A report is an official or formal statement, often made after an investigation and usually by a subordinate to a superior. Like Caesar’s Gaul, a report falls into three parts.

Beginning

Your report should begin with an introduction, which sets out the essential background and crystallizes the aim and objectives of the report. The latter will already have been foreshadowed by the title. The format, like a book in miniature, should include the name of the author and the date of compilation.

Middle

The middle body of evidence, information, issues and discussions should be clearly and succinctly arranged in a simple order, signposted by chapters, major and minor side headings and numbered paragraphs.

End

The concluding section must leave the reader in no doubt as to the writer’s conclusions and recommendations.

Points to Remember

• Your key assumptions should be made manifest at the appropriate places; difficult or technical terms should always be defined.
• Illustrations, sharing the characteristics of a speaker’s good visual aids, can save time and space in the main text, but complicated supporting data should appear as appendices at the end.
• The minimum requirements for style are not different from those needed for letters or any other forms of business writing.
• Above all, the report should achieve its stated objective with economy of words, especially where the written word is to be used in alliance with speech.