There are many different kinds of reports and they can be written for different purposes, but all of them have one thing in common. They have to be done well if you want to get a positive feedback from a teacher.
A report is a review on a project or book, which was researched or read before. Thus, mastering the art or writing a report is a key factor to a successful educational process at college or university. It is one of the biggest parts of any experiment, test, research, or project. If you fail to write a proper research, you’re risking to fail the whole project no matter how much time and efforts you’ve spent on it. Good reports are not only about writing skills. It is more about following the structure and format. If you want to learn report writing by yourself, keep reading. You can consider applying to a report writing service in UK to get a report done by an expert, by the way. You will have a great example of a perfectly written report for the future.
Academic Report: How to Structure and Compose
First of all, let’s define the main goal of any report document. What do you want to achieve or state in it? A report is used to investigate some issue and report back with your suggestions and further recommendations.
To begin with, you have to define which type of a report you need to complete specifically. The type of a report determines how you’re going to organize the information you have. Then, you have to point out the problem statement, which is the central question of your project. What is the aim of your research? Collect any data, used during a research project. These materials will be useful for a report too.
- The first step is to find some useful and specific information about the issue you have. Any trustworthy sources will help you – textbooks, lecture notes, relevant databases, and online sources. All information used in your report should be noted in details. If you’re planning to take even the smallest statement from a book, write down everything from the title of that book to the year of it, including the name of the author. Any detail is important;
- Analyze and interpret the information you’ve found in those sources. Don’t copy everything that seems to be fine for your work. Think about it, analyze, and pick only the most accurate data;
- Discuss or recommend those findings in your report. Write the first draft and reread it for a couple of times. Be ready to add something new before the final draft. The more accurate information your report contains, the better it will be.
Of course, as with any other academic writing, a report has its structure too. It consists of introduction, body, conclusion, and reference list. Remember that a report is not a descriptive writing, which has to sound smooth and interesting to a reader. First of all, it must be fully comprehensive. The readers have to understand the issue investigated in your report and correspond it to the analysis of those findings. For this purpose, add the visual aids like tables, charts, and graphs to present information in the most effective way possible.
A report has a formal tone and requires a certain arrangement. You can’t write it in the way, which is most comfortable for you. Always follow the instructions you got from professor. Your writing must have a very clear title, heading, and subheading. The reader should be able to understand what you’re going to talk about in the next paragraph by reading the title only. Always keep it in mind.
You can divide a report writing process into five simple steps, which make the writing process itself a lot easier:
- Preparation, establishing the purpose of a report;
- Organization, creating headings and subheadings for a report, following its structure – intro, body, conclusion;
- Writing, organizing your thoughts, ideas, and findings in a logical way;
- Editing, proofreading for mistakes and typos;
- Looking through a project from the reader’s point of view. What else can you edit? What can you eliminate? Is your report clear enough? Is it accurate enough? Do the findings correspond to the analysis you’ve made? Have you provided solutions to the issue? Have you answered all the report questions, made by your teacher for it specifically?
The skills of writing an effective report are important not only for students at college or university but also for managers, who work in small companies and big corporations. So, if you want to become a successful businessman in the future, start working on your report writing skills right now. Learn to explain what is going on in the project in a proper way.