it or not, your report will be judge by its cover - period. For an academic report, your grade can pretty much be estimated before the report is even open. For a professional report, the cover page is all your boss will see. So, make that one page count!

A cove page, also referred to as title page, is an advertisement for you report. Just like the movie trailer aims at making everyone want to watch the whole movie, your cover page should attract the reader in. There are several key elements that should be displayed on your cover page, which will vary a little depending on whether it is an academic or a professional report; I will therefore treat each type separately.


Academic Report

For an academic report, your cover page should feature the following:

• The name (and ideally logo) of your College or University
• The faculty, department or school you belong to
• The title of the course you are undertaking
• The name of the module or unit, as well as its code
• A clear title for your report, which can in some cases be supplemented by a sub-title
• You full name and student ID number
• The date (normally the date at which you would submit the report)
• A short and concise paragraph, either an executive summary (preferred in technical, scientific and engineering disciplines), or an abstract (more suited to literary subjects)
• If fully relevant to the work you are presenting in the report, an illustration may also be added to the cover page

With all of these, you are sure to impress and achieve better grades as early as the first page!


Professional Report

Remembering the various audiences for the report, tackled here, the cover of professional reports should be particularly refined, as it is primarily aimed at your boss. A number of elements should therefore be incorporated:

• The name and logo of your company
• For large companies, the department you work in
• For large companies with a document referencing system, the document number for your report
• A clear title for your report, generally completed by a sub-title providing further details on the work done
• You full name, job title and professional contact details
• The date you have completed the report by
• If relevant, the client or company you have performed the work for
• A concise yet thorough summary, clearly presenting what you did, why you did it, and your conclusions
• If relevant, you may want to complete the cover page with a picture or illustration; this is normally done if the report will be forwarded to a client, for strictly internal reports, no need for an illustration

Despite the slight differences in what should feature on the cover page of academic and professional reports, a vital part of each is the summary (or abstract in certain cases); this will therefore be the subject of my next blog post.

5. Executive Summary And Abstract

Know the difference between executive summary and abstract, and make the most of this critical part of your report

Having established the place of an executive summary or abstract on the cover page here, it is now time to dive into what they differentiate them, which one is best suited for you, and the information it should contain.


The Executive Summary - Spoiler Alert!

The executive summary is really there to spoil all of your work: and this is what you want! Remember your target audiences, the executive summary is aimed at your boss, too busy to read the whole document, but that needs a succinct summary. Therefore, emphasize what you did, the reasons and motivations behind it, and more importantly what you found and what your conclusions are. At the end of the summary, the reader should know all about your work: the boss will stop there, the technical person will carry on. Executive summary are perfectly suited for the professional environment, as well as academic report in engineering and scientific fields.


The Abstract - Please Read Me!

Conversely to the executive summary, the abstract is not there to spoil anything, but to invite the reader in: it is a teaser that should invite the reader in. The abstract should therefore present the topic you will tackle, the approach you will be taking and what you aim to achieve, but do not reveal your findings just yet. In an academic context, especially when publishing research paper, the abstract is there to convince the reader to purchase the paper based on the abstract, this is why the findings cannot be revealed.


Whether you are writing and executive summary or abstract, it is worth spending extra time on this short section, as it is the key stone of your report. This only paragraph you can be certain every single reader will actually go through.

6. Page Layout

Making effective use of margins, header and footer!  

There are three main areas of the page layout, besides the obvious report taking most of the space, that we are interested in:

• Margins
• Header
• Footer

For the margins, keep a sufficient amount to give a clean look to your pages. If your report is to be solely consulted online, you can ignore the gutter. However, if your report it to be printed and bound, make use of the gutter and set it to a sensible value. In this case, you also need to think about single versus double sided printing. If you only print on one side of each sheet of paper, keep the gutter on the same side. However, for double sided printing (which has become the normal in both Colleges/Universities and Workplaces), you will need mirrored margins so that the gutter changes side.

The header is the space at the top of the page. This is a very convenient location to reiterate the title of your report, with potentially a College/University of Company logo in the outer corner of the page. This can be quite useful and help the reader identified what they are reading. For much longer reports, the header can alternate between the report title and the chapter/section title every other page.

The footer, at the very bottom of the page, should comprise two key elements. On the one hand, your name should feature to make your work clearly identifiable. On the other hand, a page number should appear. This is absolutely vital, in fact, it is so important it will be the subject of its own blog post. Note that the page number should always be on the outer edge of the page; therefore you need to use different footers for even and odd pages if the report is printed double sided to ensure the page number is always in the right place.

7. Page Numbers

Number your pages!

There is nothing more annoying than a report without page number; and there is nothing more inconvenient either. Think about your local postman/postwoman: how can your mail be delivered if there is no number on your house? The same applies to a report, the reader needs page numbers, so that he can latter reference a particular one. For instance, your lecturer might say "I liked the point you made on page 27", or your manager could comment "Very nice diagram on page 43".

You therefore need to set up page number on your report... but it is a little more trick that it sounds.

• You should not display any page number on the cover, or on blank pages (which would not be blank otherwise!)
• For the front matter, you should use roman numeral. Note that, although not displayed, the cover page technically counts as page i, the following page should therefore be ii, the next one iii etc... for the entire front matter.
• One you reach the main body of the report, you want to star again with your typical page number, 1, 2, 3 etc...
• Finally, the after body can either carry on from the main body, or have a separate numerical system. This is often the case for work with large appendices, where pages can be numbered A1, A2, A3, etc...

In any case, do make sure to check that your page number are there and accurate.

Lastly, as mentioned in a previous article, do make sure the page numbers are always on the outside of the page, this makes them must easier to access for a reader looking for a specific page.