Hi, this is Morag from Academic Skills.
This video looks at how to structure
business reports to suit your audience and aim.
Business reports are professional documents
written for different purposes and a varied audience.
They are often requested by a person or
organization for a specific purpose.
This request may come from within your
organisation or team, or from an external
source wishing to engage you in a consulting role.
You might be writing for someone
who is an expert in your field,
For example, preparing a sales report for your manager,
or a non-expert, someone who
has a completely different background to you.
One thing that is common is that in
a professional context people are busy,
and this affects how they read.
They probably won't read a report from
beginning to end. Instead, they may scan
for the information they need and read
only that section, or they may go
straight to the recommendations and go
back to read the analysis later.
This means that you need to write with the reader in mind,
and place the key information
where your reader expects it to be.
The aim of a business report is
often to help the reader make a decision,
by presenting facts and information,
interpreting and analyzing that information,
and making recommendations
relating to the specific issue under investigation.
When you're writing a report
think of it as a communication process.
You, as the writer, have an aim -
something you need your reader to know, do, or understand.
You need to communicate this to your reader clearly,
so that they can use the information provided
to achieve the intended outcome.
The content, structure, and style of your reports is
determined by your audience and aim.
Before you write, ask yourself:
what and how much content should I include and in what form?
How much background knowledge can I assume?
Would visuals help to clarify this information?
What's the most logical way to present it for my reader?
Will my audience understand highly
technical language, or do I need to write for a non-expert?
Let's take a look at
the general features of reports.
We usually separate the content into three broad categories:
front matter, body and back matter.
Front matter is anything
that comes before the body of the report.
This varies according to the context, but
usually contains a cover, title page,
with a meaningful title, an executive summary,
a table of contents, and if you've used a
lot of graphics, sometimes a list of figures.
The executive summary is a standalone section
that goes before the body of the report
and provides a complete and concise summary
of all sections within the report.
It is not a part of the body.
The body of a report can vary greatly depending on function.
Reports have an introduction,
which provides background information
and outlines the aim and structure for the reader.
The body should be organized into
clear sections which present and discuss
the findings, with headings to indicate
the focus of that part.
In some reports findings and discussions are separate,
and in others you might find each
finding is identified and then
interpreted in the same section.
It's up to you to choose the most logical way
to present the information for your reader,
and then indicate this clearly to your
reader using specific headings.
Reports generally have a conclusion to briefly
summarize the main findings, which leads
into recommendations suggesting specific actions
to resolve the issue under investigation .
If the focus of your report
was to make recommendation you
might find this becomes a section in the body
before the conclusion.
It's always best to check the requirements of your brief
so you know where to place your focus.
After the body we find the back matter.
If your report required research you
would put your reference list at the end.
This section also contains appendices -
anything that was too bulky to include
in the paper, such as heavy data or
anything you want your reader to be able to refer to.
So, having covered the main parts of a report
hopefully, you now realize while there are certain common features
how reports are organized can
vary greatly depending on your focus.
Let's finish with some general tips for
writing business reports.
As a professional document, consider your
audience and aim carefully.
Meet the expectations of your audience.
Break the information in your report down into
manageable chunks, and use clear and informative headings.
Remember, you're the expert.
You need to analyze and interpret your findings.
Tell your audience what they mean.
Finally, make sure that the
overall flow of information makes sense.
Good luck writing your reports.
For more tips and advice, to register for
workshops or events or to find out
what's happening in Academic Skills, visit our website