Factors to Consider While Writing a Report: Strengths and Weaknesses of an Example Report

This coursework discusses the strengths and weaknesses of an example report and the factors to consider while writing a report. It covers topics such as accuracy, structure, conciseness, specificity, and academic caution. The report also provides recommendations for improving future reports. The subject is report writing and the course code and college/university are not mentioned.

COURSEWORK

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
There are many factors that has to be kept in mind while writing a report by the author.
On the basis of “example report”, there are different factors that have been identified and
interpreted which is indicating either the strengths or weaknesses of the report. Strength of
example report is found in terms of using appropriate language for academic cautiousness while
weaknesses found in terms of structuring, lack of formal punctuation, conciseness and specificity
and inappropriate choice of person. Moreover, for writing the report there are some key factors
that need to be consider such as there should be no grammatical mistake, it should be arrange in
orderly manner as well as there should be clear objectives.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................4
Presenting report writing factor...................................................................................................4
Identification and interpretation of evidence from reading list...................................................5
Recommendation to the author of the report for improving future reports.................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The present study is based on report writing which is known as formal style of writing on
topic. Along with this, it is short and crisp description of the topic and it also done to recommend
the reader. It is one of the most important writing skill that need to be learned by students as it
will help in increasing their academic performance. In addition to this, the study has discussed
about various factor that need to be consider at time of writing report such as structure and
accuracy. The study will also have recommended ways to improve the writing skill.
MAIN BODY
Presenting report writing factor
Report is defining short and sharp concise document that help in writing specific purpose for the
audience. Along with this, it mainly analysis about various situation and make recommendation
for the future action. It should be in form of clear and well structure format as well as it should
be like sequence of events and situation. In addition to this, it is made for evaluating the results
and facts found in the research as well as recommend for best course of actions (Zwartz, 2018).
The report start from a brief introduction that contain information about what will be discuss in
it and what is the aim of the project. Although the conclusion stage is known as summary part
in which it summarization of topic is given in short so that reader can understand key points. In
addition to this, while drafting this report an individual need to satisfy some principle that helps
in writing good reports.
Objectivity: This is the first quality of good report is clear aims which helps the reader
in knowing about what report will be focusing on. Along with this, it implies that report is free
from personal biasness information as well as if there will be any personal information then it
will fail to attain its objective.
Accuracy of facts: A good report is consisting of accurate facts and figures which will help in
finding the appropriate data and give relevant information to the reader (Baker and Chung,
2018). Along with this, if the data will be wrong then the information will be misleading and
incorrect. In addition to this, in order to get appropriate information data should be collected
from copyright site to get original and current content.
Orderly arrangement: The content of the report should be arranging in form of orderly
and logical that helps reader to find about the desire information from lengthy report. Along with

this, the heading of the report should be in first as well as second or third heading so that writer
can easily understand the sub and main title.
Relevance: The another quality of good report is that it shares not only relevant but correct
information. Although irrelevant facts and data should be avoided an it may create confusion and
misunderstanding. The information need to be gathered from books and journal as it helps in
finding the viewpoints of various authors and writer can also make use of internet in case of
collecting current data (Bresina and McMaster, 2020). In addition to this, in order to check the
grammatical and vocabulary the writer can make use of checking tools in order to detect mistake
and also plagiarism. Moreover, if there is any similarity in the report then it will not be
considering as good.
Identification and interpretation of evidence from reading list
For drafting a good report, it is necessary for the writer to ensure that whatever factors
are required to be kept in mind while writing a report has been fulfilled accordingly. With regard
to the given report titled as “Discussion regarding whether private education should be
abolished”, there are factors that has been identified which are acting either as positive or
negative factor of the report and thus indicating its strengths and weaknesses respectively. Some
of these factors are as follows:
Formal punctuation: It is necessary for ensuring that the report is free from confusion and
ambiguity by framing and structuring sentences in a way that there could not be anything that has
been conveying wrong meaning to the reader. In the given report, it has been identified the factor
of formal punctuation has not been satisfied by the writer. This could be identified on the basis of
no use of exclamation marks, appropriate use of commas, colons and semi-colons wherever
needed. It is necessary to avoid using exclamation mark while writing formal report, however in
the given report, it has been identified that the writer has use exclamation mark while introducing
list instead of using colons. Also, the sentences and clauses where commas should be placed, the
writer has put semi-colon for connecting two dependent sentences.
This could be seen through the following examples:
“This report will discus whether fee-paying schools should be abolished! In order to get this
done, it will consider the disgraceful lack of working-class representation in top jobs; use of
charitable tax status among private schools; unequal educational outcomes, the immediate costs

of abolishing private education; and, the removal of choice for parents.” (Use of semi colons
instead of commas)
“With this in mind, private education should not be abolished as everyone believes parents
should have the right to make choices about the education of their children!” (Use of
exclamation mark instead of colon)
Lack of conciseness and specificity: Every report is written keeping in mind the specific issue
or subject like the given report is based on the issue of “Abolition of private education”. Also,
conciseness is necessary for ensuring that something has been said in the shortest possible way
(Flowerdew, 2022). The given report seems to be lacking on the ground of conciseness and
specificity because there are many instances within the report where it has been determined that
the writer has use long sentences and thus have not avoided wordiness for conciseness.
Furthermore, figurative language has been used in findings section of the report where figures
are quite generalized having no direct relation with the issue under discussion. In other words,
the figures indicating neither significance nor impact of the issue that has been discussed in the
report.
Wordiness - “According to Bennett, charitable status enables England’s 2,250 private schools to
“enjoy at least 80 per cent relief on business rates, with some paying none at all” in an
arrangement “saves (Eton) more than £500,000 a year and Dulwich College £600,000”, despite
the former generating £62m in income and a surplus of £3.2m in 2014.”
Use of inappropriate Figurative language - “According to Weale (2021): “71% of top military
officers, 74% of top judges and 61% of the country’s top doctors were educated privately” (so,
29% of military officers, 26% of judges and a small amount less than 30% of doctors weren’t
privately educated).”
Person / Voice factor in the report: The reports are generally written in third person, where
there is no use of I, or we indicate any personal opinions and viewpoints. The example report
given has failed to follow the third person voice within the report where statements are beginning
with “I” such as “I believe this reflects wider attitudes in Western societies, where the ability to
pay for a service and choose between providers are highly valued”. Also, in the recommendation
section, the suggestions are beginning with “I” which indicates poor choice of person while
writing the report.

Use of first person instead of third person - “Also this prevents additional money being collected
by the government in the form of tax, which I think would be better off spent on valuable public
services, such as state education, hospitals or infrastructure.”
Academic caution: To ensure simple convey of matter to the reader, the report writer need to
ensure that they should avoid using definite words like “must” and “all” and instead of this they
should resort to cautious language by using words such as “can” and “some” between sentences.
The example report found to be structured correctly on this ground where content of the report is
free from definite words while the cautious language are correctly placed throughout the report
wherever it is needed.
Use of cautious language - “Alternatively, the government might have to pay to convert some
existing private schools into state schools, which is also likely to cost significant amount.”
Structuring of the report: The executive summary in the example report is place after the
content list and it written very long where the word count is not falling in the prescribed limit of
10% of the total word count of the report (Cismaș, 2021). Also, before beginning with the
introduction, no heading for introduction has been provided. It can be seen that recommendation
section is attached with the finding section which is before the concluding section and the same
is not a recommended practice while writing report.
Recommendation to the author of the report for improving future reports
On the basis of above analysis, the following recommendations could be met:
 It is to be recommended that exclamation marks must be avoided while writing formal
reports. For introducing list or quotations, use of colons should be encouraged.
 Sentence should be written in short and meaningful manner rather than writing long
sentences giving no meaning to the reader. Also, specific matter relevant to the report
title should be referred to rather than giving generalized explanations.
 The most important thing to be kept in mind while writing report is that there must be no
use of “I” and “we” within the discussion of the report. Accordingly, the entire report
should be written in third person voice by giving declarative sentences and appropriate
use of active and passive voice (Tshabangu and Madondo, 2022).
 It is to be recommended that each section of the report should begin with specific heading
for better clarity to the reader and appropriate report structure must be used. The structure

should be as Title page, Executive summary, Content page, Introduction, Main Body,
Conclusion, Recommendation, Reference List and Appendices.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that report is known as short description or
recommendation on the topic. The study has thrown light on the evidence of the essay in which it
has interrupted about various factor that need to be consider while writing. In addition to this,
the study has define factors like accuracy and structure which helps in writing the appropriate
report.

REFERENCES
Baker, J. R. and Chung, Y. S., 2018. Writing about the writing center: Exploring what factors
motivate writing center usage outside the North American context. Asian ESP Journal.14(5).
pp.7-56.
Bresina, B. C. and McMaster, K. L., 2020. Exploring the relation between teacher factors and
student growth in early writing. Journal of Learning Disabilities. 53(4). pp.311-324.
Cismaș, S. C., 2021. ASSESSMENT RUBRICS FOR ACADEMIC REPORT WRITING IN
ESP. THE DIALOGUE OF MULTICULTURAL DISCOURSES, p.23.
Flowerdew, L., 2022. Application of Swalesian Genre Analysis to Academic Writing Pedagogy:
A Corpus Perspective. LEARN Journal: Language Education and Acquisition Research
Network, 15(1), pp.1-9.
Tshabangu, I. and Madondo, S. M., 2022. Research Report Writing: Proposals, Dissertations,
and Academic Writing. In Research Anthology on Doctoral Student Professional
Development (pp. 454-476). IGI Global.
Zwartz, M., 2018. Report writing in the forensic context: Recurring problems and the use of a
checklist to address them. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law. 25(4). pp.578-588.
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