a presenttion on how to to do report writing
- 1. GROUP 5 PRESENTATION RUP 411- PROFESSIONAL PLANNING DR GWESHENGWE
- 2. GROUP MEMBERS SIBANDA NATASHA E M180020 (GROUP LEADER) JAPUCHAPU BENSER B M186730 GWEWU VANESSA T M186451 ZIREVA RUVARASHE M186485 NGWENDE JACQUELINE M185973 USENI AISAM M186368
- 3. PRESENTATION TOPIC REPORT WRITING: STRUCTURE , DO’S AND DON’TS
- 4. REPORT DEFINITION Peter Little (1965:158) defines a report as a document which provides an account of something witnessed or examined or of an investigation together with conclusions arrived at as a result of the investigation Krevolin (1983:39) defines a report as an objective oral or written presentation structured to communicate information, investigation problem, record ideas and facts, interpret and or to provide solution to a problem Otagburuagu (1995:17) defines a report as ‘a description of an event, an experience, a statement about situations or actions which is meant to give a reliable and accurate piece of information about its subjects and or the event it covers’ Is a short, sharp, concise document which is written for a particular purpose and audience. It generally sets outs and analyses a situation or a problem, often making recommendations for future action. It is a factual paper and needs to be clear and well-structured
- 5. DEFINATION OF REPORT… Thus it’s a given account, spoken or written of a particular matter, especially in the form of an official document, after thorough investigation for a participation or consideration by an appointed person or body. It is a specific form of writing that is organized around concisely identifying and examining issues , events or finding that have occurred within an organization or findings from a research Whatever the definition, report writing takes cognizance of particular readership, particular situations and particular relationships between a reader and a writer.
- 6. TYPES OF REPORTS Formal reports that stress objectivity and organization contain much detail and are not personal. These are generally written containing data for the purpose of problems and possible solutions. Eg inspection report, safety report, compliance ,audit, incident etc Formal reports , are generally longer, have a variety of supplemental parts, do require research and an analysis, and the arrangement in wording are more indirect. The formal report's introduction will include the problem and the purpose of the report, before presenting the research. Informal reports on the other hand are short messages without prefatory parts, has limited research and are well known for their direct approach and personal language. Eg memos, emails and papers
- 7. TYPES OF REPORTS CONT.. Informal writing may use first person: I, me, our. Second person: you, yours. And third person: they, them, pronouns in terms of wording. Contractions may be used, but be careful. And the wording is likely to use more active voice, and the writer's opinion may be noted. Formal writing on the other hand, uses no first or second person pronouns rather only third person pronouns are acceptable e.g them, their Generally informal report paragraph should not exceed six to eight lines. The paragraph length in formal, longer reports, may be up to 10 to 12 lines. Although if paragraphs are consistently that long, the report may lose its reader-friendliness thus it is important to examine those longer paragraphs, to be sure each has a clear topic sentence with only one idea, regardless of whether the report is formal or informal, it should always be professionally written.
- 8. STRUCTURE OF A REPORT The structure of a report is flexible. It depends on the type and the form one may be writing. A report, however, has the following structure. 1. The Report Title, Summary, Introduction, The Body, Recommendations, Conclusion: A longer report however includes the following: Cover page/title page, table of contents, acknowledgements, introduction, executive summary, introduction, literature review, methodology, body, conclusion, recommendations
- 9. STRUCTURE CONT… Title Page: The title page is the first page a long report. It contains the title and author’s name, the reports reference number and date. Table of Contents: This shows the sections and subsections of the report with the pages of the report where each may be found Acknowledgements: On this page, the writer expresses his gratitude to those who have contributed and helped him during the course of the work in one way or the other.
- 10. STRUCTURE: INTRODUCTION A report essentially begins with an introduction, This sets the scene and includes the aims and objectives of the report. It also defines the limits of the report, outlines the method of enquiry, gives a brief general background to the subject of the report and indicates the proposed development. The introduction includes the background ,Problem statement, hypothesis, justification, aims and objectives The definition of technical terms should be defined as it is impotant for the reader to understand the key terms Simply put it is a summary or glimpse of the whole report highlighting why it exists.
- 11. STRUCTURE: LITERATURE REVIEW Identify recent literature that explain how your research builds on what has already been reported in literature. When writing a research proposal report In this section, the author is expected to cite and write about previous research on the subject. A general survey of important works and concepts that establish the basis and relevance of the research should be given. This section is very important because it demonstrates the author’s knowledge of the research problems and area as well as indicates one’s ability in critically evaluating and synthesizing relevant information and work. It is in this section that the author strives to establish holes or gaps in previous researches so as to establish a basis for the present research: what the work will prove or solve. For a proposal, the literature review should be very brief
- 12. LITERATURE REVIEW Cont.. When writing a research report, In the review of literature, the researcher does a purposeful search and investigation of documented works relating to the topic. This is done with view to ascertaining what is already known about the problem that underlies the study. While doing this review, the researcher should strive to highlight the similarities and differences between past research efforts and the present one as well as show the gap in knowledge the present research wants to fill .Also ,the researcher critically analyses and evaluates the works done by other authors.
- 13. METHODOLOGY Requires one to state methods used in conducting the research. This, along with how the data was analyzed to endorse credibility The methods are e.g experiment, descriptive or historical survey, activity analysis, trend study, programme evaluation, follow up study, document (content) analysis, case study, ethnographic study, correlational etc Data collection Tools : interview, questionnaire, observations, tests etc. It is also important to note who are your respondents/subjects/ participants
- 14. METHODOLOGY Cont.. This section should have the following in consideration : How do you plan to execute your work; is it a questionnaire study or a laboratory experiment What subject do you plan to study? Who are your intended population? What is the size of the population? How do you intend to bring out the sample of the population - the sampling procedure. How do you intend to collect data? What type of measuring instrument do you intend to use in data collection? What method do you intend to use in administering the chosen instrument? How would you analyse the data collected?
- 15. DISCUSSION/BODY This is the core of the report as it presents all the relevant information In other words, it is a detailed discussion highlighting in depth what was done and the credibility of ones work. It should preferably be concise, relevant and straight to the point to avoid boring or losing the reader its being presented to. The body of any report provides the material which the writer presents to support his point of view. The body is divided into sections and subsections, each one marked with suitable heading and subheading
- 16. CONCLUSION Summarise the key points of the report or results of your work in a small text while reinforcing its main message. This section gives an unbiased judgment of the findings made. Personal opinions are avoided and objective statements are made to prove the authenticity of claims and allegations as the case may be
- 17. RECOMMENDATIONS suggestions based on the findings or content presented in the report Recommendations demonstrate the writer’s sense of judgments’. They are actually meant to precede whatever the discoveries are in the findings. 10. References: The books and materials consulted in the course of the work are arranged correctly. Usually this adopts alphabetical arrangements
- 18. Do’s According to Bjork, Knight and Wikborg (1992), the use of I, we, you is generally the informal choice. However, some disciplines may accept the use of these pronouns or recommend that they only be used in the introduction and conclusion of the text in report writing Use formal language e.g have found Leave out conversational phrases, Use appropriate connectors and introductory phrases e.g In addition, moreover, furthermore Use full verb form of e,g they are, cannot Be concise ,clearly state only the main ideas State main ideas clearly and concisely in your own words in topic sentences.
- 19. DO’s Cont… Leave out conversational phrases. Use appropriate connectors and introductory phrases. Subheadings are recommended Maintain tense consistently Define all relevant terms especially any “jargon” you wish to use It is recommended to use the letter head or title page with a company logo to show where the report came from. Provide references whenever you say something that is not your own A good report must be coherent. The structure must be perfectly adapted to its subjects and be presented step by step and logically too
- 20. Don'ts Avoid using long winding paragraphs Do not be personal (the use of first person narrative ) Do not generalize Do not overcomplicate or oversimplify Avoid frequent use of the same words and phrases. Do not plagiarize Do not use shortened verb forms (contractions), such as they're, isn't, can't. Do not use slang, jargon, colloquialisms,
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