You may need to write a report for readers internal or external to your organization, although you may find that your report will be for someone in higher authority within your organization or for an external organization that supports or funds your organizational programs. People in organizations write reports for a variety of reasons. Reports can be informative or persuasive or a combination of both…
The Structure of a Report
Title / Cover Page – this will include the title, who has written it and the date it was written/submitted.
Acknowledgements – thanks and gives credit to the people or organizations that have helped.
Contents – lists the headings in the document. Page numbers show where the particular section can be located. In a PDF file, you can embed links to sections/pages.
Executive Summary – is a key part of good reports. This is a summary of the overall message within the report as well as a clear outline of recommendations. It is usually read by senior management who do not have time to read the full report. Executive summaries are necessary for longer reports.
Introduction (Purpose, Terms of Reference, Methodology) – This sets the scene for your report.
Purpose – why was the report commissioned? What circumstances led people to believe that a report was needed?
Terms of Reference – It should define the scope and limitations of the investigation, what is covered, what is not covered. This is also referred to as scope
Methodology / Procedure – outlines how you gathered information, where from and how much, what is the scale of your investigation – does it cover one area, is it for the whole country? If you used a survey, how the survey was carried out, how did you decide on the target group, how many were surveyed, how were they surveyed – by interviews or questionnaire?
Main Body – Analysis and Findings – is really the main body of the report, where you develop your ideas. Make sure that it is well structured, with clear headings, and that your readers can find information easily. Use paragraphs to cover one aspect of the subject at a time. Include any graphs or other visual material in this section if this will help your readers. It should contain sufficient information to justify the conclusions and recommendations which follow.
Conclusions and Recommendations – are drawn from the analysis in the previous section and should be clear and concise. They should also link back to the Terms of Reference. There is no need for long essays here. Just bullet points or short sentences will be good enough. Follow up action should be clearly highlighted with suggested timescales. Most importantly, you need to inform the reader what action they should take as a result of reading your report (call to action).
Appendices, References and Glossary of Terms- to provide any more detailed information which your readers may need for reference – Appendices should be numbered so they can be referred to in the main body.