Thursday, October 17, 2013

Report Template: Step by Step Guide to Writing a Report

This report template will get you started writing your report in no time :)

A long report usually has the following sections:
o    Title Page
o    Acknowledgments
o    Summary / Abstract
o    Contents Page
o    Introduction
o    Literature Review

o    Methodology
o    Findings
o    Conclusions
o    Recommendations
o    Appendices
o    Bibliography

This is an example long report template for you to copy to your word processor or print out. Then you can fill in your own details.


Title Page

The Title; e.g. 'A Report on ....'
'An Investigation into...'
'An Analysis of ...'
'A Comparison of ... and ...'
Your Name
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the 
............................course.
your student ID number.
The date.



Acknowledgments

"I would like to thank my supervisor, Mr. _______, for the valuable advice and support he has given me in the writing of this report. I would also like to thank my teachers, Mrs. _______ and Mr. _______ for their encouragement and guidance. Thanks also to my typist, Ms. _______, for her immaculate job and her suggestions. My deepest thanks go to my wife/husband, for her/his love, understanding and support."



Summary / Abstract

This study was to ______________________________
It was requested by ____________________________
It was requested on (date).
The investigation was done by ____________________
The main findings were that ______________________
It was concluded that __________________________
The recommendations are that _______should be ______



Contents Page

Section...................................................................Page Number
13. Introduction.............................................................................1
14. Literature Review....................................................................3
15. Methodology...........................................................................5
16. Findings...................................................................................7
17. Conclusions............................................................................14
18. Recommendations...................................................................16
19. Appendices............................................................................18
20. Bibliography...........................................................................25
List of Figures
21. Bar Chart of Answers to Question 1...................................8
22. Pie Chart of Socio-economic Status of the Respondents.....9

List of Tables
23. Survey Findings by Gender and Age Group........................10



1. Introduction

Background
This report has been written because ....
It was requested by ...
It was requested on (date).
Objectives
The objectives of this report are to ....
Scope
This report examines .... . It does not examine ..... because ...... .



2. Literature Review

The area of investigation has been commented on by Channel (1994), Hoey (1993), Halliday (1993) and Lesser (1979), who are in agreement that...
However, they have different opinions on ....
Due to the differences highlighted above, it was decided to investigate ....



3. Methodology (also called the 'Method' or 'Procedure')

___ respondents, chosen by the method of _____ were surveyed from (start date) to (end date). Of these, ______ were invited for interview on (date).
The statistics were analysed using a _______ test because .........
The significance of the results was __________



4. Findings

4.1. Introduction
In general, the findings indicated that...
The major finding of the investigation was that...
In addition, ....
Surprisingly, ........ , which was an unexpected consequence of .....
Related exercises:
o    Trends - this exercise introduces the vocabulary and grammar needed to describe trends. Includes an exercise.
o    Trends Headings - this exercise shows how to use headings when describing trends. Includes an exercise.
o    Describing Satisfaction  - choosing between 'satisfy', 'satisfied', 'satisfying' and 'satisfactory', etc.
o    Important or Importance? Explanation and exercise on which word to use.
o    'Lack' or 'Lack of'? - an explanation and an exercise.



5. Conclusions

The main conclusion that can be drawn is therefore that...
In the light of this, it is recommended that... (+ a general recommendation; e.g. that something needs to be changed. The detailed recommendations should go in the Recommendations section below.)



6. Recommendations

In the light of these conclusions, I recommend that _____ should be ____
In addition, a _______ could ______
Grammar Note:
To make suggestions and recommendations you should use 'could + infinitive verb' (if you are less sure), or 'should + infinitive verb' (if you are more sure). You could also use 'suggest + _ing' or 'suggest that + a subject noun (e.g. 'we') + a verb (e.g. 'could' + infinitive verb). Do NOT use 'suggest to'.



Appendices

Appendix 1: Sample Survey Form


Appendix 2: Results of Statistical Analysis by ______


Bibliography

Channel, J. (1994). Vague language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Halliday, M.A.K. (1993). Quantitative studies and probabilities in grammar. In Hoey, M. (Ed.) Data, description, discourse. London: HarperCollins, 1-25.
Hoey, M. (1993). Data, description, discourse. London: HarperCollins, 1-25.
Lesser, R. (1979). Linguistic investigations of aphasia. Studies in language disability and remediation 5. London: Edward Arnold.


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