Themes

Report-writing factors

Things to look out for:

Formality

Formal punctuation

• Avoid contractions
• Avoid exclamation marks
• Use of commas to separate clauses
• Use of colons to introduce lists and certain quotations
• Use of semi-colons to separate lists of clauses / join two independent clauses

Conciseness

• Avoid wordiness
• Say things in the shortest way possible
• Swap phrasal verbs (e.g. ‘live up to) for single-word verbs (e.g. ‘achieve’)

Specificity

• Re-use keywords from the task regularly
• Avoid unnecessary use of big words
• Avoid generalisations
• Swap figurative language for literal language
• One idea per main body paragraph

• No ideas spread over multiple paragraphs
• No paragraphs with multiple ideas

Person / voice

• Use the third person voice
• Use declarative statements
• Appropriate use of active and passive voice
• Avoid informal words (adjectives / verbs)
• Avoid subjective / emotive language
• Avoid personal pronouns

Academic caution

• Avoid definite words (e.g. ‘must’ / ‘all’)
• Use cautious language (e.g. ‘can’ / ‘some’)

Language

Generalisation

• Avoid inaccurate generalisation
• Use generalisation to remove unneeded information

Signposting language

• Language that indicates what is to follow
• Language that recognises what has already been said

Linking words

• Use of linking words to join clauses / sentences
• Use of linking words to join paragraphs

Referencing words

• Use of referencing words in place of nouns that have already been introduced
• Appropriate use of keywords in place of reference words to maintain focus (e.g. one use of keyword per paragraph)

Report structuring

Section ordering

Reports should include the following elements in this order:

1. Title page
2. Executive summary
3. Contents page
4. Introduction
5. Findings section (the main body)
6. Conclusion
7. Recommendations section
8. Reference list
9. Appendices

Paragraph structuring

Main body paragraph structuring

Approximately 150-200 words each:

1. Topic sentence
2. Evidence
3. Interpretation
4. Explanation
5. Concluding sentence

Executive summary structuring

Approximately 10% of the total report word count:

1. The purpose of the work (key problems and objectives)
2. Methods used for research
3. Main conclusions reached
4. Recommendations

Introductory paragraph structuring

Approximately 150 words:

1. Introductory sentence
2. Background sentences
3. Thesis statement (same order of ideas as included in main body paragraphs)

Concluding paragraph structuring

Approximately 150 words:

1. Introductory sentence
2. Thesis statement (same order of ideas as included in main body paragraphs)
3. Background sentences

Recommendations

• Approximately 250 words in total
• Approximately 30-50 words per recommendation

Appendices

• One appendix per main body paragraph
• Appendices presented in same order as in main body paragraphs

Evidence

Quotation punctuation and formatting

• Use of quotation marks
• Use of citations
• Avoid use of inverted commas in place of quotation marks
• Use colons (:) to introduce quotes that are 1+ sentence in length
• Use square brackets ([]) to paraphrase a word / phrase within a quote
• Use ellipsis (…) to remove parts of quotes that aren’t relevant

Paraphrasing

• Use of citations

Summarisation

• Use of citations where appropriate
• Introduce summaries of sentences / independent clauses with colons
• Introduce summaries of dependent clauses without colons
• Use of semi-colons to separate summaries of sentences / independent clauses
• Use of commas to separate summaries of short phrases

Document formatting

Separating paragraphs

• Use of line breaks to separate paragraphs
• OR, use of indentation to separate paragraphs

Headers

• Inclusion of title

Page numbers

• Use page numbers

Subheadings

• Use of subheadings for each report section

Spellchecker

• Removal of spelling errors
• Removal of grammatical errors