POCKET STUDY SKILLS

Michelle Reid

WRITING
REPORT
 REPORT
WRITING

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])

POCKET STUDY SKILLS
Series Editor: Kate Williams, Oxford Brookes University, UK
Illustrations by Sallie Godwin
For the time-pushed student, the Pocket Study Skills pack a lot of advice into a little book. Each guide
focuses on a single crucial aspect of study giving you step-by-step guidance, handy tips and clear advice
on how to approach the important areas which will continually be at the core of your studies.

Published
14 Days to Exam Success (2nd edn) Reading and Making Notes (2nd edn)
Analyzing a Case Study Referencing and Understanding Plagiarism
(2nd edn)
Brilliant Writing Tips for Students
Reflective Writing
Completing Your PhD
Report Writing (2nd edn)
Doing Research (2nd edn)
Science Study Skills
Getting Critical (2nd edn)
Studying with Dyslexia (2nd edn)
Managing Stress
Success in Groupwork
Planning Your Dissertation (2nd edn)
Time Management
Planning Your Essay (2nd edn)
Where’s Your Argument?
Planning Your PhD
Writing for University (2nd edn)
Posters and Presentations
POCKET STUDY SKILLS
Michelle Reid

SECOND EDITION
WRITING
REPORT
© Michelle Reid, under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited, 2018
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
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permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this
work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2012 by
PALGRAVE
First edition 2012
Second edition 2018
Palgrave in the UK is an imprint of Springer Nature Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of 4 Crinan Street,
London, N1 9XW.
Palgrave® is a registered trademark in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978–1–352–00303–1 paperback
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managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Contents
Acknowledgements vii How will you find this
Introduction ix information out? 30
Planning your time 34
1 The purpose of reports 1 Recording your findings 36
Read the brief! 2 Writing up as you go along 38
Who are the audience? 5 Planning your report 40
What is the purpose? 8 Managing group reports 46
What do your audience know
already? 10 3 Structuring your report 51
How are reports read? 12 Which section should
How are reports written? 14 this go in? 52
Differences between reports Title and contents pages 52
and essays 16 Abstract / Executive summary 55
Types of reports 20 Introduction 60
What if your report has an Methods 65
unfamiliar structure? 21 Results 69
Discussion 73
2 Gathering your information 26 Conclusions and
Aims and objectives 26 recommendations 78
What do you need to find out? 28 References 81
Contents v
 Appendices 82 Critical thinking in reports 118
What if your report has a Demonstrating critical thinking 121
different structure? 83
7 Writing concisely 128
4 Business plans, reflective Give yourself a target 128
placement reports, project Write to express, not to
proposals and dissertations 85 impress! 129
Business plans 85 Use technical terms
Reflective placement reports 86 appropriately 131
Project proposals 91 Use words with accuracy
Projects and dissertations 92 and precision 132
5 Presenting your findings 98 Use of first person 134
Tables 99 Use of tenses 136
Graphs 100 Cut unnecessary words 137
Photographs 104 Check and proofread 143
Diagrams 105 Report writing checklist 144
Maps and plans 106 8 Report writing at work 146
Interviews and observations 107 Differences between academic
Labelling your tables and figures 109 and work reports 146
Referencing unusual sources 112
References 149
6 Demonstrating critical
thinking in reports 115 Useful sources 151
What is critical thinking? 115 Index 152

vi Contents
Acknowledgements
There are many people whom I would like to thank for their contributions to this guide –
both to the original book and to this revised second edition.

Most importantly, thank you to the students at the University of Reading who discuss
their report-writing concerns and insights with me, and who continually give me new
ideas.

I am very grateful to my colleagues Kim Shahabudin and Sonia Hood, from Study
Advice, whose research into report writing and group work has helped me endlessly. It
is an absolute joy to work together and we make a great team.

Special thanks to students and staff who kindly shared examples of reports and
allowed me to include them in the book, particularly Peter Cook, John Harris, David
Kirk, Kathy Pain and Jack Tame.

I am grateful to the critical readers of the first edition who showed me what they liked
and what to develop for the second time around.

Acknowledgements vii
Many thanks to Kate Williams for her expert guidance, advice and generosity as series
editor. Thanks also to Suzannah Burywood, Helen Caunce, and the editorial and
production teams at Palgrave for their creativity and support … especially Helen, for
gently persuading me to prepare a second edition. Thank you to Sallie Godwin for her
fabulous illustrations, which make the book come to life.

Finally, a big thank you to Inigo for being brilliant.

viii Acknowledgements
Introduction
Business reports … lab reports … research reports … there are many different kinds of
reports you might have to write as part of your university course. This is because the
report format is a useful and widely accepted way of structuring information.

Knowing how to structure a report and where to put the different kinds of information
can cause concerns such as:

◗◗ Which section should this go in?

◗◗ How do I lay out my report?
◗◗ What goes in the discussion?
◗◗ What headings does a business report have?

This book answers these questions by showing you how a report structure can be a
communication tool rather than an imprisoning set of rules. If you consider the purpose
of your report and the needs of your readers, you can be confident that your structure
will fulfil these needs, and that each section of your report will do the correct job.

This book demonstrates the purpose and the readership of reports, how to find the
information your readers need, the role that each section plays in communicating this

Introduction ix
information, how to present your information visually … and how to communicate all
this concisely!

This new edition has been extensively revised to reflect wider student concerns
surrounding reports as university assignments, and includes sections on reports as
part of group work and literature reviews within longer reports and dissertations. It also
gives additional examples of how to write concisely. As the need for critical thinking
is often highlighted in feedback but is not often explained, there is a new chapter on
where and how to incorporate critical thinking into reports.

Most professions (and many university subjects) have their own kinds of reports, so
knowing how to write these well is valuable both at university and beyond.

x Introduction
 1 The purpose of reports
Reports are formally structured and communicate the findings of investigations in a
clear, logical way.

Your investigation may be a scientific experiment, a site visit, a series of observations,

research into a process or procedure … but whatever different types of investigation
you do as part of your course, you will need to report:
◗◗ what you did
◗◗ how you did it
◗◗ what you found out
◗◗ why your findings are important.

The content and structure of your report are determined by the needs of your ­audience
and the purpose of your report … but how do you know who your audience are and
what they want?

The purpose of reports 1

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Read the brief!
Reports normally have a brief, or a set of instructions, telling you the requirements of
your investigation.

In a work situation the brief may be set by your clients or your manager, and they will
expect you to follow it! At university your brief is most likely to be set by your tutors …
and they also will expect you to follow it!

You will get the crucial information you need from reading your brief carefully:

2 REPORT WRITING
The main purpose is a
feasibility study.

Investigate the feasibility of

using wind power to generate
Identify … Develop …
some of the electricity for the
Make recommendations –
new halls of residence on the
these are the things your
Central Campus. audience want included
Identify different ways of in the report.
using wind power to generate Note that you are asked
electricity. Develop a set of to define criteria for
criteria for evaluating these evaluating the methods
methods of power generation of wind power generation
for a hall of residence. Make yourself, so you need
recommendations on the to define how you are
Your main audience is judging ‘feasibility’ – what
feasibility of using wind
the Campus Facilities would your audience
power at the new hall for the
Manager, but you also consider the most
Campus Facilities Manager to important factors in
have a secondary
take to the next Planning and making wind power
audience, the Planning
Policy Board meeting. ‘feasible’?
and Policy Board – so the
recommendations you – cost-effectiveness?
make need to be suitable – efficiency?
for the Manager to take – reliability?
to the Board meeting.

The purpose of reports 3

Even a short brief contains a lot of information about what you are expected to do.

The purpose is to Note that the brief asks you to test the robot
report a design and as well as to design it – so you need to create
testing process. a robust testing method as well. Your report
needs to justify how and why you did this.

Design and test a basic stair-climbing robot.

No specific audience is mentioned – this is

common in scientific briefs – so your tutor
is your main audience (with a secondary
audience of scientists in your field).

Your brief tells you about the investigation you are carrying out, but you also need to
know other essential requirements of your assignment, such as:
◗◗ word count
◗◗ format
◗◗ referencing style
◗◗ deadline for handing in.

4 REPORT WRITING
In addition to this, read your assessment criteria – these will give you valuable
­information about what you need to demonstrate in your report and the ‘learning
outcomes’ you are expected to fulfil.

Who are the audience?

A report is a piece of informative writing, which
means that it has an intended audience who will
want to find things out from reading your report.

Your brief or assignment description should tell

you who your intended audience are, and this
will have an important influence on the content
of your report: you need to tailor the information
to suit the needs of your audience.

The purpose of reports 5

Reports about the same subject written for different audiences might each have a very
different content and tone.

Write a report on a speech and language diagnostic

assessment for a child with mild phonological difficulties.

How might the report differ if you were writing it for …

◗◗ the parents of the child
◗◗ the child’s school
◗◗ the director of the speech and language clinic
◗◗ the child’s doctor who referred the child to the clinic

6 REPORT WRITING
Write a report on the habitat and population of rare
great crested newts on the site of a disused factory.

The purpose of reports 7

Audiences have vested interests in the information being reported and motivations for
wanting the investigation conducted. As a report writer, you need to take these needs
into consideration.

This is why, even though your brief is set by your tutor, they may ask you to write for
an imaginary client or a professional situation. In these circumstances, you need to
consider who would use the information that you are reporting and how they would
use it – for example, would your recommendations be passed on to a secondary
­audience or used to advise clients or managers? What would be relevant and useful
for these audiences?

If your main audience is your tutor, they still want to know that you can report the
findings of your investigation in a logical and relevant way, relating them to the overall
purpose of the investigation.

What is the purpose?

As a report is a piece of informative writing, it not only has an audience who want to be
informed, it also has a purpose – there is a reason for wanting the information.
◗◗ What do your readers want to find out from your report?
◗◗ How will they be reading your report?
◗◗ Why will they be reading what you are reporting?
8 REPORT WRITING
Often, the information in reports will be acted upon by your readers in some way.
The information in different reports may have the purpose of advising, persuading or
recommending the readers to do something. For example:

You are asked to analyse whether regular exercise helps people manage their depression,
and to present the report to an audience of counsellors and doctors.

The purpose of the report is to inform the audience about whether this potential aid in the
management of depression is supported by sufficient evidence.

The counsellors and doctors will want to know whether they should be recommending more
regular exercise to their clients and patients based on your analysis of the evidence.

So your report needs to give clear guidance on whether the evidence suggests that there are
benefits to people with depression, and to what extent counsellors and doctors should act
on this information.

Part of persuading an audience is being able to anticipate any scepticism they may have
about the evidence you present. For example, the doctors and counsellors might raise the
objection ‘How do we encourage our depressed patients to start exercising?’ You need to
take this into account – even a brief acknowledgement of their concerns may make them
more receptive to your message.

The purpose of reports 9

You may be thinking that the concept of ‘purpose’ doesn’t apply in the same way to
reports on scientific experiments, but the principles of audience and purpose do still
apply. As a scientist, your audience is your tutor (and fellow scientists in your field) and
your purpose may be to test your hypotheses. Based on the analysis of your findings,
you may make recommendations for further research to fill gaps in your findings or to
make your findings more robust.

If your brief asks you to make recommendations based on the information in your
report, it is important that you make these clearly, and that they don’t get lost in the
body of your conclusion. Recommendations serve a different purpose to a conclusion:
a conclusion summarises why your findings are important, whereas recommendations
say what actions your readers should take in response to your findings.

What do your audience know already?

Not only do you need to consider the needs of your audience and what they want to
find out from your report, you also need to take into account their background – what
information do they already have? You don’t want to repeat unnecessary information
since a report has to be as concise and as relevant to your readers as possible (and
you also have a word count to stick to!).

10 REPORT WRITING
In a work situation, including information that your readers already know will undermine
your authority and make your readers less receptive to your message. On your univer-
sity course, your tutors will want to see that you can be selective and make judgements
about what is relevant. Your marking criteria will probably contain something about the
‘relevance’ or ‘suitability’ of the information included in your report.

The introduction to a lab report shouldn’t

be a long historical summary of all the
A main problem with experiments done in the field. The methods
my students’ surveying and findings of most older experiments have
reports is they spend too now been surpassed.
long describing the client’s (Food Science and Nutrition lecturer)
house – but the client
already knows what colour
their own door is … get to
the interesting information Demonstrating an understanding of the client’s
more quickly. problem is important. It shows the students know
(Real Estate and Planning what they are talking about, but I always ask:
lecturer) What is new about this? What insights are you
giving me? How does your interpretation of my
problem give me confidence that you’re going to
provide me with solutions?
(International Marketing lecturer)

The purpose of reports 11

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How are reports read?
A report is an act of communication, so it is helpful to understand how your audience
will read your report.

When marking your reports, your tutors are likely to read them all the way through from
beginning to end, as they need to see how you have fulfilled the marking criteria.

However, reports are not normally read in such a linear way. Readers are likely to go
straight to the sections that they think will give them the information they need and
then, based on these, make decisions about whether to read the rest of the report.

Reports are about finding relevant information easily. Each section of a report does a
specific job (as shown in Chapter 3), so the structure of the report signals to readers
where they can find the information they want easily and quickly.

Research into how managers read reports (cited by University of Reading 2017b)
showed that they were most likely to read the following sections, in this order:
1 abstract or summary
2 introduction
3 conclusions
4 findings
5 appendices.

12 REPORT WRITING
The way that managers read reports shows that the smaller sections of a report, like
the abstract and conclusions, have an important role to play in helping your audi-
ence get the information they need. It is worth spending time making sure that these
sections are accurate because they act as your ‘shop window’, showing what your
report contains and why your readers should care about this.

The purpose of reports 13

How are reports written?
Just as reports are not read in order from beginning to end, it is also likely that you are
not going to write your report in a linear way.

This is because a report is an account of an investigation that you have conducted …

and investigations rarely happen in a linear, well-ordered manner!

Any investigation or piece of research is an iterative process: you start out in a certain
direction (for example, by making a plan, doing background reading or carrying out a
pilot study) and then, as a result of your initial findings, you may go back and change
your original ideas, refining and developing them. An investigative journey often
involves detours and loops before you fully work out where you want to go.

A report is an account of this investigative journey, but it imposes an artificial logic on

it. Although you may have gone down diversions or looped back in your investiga-
tion, your report will lead your readers through it clearly, in an accepted formal order.
Although each investigation is different and takes a different path, the structure of a
report gives a familiar order to the information – we know what to expect, what we are
going to find in each section and what job that section does.

14 REPORT WRITING
Some sections of a report, like the abstract and the introduction, give important
context and summaries of the investigation, so can only really be written (or redrafted)
at the end, when you have a clear idea of what you did and where you ended up.

The purpose of reports 15

Other sections of a report, like the results and the discussion, are dependent on you
finding out information or doing practical work, so you need to do this before you can
write them up.

However, the methods, or descriptions of what you did, are something that you will
probably have to work out in advance (you need to know roughly what you are going
to do before you can do it). This section is also more descriptive and straightforward
to write, so it is likely to be the one that you can write first.

Differences between reports and essays

A report is a piece of informative writing with a specific audience and purpose; it is a
distinct ‘genre’ or type of writing, and so it has a different style, and different features
and conventions to other forms of writing that you might do as part of your course.

It is easier to see how a report is a distinct genre of writing if we compare it with

another common genre of academic writing – the essay.

16 REPORT WRITING
 Report Essay
Purpose
An account of an investigation. An answer to a question.
Needs to focus on the brief or on the Often has a broader scope – needs to
specific investigation set. interpret and define the question.
Reports what you have done and what Discusses an issue or a point of
you found out. academic contention.
Makes recommendations supported by Makes a coherent argument supported
appropriate (referenced) evidence. by appropriate (referenced) evidence.
Audience
Written for a specific audience established Not usually written for a specific audience
in the brief (a client, a manager, etc.), but (apart from your tutor).
your tutor is also your audience.
Format
Formally structured, with headings, Continuous prose in paragraphs, but
sub-headings and bullet points. usually with no headings or bullet points.
May contain diagrams, tables and Does not usually contain diagrams,
figures. tables or figures.
Style
Written in an appropriate style for Written in a single, discursive style
each section (e.g. descriptive style for throughout.
methods, analytical style for discussion).
Copyright © 2011 RMIT University, prepared by the Study and Learning Centre.
Text adapted from University of Reading (2017b).
The purpose of reports 17
These differences between reports and essays are generalised – some tutors have
different preferences, for example encouraging the use of sub-headings in essays to
break up the text. Always check with your individual assignment criteria first, and, if in
doubt, ask.

You can get an idea of the different scope and intention of essays and reports by
comparing the following report briefs and essay questions:

18 REPORT WRITING
Report briefs Essay questions

Based on your recent The most important role of

placement, compile a case a social worker is to combat
report for a client, providing social injustice – discuss.
evidence for how you have
taken issues of social injustice
into account in your client’s
care plan.

Investigate the conservation What challenges are posed by

measures needed to ensure the study of human remains
the correct preservation of for the reconstruction of past
human remains at the new dig social organisation?
site at Silbury Hill.

If you are not sure whether your assignment should be written as a report, an essay or
in another format, check your assignment guidelines and, if you are still not sure, ask
your tutor – selecting the wrong type of assignment format will definitely lose marks.

The purpose of reports 19

Types of reports
As reports are a useful and well-organised way of presenting information, they are
found in many different professions and academic disciplines, ranging from the
sciences, business and management, to health and social care.

Compare the basic outline structures of a science lab report In the first year of my
and a business report: Animal Science course
we had to write field
reports, lab reports and
Science lab report Business report business reports!
• Abstract • Title page
(2nd-year Animal
• Introduction • Executive summary
Science student)
• Methods and materials • Table of contents
• Results • Introduction
• Discussion • Discussion
• Conclusions • Conclusions
• References • Recommendations
• References
• Appendices

20 REPORT WRITING
There is a similar logic and progression to both reports, even though some of the
individual sections are different or have different names. This is because they have to
serve the different needs and purposes of their readers – for example, this business
report doesn’t have a ‘Methods’ section: the readers want to know what was found
out and what to do about it, but they are less interested in how the investigation was
conducted. In contrast, the lab report has a ‘Methods and materials’ section because
an important aspect of any scientific investigation is its rigour and reproducibility.
With all these different types of report, how can you know what you are supposed to
do and which type of report is required?
Always start from the brief or instructions you are given. If your tutors want you to
follow specific conventions for your reports, they should let you know – so check your
course handbook (paper or online) or ask.

What if your report has an unfamiliar structure?

Something that can cause confusion is when tutors set an assignment that is called a ‘report’
but that doesn’t appear to follow any of the conventions of reports that you’re normally used
to following. It’s not a lab report, a business report or a fieldwork report … so what does
your tutor want? It’s natural to feel slightly anxious, especially if you have previously been
told in other modules on your course that reports must follow set rules and a set structure.
However, some tutors may simply use the term ‘report’ to mean ‘not an essay’.
The purpose of reports 21
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The assignment below was set for a group of Agriculture, Policy and Development
students:

Write a critical report on the literature about public–private healthcare

partnerships in developing countries that you’ve read for this module.

The students were used to writing either business case reports or fieldwork reports,
both of which had clear sets of headings and structures, and the students would get
marked down for not adhering to the norms. For this assignment, therefore, they were
worried that there was also a set structure, which they had somehow missed. They
were concerned about getting it wrong, so they talked to their tutor. She explained that
when she said ‘report’ she meant that they could use headings to group the literature
into themes in order to compare it. She didn’t expect a set structure, but she wanted
the students to decide on their own themes and to turn these into headings for their
reports.

22 REPORT WRITING
If you get a report assignment that seems unfamiliar, you can follow these principles:
◗◗ Look at your assignment brief and marking criteria carefully for any information
about structure.
◗◗ Remember that a report is usually an informative piece of writing with headings.
◗◗ If you haven’t been asked to use a set structure, you can often make up your own
headings based on topics or themes.
◗◗ If in doubt, ask your tutor for guidance.

We usually do essays, so when we were told to write a report it just meant

we could use headings, graphs and bullet points.
(3rd-year Politics student)

Some lecturers want us to follow their structure for reports, but others want
us to think of our own headings. It took me a while to realise that.
(3rd-year Business and Management student)

The purpose of reports 23

Whatever kind of report you are writing, before you embark on your investigation,
define your task:

What am I being asked to do? Note …

What does the brief tell me about my investigation?

Are there specific things that I need to include in the

report?

Who am I writing for?

Who are my audience?

What do they want to find out?

What do they know already?

How will they use the information?

Are there secondary audiences who will see my report

too?

24 REPORT WRITING
Why am I being asked to do it?
Why is the report being written – what am I being asked
to find out?
Is the purpose of the report to inform, test, persuade,
advise, recommend … ?
Have I been asked to make specific recommendations
based on my findings?

How do my audience want the information presented?

What is the word count?
What guidance have I been given on structure, format
and layout?
What style of referencing is required?
Do I need to submit it electronically or on paper?

When do my audience want the report?

When is the deadline?

The purpose of reports 25

 2 Gathering your information
Aims and objectives Khác nhau: mục tiêu và mục đích
Sometimes your investigation calls for you to establish your ‘aims and objectives’ –
particularly for longer reports or dissertations. People often get ‘aims’ and ‘objectives’
confused and find it hard to distinguish between them. This is not surprising as major
dictionaries usually define them as meaning the same thing.

However, in the context of a report:

◗◗ The aims are the overarching things you want to achieve. mục đích
◗◗ The objectives describe in more detail how you are going to achieve them. mục tiêu
By asking you to identify aims and objectives, your tutor wants you to break down and
define your task more clearly.

For example, take the following brief:

Investigate whether the university should create more alcohol-free social spaces
on campus.

26 REPORT WRITING
This is a very broad brief, so establishing aims and objectives can help give your
investigation a more concrete focus.

Brief Aims Objectives

(what you want to (how you will achieve your aims)
achieve)
Investigate 1 Establish whether (a) Observe how frequently and for what
whether the there is student purposes the existing alcohol-free
university should demand for more café bar is used by students.
create more alcohol-free
(b) Assess students’ opinions on
alcohol-free social spaces on
opportunities for alcohol-free
social spaces on campus.
socialising – including their health
campus.
concerns and views on UK drinking
culture.
2 Identify whether (a) Evaluate the current profit/loss of the
creating more existing alcohol-free café bar.
alcohol-free social (b) Conduct a cost–benefit analysis
spaces would be for alternative sizes, locations and
cost-effective for designs of alcohol-free social spaces
the university. on campus.

Gathering your information 27

Even if you don’t have to create specific aims
and objectives as part of your report, you still • Your objectives need to
enable you to achieve
need to identify what you need to find out and Objectives your aims.
how you are going to find that out before you
can go any further with your investigation.
• Your aims need to fulfil
the requirements of your
What do you need to find out? Aims brief.

In order to find the information that your readers

want, you need to clearly identify the problem
• Your report needs to
and to break it down into specific steps.
answer your brief.
Brief
If you are not sure where to start … ask SO
WHAT? Think about the topic, the audience
and the purpose of the investigation:

This question forces you to think about:

When supervising any of my students,
◗◗ What … do your audience see as the key from first years to PhDs, I always ask
issue or problem? them ‘So what?’ … it makes them link
◗◗ What … are your audience’s key concerns back to the real world and the possible
applications of their experiment.
about the issue or problem (why do they
care)?
(Head of Food Science)

28 REPORT WRITING
◗◗ What … will your audience do with the information you gather?
◗◗ So what … do you need to find out to provide your audience with information to
answer their problem?
Imagine you have been given the following brief:

Examine whether luxury-brand cosmetics companies should adopt online viral

marketing strategies.

SO WHAT?
What do your audience see as the key issue or problem?
◗◗ New technologies may enable luxury cosmetic companies to reach new
customers, or to reach existing customers more effectively. Do luxury cosmetic
companies need to take advantage of this trend?
What are your audience’s key concerns about the issue or problem (why do
they care)?
◗◗ If luxury cosmetic companies don’t develop their marketing strategies, rival companies
might use innovative strategies more effectively and increase market share.
What will your audience do with the information you gather?
◗◗ They will use it to help decide their marketing strategy, making decisions about the
risks and benefits of adopting an online viral marketing campaign.

Gathering your information 29

So what do you need to find out to provide your audience with information to
answer their problem?
◗◗ What types of online viral marketing strategies are there?
◗◗ Who are the target consumers of luxury cosmetics?
◗◗ How do these consumers use the internet and how do they perceive online
marketing?
◗◗ Which online viral marketing strategies would be best suited to reaching these
target consumers?
◗◗ Would using these strategies benefit the cosmetic companies?
◗◗ What are the risks of not using these strategies?

Asking ‘So what?’ has a dual purpose: first, it makes you consider the implications of
what you are trying to investigate and then, with those implications in mind, you can
decide what you need to find out.

How will you find this information out?

Once you have identified what you are trying to find out, you need to consider how
you will gather this information. This will involve considering the methods you will use.

The methods you choose need to be fit for purpose and suitable for answering your
aims and objectives, or your research questions.

30 REPORT WRITING
In general, the methods you use can be divided into two categories:
◗◗ Primary research: You collect original data first-hand by doing experiments,
carrying out case studies, interviews or surveys, or conducting focus groups, etc.
◗◗ Secondary research: You find and analyse data already collected by someone
else – for example, reviewing existing literature or analysing existing statistics.
Many types of report you write at university will involve a combination of both primary
and secondary research – for example, background reading (secondary research) to
put the investigation you are conducting (primary research) into context.
The research you do can be further divided into:
◗◗ Qualitative research: Gauging people’s feelings, attitudes or behaviours – for
example, using interviews, focus groups or case studies. This usually involves
asking open-ended or semi-structured questions.
◗◗ Quantitative research: Testing hypotheses by gathering numerical data or data
that can be turned into numbers to be analysed – for example, measuring specific
variables, or using questionnaires with multiple choice answers. This usually
involves creating standardised questions that provide measurable answers.
Imagine you are asked to write a report investigating the question:

Does the current university education system provide good value for money for
students?

Gathering your information 31

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])
The idea of ‘value for money’ is complex – some of the research you need to do will be
qualitative and some will be quantitative:

Qualitative Quantitative

Qualitative research Quantitative research

Measuring
Gauging questions: questions: quantities.
opinions.
• What do you think • How much do you Data
constitutes ‘value for spend per year on fees, collected
money’ from your accommodation and will be
Asking for university experience? living costs? numbers.
description.
• What aspects (if any) • How many contact
Data will be
of your university hours of teaching do
in the form
of words. experience have you get per week?
provided good value
for money and what
aspects have provided
poor value for money?

A combination of qualitative and quantitative

research methods contribute to this report.

Final report
32 REPORT WRITING
For more on the differences between qualitative and quantitative research and their
relative advantages and disadvantages, see ‘Analyse This!!!’ at www.learnhigher.
ac.uk/analysethis/index.html
It is likely that for many of the reports you are asked to write at university, your tutor
will give you an indication of the methods you are expected to use. Sometimes you
may be set report assignments specifically to enable you to learn certain methods
(e.g. lab reports).
For longer projects and dissertations where you have to set your own research ques-
tions, you will be expected to apply what you have learned throughout your course to
decide on the most appropriate methods to use.
For more on different research methods and how to find your My university librarian
showed me how to locate
data, see Thomas (2017a), Doing research (in this series). company reports and
When deciding how to find out the information you need to government statistics online.
write your report, start from what you want to find out, then (3rd-year Business and
consider these questions: Management student)
◗◗ Does the information already exist somewhere?
◗◗ Has someone else researched it, and if so how can I get hold of this information?
◗◗ Do I need to conduct my own research to find the information?
◗◗ Will I need to gauge people’s beliefs and opinions (qualitative research) or to gather
numerical data and test hypotheses (quantitative research)?
Gathering your information 33
Planning your time
In working out how you intend to find out the information, you will need to consider
how long you have to find this information.

A key part of conducting any investigation is planning your time. Trying to estimate
how long stages in an investigation will take can be unpredictable and difficult … and
in an ideal world there will always be one more book you could read, or one more
person you could interview.

A better strategy is to start with what is fixed and limited – the amount of time you
have.
◗◗ Start with your assignment deadline and work backwards.
◗◗ Break your investigation into main stages and allot a certain amount of time for
each stage.
◗◗ Set your own interim deadlines for when you will start each stage and (more
importantly) when you will stop that stage and move on to the next one.
◗◗ Build in some contingency time (especially if you will have to rely on other people
responding when you are collecting your data).

34 REPORT WRITING
For example:
Task Get brief; Start Finish Write
start back- back- introduction
thinking ground ground
of ideas reading reading
Start info Finish info Write
gathering gathering abstract

Start Finish Continue Write Proof-

writing methods; analysing discussion reading
methods start writing results and and final
results conclusion checks

HAND IN
Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

If you are doing lab reports, you will probably be writing them up over a much shorter
period of time, say 1 to 2 weeks, but you will be expected to do less background
reading and of course you’ll have already conducted the investigative part in class.

I start writing up my lab reports as soon as we’ve come out of the practical – the methods and
procedures are fresh in my mind.
(2nd-year Chemistry student)
For more on how to break up a report into stages and create an assignment plan, see ASK:
Assignment survival kit from the University of Kent: www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/ai/ask/index.php

Gathering your information 35

Recording your findings
The way you record your findings depends on what you are investigating, but here is a
good basic check: Will you be able to find everything you need again and make sense
of it all when you come to compile your final draft?

Recording your findings is

about more than just being
organised; it helps you start to
structure and make sense of
what you are investigating as
you go along.

See the next page for some

tips from students on what to
consider when recording your
findings.

36 REPORT WRITING
Always note down page It can be a real pain having to transcribe
numbers for anything interviews from a recording, so I take my own
you’ve read – even if it notes as I do the interview and use the recording
seems unimportant – it as a back-up to clarify anything I’ve missed.
may become vital later on.

I had to do case studies based on

I was observing people’s habits in airport my professional placements. It
departure lounges – I started by writing was easier to keep track of what I
long descriptions of what everyone did did by writing a diary entry each
but soon found I could use tables to day than trying to remember it
record a tally and make brief notes. all at the end of the week.

Our lecturer used to collect in our I learned from a few late-night panics
lab books at the end of each practical to always record the full bibliographical
class so we couldn’t mess around and details of everything you read and keep
forget to fill them in later. your references up to date as you go along!

A lab technician threw out my soil samples – total nightmare. I

was able to salvage something as I’d kept a record of what I’d
found so far and notes on what each sample held. I was able to
describe what I would have found out and get marks anyway.

Gathering your information 37

Writing up as you go along
People often mistakenly think that, because a report is an account of an investigation,
it can only be written up after you have finished conducting the investigation. However,
research is unpredictable, potentially open-ended, and doesn’t often go in a neat linear
direction … so waiting until you have completely finished before writing up may leave
you with little or no time left.

Writing up sooner rather than later will help you clarify your thinking and identify any
gaps in your investigation that you need to fill with more reading or research. It breaks
up the writing process and avoids having an overwhelming task at the end.
Order of sections in Suggested order for writing
a report the sections

Title page and Methods (1) Methods – a general rule is that the more factual the
contents page section, the earlier you write it up. Describing ‘what you
did’ tends to be the easiest place to start.

Abstract/Executive Results (2) Results – this is another mainly factual and

summary descriptive section. As soon as you have some results,
you can start compiling them in a form to go into your
report and describing what they show.

Introduction Appendices (3) Appendices – as you write your results you may also
be adding relevant items to your appendices.

38 REPORT WRITING
 Methods Introduction (4) Introduction – sections that explain and develop the
purpose of the research are usually written next. Once
you have a clear idea of what you are doing, you can
select the most relevant bits of your background reading
and refine your aims and questions. This will help you
see how to interpret and analyse your findings.

Results Discussion (5) Discussion – once you have clarified what you are
aiming to find out and what previous investigations have
shown, you can use this to help interpret your findings.

Discussion Conclusion and (6) Conclusion – this should follow from your discussion
recommendations and summarise the important points of your report, and
include any recommendations.

Conclusion and Abstract/Executive (7) Abstract – this section should be written last, as it’s
recommendations summary a succinct overview of the whole report.

References References (8) References – ideally you’ll have been compiling

these as you go along, but also do a final check
through to make sure every source you’ve referred to in
the body of your report is included in your references.

Appendices Title page and (9) Contents page and title page – it is usually easiest to
contents page compile these as your final task, when your redrafting is
finished and your page numbers are fixed.

Adapted from LearnHigher report-writing webpages: www.learnhigher.ac.uk/writing-for-university/report-writing/

Gathering your information 39

Writing up as you go along doesn’t necessarily have to be in full sentences or in the
best academic style (at this stage!) – it is simply to make your life easier. You can make
notes under the relevant headings of your report and expand them later. Alternatively,
try ‘free writing’ (write continuously for a set time period, say 10 minutes, without
stopping or editing).

Develop a habit of writing up as you go along – it doesn’t matter how you do it, as long
as you do it!

Planning your report

It can be tempting to think that you don’t need to plan your report as the structure has
been provided for you by the headings. But don’t skimp on the planning stage! P­ lanning
a report is as important as planning an essay, especially as some of the sections can
be quite long and detailed. The headings are a good start, but often the information
under each heading needs to be thought through and organised beforehand.

40 REPORT WRITING
Here’s a simple 5-step process to get you started:

1 Write out all your headings.

2 Under each heading, note down key information to include in that section, such as
the number of participants.
3 Also under each heading, note down the main points you want to make in that
section.
4 Group similar points together and discard any irrelevant points.
5 Read through your whole plan and identify the key messages you want to convey,
e.g. what your main findings are, and why they are important. Make sure these
messages are consistently communicated throughout your report.

Report headings mean that you can plan each section separately when you need to.
Start with an outline and then add more detail under each heading as your investigation
or experiment progresses.

Gathering your information 41

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])
Sample report plan: Psychology

Conduct an experiment to assess the relationship between university students’

study habits and their level of anxiety before tests.

Abstract – WRITE THIS LAST! trong phần Intro này cần

Introduction đề cập đc những study
Active learning strategies are moretrc đó(Turner,
effective lquan đến dvde
2012)
mik đang nghiên cứu
Being better prepared for tests reduces anxiety (Hood, 2015)
• 
Aims – to explore the relationship between methods of study and levels of
test anxiety in university students
• 
Hypothesis – in a period close to when a test is due, students who use more
active learning strategies will show significantly lower anxiety scores than
those with more passive study habits
Method
• Participants
– 20 x 18–20-year-olds from first-year Psychology degree
– 10:1 female to male ratio (not 1:1 ratio because using an opportunity
sample from a class with far more female students – A LIMITATION!)
– Opportunity sample from lab class

42 REPORT WRITING
 • 
Experiment design Reports aren’t written
– Mixed methods in a strictly linear
– Use of standardised anxiety ranking questionnaire (Likert scale) sequence, so neither
are they planned all at
– Participants self-report on scale --> IS THIS A LIMITATION IN
the same time – you
DESIGN? MENTION IN DISCUSSION
can use your plan to
– Also semi-structured interviews about study habits note down questions
Semi-struc: câu hỏi mở, xem to yourself and points
• A pparatus
ngta có ý kiến nào khác kh to follow up later.
– Printed questionnaires and semi-structured interview questions
– Recorder to capture interviews
• Procedure
– Hand out questionnaires in lab class 2 days before end of term test
– Participants complete in class
– Interviews conducted individually in separate room
Results
The mean anxiety score for the ‘passive study habits group’ (12.36, SD 2.85) was
smaller than that for the ‘active habit group’ (16.54, SD 3.7) You can fill out
Discussion sections of a report
Hypothesis wrong --> WHY? plan in more detail
later, once you are
Students who have better study habits likely to be more conscientious (Webb,
ready to write this
2014) – so possibly more anxious too? --> CHECK REFERENCE!!! section.
EXPAND DISCUSSION … MORE NEEDED
Conclusion – PLAN THIS LATER

Gathering your information 43

Sample report plan: Business
Select a retail company that is looking to diversify into another (related) market.
The company directors would like you to write a report analysing the decision to
diversify and its likelihood of success.

Introduction
• Selected SaltWave – clothing retailer with a strong nautical-themed brand
• Wants to diversify into homewares, e.g. bedding and soft furnishings
• Other mid-range clothing retailers starting to move into this market, but main competitor
(Seascape) hasn’t yet – might gain competitive advantage or might get left behind!
SaltWave’s strategic assets and market share Include
• Owns 118 shops plus 35 concessions in department stores important
• Last year, profits doubled to £7m on sales of £44.6m (SaltWave Annual Report, 2016) figures/statistics
• Is the leading ‘nautical themed’ clothing retailer in the market --> NEED FIGURES and the vital
TO BACK THIS UP! references in
• Loyal customer base --> WHAT EVIDENCE FOR THIS? your plan.
• Has strong network of textile suppliers already (Nielsen, 2016)
Rationale for diversification into homewares
Profits are growing but retail rents are rising – by 7.8% in 2015 – (Savills, 2015) so difficult
to expand by increasing no. of shops
• Other clothing retailers are moving into this new market (6 clothing brands start soft
furnishings lines – Financial Times, 2016)

44 REPORT WRITING
• Main competitor, Seascape, hasn’t yet so could capitalise first Sometimes the
• WHAT ABOUT ROLE OF ONLINE SHOPPING? choice of theory or
mode of analysis
Analysis of diversification --> SHOULD I DO A ‘SWOT’ ANALYSIS HERE AND helps to determine
REORGANISE HEADINGS? the report structure –
• Company organisation in this example, if
– Strong corporate structure and identity – could cope with diversification you chose to use a
– Good internal leadership programme – diversification brings new opportunities SWOT analysis,
for staff development you could change
• Suppliers, production and distribution the current thematic
headings to
– Good relations with textile suppliers – could easily move into production of
Strengths,
bedding/soft furnishings Weaknesses,
– Issue with logistics of distribution – larger, bulkier items? Greater delivery costs? Opportunities and
• Retail space Threats, and
– Rising rents – creation of new stores = difficult you could then
– Would there be space in existing stores for larger homeware items? reorganise the
– Could homewares be sold online only to start with? --> DEVELOP THIS! points under these
• Marketing and customer base headings instead.
– Loyal customers – mainly young to middle-aged couples – ideal target It’s easier to
– Strong visual identity – could carry well into furnishing design experiment with
different ways of
Measures of success --> NEED A THEORY OR FRAMEWORK HERE! structuring at the
Conclusion and recommendations planning stage
Diversification likely to be successful in terms of expansion opportunities, but rest of than when you’re
company may need to absorb some initial costs re distribution, etc. Recommend bulkier half-way through
items sold online only initially --> grow online presence first. writing!

Gathering your information 45

Managing group reports
Group work is becoming increasingly common at university as it helps in the devel-
opment of skills such as teamwork, leadership and project management, which are
highly valued by employers. Often these group assignments involve writing a report
as one of the outcomes. Reports are well suited to group work: they are designed to
communicate the results of a collaborative investigation or research process; they are
divided into sections, which makes co-authoring and co-editing easier; and they mirror
the kinds of writing you are likely to do in the workplace, often in teams.

The first stage to a successful group report is to try to ensure that the group works
together effectively as a team.

It’s a good idea to agree on some basic ways in which the group will communicate
and be organised:

Think about:
◗◗ When to meet – pick times that suit everyone.
◗◗ Where to meet – pick a place that is accessible to all group members. You may
need to book rooms in advance.
◗◗ How best to keep in touch – share emails and phone numbers and agree the easiest
way to communicate. You might use social media if everyone is happy with this.

46 REPORT WRITING
◗◗ A realistic schedule to complete your task.
◗◗ The importance of being committed to the group, and turning up and
participating.

A key aspect of good group organisation is starting and finishing each meeting with
everyone knowing what they are expected to do.
◗◗ Start by agreeing on the objectives for the group – what do you want to achieve
in this session?
◗◗ Keep focused by having a list of tasks or issues to cover.
◗◗ Perhaps select someone to take notes and keep track of what is agreed.
◗◗ End by summarising what has been agreed on in the meeting.
◗◗ Ensure that all group members understand what they have to do for the next
meeting.
◗◗ Agree on a time and place to meet again if necessary.

It’s stressful when people don’t cooperate or contribute to the group. There may
be many reasons for this (Do they understand the task? Do they feel excluded? Are
they shy?). Don’t immediately assume it’s because they don’t care. Try talking to
them to see if there is anything the group can do to help them contribute.

Taken from University of Reading (2016)

Gathering your information 47

For more on how to troubleshoot issues when working in groups, see Hartley and
Dawson (2010), Success in groupwork (in this series).

However, there are some elements to managing a group that are specific to writing
reports.

If you’re writing a report as part of a group-work project, the first thing to find out is
whether you are being asked to:
◗◗ conduct the research or investigation together, but write up separate individual
reports

or
◗◗ produce a single, jointly authored report from the whole group.

If in doubt, ask your tutor. It’s important not to duplicate work unnecessarily or to find
that you have submitted a single report when your tutor was expecting an individual
report from each of you.

Individual reports
If you’re being asked to write up individual reports, it’s very important that you respect
this – you don’t want to be accused of collusion. It’s fine to work together when doing
the research or the experiment, but make sure that you plan and write up the reports

48 REPORT WRITING
separately. If you think you may accidentally copy or collaborate on this writing-up
stage, agree with other group members that you will work in different places so that
there is no temptation.

If you are concerned about collusion or how to distinguish your work from the work
of others, see Williams and Davis (2017), Referencing and understanding plagiarism
(2nd edn, pp. 70–77), in this series.

Joint reports
If you’re being asked to write up a joint report, you need to think about how to coordi-
nate the writing process so that you produce one coherent document.

The headings in a report make it easier to divide up the writing between the members of
the group, but this can lull you into a false sense of security, thinking that it will be simple.
Managing group writing can be trickier than the actual research itself – especially as the
writing-up often comes nearer the deadline, when everyone is under greater pressure.

Think about:
◗◗ How will you divide up the writing process – will each person write a separate
section of the report?
◗◗ How will you ensure the division of work is fair? Some sections will be longer or
more complex than others.

Gathering your information 49

◗◗ Will you each save your section on your own computer or will you use a shared
document that you can edit jointly?
◗◗ How will you agree interim deadlines to give enough time for redrafting and final
checks?
◗◗ What will you do if someone isn’t replying or producing any writing?
◗◗ Will one person be responsible for ensuring consistency of style and
formatting?
◗◗ Will someone have oversight of the references and final proofreading?

Google Docs was really Although English is my second I’m glad we decided on
helpful when writing our language, I volunteered to do someone to check the final
group report. We could all the final read-through of our references. After all our
share, comment on and group report. I’m better at individual edits to our own
edit the same document. It spotting grammar errors than sections, the reference list
stopped us getting confused some of my friends – but they had got totally muddled.
about multiple drafts. helped me correct them. (1st-year Chemistry
(2nd-year Real Estate and (3rd-year Food Science student)
Planning student) student)

50 REPORT WRITING
 3 Structuring your report
A report gives a logical and ordered structure to an investigative process. The sections
help readers to know what to expect and where to find the information they need. As
each section of a report does a different job, each has a different writing style to suit.

This chapter looks at the main sections of a report in turn, explaining their purpose in
the overall report, what they should contain and how they should be written. For each
report section, the diagram on the left shows where the section comes in the report
structure and the other sections that are related to it.

It is likely that your report will contain some, if not all, of the following sections, but
these are just a guide. You should follow the specific instructions given to you by your
tutors, as different academic subjects and professions have their own variations on
this structure. (For an example of one variation, for a business report, see ‘Types of
reports’ in Chapter 1: p. 20.)

Respect the formal structure of reports, but see this structure as a communication
tool, not as a set of rigid rules.

Structuring your report 51

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])
Which section should this go in?
People often feel intimidated by the formality of report structures and anxious about
which section information should go in, but if you consider the purpose of your piece
of information and its role in your report you will know which section is appropriate:
◗◗ Does it provide background to your research? (Introduction)
◗◗ Does it describe how you collected evidence? (Methods)
◗◗ Does it present factual data? (Results)
◗◗ Does it analyse the evidence in the context of background reading? (Discussion)
◗◗ Does it summarise key findings and make recommendations? (Conclusion).
(Adapted from University of Reading, 2017c.)

The introduction and discussion sections are likely to be the longest and contain
the most critical analysis … and therefore to be worth the most marks!

Title and contents pages

Professionally produced reports normally have a title page and a contents page so that
readers know who is responsible for the document and can find information easily. If
you are writing a long report for a project or dissertation, you will probably need to
include a title page and a contents page.

52 REPORT WRITING
A title page clearly shows your name, your report title and the date the report was
completed.

The contents page is an outline of the structure of your report, showing the headings of
the various sections and the pages on which they start. A clear, easy-to-read contents
page will help your tutor understand the report’s structure (and it will put them in a
good mood!).

If you are writing a longer report or dissertation that needs a table of contents, you
can save time. Almost all word-processing software (such as Microsoft Word and
Pages for Mac) can generate a table of contents automatically – but consistency
is key!

Use the ‘heading styles’ function of your software to ensure that all of your ­headings
are consistent – for example, use ‘Heading 1’ for all your main headings, ‘Heading
2’ for all your sub-headings, and so on.

Then you can insert a contents list that will automatically have the right headings
and the corresponding page numbers, and you can also update it automatically.

For more detailed instructions, search online for simple step-by-step guides for the
specific version of your software.

Structuring your report 53

 1. Introduction: Production of lactic acid when exercisin
Sample contents page for a report 1.1 Aims and objectives ...........................................
1.2 Hypotheses ........................................................
Lactic acid production in the muscles of swimmers during different
Having lines across to the page numbers makes
types of training
2. Methods .......................................................................
it easier to read – important if your manager/tutor
Abstract ........................................................................................................... i 2.1 Experiment 1: Aerobic exercise .........................
is searching for a specific section.
1. Introduction: Production of lactic acid when exercising ............ 1
1.1 Aims and objectives .......................................................... 4
2.2 Experiment 2: Anaerobic exercise .....................
1.2 Hypotheses ....................................................................... 4 2.3 Experiment 3: Combination training .................
2. Methods ...................................................................................... 5
2.1 Experiment 1: Aerobic exercise ........................................ 7
2.2 Experiment 2: Anaerobic exercise .................................... 8 3. Results .........................................................................
2.3 Experiment 3: Combination training ................................ 9
3.1 Aerobic exercise ................................................
3. Results ...................................................................................... 10
3.1 Aerobic exercise ..............................................................11 3.1.1 Male swimmers ........................................
3.1.1 Male swimmers ..................................................... 12
3.1.2 Female swimmers .................................................. 12 3.1.2 Female swimmers .....................................
3.2 Anaerobic exercise ......................................................... 13
3.2.1 Male swimmers ..................................................... 14 3.2 Anaerobic exercise ............................................
3.2.2 Female swimmers .................................................. 14
3.3 Combination training ...................................................... 15
3.2.1 Male swimmers ........................................
3.3.1 Male swimmers ..................................................... 16
3.3.2 Female swimmers .................................................. 16
3.2.2 Female swimmers .....................................
4. Discussion ................................................................................ 17
3.3 Combination training .........................................
3.3.1 Male swimmers ........................................
5. Conclusion ............................................................................... 20 However,
3.3.2 Female some businesses
swimmers .....................................
6. and some university
References ................................................................................ 21

7. tutors dislike the headings

Appendices ............................................................................... 22
3 Discussion .............................................................................
fragmenting to the sub-
sub-level of 1.1.1.
To compile a useful contents page, you need to have 4 aConclusion
logical ............................................................................
If this is the case, group similar
system for numbering your sections.
ideas together and have fewer
A common system is decimal notation: 5 References ............................................................................
levels of headings or change
• Main headings are numbered in sequence (1, 2, 3). Word’s table of contents
6 Appendices
• The levels of sub-headings under this are numbered after the ...........................................................................
settings to include level 1 and
decimal point: 1.1 for the first level, 1.1.1 for the next level, etc.). level 2 headings only.

54 REPORT WRITING
Abstract Abstract / Executive summary
This is a concise summary of your whole report. It helps
Introduction your readers decide whether they want to read the whole
report – it acts like your ‘shop window’.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusions

References

Appendices

Structuring your report 55

Sometimes the abstract or executive summary is the only part of the report that people
read, so it has to stand on its own and give a fair and useful reflection of your work.

Abstracts are most commonly found in research reports. They give an overview of the
key aims, methods, findings and conclusions.

As the abstract summarises the whole report, you should write it last. It should be only
about 200 words or fewer, and is normally written as one paragraph.

It should contain a sentence or two about the:

◗◗ purpose and aims
◗◗ methods used
◗◗ main findings
◗◗ most important conclusions.

56 REPORT WRITING
 Nurse prescribers’ perceptions of their extended điều tra về thái độ của
professional role y tá đc kê đơn: họ
Purpose nghĩ ntn về vai trò này
Training in skills such as prescribing has resulted in
and aims.
nurses taking on roles that have traditionally been
associated with doctors. Despite the benefits of nurses
having greater roles, some researchers have been
concerned that this may negatively affect nurses’
relationships with colleagues. This report investigates
whether these views are shared by a group of recently
qualified nurse prescribers. Interviews were conducted Methods used
(note that these
with a group of 15 nurse prescribers at Eastham
are described
Hospital. The interviews were analysed thematically very briefly).
in line with the principles of grounded theory. The
Main
findings.
interviews showed that the additional responsibilities
of nurse prescribers complement many other aspects of
nursing. The role helps nurses to adopt a more holistic
approach to patient care, and increases job satisfaction.
However, during interviews the concern about
colleagues’ lack of understanding of their new role
emerged as a consistent theme for nurse prescribers, Most
suggesting that further awareness-raising and training important
for the whole healthcare team may be needed. conclusions.

Structuring your report 57

If you find it hard to start writing your abstract, try highlighting the key sentence from
each section of your report. Cut and paste these sentences together, then read through
them and redraft them into a workable abstract.

An executive summary is more commonly found in business reports. Whereas an

abstract has an academic focus, an executive summary is very practical. It is usually
aimed at those at the higher level of management, and is designed to give them all
the information they need to make a decision based on reading only the executive
summary.

It too is written last. It can be slightly longer than an abstract (usually one or two
paragraphs, or a page for longer reports) and can sometimes include bullet points to
highlight key recommendations.

It contains a sentence or two about the:

◗◗ key problem
◗◗ scope and objective of the report
◗◗ main findings and conclusions
◗◗ crucial recommendations.

58 REPORT WRITING
 Performance management of Eastham Hospital
The key With recent budget concerns in the health service,
problem.
the need to assess performance and accountability
in regional hospitals has become even more
important. This report was commissioned to assess Scope and
whether a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) approach objectives of
to performance management could be used in the report.
Eastham Hospital. The BSC tool was seen to be
appropriate as it provides an overview of the risks
and benefits of strategic and operational decisions.
Main The information gathered from Scorecard results
findings and will provide a means of accountability and
conclusions. support the health planning process. Based on the
willingness of the Board and employee attitude, it
was concluded that the BSC could be successfully
used if the following recommendations are met:
Crucial
• strengthening communication between senior recommendations.
management and hospital ward teams
• ensuring that management are committed to the
use of the BSC
• coordinating a target setting and reward system
for staff.

Structuring your report 59

 Abstract Introduction
Your introduction does two main jobs:
Introduction
1 It introduces the context of your investigation – it
explains what you have been asked to investigate, why
Methods this is important and how you are going to respond to
your brief.
2 It analyses the background literature that relates to
Results your investigation.

The introduction is usually written in an analytical

Discussion style, comparing and contrasting relevant studies and
explaining how other people’s previous research is
relevant to your investigation.
Conclusions

References

Appendices

60 REPORT WRITING
The extent to which you refer to the background literature depends on the purpose of
your report:

◗◗ Business reports – These often have short introductions and focus more on
explaining the reason for commissioning the report and the key issue to be
investigated rather than analysing background literature.
◗◗ Lab reports – These are short and concentrate on single experiments, so you need
to refer to the most relevant previous studies.
◗◗ Research reports and projects – These assess your research skills, so you need
to demonstrate wider reading and the ability to place your work in the context
of a broader range of background literature. Sometimes longer projects and
dissertations have a separate literature review section (see pp. 93–97 ).

The first few paragraphs of your introduction will put the report in context, explaining
why it is needed. It will state the main purpose of the report and show how you plan
to respond to the brief.

Structuring your report 61

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])
 Propose a new marketing campaign for
Context and
HomeFarm Foods
need for the The rise in organic food producers over the
report. last decade means that just being able to In business
demonstrate that your food is organic is no reports, the
longer a unique selling point. As a result, background
reading you refer
HomeFarm Foods, a previous leader in the
to may be market
organic food market, has seen its market share figures and trends
reduced by 15% (Mintel, 2016). The purpose rather than purely
Clear statement
of main
of this report, commissioned by the marketing academic texts.
audience and managers of HomeFarm Foods, is to propose
purpose for the a campaign to regain HomeFarm’s dominant
report. position. Young people are eating more ethically
and locally produced food (Biz Premier, 2017),
which suggests that this would be a profitable Responding to the
brief by narrowing
area of expansion for HomeFarm Foods.
the focus and
Therefore, this report will focus on a campaign justifying this.
to sell HomeFarm’s locally sourced seasonal
fruit targeted at 16–18-year-olds, who are able to
influence their parents’ purchasing decisions …

62 REPORT WRITING
Then the introduction should present an analysis of what the background literature
says about the topics of the report, and assess the strengths and weaknesses of these
previous studies. For example:

Investigate the accident-reporting

mechanisms in a local workplace and
Only the relevant assess them according to relevant Health
points of the study and Safety guidelines
and the theory
are mentioned
… Skepper’s study introduces a new model
briefly – but you for assessing the dangers of workplace
need a confident injuries (2017). He identifies the overall
and thorough total damage done as more important
understanding of Comparing two
than the frequency of injuries (Skepper,
the studies first to different approaches
be able to refer to
2017). However, this model does not and using one
them so concisely. fully consider Archer’s theory of ‘under- study to identify a
reporting’, which states that people are weakness in the
less likely to report frequently occurring other – don’t simply
summarise each
small accidents until a critical mass of
study in turn!
injuries is reached (2015) …

For more sample sentences and models for how to refer to your background literature
concisely, see the Academic Phrasebank: www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/

Structuring your report 63

The studies you write about in your introduc-
tion will be the ones you refer to again in your
discussion section to help interpret your results.

If your report has a hypothesis or aims and

objectives, the appropriate place to put these
is at the end of the introduction, showing how
they have been based on and derived from the
previous research.

The effects of variations in perspective on

Showing how the
the perception of the Schroeder Staircase
hypothesis for this
experiment has … According to Gregory’s (1974)
been derived from account, if adding increasing amounts of
a previous study.
perspective affects the depth interpretation
of the figure, then the number of The hypothesis –
perceptual alterations should reduce and/ what you expect
or the time for which the figure appears in to happen.
perspective should increase.

Example from Professor John Harris’s report-writing guide for the

Department of Psychology, University of Reading.

64 REPORT WRITING
Abstract Methods
In your methods section you need to describe what
Introduction you did to conduct your investigation. You should also
justify why you chose the methods you did (case studies,
interviews, focus groups, experiments, etc.).
Methods
Normally business reports don’t include a methods
section, as managers are more concerned with what to
Results do with the information than how it was collected.

As the methods are descriptive The methods section

and follow a step-by-step proce- in Psychology reports
Discussion
is usually split
dure of what you did, it is usually a into the following
good section to start writing first. subsections:
Conclusions • Participants
However, don’t underestimate • Experiment design
the methods section – it can • Apparatus
References be tricky to get the appropriate • Procedure
Check your course
level of detail and description.
guidelines for what
For example, in an experiment your tutors want you
Appendices
measuring people’s reaction to to include.

Structuring your report 65

images of spiders, it is important to include the distances of the participant from the
viewing screen (as this would directly affect their perception and sense of threat), but
it is not necessary to go into great detail describing the room, the desk and the chair
that were used in the test (as these were the same conditions for all participants and
had little influence on the experiment).

66 REPORT WRITING
 The incidence of code-switching in Malaysian university
students studying in the UK
Participants were asked to keep a Language Diary
for a period of 24 hours in which they recorded all
conversations, describing choice of code, topic of Justifying the choice of
the interaction and role of the principal speaker. The methods by referring to
Language Diary based on Stark’s design (1990) was previous research, and
used as it minimises some of the problems associated explaining why other
methods were not used.
with other methods, such as observation in which
the observer may influence the target behaviour, and
questionnaires in which participants may not have
enough awareness of their language behaviour to
respond to questions on this topic.
[…]
If you have participants in
An email request was sent to all first-year Malaysian your research, you need
students at the university. From the 23 respondents, to explain who they were,
eight participants (two from each faculty) were selected how many there were and
to provide a range of arts and science subjects. how you selected them.

Any piece of research needs to be repeatable so that someone else reading your
methods section could use it to replicate your investigation.

Structuring your report 67

Be precise and give exact measurements. Avoid using ambiguous terms like ‘test tube
1’ and ‘test tube 2’ that are meaningless out of context.

Testing the effect of different temperatures on

enzyme activity
… The 5 test tubes were placed into water
baths and left until they reached the required
Precise
temperatures of 4°C, 25°C, 37°C, 60°C and measurements.
90°C. 2ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide was then
added to each of these tubes.

You need to describe any specific techniques or specialised

equipment that you used.
However, there is no need to say, for instance, that the
hydrogen peroxide was added ‘using a pipette’, as this is
standard scientific equipment that all scientists would use.

68 REPORT WRITING
Abstract Results It is vital to refer to your
figures and graphs in the body
The function of the results of your report – for example,
Introduction section is to describe your ‘See Figure 3 …’. Not doing this
is one of the main shortfalls in
results in an orderly way,
the reports I grade.
using both words and
Methods
(Biomedical Science lecturer)
appropriate visual mate-
rial (e.g. tables, graphs or diagrams). Label your graphs
Results
and tables clearly so you can refer to them easily, and
describe the crucial trends and patterns that they show.

You need to describe in words what each table, figure,

Discussion
graph or diagram shows – they won’t speak for themselves!
(For more on presenting your findings, see Chapter 5.)
Conclusions

References

Appendices

Structuring your report 69

Usually you present your results in the same order as your research questions or
objectives. This provides a logical sequence and links the results back directly to the
questions you are trying to answer.

Research is open-ended, so you will probably collect more data than you can
present and interpret within the word count of your report. A good test of whether
something is relevant is to return to your aims or research questions and your
brief – how is what you are presenting going to help answer the brief?

◗◗ Present the data in one format only – as a table or a graph or a diagram. Select the
most appropriate form for the trends and comparisons you want to show.
◗◗ Pick out for the reader the important trends in the data – avoid describing each
individual data point in detail.
◗◗ Save all interpretation of the findings for your discussion section.

70 REPORT WRITING
 The effect of vocal training on acoustic voice
quality in primary school teachers
… Before vocal training, only participant
No. 3 was outside the jitter range for a
The table is clearly healthy voice (> 1.040% jitter: Boersma &
labelled with a Weenink, 2005). As shown in Table 5, all
descriptive title and The main trend
participants demonstrated a reduction in the
is referred to in the in the data.
text. percentage jitter in their voices following
vocal training.
Table 5: Percentage jitter in participants’
voices before and after vocal training
Only one format is
Participant Jitter in voice (%) used in presenting
no. Before vocal After vocal the data. A table
is used in this
training training
case, because the
1 0.296 0.245 measurements – up
to three decimal
2 0.447 0.213
places – couldn’t be
3 1.198 0.772 shown so precisely
on a bar graph.

Structuring your report 71

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])
 Produce a report on the current sources
of revenue for the Kings Head Hotel and
propose a way of increasing this revenue The results
Use of varied
are described
phrases to describe based on your findings. objectively.
the results.
… Figure 3 shows that room rental provides Even though it
Avoid repeating
the largest proportion of revenue for the seems surprising
the same sentence
structure – e.g. Kings Head Hotel (43%) followed by drinks that car park fees
sold at the bar (37%). Car park fees make contribute so much
‘43% of the hotel’s
to the total revenue,
revenue comes up 23% of the total revenue. The smallest any explanation
from room rental. proportion of revenue comes from food sold for why this might
37% of the hotel’s
at the hotel restaurant (7%). be is left for the
revenue comes from
discussion section.
drinks …’ – as your
readers will switch
Room rental
off.
Again, the data is
Food sold in
hotel restaurant presented in one
format only – a pie
Drinks sold in
hotel bar chart is used in this
case because the
Car park fees
precise figures are
not as important
as the proportions
The figure is clearly Figure 3: Proportion of sources of contributed by the
labelled and referred different revenue
revenue for the Kings Head Hotel in 2018
to in the text. sources.

72 REPORT WRITING
Abstract Discussion Phấn quan trọng nhất, cần viết hay
This section is where you interpret and explain your
Introduction results, offering possible reasons why you got the find-
ings you did. It is likely to be one of the longest sections
and is written in an explanatory and analytical style.
Methods
You need to provide evidence to back up your possible
explanations by referring to the previously published
Results studies you analysed in your introduction section. Do
the findings of previous studies offer possible reasons
for your own results? Are your findings similar, or do your
Discussion
results depart from earlier studies and, if they do, why?

Conclusions

References

Appendices

Structuring your report 73

A brief
Using an international real estate firm as a case study, Using previous
reference to the
findings of this
compile a research report analysing the links between research to
financial services and real estate services in global cities. help interpret
report.
the results.
There is … Hartfield and Wakeman are located near other real
There is
no need to estate firms and financial service providers in the three no need to
describe them
global cities analysed in this report. This seems to describe Clark
in detail as you
will have done
support the advantages of agglomeration discussed by and Taylor
Clark (2002) and Taylor et al. (2003). However, it is et al.’s work in
this already
detail here, as
in the results difficult to identify whether real estate firms move to
you will already
section. match the location of financial service firms, or vice have analysed
versa, because of the general attractiveness of the cities it in your
An honest sampled: the choice of office site may be influenced introduction.
appraisal of the
by the broad benefits of the city locations, as opposed
results. When
it is difficult to specific benefits of agglomeration. Research This shows
suggests that decentralisation and agglomeration occur where the
to tell what
results may
has caused separately and independently (Taylor et al., 2003; differ from
something, say Lizeri 2009). Yet when the two processes are analysed the previous
so – don’t try to
together in the case of Hartfield and Wakeman (see research …
claim more than
your results can Figure 4), it appears that they occur at the same time.
show. This may be due to the processes happening even more
… and offers
rapidly today, due to the need to respond to an unstable potential
and changing economic situation. reasons why.

74 REPORT WRITING
The example on the previous page uses tentative language like:
◗◗ ‘This seems to support …’
◗◗ ‘It appears that …’
◗◗ ‘This may be due to …’
This is often called academic hedging.

It is not simply ‘sitting on the fence’ or

being vague; using words like ‘may’,
‘might’ or ‘possibly’ shows that you are
aware that you cannot give a definitive
answer, but are attempting to explain
your findings within the limitations of
what you have investigated. The causation
of your results may not be clear, or it may
be that your findings cannot be widely
generalised, so using tentative language is
appropriate.
For more examples of academic hedging in explaining results, see the
Academic Phrasebank: www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/

Structuring your report 75

The discussion is the appropriate place to raise any limitations or problems you
faced and to assess to what extent these shortcomings affected your results. You may
also suggest how the limitations could be overcome if the investigation were repeated
or developed.

Are short-term memory and recall affected by

an increase in age?
Clear statement
of limitations. There were two main limitations with this
experiment. One limitation was that there were
not enough participants in the over-50-year-old
age group to make a valid comparison with
the other age groups. The second limitation
was that the memory task (recalling strings
of words) and the laboratory setting were
How the
artificial, so the experiment did not reflect the limitations
kinds of short-term memorising and recall affected the
used in ‘real life’ situations. This indicates results.
that the findings from this experiment cannot
necessarily be generalised to explain how
memory operates in everyday life. If a more What could be
extensive study were carried out, tests that done to overcome
more accurately simulated ‘real life’ memory the limitations.
operations should be used.

76 REPORT WRITING
In some business reports, the discussion section might not be discussing results
but instead analysing information gathered in order to assess a course of action or a
particular problem. (See ‘What if your report has a different structure?’ on pp. 83–84 .)

Should ColaMax sponsor the building of a new skate park in Sub-headings

help to break
Littleton? down the
Risks analysis of
The main risk associated with this project is cost. The starting the problem.
Rather than
‘strengths’ costs of creating the skate park are high (see Table 2), and there
and is a risk of losing money if not enough people join the skate
‘weaknesses’, club or if partnerships with local schools are not found. If you are
business writing a
reports may A further risk is the perception of the skate park by Littleton business
instead refer residents. If the park is regarded as a cause of antisocial report for an
to ‘risks’ and behaviour, then ColaMax might be negatively associated with imaginary
‘benefits’. client, you
this behaviour.
may be
Benefits expected to
A crucial benefit of the project is the potential increase in sales refer in your
discussion
of ColaMax drinks due to higher product visibility. The skate
to figures,
park would have prominent ColaMax branding and would be company data
located within the catchment area of four secondary schools with or statistics,
a total population of 8,400 students (Littleton Borough Council, as opposed
2015). A secondary benefit is an improved company image due to to academic
texts.
potential joint initiatives with the schools and local clubs …
Structuring your report 77
 Abstract Conclusions and recommendations
This section sums up I get irritated with conclusions
Introduction the key points you that end with ‘further research
is needed’. Further research is
have made – it is a
always needed – tell me what
short section and it specifically needs to be researched
Methods doesn’t introduce any and why.
new information. (Psychology lecturer)
Results Usually a lab or research report will just have conclusions,
but the brief for a report aimed at a real or imaginary client
is likely to ask for recommendations as well.
Discussion
Conclusions
◗◗ Look backwards to the original brief and summarise
Conclusions
the main findings of your investigation.
◗◗ Let your readers know why your findings are
References important.
◗◗ Give the crucial ‘take-away’ message that you want
to leave your readers with.
Appendices
◗◗ Include any suggestions for further research, if
appropriate.

78 REPORT WRITING
The conclusion is the section where you ask yourself ‘So what?’ So what do my
findings show, and so what does this mean for my readers – why should they care?

This helps you see both the wider context and the contribution that your investiga-
tion has made to your audience’s understanding of the topic.

Relationship between hand, wrist and forearm

circumferences and maximal grip strength Brief summary
This experiment has shown that of all the data of the main
findings, related
measured (hand, wrist and forearm circumference),
back to the
hand circumference presented the strongest correlation original brief.
with maximal grip strength. The correlation between
hand circumference and maximal grip strength was
evident in both male and female participants, and Answering the
Clear statement
of the
for both non-dominant and dominant hands. Using ‘So what?’
‘take-away’ hand circumference alone, it is possible to predict question – why
message of the maximal grip strength in adults. Given the suggested readers should
care about
investigation. relationship between maximal grip strength and these findings
overall muscle mass, hand circumference may be a and their wider
valuable indicator of general muscle health in adults. implications.

Structuring your report 79

Recommendations
◗◗ Look forward and suggest specific actions that should be taken as a result of your
investigation.
◗◗ Let your readers know what they should do based on your findings.
◗◗ State the crucial changes you want your readers to make.

Investigate whether the Students Union should

continue to hold a local produce market each
week.
After considering the student survey
Bullet points
are used to
and financial analysis, the following
make each recommendations are made:
recommendation • The Union should switch the market from
stand out.
once a week on a Friday lunchtime to every
two weeks on a Wednesday lunchtime.
There is
consistency in
• The Manager of the Union should liaise Specific – each
the use of tense with local farmers to get a wider selection recommendation
and grammatical of produce for sale. identifies who is
responsible for
construction • The Union Sabbatical Officers should run a
for each the action and
cooking competition to promote the market when they should
recommendation.
in spring term. do it.

80 REPORT WRITING
Abstract References
The references section comes next, and this contains the
Introduction full list of any works you have referred to in the body of
your report.

Methods It is a good idea to compile your reference list as you go

along, so that you can keep track of all your sources and
avoid any last-minute panic – but do make a final check
Results during the proofreading stage that all of the sources
referenced in the body of your report also appear in your
reference list, and vice versa.
Discussion

Conclusions

References

Appendices

Structuring your report 81

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])
 Abstract Appendices
The appendices come last in your report and contain any
Introduction additional information that is useful for your reader. This
may include raw data, sample questionnaires, interview
transcripts and the like – things that would be disruptive
Methods
to reading if included in full in the body of the report.

However, the appendices are not a general dumping-

Results ground for everything else you have collected during
the course of your investigation! Each item needs to be
selected and to have a purpose.
Discussion

Conclusions

References

Appendices

82 REPORT WRITING
Make sure you refer to the items in your appendices, or your readers won’t know
they’re there. Appendices are arranged in the order that they are referred to in your
report. Label each appendix, and briefly refer the reader to it in the body of your report.
For example, ‘See Appendix A for the interview questions’. Start each appendix on a
new page, and don’t forget to add the heading ‘Appendices’ and the relevant starting
page numbers to your contents list, if you have one.

What if your report has a different structure?

What if your investigation doesn’t fit the ‘introduction, methods, results, discussion,
conclusion’ model? Many business reports don’t follow this format, both because
companies often have their own report templates and because business reports need
to be flexible and to respond directly to the needs of the client and the brief.

If you have not been given a report structure by your tutor, you need to create your own
headings based on the brief.

Start from your brief and break it down into sub-questions, or separate issues, that
you need to investigate – these could form the basis of your headings. Group similar
sub-questions or ideas together, and find a sensible order for the headings that leads
the reader through your investigation step by step.

Structuring your report 83

Your headings need to be meaningful and descriptive, giving your readers a clear idea
of the purpose and contents of each section.
Imagine you are given the following brief:

Investigate the feasibility of relocating Gino’s Café to outside the city centre.

The following headings would work well:

Acts like an introduction –

1 Executive summary establishes the purpose of the
2 Reasons for proposed move report and why it’s needed, and
2.1 Rising rent prices in the city centre gives important background
context.
2.2 Need for a larger venue
2.3 Increased competition of cafés in city centre
Descriptive headings. The report
3 Finding an appropriate new location sections break down the issues
related to the relocation and deal
4 Renovating new premises
with each in turn.
5 Relocation of employees
6 Marketing and creating a new clientele Financial section comes just before
the conclusions, as it is derived
7 Financial implications of moving from an analysis of all the other
8 Conclusions and recommendations sections. Also, this is a crucial
section, so it’s easier for the reader
9 References to find if it’s at the end.

84 REPORT WRITING
 4 Business plans, reflective
placement reports, project
proposals and dissertations
Business plans, reflective placement reports, project proposals and dissertations
share many of the features of reports, such as a formal structure divided by ­headings.
However, since they have different purposes to fulfil, there are some differences
between these assignment formats and reports.

Business plans
Like other types of reports, business plans have a target audience and purpose; they
are persuasive documents, designed to attract investors or collaborators. If you are
being asked to write a business plan for an assignment, you need to convince your
imaginary (or real) investors that you have a clear, realistic, financially workable idea.

The structure of the business plan depends on the needs of your proposed business idea
and the needs of your potential investors, but plans usually cover the following areas:
◗◗ Executive summary – An overview to encourage your investors to continue reading.

Business plans, reflective placement reports, project proposals and dissertations 85

◗◗ Company description – Background on your company, its aims and its plans for the
future.
◗◗ Management and organisation – How your company is organised, the main
members of the management team and their experience.
◗◗ Market and competition – Your research into the other products or services
available in your market.
◗◗ Product or service – What are you offering and what is the unique selling point?
How will you distinguish yourself from your competitors?
◗◗ Marketing and sales – How will you promote your product or service and ensure sales?
◗◗ Financial information – The most important section, and what investors are
concerned about: this needs to be robust and to consider initial capital, expenditure
and projected income.
Many students describe viable ideas
For more on business plans, see Marsen (2007). in their business plans but don’t get
good marks because they fail to give
detailed financial information – no
Reflective placement reports investor would stand for that!
(Management lecturer)
Professional degrees, such as Pharmacy, Education
and Social Work, and work ­placement modules within other degrees all require you to
document your experiences in a workplace setting. These are often written up as a report-
style assignment that asks you to reflect upon what you have learned.

86 REPORT WRITING
This is how ‘reflection’ is defined in Reflective writing (Williams, Woolliams and Spiro, 2012):

Being reflective involves being:

◗◗ open to different ideas, seeing things from different angles
◗◗ curious – asking questions
◗◗ patient – if the issue is not ‘simple’ the answer probably isn’t either (though it
can suddenly jump out at you)
◗◗ honest with yourself, your uncertainties, what you’re getting wrong – or right –
and your writing needs to make this transparent to others, so they can see it too
◗◗ rigorous – being analytical, and acting on the insights you gain.
Reflection in a programme of study or professional context is a purposeful activity. It
drives learning and change, and it’s probably fair to say that no one finds change easy.
Purposeful reflection can change how we think about things, what we do and how we
do it, and can lead to specific changes in planning for what we do next.
Thanks to series editor Kate Williams for her kind permission to use this extract from
Reflective writing (2012, in this series).

Reports as a format lend themselves well to reflection because they have:

◗◗ A specific audience and purpose – identifying these enables targeted and purposeful
personal development. One main audience for a reflective report is yourself, as you
are reflecting on what you have learned and how you will do things differently.
Business plans, reflective placement reports, project proposals and dissertations 87
◗◗ A clear structure – this helps to break down the reflective process (sometimes
using a specific case report template or reflective model) and gives coherence to
what can be an emotional and complex journey.
◗◗ Recommendations or an action plan – reports are often written to convince the
audience of the need for change. This could be a change in the workplace, due
to what you’ve observed, or a change in your own way of dealing with similar
experiences in the future.

A reflective placement report is often the final output of a longer learning process
which might involve:
1 a reflective diary or journal written during the Even though they weren’t going to be
placement
marked, I was relieved I kept regular
notes during my placement at a local
2 research and analysis of the experience, some- theatre, or I’d have forgotten loads
times using a reflective theory or a model (such by the time I wrote the report a term
as Kolb’s experiential learning cycle) later.
­ xperience, (2nd-year English Literature student)
3 a reflective report that writes up the e
combining evidence from your personal observations and evidence from academic
theory.
For a more detailed example of the development of a reflective report based on a
diary, analysis and the write-up process mentioned above, see pp. 92–101 in Williams,
Woolliams and Spiro (2012), Reflective writing (in this series).

88 REPORT WRITING
A reflective placement report may use a structure based on a reflective model or cycle,
or it may include a specific section in which you need to reflect on your learning:
Report of an observation Report of an intervention
A report of a teaching observation, following A report on an intervention with a
Gibb’s reflective cycle (Education): client (Cognitive Therapy):
• Description of the lesson • Client case history
• Feelings • Assessment
• Evaluation • Treatment plan
• Analysis • Outcomes
• Conclusion • Reflections
• Action plan • Conclusion

One of the main challenges in a reflective report is not to write the full ‘story’ of your
experiences. Like other forms of reports, the main purpose of a reflective report is
still to inform the audience. In a reflective report, the evidence you use to inform the
audience is usually twofold:
1 selective examples from your own experience and professional practice to illustrate
your points
2 academic research or theoretical frameworks to help interpret and analyse your
experiences.
Thinking of your placement experiences as ‘evidence’ helps you to be selective in the
examples you choose, just as you would with the academic research you read.

Business plans, reflective placement reports, project proposals and dissertations 89

 Areas of improvement
What I feel went less well was my supervision of the new
intern. I struggled with his work ethic, which was lacking An honest assessment of
initial feelings, rationalised
and uncooperative. I felt frustrated but I recognised through the lens of
that the fact he was on an unpaid internship may have relevant theories. Shows
contributed to his poor attitude as he was lacking extrinsic integration of the two forms
motivation (e.g. monetary reward; deCharms, 1968). of evidence (theory and
However, I found it hard to relate to him as he did not practice).

share the same intrinsic motivation (e.g. interest in the

business; Deci, 1971) as I did. Selection of two short
I wish I had been more vocal in my concerns, especially examples of poor attitude
is all that is needed here. It
with his consistent lateness (two hours late was the norm) would have been tempting
and his use of social media at his desk. At the time, I felt it to tell a longer narrative of
was my responsibility to deal with his poor motivation, but the intern’s poor behaviour,
on reflection I realised that I had no training in supervision especially as it was so
of staff. As we are a small company, there is no in-house annoying, but the author
resisted!
management training, but I think I should have asked
colleagues for advice or mentoring. Indeed, research
shows that mentoring, rather than formal training, is often
the most effective way for staff to learn leadership skills
(Kidd, 2009). In future, I will look for opportunities to
learn informally from more experienced colleagues.

90 REPORT WRITING
Project proposals
If you are doing a longer piece of research like a dissertation, you will probably have
to submit a proposal before you can get started. The proposal is a chance for you to
present information on:
◗◗ what you want to research (an explanation of your topic and research questions)
◗◗ why this is important (the rationale behind your project, based on your initial
background reading)
◗◗ how you will research it (a summary of your methods and a time plan which
breaks down the stages of your investigation).

A report normally doesn’t include a time plan, as the research has already been
conducted and your audience cares about what you found out, not about how long it
took.

However, a significant part of your proposal will be a project plan, which breaks your
investigation into main stages and allocates an amount of time for each stage.

Your tutor will want to see that you have a realistic plan for completing your investigation
in the available time.

Business plans, reflective placement reports, project proposals and dissertations 91

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])
 A report is about the past: you
are reporting on what you have
done. A report is therefore mostly
written in the past tense.

A proposal is about the future:

you are justifying what you will
do. It is, therefore, appropriate to
write your proposal mostly in the
future tense, e.g. ‘This project will
investigate …’; ‘Focus groups
will be conducted …’.

Projects and dissertations

If you are doing a dissertation in a science or social science subject and you are
collecting your own data (e.g. conducting interviews, questionnaires or experiments),
it is likely that your dissertation will have a report structure:

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◗◗ Introduction In a dissertation you’ll be dealing with
◗◗ Literature review far more references than normal, so using
◗◗ Methods reference managing software like Endnote or
RefMan can help. It can take a little getting
◗◗ Results used to, but saves time in the long run.
◗◗ Discussion (Meteorology lecturer)
◗◗ Conclusions
Your dissertation is like an extended report. Because sections tend to be longer than
those in a usual report, they may be called ‘chapters’ instead. The length of a ­dissertation
means that planning is even more crucial. See ‘Planning your report’ in Chapter 2.

The main difference between a report and a dissertation (apart from length!) is that a
dissertation often has a separate chapter for analysing the background literature – the
literature review.

The literature review comes after the very brief introduction chapter. It is not an
historical narrative of past research, nor a summary of everything you have read.

Instead, you are comparing and contrasting previous research in your field, analysing
the strengths and weaknesses of these studies, and identifying what all of this tells you
about your own project.

A literature review chapter usually has sub-headings to help you structure the content
and to help you avoid providing a narrative account of what you have read.

Business plans, reflective placement reports, project proposals and dissertations 93

Look at what themes or main issues are emerging from your background reading – use
these to help group your reading together. You could use colour coding or draw
spidergrams to identify the studies or areas of research that relate to each theme.

Spidergrams are good for bringing

together lots of research and for
creative thinking.
You’re not constrained by a linear
list, and you can make links and
connections easily.

Once you have grouped your reading under headings, compare and contrast the
studies under each heading, analysing their methods and findings, and always showing
how these findings relate to your own investigation.

You can think of the literature review section of your report like a funnel. You start
broadly by introducing the background and importance of your area of investigation
briefly; then gradually you narrow down through the themes in the research to the ones
that most closely overlap your own dissertation; and finally you pinpoint the specific
question or gap in the research that you will investigate:

94 REPORT WRITING
 Background

Why it is important

What research has been

performed and what has
been found out

The specific area you Literature

are interested in review

Current ideas and

hypotheses in this area

Key research questions

that remain

A main feature of reports is their use of headings to structure information effectively,

and this is especially useful in your literature review section. Use sub-headings to help
identify the key themes in the research and to guide your audience down the ‘funnel’.

Business plans, reflective placement reports, project proposals and dissertations 95

Does the colour of bell peppers make a difference to
Starts broadly with the
their effectiveness in reducing the risk of cardiovascular research showing how
disease? chemical composition of
foods can have a positive
2 Literature review impact on cardiovascular
risk.
2.1 Cardiovascular disease (CVD)
2.1.1 Carotenoids and CVD
2.1.2 Ascorbic acid and CVD Uses the headings to lead
2.1.3 Flavonoids and CVD the audience step by step
through the research that’s
2.2 Sweet bell peppers already been done in this
2.2.1 Vitamins and phytochemical composition area.
of bell peppers
2.2.2 Vitamins and phytochemical composition
Narrows to the specific
of bell peppers at different maturity stages area of investigation in this
2.2.3 Colour of bell peppers and antioxidant dissertation.
activity
2.3 Aims and hypothesis

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Example of writing style in a literature review:

Bell peppers are cultivated worldwide and they can be an important Background/wider
form of food ingredient in providing a diverse nutrient profile. The context.
valuable nutrients found in peppers are proven to have antioxidant
effects and are beneficial in lowering the risk of cardiovascular
Previous research
disease. Additionally, the antioxidant property can reduce DNA findings.
damage and prevent cancer (Park et al., 2012). Most bell peppers
on the market are green, yellow, orange or red, but some of the
Current ideas
newer varieties have a different colour, such as white, brown or and where the
purple (Simonne et al., 1997). Studies carried out by Simonne research has got
et al. (1997) determined that the unusually coloured bell peppers to so far in this
all provide a good source of ascorbic acid and provitamin A. area.
However, little research has been conducted on the flavonoid
content of unusually coloured peppers; these peppers may show Knowledge
a different composition of flavonoids. For example, a higher gap – key research
level of anthocyanidins and catechin may be found respectively questions that
remain.
in purple and brown peppers, and these may have different
beneficial effects on human health. Therefore, this project will
analyse these more unusual coloured peppers to see whether The specific
research focus for
their potentially different flavonoid content may provide different
this dissertation.
health effects when treating CVD.

For more on dissertations generally, see Greetham (2014) and Williams (2019).

Business plans, reflective placement reports, project proposals and dissertations 97

 5 Presenting your findings
Reports are as much about visual communication as they are about written commu-
nication. Much of the meaning in a report is conveyed through its formal structure,
including headings, lists and bullet points, and through the presentation of findings in
tables, graphs and diagrams.

When presenting your results, you need to choose the most appropriate way to repre-
sent them so that your readers can see the key trends, patterns or themes.

Imagine you are presenting the findings for the following report:

Does the current university system provide good value for money for students?

You might consider using some or all of the following methods of data presentation,
depending on how appropriate they are for the findings you have.

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Tables
Good for: presenting exact numbers.
Not good for: showing overall trends.

Comparing so many different The units of the

Clearly labelled with a useful categories would be difficult data are also
descriptive heading. on a single graph. clearly shown.

Table 1: Yearly expenditure for three Brookhampton students (excluding tuition fees)
Expenditure in £
Housing Food Personal items Socialising Books, TOTAL
(clothes, phone, computers,
etc.) equipment
Student A 4,004 1,589 1,894 1,197 987 £ 9,671
Student B 3,569 1,300 900 937 936 £ 7,642
Student C 3,400 1,607 1,549 1,402 876 £ 8,834

We scan from top to bottom, so In English we read horizontally from

it is easy to skim down the table left to right, so it is easy to read across
columns and compare all three the table rows and find the breakdown
students’ expenditure in the of expenditure for each student, and
same category. the total expenditure.

Presenting your findings 99

Graphs
You may be using a program such as Microsoft Excel to draw your graphs – but
remember that computers can only work with the numbers you give them, and they
can’t do your thinking for you. Are you using the appropriate scales and plotting the
points accurately?

100 REPORT WRITING

Line graphs
Good for: showing changes over time or how two variables interact.
Not good for: showing precise numbers.

Number
of
students

On the y-axis (vertical),

put the dependent
variable, i.e. the factor On the x-axis
that is affected and (horizontal) put
measured when the the independent
independent variable variable. Here
changes. Here the the independent
dependent variable variable is the
is the number of year.
students.

The graph has a clear

descriptive title and
both axes are labelled
with the correct units. Year

Figure 1: Total number of students attending Brookhampton University 2005–2015

Presenting your findings 101

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])
Bar charts
Good for: showing comparisons between the total amounts in different categories.
Not good for: showing complex multiple comparisons on a single graph.
Two bars in each category should really be the limit, as further bars make
the chart too complex and it becomes hard to compare across categories.

The categories
Average here are
number discontinuous
of contact (i.e. they are
hours per
discrete and don’t
week
follow on from
each other) so the
bars have a space
n

hs

s
between them to
en

ge

ce
ur

ph
sig

io

at
em

at

at

en
ua
so

M
de

uc

er

ci
ng show this.
ilo
ag

lit
d

Ed

es
La
an

an

ph
ish

lif
m
rt

d
gl

If the data were

A

nd
an
nd

En

ea
sa

y
or

continuous
in
es

ist

ic
sin

ed
(e.g. height:
Bu

Subject
1.70–1.74m,
Figure 2: Average number of contact hours a week per subject at Brookhampton 1.75–1.79m and
University 1.80–1.84m), the
bars would be
Frequency (number) in each Categories go along the next to each other
category goes on the vertical axis. horizontal axis. to show this.

102 REPORT WRITING

Pie charts
Good for: showing large-scale relative proportions.
Not good for: showing the size of the whole ‘cake’, total figures, or fine differences in
proportions.
Large, distinct slices. If the slices are
Not too many slices. With more than 5 or too small or too close to each other in
6 slices, the chart becomes difficult for size, it is hard to distinguish between
the reader to interpret. them – in that case, consider using a
table or bar chart instead.
A pie chart A clear key
can’t show the shows what
total number of each slice
students – we don’t Grade A represents.
know if there are 90
or 90,000 students! Grade B
Pie charts
So if you are using usually need to
Grade C
pie charts to show be in colour – if
proportions of they are just
Grade D
budgets, remember shades of grey,
that the reader also Pass no grade it is hard to see
needs to know the the difference
overall budget total. between slices
and to read the
key.
Figure 3: Proportion of final degree classifications for
Brookhampton students graduating in 2015

Presenting your findings 103

Photographs
Good for: illustrating what things look like in ‘real life’.
Not good for:: detailed and precise technical representations.

Although photos are aesthetically pleasing, it

may sometimes be difficult to see what is being
represented and why. The angle of the shot, the
sharpness of focus, the light source and the
quality of the photo’s reproduction may all distort
or obscure what you are trying to show. If you are
trying to show detail, a simple line drawing may
be better.

If you have collected many photographs, for

example from fieldwork, it may be more appro-
priate to include a relevant (clearly titled and
labelled) selection in an appendix.
When including any photograph, ask yourself what
purpose it has in the report and whether your report
would be affected if it wasn’t there.
(Geography and Environmental Science lecturer)

104 REPORT WRITING

Diagrams
Good for: representing complex processes or detailed information in visual form.
Not good for: showing ‘real life’ three-dimensional perspectives.
The visual features of the diagram can be
used to distinguish effectively between
different categories of information.
Here the main topics are in boxes (e.g. University
‘University community’), whereas the community
factors are not (e.g. ‘Commitment’).

Sense of
Commitment
belonging
Engagement
Prior experience Students’ perception University
of education of value for money learning
Teaching
quality
Arrows are a simple way Fees Facilities/
of showing the direction of contact
influence of each factor.
University
infrastructure

Figure 4: Factors influencing students’ perception of the value for money of university

Presenting your findings 105

Complex relationships such as those shown above would take If a diagram is
many paragraphs to describe, whereas a diagram and appropriate worth including,
labels can convey these relationships in only a few words. then it’s worth
going large!
Diagrams are only as effective as their labels – you need to tell the (Graphic designer
reader what each part means or shows, as it may not always be and tattoo artist)
immediately obvious.

Diagrams that are too small or poorly reproduced will frustrate your reader. Reports
are professional documents, so the visual information needs to be presented to a high
standard. Make use of the services and expertise at your university (e.g. IT services,
lab technicians, librarians, graphic designers) to help you present the information in
the form you want.

Maps and plans

Good for: showing spatial representations and geographical locations.
Not good for: showing ‘real life’ three-dimensional perspectives.

Every map or plan should have a scale marked in metric units at the bottom. Maps
conventionally represent north as the top of the page and have a compass arrow
showing this.

106 REPORT WRITING

If your plan or map uses symbols or shading to represent features in the landscape,
you need to include a key explaining what these symbols show. It is good practice
to incorporate your key within the map (usually over to one side) rather than having it
separate from, or underneath, your map. This prevents the key from becoming lost or
disconnected from your map when you format your report.

Interviews and observations

When presenting qualitative data gained through interviews or observations, you need
a systematic way of sorting through all the words you have collected – usually this is
done by grouping similar ideas into themes.

For more detail of this method, see Thomas G (2017a) Doing Research in this series.

Once you have identified your main themes and grouped your findings under these
themes, you need to present them in your report in tables or as quotations.

Presenting your findings 107

Table 2: What do you think constitutes ‘value for money’ when
it comes to your university experience?
Theme Response Interviewee Tables are useful for
comparing responses to
Availability ‘It’s no good my tutor only being Interviewee no. 2
a question at a glance
of staff available for one hour a week – they without having to write
should provide a better service.’ a long description of
‘My dissertation tutor was really Interviewee no. 5 the reply from each
helpful to start with, then he went on interviewee.
research leave – we were abandoned
with no explanation.’
‘I understand staff are busy, but my Interviewee no. 6
lecturer makes time to go through
our feedback. She treats us like
individuals.’
Sense of ‘I commute in from home – I feel Interviewee no. 5 You can include
short quotations
belonging like I’m paying full price but only
in the table as
getting half the experience.’
evidence of the
‘It is the best experience – where Interviewee no. 4 responses under
else would I get the chance to do so each theme.
much and meet so many people – I
don’t want to leave!’

Organise the table thematically.

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For more in-depth analysis you may wish to select one or two longer quotations as
typical examples.

These longer
Students from Arts and Humanities subjects generally felt their quotations are often
fees were not directly funding their course: indented in the text or
placed in a text box to
It doesn’t take much to buy a few books for an English highlight them in the
class. I think our fees just subsidise the expensive body of the report.
equipment for science students. (Interviewee no. 3)
As shown by interviewee 3, students are more alert to ideas of Be sure to analyse
each quotation you
fairness in how universities allocate their budgets. include.

Labelling your tables and figures

Tables and figures are labelled separately and Table 1
consecutively in the order in which they appear Figure 1
in the text: Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Table 2

Presenting your findings 109

The label for a table goes on top (a table cloth goes on top
of a table) and the label for a figure goes below (a figure
needs something to stand on).
Include a brief descriptive title explaining what the table or
figure shows. You don’t need to write ‘A graph showing …’
or ‘A diagram showing …’ – readers can see that.
The title needs to be meaningful and precise. Compare the
following titles:
Figure 5: Student costs
and
Figure 5: Average student living costs, 2005–2015
When you refer to the table or figure in your text, put the relevant
table or figure number in brackets:
Student living costs increased at a steady rate in line with infla- Illustration from Robbins
tion, until recently when high rent prices have caused a sharp (2009), Science study skills

increase in total costs (see Figure 5).

It is important to refer to all your tables and figures in the body of your report – otherwise
there is no point in them being there!

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If you include in your report data, tables, diagrams, graphs or photographs taken from
other sources, you need to show where you got them from by referencing them.

There is far greater emphasis placed on accurate referencing in reports at university, compared
to reports in the workplace. I have to remind my students who come from professional
backgrounds that they must show where every idea, statistic, diagram etc. has come from.
They are used to presenting information and relying on the authority of their company, so
academic referencing is entirely new to them – but after some feedback, they get used to the
conventions.
(Business and Management lecturer)

One of the main things tutors look out for in references is consistency in style and
formatting, so find a good guide for the referencing style that your department uses
and stick to it – don’t mix and match!

The first place to look for referencing guidance is your course handbook, as that
should contain information on the referencing style your department wants you to use.

If your department doesn’t provide a referencing guide, you can also find comprehen-
sive guidance in Williams and Davis (2017), Referencing and understanding plagiarism
(in this series) or in the Citing references guide from the University of Reading (2017a):
http://libguides.reading.ac.uk/citing-references.

Presenting your findings 111

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])
Referencing unusual sources
Reports often draw on a wider variety of sources than most other forms of academic
writing, so it is useful to understand the basic principles of referencing so that you can
apply them to any type of source in any referencing style.

You need to gather only four pieces of information to be able to reference any source
using any referencing style. These are:

1 Author
2 Date of publication
3 Title of source
4 Publication details

It’s usually the publication details that cause the most concern, as they differ because
of the wide range of publication methods available (book, journal, website, video,
newspaper, etc.).

Your referencing guide will show you which publication details you need for each type
of source and the way to format these. However, all referencing styles have two parts:

◗◗ an in-text citation in the body of the report.

◗◗ the full reference in the ‘references’ section.

112 REPORT WRITING

The examples below use a Harvard style of referencing, and you can see how they
adhere to the main principles of giving the name, date, title and publication details. You
would just need to reformat these basic elements if you were using a different style.

Images (graphs, diagrams, photographs, drawings)

Author Publication date Title of source

In your text In your references

Publication details
The illustration of the Khan S (2001). Common Cold Virus.
common cold virus by In Fish G (ed.), Medical Virology The diagram by
Khan (2001) shows … (4th edition, 2008). London: Kings Khan was originally
published in 2001,
Medical Press.
but has been
reproduced in
a later book by
another author.

Presenting your findings 113

You need to show who created the image and when, but also where you found this
diagram if it was reprinted in a book or on a website.

Interviews
In your text In your references
Dowling (2016) observed that Dowling B (2016). Use of wikis to create a
wikis were an effective way community of practice amongst social workers.
for social workers in different [Interview] West Berkshire Council offices, Reading.
offices to share information … Conducted by L Lilani. 27 October 2016.

Maps
In your text In your references
As can be seen on the map of Ordnance Survey (2017). OS Explorer Map of the
the Peak District (Ordnance Peak District: Dark Peak Area. Scale 1:25 000.
Survey, 2017) … Southampton: Ordnance Survey.
In Cardiff city centre, the Google Maps (2018). Cardiff City Centre: Castle
building of the Millennium Street District. No scale. http://maps.google.com/
Stadium has led to urban maps?q=Millennium+Stadium,+cardiff&hl=en&ll=51.
regeneration (Google Maps, 479071 (accessed 23 March 2018).
2018).

114 REPORT WRITING

 6 Demonstrating critical thinking
in reports
What is critical thinking?
In feedback on previous reports you may have got comments like ‘Be more critical’ or
‘Needs more critical analysis’. This may be frustrating, as comments such as these tell
you what is missing, but not necessarily what critical thinking actually is or how to go
about including more of it in your reports. Given this kind of feedback, it’s understand-
able to see ‘critical thinking’ as some mysterious, secret process that you need to
access in order to gain better marks. However, thinking critically is something we do
every day, not just in an academic context.

Demonstrating critical thinking in reports 115

 Imagine you are buying a new smartphone to replace your broken old one.
It’s unlikely you’d buy the first phone you saw … unless you are a particularly
impulsive shopper!
You might start by processing information about your old phone and what you’d
liked and disliked about it, then use this to help understand and analyse your
current needs for a new phone (price, style, tariffs, functionality, etc.). You might
browse online and compare different phones, then synthesise the information to
come to some best choices. You might then evaluate these choices and apply your
criteria, so that you could pick one to buy. Finally, you might justify your choice to
yourself (or to a friend) and feel satisfied that you’d picked the right phone for you.

Critical thinking isn’t just one thing, or a single skill … it is a mindset or an outlook on
life that involves the combination of multiple skills. This is often why tutors find it hard
to explain what critical thinking is, because it’s many things – it’s all those processes
involved in making a reasoned judgement, combined as in the example above. Also,
critical thinking varies depending on the subject in question, so the style of evaluation
and the evidence needed will be very different in Chemistry, in Marketing, or in Education.

But whatever the subject (academic or otherwise), there are some fundamental
processes involved in thinking critically, as shown in this ‘stairway’ from Williams
(2014), Getting critical (in this series):
116 REPORT WRITING
Use critical thinking to develop arguments, draw conclusions, make Justify
inferences and identify implications.
Transfer the understanding you have gained from your critical Apply
evaluation and use in response to questions, assignments and
projects.
Assess the worth of an idea in terms of its relevance Evaluate
to your needs, the evidence on which it is based and
how it relates to other pertinent ideas.
Bring together different sources to serve Synthesise
an argument or idea you are constructing.
Make logical connections between the
different sources that help you shape and
support your ideas.
Compare Explore the similarities and differences
between the ideas you are reading about.
Analyse Examine how these key components fit together and
relate to each other.
Start Understand Comprehend the key points, assumptions, arguments and
here  evidence presented.
Process Take in the information, i.e. what you have read, heard, seen or done.
Source: ‘Critical Thinking’, © 2013 The Open University. Used with permission. The OU text has been drawn
as a stairway. Reproduced from Getting critical (2014) in this series with kind permission from Kate Williams.

Demonstrating critical thinking in reports 117

This may seem like a lot of steps to take in. However, all these steps contribute to
an outlook on life that can be summed up as a ‘questioning mindset’. Essentially,
therefore, critical thinking means not accepting anything without first questioning it
and considering alternatives.

Critical thinking in reports

But what does this have to do with writing reports?

One way of looking at it is that critical thinking is an investigative process, and a report
is a structured account of an investigation, with each section of the report doing a
different job in that process. So, to a certain extent, the sections of a report map on to
the steps involved in critical thinking:

118 REPORT WRITING

Step in Section in a Critical thinking step as demonstrated in report
critical report section
thinking
staircase
Process Introduction Processing the report brief and understanding the
Understand importance of the investigation (why it is needed).
Analyse Literature review / Analysing the previous research on this topic and
Extended comparing research findings to identify the similarities
Compare introduction and differences between them, in order to show how
your investigation will contribute to this topic.
Synthesise Hypothesis and Synthesising the previous research in order to
Methods identify your own research question and hypothesis.
Drawing on the analysis and synthesis of previous
research methods to justify your choice of methods.
Evaluate Results Evaluating your data in order to identify the trends
and patterns in the research and to assess how
(statistically) valid the findings are.
Apply Discussion Applying previous research in order to help explain
your own findings and their relevance to the overall
research question/topic.
Justify Conclusion and/or Justifying your findings, and any changes or
Recommendations recommendations you suggest based on those
findings.

Demonstrating critical thinking in reports 119

You can see the progress up the critical thinking staircase throughout the sections
of a report. However, this division is slightly artificial as the stages involved in critical
thinking are interwoven, and often happen together as part of an overall questioning
mindset. Your tutors would certainly hope that you are using the full range of the critical
thinking processes in all sections of your report. Even so, the table above is useful in
showing how different sections of a report may each have a different balance, and may
favour different parts of the critical thinking process more than others, depending on
the job the section needs to do.

120 REPORT WRITING

Demonstrating critical thinking
As critical thinking is based on a questioning mindset, asking yourself questions about
what you are finding out can make it easier to think critically as you write your report.

Sections of Questions to ask yourself Ways to demonstrate critical

report thinking
Introduction / • What are the major themes in the A good choice of sub-headings
Literature literature? or grouping of previous research
review • What do researchers in this area demonstrates the clarity of your
agree on and why? understanding of the literature. The
• What do researchers in this area structure you choose shows your
disagree on and why? thought processes and how you
• What are the strengths and have conceptualised the overall
weaknesses of the research in field of research.
this area? Comparing and contrasting the
• Are the conclusions of the literature shows that you are making
research justified by the findings? connections and thinking about the
• What are the barriers to progress bigger picture, not just describing
in the field? the individual research studies.
• What don’t we know yet – why not? Interrogating the methods of (some)
• How will my investigation of the relevant previous research
contribute to the knowledge in shows that you have a questioning
this field? mindset and are not just accepting
• Why is my investigation important? what you read at face value.

Demonstrating critical thinking in reports 121

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])
Methods • Why have I selected these Thinking critically doesn’t just
methods? mean ‘criticising’. Explaining
• Are the methods fit for why you may agree with, or
purpose – why? have selected, certain methods
• Will the methods test and is as important as identifying
find the information I need weaknesses.
to answer my report brief or Being able to synthesise, adapt or
research questions? develop certain methods shows
• Are there alternative methods I that you can improve upon what
could use? has been done before (where
• Why have I chosen not to use appropriate) to ensure that the
these alternative methods? methods are fit for your purpose.
Results • Do I understand how I am Truly understanding the means by
analysing my data (e.g. the which you process and evaluate
statistical analysis)? your data will shine through, and
• How do the data I have means that you can interpret your
gathered help me answer my data with confidence.
research questions? Don’t leave the audience to do
• What patterns or trends do the all the work – identify what they
data show? should be seeing in the data, and
• What do the trends or patterns why.
in the data mean?
• Are the results robust? If so,
why; if not, why not?

122 REPORT WRITING

Discussion • What have I found out? Linking your findings back
• What do I think about what I to previous research will
have found out? show that you can make
• What is making me think this? connections and apply what
(e.g. based on previous research) you know to interpret your
• Do my findings confirm own results.
or contradict the previous Don’t worry if your findings
research? Why? don’t show what you
• Are there any limitations to my were expecting – this can
investigation? be a great opportunity
• To what extent can I draw to demonstrate critical
sound conclusions or thinking.
generalise from my findings?
Making reasoned and
well-justified ‘guesses’ as to
why you got different results
shows original thinking and
an ability to apply research
from other contexts to new
situations.
Being honest about the
limitations of your own
research shows that you
can evaluate your own work
objectively.

Demonstrating critical thinking in reports 123

Conclusion / • What is the bigger picture? Looking at the practical
Recommendations What are the wider implications applications of your findings
of these findings for the area? and what they might mean
• So what will we do as a result ‘in the real world’ shows
of these findings? Are there any that you are considering the
changes or developments we bigger picture.
should make? Why? Making well-justified
• What further investigations may recommendations shows
need to be done? Why, and a good problem-solving
what might these show? ability and an awareness of
how research can lead to
real changes.

124 REPORT WRITING

Critical thinking in the discussion I dislike the ‘black box’ mentality
Although you will be demonstrating critical thinking where students in the lab just use
a machine or statistics package
throughout your report, if you look at the breakdown
without knowing what goes on
of marking criteria you will see that the discussion inside it … if you don’t understand
section often carries a lot of marks. It’s weighted the process, you’re just accepting
heavily because it is a section where there is greater the results you get out the other
end. A genuine critical thinker
opportunity to bring together the critical analysis you
doesn’t do this.
have been doing throughout the report, and to apply
(Food Science lecturer)
it in order to interpret your own findings.

It’s worth taking a closer look at how asking questions can help you to structure your
critical thinking for the discussion section.

Demonstrating critical thinking in reports 125

Critical thinking process

Questions to ask Thought process

yourself
What have I found I plotted the London head offices of 5 finance firms and 5 real
out? estate firms on a map – the finance firms were clustered around
the Square Mile, but there was more diversity in the location of
real estate firms.
What do I think This is surprising – I was expecting that Advanced Producer
about this? Services like real estate firms would be in the same locations as
the major financial clients to whom they were providing services.
What is making The background literature stresses the benefits of clustering and
me think this? agglomeration (Sassen, 1991; Castells, 1996) – because of the
ability to share information, face-to-face networking, awareness
of competition and clients, etc.
What conclusions However, the literature also suggests a process of
can I draw from decentralisation and geographic dispersal enabled by better
this? technology (O’Brien, 1992; Castells, 1996; Graham, 2002).
Usually this is explained as being distinct and unconnected to
agglomeration, but maybe my findings can be explained by a
combination of both processes.

126 REPORT WRITING

Paragraph in discussion section

Comparing the findings to Identifying where the findings may

previous research. contradict previous research.

All five of the major financial firms looked at in this research have their London head offices
located within the Square Mile. This confirms the pattern of clustering of similar businesses
within Global Cities identified by Sassen (1991) and Castells (1996). In contrast, only one of
the five major real estate firms looked at in this research have a head office in the Square Mile.
The head offices of the other four firms are more widely located throughout central London.
This seems to contradict the expectation that Advanced Producer Services agglomerate
around the financial firms that are their main clients (Sassen, 1991; Castells, 1996). A possible
explanation may be offered by the decentralisation of such real estate firms outside of the most
expensive central locations. In the literature, decentralisation and agglomeration are usually
discussed as distinct processes (O’Brien, 1992; Castells, 1996; Graham, 2002). However, the
pattern of location of these financial and real estate firms in the City of London suggests that
the effects of agglomeration and decentralisation may occur in conjunction with each other,
with some businesses clustering and others decentralising, depending on needs.

Offering a possible Taking the critical analysis The best advice concerning critical thinking
explanation for the further by synthesising that I have is to be patient – it takes
contradiction, based on the literature to come up practice and time to learn. Look at your
a reasoned application with a new explanation for feedback and work on one aspect at a time.
of other literature. the finding.
(Education lecturer)
Demonstrating critical thinking in reports 127
 7 Writing concisely
Reports are informative and they have a purpose, so if the writing is unclear or
­irrelevant, the effectiveness of the information is lost and the purpose is not achieved.

This is especially true in a work environment where clear, incisive communication is

a powerful tool for persuasion and achieving change. A poorly written report will be
ignored or dismissed – both you and your message will lose authority. At university, a
poorly written report will also lose you marks!

Write concisely – it’s easy to say, but how can you achieve this?

Give yourself a target

We tend to be more focused when we have a target to meet. So as well as keeping
in mind the overall word count for your report, it’s also a good idea to set yourself
mini-word counts for each section in the planning stage, especially if you have a habit
of writing a lot. Realising you need to trim 100 words from the introduction is far less
disheartening than having to cut 1,500 words at the end!

128 REPORT WRITING

 Rough word limits, based
Section of report Relative length on 2000 words overall
Introduction One of the longest sections – 500 words
(if including similar to the discussion
background literature)
Methods Medium-length – shorter 400 words
than the discussion
Results One of the shorter sections 300 words
Discussion One of the longest sections – 600 words
similar to the introduction
Conclusion Shortest section 200 words
Overall total 2000 words

Health warning: These word counts are only rough examples – they are not to be
taken as an absolute rule. Follow the guidance of your tutors and think about the
needs of your audience when setting your own section word limits.

Write to express, not to impress!

The best academic writing explains complex ideas in a clear and straightforward way.

Writing concisely 129

You need to use appropriate words – don’t try to make your writing appear more
advanced by substituting longer, more difficult words when simple ones work best.

If you use a thesaurus to find more ‘academic-sounding’ words, this is what you
might end up with …

The contemporary transportation profusion has been instigated by the Council

appointing road works concomitantly as a construction enterprise is anticipated
to commence.

… when what you really meant to write was this:

The current traffic congestion has been caused by the Council scheduling road
works at the same time as a building project is due to start.

Selecting alternative words from a thesaurus

can distort what you mean to say and lose
marks. Have confidence
in your own way of
expressing your ideas –
this will be more genuine
and direct.

130 REPORT WRITING

Use technical terms appropriately
Each academic subject has its own technical terms and a shared vocabulary – and you
need to use these specialist terms appropriately and accurately.

If there is a correct term, use it! Don’t substitute another similar word just for the sake
of variety. For example, ‘IQ’ and ‘intelligence’ don’t mean the same thing.

Use the right words for your audience. If you are writing a report for sports science
professionals they will understand the term ‘aerobic capacity’. However, if your report
is for a local running club, a more appropriate explanation might be: ‘the amount of
oxygen you can take in and use while exercising’.

Specialist vocabulary usually has its own abbreviations and acronyms. It is good
practice to use the full name the first time it appears in your report, and to give the
abbreviation or acronym in brackets. For example:

… Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) …

After that you should just use the shortened version.

Writing concisely 131

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Use words with accuracy and precision
The sample texts below contain many common problems:

Subjective and overly elaborate

description – better to use ‘bright
Lack of accurate red’ or ‘light pink’.
evidence to
support a claim.
Which book? After adding the solution, the mixture in the test tube
No reasons are
given for why
went a vivid scarlet red, which was unexpected, as
the results were it was not the same as the washed-out pink colour it Vague term
unexpected. was supposed to go according to the book. The test – how long
tube was then shaken and left for a while in the test exactly?
tube stand. After a few days, the mixture had settled
to the bottom and dried out, which was not supposed
to have happened; this was a bit of a problem.

Imprecise term. How many Ambiguous and overly

days? Use specific figures, e.g. informal – what exactly was
‘three days’ or ‘70 hours’. the problem and why?

132 REPORT WRITING

 The results show that 85% of students who recycle
more than 50% of their rubbish are involved in Be careful about
volunteering or charity activities. This is significant imprecise use of
‘significant’ in reference
as it shows that students who recycle more are
to findings – do you
better people who make a much more valuable mean ‘important’ or
contribution to our society. ‘statistically significant’?

Not objective – what is meant by Vague – ‘much more’ than

‘better’ or ‘valuable contribution’? whom? Need to show
The author is allowing personal bias who this group is being
to influence the explanations. compared to!

Writing concisely 133

Use of first person
Reports use formal academic writing, so they are usually written in the third person
and using the passive voice.

Passive voice
I interviewed six marketing managers.

This is an active sentence because the subject (I) is doing the action (interviewing)
to the object of the sentence (marketing managers).

However, in a formal academic report the sentence would be in the passive voice:
Six marketing managers were interviewed.
This uses the passive voice: there is no direct subject who does the action.
Similarly:
I conducted five focus groups with first-year students.
becomes:
Five focus groups with first-year students were conducted.

134 REPORT WRITING

This is an artificial way of writing, as we know that investigations don’t just happen on
their own – someone is responsible for doing them. However, since your readers are
interested in what was done and not in who was doing it, the passive voice focuses
attention on the process and the evidence, and minimises the temptation to include
unsupported personal opinions.

The exception is if you are writing a reflective report in which your evidence is based on
your personal experiences or observations – for example, reporting on a professional
placement. Then the authority of your evidence comes from your own professional
viewpoint. You need to show that you have reflected and learned from these experi-
ences, so it is appropriate to write in the first person.
For example:

I intended the quick start to the lesson to be engaging, but I noticed that the pupils
were soon becoming restless as they did not know what was coming next. In future,
I need to use clear ‘advance organisers’ (Ausubel, 1960) to alert the class to the key
parts of the lesson.

For more on reflective writing, see the section on reflective placement reports
pp. 86–90 and see Williams, Woolliams and Spiro (2012), Reflective writing (in this
series).

Writing concisely 135

Use of tenses
In a report you are reporting what has happened, so you will be writing mostly in the
past tense, especially when describing your methods.
However, there is an exception: you write in the present tense when discussing what
your own and other people’s findings show. This is because the explanations for your
findings (and those of other people’s research) are applicable now.
◗◗ When you are describing what was done and what was found (in your own
investigation and other people’s research), use the past tense, as you are
reporting what has happened.
◗◗ When you are explaining what the findings show and what can be concluded from
them (in your own and other people’s research), use the present tense, as you are
reporting knowledge that is applicable now.
Present tense –
Kahmen et al. (2005) claim that T. inodorum
summarising what
has a high ability to recover from stress caused other people’s
by drought. However, in this experiment, the findings show.
Past tense reproductive development of the T. inodorum
– describing decreased when it was subjected to drought Present tense –
what you did conditions. This result suggests that despite being explaining what
and what you able to recover quickly, drought has a lasting effect your own findings
found. show.
on the plant’s growth and future development.

136 REPORT WRITING

Cut unnecessary words
Planning each section of your report before writing it
will help you stay on track. However, you can only really
make your report concise at the redrafting stage, once
you have a more distanced, objective view … so leave
yourself enough time for a ruthless redraft!

Each section of a report has its own pitfalls that

encourage waffling, so ask ­yourself:
◗◗ Introduction and discussion: Is all the literature I
refer to specifically relevant to my investigation?
◗◗ Methods: Have I described my investigation in
enough detail for someone to replicate it, but not in
too much detail?
The most common section
◗◗ Results: Are all the findings I describe relevant to that students waffle in is
answering my brief, aims or research questions? the Results, where there’s a
temptation to explain every
Tighten up your writing by removing unnecessary single data point rather than
words or phrases. Print your report out on paper and trends or relationships.
go through it with a highlighter pen, marking any words (Engage in research: www.
that could be cut; then read it again to ensure that it engageinresearch.ac.uk)

Writing concisely 137

still makes sense without those additional words. Could you express something
using one word instead of several?

Here are some long-winded constructions commonly used in reports, and their more
direct alternatives:

Introductions and literature reviews

Wordy phrases Shorter versions
The focus of this project is to study the effects of This project examines how
reduced rainfall on local wheat production. reduced rainfall affects local
wheat production.
It can be seen in the literature that … Research shows that …
After reading the research, it can be concluded that …
The themes across the literature demonstrate that …
Dr Thomas Keenan and Dr Subhadra Evans in their Keenan and Evans (2012)
major work An Introduction to Child Development argue that …
(2012) argue that …
A large number of researchers make the claim that … Many researchers argue that …
It is argued by a lot of researchers that …
There is a consensus amongst researchers that … Researchers agree that …

138 REPORT WRITING

 Methods
Wordy phrases Shorter versions
Participants were not intended to be representative Participants were not
of wider populations … representative …
The method that is most effective is found to be … The most effective method is …
The questions asked by the interviewer were The interviewer asked open-
open-ended … ended questions …
Results
Wordy phrases Shorter versions
The results of the experiment are quite clearly shown The results show …
to be …
Key themes across participants were resoundingly Participants identified similar
similar … themes …
It can be deduced that populations are increasing … Populations are increasing …
It is evident that populations are increasing …
The analysis revealed a group of organisms that were Analysis revealed a group
fibrous in nature and that also had multiple cells. of fibrous multicellular
organisms.

Writing concisely 139

 Discussion
Wordy phrases Shorter versions
Due to the fact that … Because …
Considering the fact that … Since …
In light of the fact that … Given that …
The reason for … As …
This can be explained by the fact that …
It is possible that profits will rise … Profits could rise …
It may be probable that profits will rise … Profits might rise …
There is potential evidence to indicate profits will rise … Profits may rise …
The results, which show an increase in nitrogen, can The increase in nitrogen may
be interpreted as being due to … be due to …
It is somewhat surprising that these findings have been Surprisingly, these findings
found to contradict the results in the previous literature … contradict previous research …
Conclusion / recommendations
Wordy phrases Shorter versions
Overall, the most important thing to conclude is … An important conclusion is …
It is important to point out that …
The business should endeavour to utilise … The business should use …

140 REPORT WRITING

 Wordy phrases Shorter versions
In the event that … If …
Under circumstances in which …
It is necessary that changes are made… Changes should be made …
It cannot be avoided that changes are made… Changes must be made …
There is a necessity for the company that it cuts The company should
down on … reduce …

What words would you cut from this extract?

However, unfortunately with the upturn in prices, fewer arable producers will be
tempted to venture towards any sort of collaborative farming other than ‘buying
groups’. A sudden downturn in prices may in fact force farmers into some kind of
collaborative farming agreement. Although actually by the time this comes about it
may be too little, too late for many farm businesses.

It is good to check for unnecessary words at the start of sentences. People often
need a ‘run up’ before they jump into the point of their sentence. Removing these filler
phrases gets to the point more directly and more powerfully.

Writing concisely 141

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])
At the start of sentences:
◗◗ Watch out for expletive constructions (no, this doesn’t mean swearing!) such as
‘It is …’, ‘There is …’ or ‘There are …’ as these delay and obscure the main subject
and action of the verb.
◗◗ Also beware prepositional phrases such as those including ‘of’, ‘from’ or ‘after’,
as these can make a sentence hard to follow.

There are likely to be many managers asking

Wordy 
Expletive questions about this proposed change.
construction
Managers are likely to ask questions about
Concise 
this proposed change.
It is inevitable that the increase in prices
Wordy  Prepositional
will have an effect. phrase
Expletive
construction Concise The increase in prices will have an effect.
The verdict of the council is that the
Wordy 
closure of the school must happen.
Prepositional The council’s verdict is that the school
Concise 
phrase
must close.

142 REPORT WRITING

Check and proofread
A report is a professional document produced for an audience, so it needs to be
accurate and well presented.

When planning your report, leave enough time at the end for final checks and
proofreading.­

Proofreading tips
◗◗ Leave your report for at least a day before reading it through for the final time.
◗◗ Print it out on paper – you can spot mistakes more easily on paper than on a
screen.
◗◗ Read your report aloud – this forces you to read what you actually wrote, not what
you thought you wrote.
◗◗ Read through once for content; then read through again to spot minor errors and
spelling mistakes.
◗◗ Make sure all the texts you have referred to are included in your list of references.
◗◗ Check (and double-check) any calculations, statistics, graphs, etc.

Writing concisely 143

Report writing checklist
Have you: Check ✔
• answered the brief?
• targeted your report at your audience and addressed their purpose in
wanting the report written?
• identified what you needed to find out in order to answer your brief?
• introduced your investigation and placed it in the context of previous
research?
• ensured that all of the previous research mentioned is relevant to your
investigation?
• described the methods for conducting your investigation fully, so that
someone else could carry it out (if appropriate for your type of report)?
• presented your results in the most appropriate format?
• described in words what your results show?
• made sure that the results you present are all relevant in answering your
brief?
• discussed your findings, offering explanations based on the previous
research you have read?

144 REPORT WRITING

• summed up your key findings in your conclusion?
• made clear recommendations, if appropriate?
• written an abstract or executive summary summing up your
whole report, if the brief requires it?
• compiled your list of references?
• checked that all of the texts you refer to are included in your list
of references?
• edited and proofread your report to ensure that it is concise and
accurate?
• checked any calculations or statistics?
• checked that all figures, diagrams, tables, photos and graphs are
correctly labelled and are referred to in the body of your report?
• put any additional material in appendices, and labelled the
appendices and referred to them in the body of your report?
• checked that all headings and formatting are accurate and
consistent?
• created a contents page and checked that it is accurate?

Writing concisely 145

 8 Report writing at work
The good news is that once you have left university you’ll probably never have to write
an essay again! However, reports are a universal form of presenting information, so it
is likely you will be writing reports in your chosen career.

The skills you develop while conducting investigations and writing reports at university
are highly valued by employers:
It irritates me when someone has
◗◗ problem-solving just followed the company report
◗◗ project management template without thinking about
◗◗ team work what they’re communicating.
◗◗ clear, persuasive communication. (Director, software company)

Differences between academic and work reports

Your experience of report writing at university is good preparation, but note there are
some important differences when writing reports in a work environment:

146 REPORT WRITING

Reports at university Reports at work
Layout and structure
Your tutors specify the structure and Many companies and public sector
the layout they want you to follow. organisations have their own report templates.
You need to follow the template, but you still
need to think about what you are trying to
communicate to your readers.
Audience and purpose
Your main audience is your tutor. If Your report may have multiple readers, some
you submit a late or a poor report, it of whom may be paying your contract or
only really affects you. taking decisions that affect the success
of your employers. You have a direct
responsibility to address the needs of your
readers – on time and on budget!
Use of evidence
You need to demonstrate knowledge You still need to have evidence to support
of academic research and theories. your findings. It probably won’t be academic
You also need to reference these theories, but more ‘practical’ evidence
correctly, using an appropriate like sales figures, company documents or
academic referencing style. feasibility studies.

Report writing at work 147

Reports at university Reports at work
Authority and expertise
You gain the respect of your tutor by You gain authority through your understanding
reading widely and engaging in the of the company’s and client’s situations and
course. A well-written report will gain the expertise you demonstrate. A well-written
you marks. report will enable people to act on the
information you supply.

Employers want graduates who can see their way A main shortcoming of my
through a problem, evaluate solutions and make graduate employees is they present
strong recommendations. Your report is how you me with tables and figures in
reports but they don’t explain
communicate this process and encourage people to what these show; they just expect
take action based on your expertise. me magically to know why they
are significant.
If you can write good reports, you can make real
(Laser physicist)
changes!

148 REPORT WRITING

References
Greetham B (2014). How to write your undergraduate dissertation (2nd edition).
London: Palgrave.
Hartley P and Dawson M (2010). Success in groupwork. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Marsen S (2007). Professional writing: the complete guide for business, industry and
IT (2nd edition). Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Robbins S (2009). Science study skills. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Thomas G (2017a). Doing research (2nd edition). London: Palgrave.
Thomas G (2017b). How to do your research project: a guide for students in
education and applied social sciences (3rd edition). London: SAGE.
University of Reading (2016). Effective group work. Available at http://libguides.
reading.ac.uk/groups/home (accessed 20 December 2017).
University of Reading (2017a). Citing references. Available at: http://libguides.reading.
ac.uk/citing-references (accessed 20 December 2017).

References 149
University of Reading (2017b). Features of good reports. Available at http://libguides.
reading.ac.uk/reports/features (accessed 20 December 2017).
University of Reading (2017c). Structuring your report. Available at http://libguides.
reading.ac.uk/reports/structuring (accessed 20 December 2017).
Williams K (2014). Getting critical (2nd edition). London: Palgrave.
Williams K (2019). Planning your dissertation (2nd edition). London: Palgrave.
Williams K and Davis M (2017). Referencing and understanding plagiarism (2nd edition).
London: Palgrave.
Williams K, Woolliams M and Spiro J (2012). Reflective writing. London: Palgrave.

150 References
Useful sources
Manchester Metropolitan University and LearnHigher (2008). Analyse this!!! Available
at www.learnhigher.ac.uk/analysethis/index.html (accessed 03 June 2018).
University of Kent (2018). ASK: assignment survival kit. Available at www.kent.ac.uk/
uelt/ai/ask/index.php (accessed 03 June 2018).
University of Manchester (2018). Academic phrasebank. Available at www.
phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/ (03 June 2018).

Useful sources 151

Licensed to NGUYEN GIANG ([email protected])
Index
X Chapter head
abstract, 12–13, 15, 38–9, 55–9 case studies, 31, 37, 65
accuracy, 13, 68, 71, 72, 100, 101, 131, causation, 74, 75
132–2, 143, 144–5 clients, 8, 11, 17, 77, 78, 83, 148
aims, 26–30, 39, 56–7, 64, 70, 95–7, 137 concise writing, 10–11, 40–1, 63, 89–90,
analytical writing, 52, 60, 63, 73–4, 77, 93–7, 128–30, 137–42
109, 115–27 conclusions, 12–13, 39, 78–80, 119, 124, 140–1
apparatus, 43, 65 contents page, 38–9, 52–4
appendices, 12, 38–9, 82–3, 104 critical analysis, 52, 60, 63, 73–4, 93–7,
audience, 1, 3, 4, 5–8, 9, 10–11, 12–13, 17, 115–27
28–30, 62, 79, 85, 87–8, 131, 147
dependent variable, 101
background reading, 31, 35, 39, 52, 60–3, 91, descriptive writing, 16, 38, 52, 65–6, 68, 69,
93–7, 121, 126 89–90, 132–33
bar charts, 71, 102, 103 diagrams, 69–70, 105–6, 109–10, 113
bibliography, see references discussion section, 16, 39, 52, 64, 70, 72,
brief, 2–4, 19, 21–3, 24–5, 26–8, 60–2, 70, 73–7, 119, 123, 125–7, 137, 140
78–9, 83–4 dissertations, 26, 33, 52–3, 61, 91–7
bullet points, 17, 23, 58, 80
business plans, 85–6 essays, differences with reports, 16–19, 21–3
business reports, 20–1, 44–5, 58–9, 61–2, 65, evidence, 9, 30–3, 52, 73, 88–90, 116–8, 132,
77, 83–4, 146–8 135, 147

152 Index
executive summary, 12–13, 38–9, 55–6, 58–9, layout, 17, 18, 20–1, 38–9, 52–4, 65, 69–70,
84, 85 82, 83–4, 89, 92–3, 96, 144–5, 147
experiments, 10, 11, 28, 31–2, 37, 42–3, 61, limitations, 75, 76
64, 65–8, 76, 132–3 line graphs, 101
literature review, 61, 93–7, 119, 121, 138
first person, 89–90, 134–5 see also background reading
focus groups, 31, 65, 92, 107–9
format, see layout maps, 106–7, 114
free writing, 40 marking criteria, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19, 21, 125
methods section, 16, 21, 30–2, 38–9, 52,
graphs, 69–70, 72, 100–4, 109–10, 111, 113 65–8, 76, 119, 122, 136, 137, 139
group work, 46–50
note making, 36–7, 40–5, 88, 94, 112
headings, 17, 18, 21–3, 38–9, 40–5, 52–4, 77,
83–4, 85–6, 89, 93–6
objectives, 26–8, 30, 58–9, 64, 70
hypothesis, 10, 31, 33, 64, 119
observations, 37, 88–90, 107–9, 135
independent variable, 101
informative writing, 5, 8, 16, 28–30, 128 participants, 42, 65–7
interviews, 31, 37, 65, 82, 92, 107–9, 114 passive voice, 134–5
introduction section, 11, 12, 15, 38–9, 60–4, past tense, 92, 136
73–4, 84, 119, 121, 137, 138 persuasive writing, 9, 13, 28–30, 78–80, 85–6,
I, using, 89–90, 134–5 87–8, 128, 129–33, 146–8
photographs, 104, 113
labelling, 69, 71, 72, 83, 99, 101–7, 109–10 pie charts, 72, 103
lab reports, 11, 20–1, 33, 35, 42–3, 61, 78 planning, 24–5, 28–30, 33, 34–5, 38, 40–5, 93,
see also experiments 128–9, 137, 143

Index 153
b6790baa-18fa-436c-b71b-dfa9bbaf8a4f
precise writing, 68, 131, 132–3 results section, 16, 38–9, 52, 69–72, 82,
present tense, 136 98–110, 119, 122, 137, 139, 148
primary research, 31–3, 34, 36–7, 107–9
project proposals, 91–2 secondary research, 31
proofreading, 35, 81, 137–8, 143–5 see also background reading
purpose, 1, 3, 4, 8–10, 16–17, 25, 56–7, 61, spidergrams, 94
62, 84, 85, 147 structure, 14–16, 17–8, 20–1, 21–3, 38–9,
40–1, 51–2, 83–4, 85–6, 89, 93–6, 144–5,
qualitative research, 31–3, 37, 69–70, 107–9, 147
122 surveys, see questionnaires
quantitative research, 31–33, 69–72, 99–103, synthesise, 116–7, 119, 122
122, 125
questionnaires, 31, 82 tables, 37, 69, 71, 99, 103, 108, 109–10, 111,
148
readers, see audience third person, 134
recommendations, 3, 8, 10, 39, 52, 58–9, time management, 24–5, 34–5, 37, 38–9,
78–80, 88, 119, 124, 140–1 40–1, 46–7, 49–50, 53, 91, 128–9, 137,
redrafting, 15, 35, 58, 137–42, 143–5 143, 147
references, 37, 39, 81, 83, 93, 109–10, 111–4, title page, 38–9, 52–3
143
reflective writing, 86–90, 135 word count, 4, 25, 70, 128–9
research to do with numbers, see quantitative writing style, 6–7, 8–9, 10–11, 38–9, 51, 52,
research 60, 63, 65, 69, 72, 73, 75, 78, 125–7,
research to do with words, see qualitative 129–42
research writing up, 35, 37, 38–45, 112, 137, 143

154 Index