Concept
of Report Text
Spring
(1999: 3) A report is always expository writing; that is, it can be either
informative or persuasive. Many students think of report writing as a long,
dreary process with few uses in the “real world”. Reports are probably the most common form of
work related writing. Reports can be any length, from a single paragraph to
many pages, and they can be either formal or informal in tone. Reports can be written or spoken. Depending on the circumstances, a report may
be based on your own personal knowledge of a subject or on information you have
gathered through reading, listening, and interviewing specifically for the
project.
Any
time you gather information, organize it, and pass it along, you have created a
report. For example, when you comment to
a co-worker that “It sure is a cold, grey day with lots of blowing snow” you
have, in fact, gathered information from your own experience about the
temperature, the precipitation, the wind, etc. and passed it along in the form
of a short oral report. If, on the other
hand, you had written this same information in a letter to your best friend, -
even if it was only one sentence long -you would have created a written report.
The
term report is difficult to define because it refers to such a wide variety of documents. Reports can be as simple as filling in the
blanks or answering a few questions about an
accident, or they can be long and involved requiring years of study,
hundreds of contributors, and several thick volumes to record the results. What
then are the basic characteristics of a report?
a. All
reports are factual. You must be able to back up any facts you include.
b. All
reports organize facts into a meaningful presentation.
c. Most
reports interpret the information gathered.
d. Many
reports make recommendations.
e. Almost
all reports are assigned or requested.
This means that your purpose and audience are determined before you
start to work.
