Report Writing

Purpose and principles

Purpose

Reports may be written for various purposes, such as a defining a position statement, providing a design commentary, setting out options, undertaking an evaluation, or reporting on research or problem-solving projects.  You may be free to decide on your purpose in your report, but often this will be decided for you in your assignment brief or working context. Identify the purpose of the report as you begin your research process and begin to structure your report.

Role and Audience

Envisaging your role and your relationship with your audience follows on from clarity about your purpose. You may or may not have been nominated a specific role and audience; if not it can be helpful to have a specific job role or persona in mind, and to think about the audience(s) or stakeholders who may view your report. Consider whether you are setting out to inform, explain, or persuade your audience about something in the report. This will inform your structure and language use, as discussed in our section on Language Style.

Professionality

All report writing requires a professional and authoritative approach which distinguishes report writing from creative writing or more reflective discussive essays. This professionality is supported by the following three principles of integrity:

• Evidence based
  Reports are evidence based, whether they are explaining existing evidence from your reading or data collection, or using evidence to back up recommendations for future actions.
• Objectivity
  Relevant evidence must be presented neutrally, and without bias. If bias is present, this should be openly acknowledged as a limitation; Both evidence and conclusions arrived at should be critically evaluated, acknowledging alternative options or perspectives.
• Ethics
  A key aspects of ethics is to avoid harming participants - you may need to keep respondent's identities confidentially anonymous and their data secure, and also to avoid openly identifying organisations for which criticisms are included in your report. Use non-judgemental language if criticisms cannot be completely avoided.

Criticality

Develop and demonstrate criticality in your report by undertaking the following processes:

• Test your ideas by undertaking wide reading; don’t rely on ‘common sense’
• Examine the evidence base for both suggestions and criticisms
• Synthesise information from various sources to draw conclusions
• Consider the limitations or relevance of recommendations for specific contexts
• Present a reasoned argument and logical recommendations to your reader.

For more on developing your criticality, see our Critical Writing Guide.