The Format of Reports

A typical report is divided into three main sections: front matter, body and end matter. Although
the front matter appears first, you will usually prepare it at the last stage. Most of your time will
be spent preparing the material for the body of the report.
The following features are common to almost all reports:
Cover Page
Abstract
Acknowledgement
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures

FRONT MATTER
OR
PRELIMINARY SECTION

I Introduction
a. Background
b. Terms of Reference
c. Purpose and Scope
d. Methods
II Findings
III Conclusions
IV Recommendations

BODY

List of References
Appendices

END MATTER or
SUPPLEMENTARY ACTION

FORMAL REPORT
Purpose of a Report
In business, one of the most vital documents is the report. A report can provide information,
analyse statistics and data, and suggest recommendations. The main purpose of writing a report
is to help the reader understand a situation and make a decision on any action that may be
necessary to improve matters.
The report-writing process consists of FOUR stages:

Before you write

determine the purpose /

objective

Stage 1: Before you write

Compile data

collect information

Before writing a report, you must determine your objectives. Then you can decide how to
evaluate the
achieve those objectives.
facts

Stage 2: Compile data

Produce a draft

organise the material

Once you have determined the objectives, you can begin your investigations where you collect
information. The data collection methods that you can use include conducting interviews,
surveys, inspections, visits, meetings and referring towrite
previous
reports. These information will
first draft
help you put your report together, especially if recommendations are required.
Finalise
the report
Stage
3: Produce
a draft

edit the draft

You need to organise your material before you begin writing the draft of your report. In formal
reports, it is helpful to use headings:
Terms of Reference:

State exactly why you are writing the report, and for whom.

Procedure:

Explain everything you did in Stage 2 (Compile data). Write in

point form how you investigated the matter, what steps you took
to gather information.

Findings:

This is the longest section of the report. As you gathered

information in Stage 2, you may want to include sub-headings.
Beneath these sub-headings, use numbered points to state exactly
what information was gathered. Present only facts and figures. Do
no form any assumptions or conclusions yet.

Conclusions:

Refer to the Findings section, and draw assumptions and

inferences from what you have found out.

Recommendations:

Based on the information presented in the Findings and

Conclusions, make recommendations for actions (or no action).
Remember that you are merely making suggestions, no decisions.

product the final report

Stage 4: Finalise the report

This is the stage where you edit the report and make sure it meets the objectives. Pay careful
attention to the presentation, style, language and tone of your report.

Ask yourself:
3

Can this report be understood by someone who knows nothing about the situation, without that
person having to ask questions to clarify anything? if the reader is able to understand your
report without asking you for clarification, then your objectives have been met.

ORGANISATION OF THE REPORT

I.

INTRODUCTION
The introduction to a report gives your readers an overview about why the report was
prepared, what it covers, and how the information was collected and processed. The
following are usually included in the Introduction, under separate headings
A.
B.
C.
D.

Background
Terms of Reference
Purpose and Scope
Methods

A. Background
The introduction begins by giving readers the background they need to understand the
problem. It explains what the subject is and why it is important; it may also include
definitions. Most of the information is from secondary sources or personal knowledge. The
material in this sub-section is usually organized from the general to the specific.
B. Terms of Reference
This section provides information about the background to the preparation of the report. It
includes the following information:
What the report is about
The date on which the report was requested
The name and job title of the person who requested the report
The name/s and job title/s of the person/people who prepared the report
The date on which the report must be submitted
C. Purpose and Scope
The purpose of the report (objective/aim/goal) tells your reader what you want to find out.
The statement of purpose can be written in different ways, as in these examples:

The purpose of this report is to investigate the leadership qualities managers need to have.
The objective of this report is to determine what factors contribute to successful marketing by
sales personnel at Maybank.
If there is more than one objective, they may be listed in point form, as in the example
below:
4

The objective of this report is:

To determine the management styles of supervisors in Maybank

To identify the most effective management style in decision making
To recommend appropriate training programmes to improve management styles among
supervisors

The scope of the report tells readers what is covered in the report. It describes

what the report investigated

the sample population(who the respondents were); and
the geographical are and/or time period that was covered by the study

For example in the study mentioned above (on the management styles of supervisors), the report
covered selected male and female sales personnel at three of the five branches of the company.
Only supervisors who had been working with the company for 2 years or more were considered.
D. Methods
You also need to tell your readers how and where you obtained the information which forms the
basis for your findings.
-

Secondary sources (library, Internet research or other reports), mention the main publications
consulted
Observation : describe where, when, how often, and how long you carried them out.
Survey : describe how you selected your respondents, the number of respondents, the form of
the questionnaire, how you distributed it and how you collected it.
Interviews : mention how many people were interviewed and what their positions were.
(The reason for describing the methods is so that readers will be able to decide whether your
research is reliable.)

Explain how the data were analysed briefly. For example:

Data obtained from the questionnaire survey were collated and analysed.
Frequency counts and percentages of the data were computed and tabulated

II FINDINGS
This section is a major part of the report and should be placed on a new page. In it you describe
what you have found from your reading, observations, surveys and interviews. The data should
be presented in a logical order so that they are easy to understand. You may need to subdivide
the findings in some way.
Please take note that you are only allowed to use questionnaires to gather your information.
A. Often the data from the questionnaire can be displayed in tables and charts. However, you
cannot simply include a chart and expect your readers to work out for themselves what it
means. You need to tell your readers what the data show. Refer to the following
guidelines:
- Begin with the sentence that describes whatthe table or chart shows. It can be the same as
in the title of the table or the chart.
- In the next sentence, state the most obvious or most general idea that can be seen on the
table or in the chart.
- Next, describe some of the main points/trends. You DO NOT need to repeat in words
every item of data that is shown. Usually you need to emphasize the most common
response, the second most common response, and any surprising statistics. Give
frequencies of actual numbers as well as percentages.

25%

25-49%

50-75%

75%

4% 6%
42%

48%

Figure 1: Reference Source Written in English Understood by Students

Written text
Figure 1 shows how much students understood when they read a reference source written in
English. A majority of respondents (54%) said they understood less than 50 per cent of what
they read. While just over 40% of respondents understood between half and three quarters of
what they read, only 4 per cent understood more than 75% of what they read.

B. Summary of Findings
It is useful to include a summary of the most significant findings from the questionnaire,
interviews and any other sources of information. You can write the findings a a bulleted or
numbered list.

III. CONCLUSION
Begin this section on a new page. Conclusions are based on the information and data that are set
out in the Findings, but they do not include any statistic. Your conclusions are often general
points that can be drawn from more than one question in the questionnaire or from other sources.
Here is a summary of findings from a questionnaire.

It was found that 75% of respondents had not read an English

newspaper in the week before the survey.
It was found that 89% of respondents had not read an English
novel in the month before the survey
7

Here is a conclusion based on these findings:

It can be concluded that the majority of students surveyed read very

little in English, apart from their textbooks.

There should be nothing new in this section; that is, nothing that has not been mentioned in
the Findings section.

IV.RECOMMENDATION
Begin this section on a new page.
The recommendations should be as detailed as possible, so that a decision-maker reading the
report has a clear idea of exactly what could be done. A report investigating the lack of parking
space in Section 5, PJ should avoid vague recommendation like:
It is recommended that car drivers should be encouraged to use other
forms of transport.

Instead, the writers need to recommend exactly what should be done to encourage car drivers to
switch to other forms of transport, or to discourage them from using their cars.

FINAL REPORT
Once, you have finished writing and revising the content of your report, it is time to check the
details are correct.
a. Page Numbers

Pages that make up the Front Matter are numbered using small Roman numerals (ii,iii,iv
etc.), where the Summary page starts off with ii.
The Title Page is the first page of your report and it must not be numbered.
Pages in the Body of the report are numbered using Arabic numerals ( 1, 2, 3, 4) and
the numbering continues until the last page. (this includes the end Matter)
8

b. Numbering System in Reports

The headings in reports are also numbered to make the content easier to read. Two
numbering systems that can be used are:
i. The alpha-numeric system
ii. The decimal system
The Alpha-numeric System

The Decimal System

INTRODUCTION
A. Background
B. terms of Reference
C. Purpose and Scope
D. Methods
1.Library and Internet Research
2. Observation
3. Questionnaire

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background
1.2. terms of Reference
1.3. Purpose and Scope
1.4. Methods
1.1.1. Library and Internet Research
1.1.2. Observation
1.1.3. Questionnaire

II

FINDINGS

II

FINDINGS

Each of the main sections ( INTRODUCTION, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS) MUST begin on a new page

c. The Front Matter

The Cover Page should include the following information:

The title of the report

The name and job title of the person who
requested the report
The names and job titles of the writers of the
report
The date of submission of the report

d. Abstract (Summary or Executive Summary)

An abstract is quite different from an introduction. It is a summary of the report, in which

you include one sentence (or so) for every main section of your report. For example, you
can include:
the context of the research
the purpose of the report
9

 the method used

the major findings (you may need several sentences here)
the conclusions
the main recommendations

Write the abstract after you have written the report.

e. Acknowledgements

The acknowledgements section is where you express your gratitude to those people who
helped you while you were preparing the report. They may have provided information,
services or help in any form.

f. Table of Contents

Usually only if the report is longer than ten pages.

This is a list of the headings and appendices of the report.

Depending on the complexity and length of the report, you could list tables, figures and
appendices separately.

Make sure the correct page numbers are shown opposite the contents.

Up-to-date word processing packages can generate a table of contents for you

g. List of Tables and Figures

This will list and give the location of every table, chart, photograph, map, plan or
diagram that you have included in the report.

Its purpose is to help your readers find the information they want quickly.

Prepare the End Matter

a. List of References

The List of References follows immediately after the end of the Body text.
10

It should begin on a new page.

The List of References lists all items that have been mentioned in the text (books,
articles, websites etc.)

They should be arranged in alphabetical order, according to the surname of the author

11