How to write a formal report

THE FORMAL REPORT

The following structure is recommended for formal report:

-          Title page

-          Contents page

-          Terms of reference

-          Procedure

-          Findings

-          Conclusions

-          Recommendations

-          Appendices

-          References

TITLE PAGE

This should obviously contain the title and the name of the author (s).It may also have a reference number or the date, some sort of classification, eg confidential and any other relevant names, such as the body responsible for publications.

Good presentation is crucial in a report at the front page is especially important because it will create the all-important first-impression on the reader. It helps if the title is in larger type than the rest of the information surrounding it on the front page and, if possible, it should be separated from all other information by plenty of white space. This will make the title stand out.

Finally, keep your title short and make sure it states exactly what report is about.

A title such as the following will not make a sharp impression on the reader’s mind.

“Construction and instrumentation of an experimental concrete on the truck road D7 Upbridge bypass to determine the effect of omitting expansion joints.”

There is too much information to take in ‘at a glance’. If all the information is essential, break it down into two or three manageable pieces.

CONTENT PAGE

This page is compiled after the report has been written and should show clearly all sections and sub-sections of the report and the page number on which they can be found. Although this page is compiled at the end of the report writing process, it should bear some relation to the plan you made before you began writing. Each section heading should be specific, giving the reader a clear indication of what it covers.

The following five heading represent a series of questions. The headings, if taken in order, should always produce a satisfactory report.

TERMS OF REFERENCE (This is numbered 1 in your report)

What is the report about?

Who asked who to write it?

Who is likely to read it?

How long should it be?

Are recommendations required?

PROCEDURE (This is numbered 2 in your report)

 What steps were taken to collect the information?

(Give details of interviews, experiments, books and magazines read, etc.)

FINDINGS (this section is numbered 3 in your report)

What information was obtained?

(This is the longest part of the report, presenting all relevant information on the topic being covered. This section will be sub-divided into different areas and appropriate sub-headings will be provided.)

CONCLUSIONS (this section is numbered 4 in your report)

How can the main points of the findings be summarized?

What can you deduce from the findings? (These usually appear together as a separate section after the findings .However in very long reports they may appear at the end of each section findings.)

RECOMMENDATIONS (This section is numbered 5 in your report)

What action is recommended?

APPENDICES

These contains supplementary information which the reader may wish to refer to, but which is not necessary to the main theme of the report, eg one item may be mentioned from a set of statistics in the report itself, but the complete statistics would appear in the appendix.

REFERENCES

A list of written works which have been referred to, should appear at the end of the report. The author, title, publisher, date of publication and any other relevant information should be given.