A report is a formal document, prepared by a person or group of people, on a particular subject for an audience with an interest in that subject. Bit like an article, I hear you say. Yes, they are similar, but the key difference is that articles are written for magazines, newspapers or newsletters, whilst the report is more formal and detailed and aimed at a particular person, or group of people, rather than a wider audience.
There are four types of report that you could be asked to write in an ESL exam:
- survey report (providing the results of a survey and usually making recommendations based on those findings)
- assessment (reporting back on events, evaluating or judging the impact and/or performance of a process, person or event).
- proposal report (proposing a change or something new)
- informative report (providing information only)
Tone and Register
The report should be formal and factual with no personalisation.
A formal writing style means that there are no contractions, and the language is 'elevated'. For example, 'Can you...' becomes 'I would be grateful if could...'.
In addition, the passive form is used (see what I did there!) as you are reporting facts.
Format
A report is written in response to an instruction, to either your superiors, a committee or other reporting body. As a result official reports usually have the following layout at the top of the report.
To: (e.g. Housing committee)
From: (name of author)
Date: (date of writing, not presentation)
Subject: (Title of report)
This may take up too many valuable words in an exam situation so, the title alone may have to do (but you MUST have a title).
Introductory paragraph: this states the purpose and content of the report, i.e. outline the purpose, state whether it gives recommendations or evaluates - this depends on the type of report as mentioned at the beginning of this blog.
It does not need to be a very long introduction, in fact the shorter the better if you are writing in an exam, as it is in the body of the report where you can really show your command of the English language.
Example: The purpose of this report is to report the findings of the August survey on customer care and make recommendations based thereon.
Main body: relevant information is presented in detail under suitable CONCISE subheadings. Each paragraph having one of those subheadings!
The main body may contain recommendations, or these could be included in the conclusion. This really depends on the question you are answering and the word count you are allocated.
Conclusion: summarises the info given,and may include an opinion and/or suggestion/recommendation.
Vocabulary
For the introduction:
The aim/objective/purpose of this report is to...
For the body:
Verbs: compare/examine/evaluate/describe/outline/analyse/present/recommend/consider/suggest
Nouns: information/idea/suggestion/situation/condition/comment/recommendation
For surveys/studies:
verbs: conduct/illustrate/demonstrate/base/derive from/observe/deduce
nouns: result/significance/observations/discussion
Predictions: The outlook is...optimistic/promising/bleak/remains unclear
Quoting: According to .... [reported speech]; X said/felt/mentioned....
Reporting Impressions and Findings: It seems/would appear that...
The majority tend to....
Interestingly,Surprisingly...
Recommendations:
It is [strongly] recommended that...should + base infinitive (no to)
It would be beneficial...
It would be to [...]'s advantge...
The best solution/most appropriate action is/would be to...
This will have an impact on....
Conclusion:
In conclusion/To sum up...
The research/report/survey shows/demonstrates....
Provided that these recommendations are taken into consideration/acted upon...
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