What are formal written Reports and Parts of Formal written reports?

What are formal written Reports and Parts of Formal written reports?

A formal report is prepared for and read by individual in top levels of management and possibly individuals outside the writer’s organization. It may take from several weeks to several months to research and write the report. These activities can be completed by one person or by a team.

Parts of Formal Reports

The formal report generally contains three major divisions

• 1.     Prefatory Parts ( Preliminary sections)
• 2.     Text Parts
• 3.     Supplementary Parts
• Prefatory Parts

Prefatory are the front-end materials that provide key preliminary information so that reader can decide whether and how to read the report. A discussion of the individual parts follows:

Cover:  Many companies have standard cover for reports, made of heavy paper and imprinted with company’s name and logo. Report titles are either printed on these covers attached with gummed labels. Look for a cover that is attractive, convenient, and appropriate to the subject matter. Also make sure it can be labeled with the report title, the writer’s name (Optional), and the submission date (also optional)

Think carefully about the title you put on the cover. Give your readers all the information they need: the who, what when, why and how of the subject. At the same time try to be concise. You can reduce the length of your title by eliminating the phases such as A Report of, A study of or A survey of As an example, suppose your report discusses a strategy for a company called Phillips that markets television in Pakistan. You could use this analysis:

Who:              Phillips                                   what:             Marketing Strategy

When:                       2009                                      Where:          Pakistan

Why:              to increase Sale

A possible title could be like this:

Recommendations for increasing Phillips’ sales in Pakistan in 2009

The following guidelines can help you improve your title:

• 1.     Keep title short eight to ten words is desirable. Try to omit articles – the, an, and a wherever possible.
• 2.     Consider a subtitle often indicate with a colon: for example:

Environmental Pollution: what Strategy should Our Company Follow?

• 3.     Avoid title that are vague and extremely short:

Title Fly and Title Page. The title fly is a plain sheet of paper with only the title of the report on it. You do not really need one, but it adds a touch of formality. It is between the cover and the internal title page.

Immediately following that page is the internal title page which has the four parts:

•       The title as stated on the exterior cover
• ·        The Recipient of the report
• ·        The preparer
• ·        The date

For Example

Title: Environmental Pollution: what strategy should Our Company follows?

From whom:

Prepared for:

Shoaib Khalid, chairman Environmental

Protection Board

By Whom:

Prepared By:

Khuram Shahzad, Chief Engineer,

Environmental Protector Board

Date: 09 August, 2009

Letter of transmittal ( or Memo of Transmittal).  A letter or memo of transmittal, if used, is written by the report writer and is used to introduce the report to the reader. A report to readers outside the organization would contain a letter, wheras reports for internal use would contain a memo. In more formal reports, a preface or forward may be used. The letter of transmittal says what you would say if you were handing the report directly to the person who authorized it. For example, the letter would use personal pronouns ( you, I , we) and conventional language.

Letter of transmittal typically begins with a statement such as here is the report you asked me on April 255.

The conclusion of the transmittal letter is a note of thanks for having been given the report assignment and offer to assist with future projects.

Table of Contents: A table of contents lists all major sections that follow it the page on which each begins. Its purpose is to aid the reader in quickly locating specific information in the report. A Table of contents normally is not used in reports of few that five pages. This section is normally prepared after the report is typed or printed in its final form

List of illustrations: visual aids are identified in a list of illustrations. The list may be on the same page as the table of contents, or it may begin on the page following the table of contents if the report contains more than four illustrations. The list of illustrations uses same format as the table of contents, with illustration captions instead of section heads. A report may group all visual aids into one list of illustration, or it may group each type( table, chart , graph, etc)separately. This section is also prepared after the report is typed or printed in its final form.

Executive Summary: An executive summary is a brief overview of a report’s most important points, designed to give reader a quick preview of the contents. It is often included in long informational reports dealing with technical, professional, or academic subject. Other names for an executive summary are abstract, overview, and synopsis. The summary, which is approximately 10 percent of the length of the report up to a limit of two single spaced pages, save readers time by providing an overview of its contents.

 Text of the Report

Although reports may contain a variety of components, the heart of report is always composed the three main parts: an introduction, a body, and a close (which may consist of a summary, conclusion, or recommendation, or some combination of the three.

Introduction:  A good introduction prepares your readers to follow and understand the information that follows. It invites the audience to continue reading by telling them what the report is about, why they should be concerned, and how the report is organized. If your report has a synopsis or executive summary, minimize redundancy by balancing the introduction with the material in your summery.

Body: This section contains the information that supports your conclusions and recommendations as well as your analysis, logic, and interpretation of the information. If you find yourself with too much information, include only the essential supporting data in the body, use visuals, and place any additional information in an appendix

Close: the close of your report should summarize your main ideas, highlight your conclusions or recommendations (if any), and list any course of action that your expect reader to take or that you will be taking yourself. In a long report, this section may be labeled summary, or conclusions and recommendations. If you have organized your report in a direct pattern, your close should be relatively brief. With an indirect organization, you may be using this section to present your conclusions and recommendations for the first time, in which case this section may be fairly extensive.

Supplementary Parts

Supplementary parts follow the text of the report and provide information for the readers who seek more detailed discussion. Supplements are more common in long reports than in short ones, and they typically include appendixes, Bibliography, and an index.

Appendixes: An appendix contains materials related to the report but not included in the text because they are too lengthy, are too bulky, or lack direct relevance. However, do not include too much unimportant material. Keep your report easy and concise. Some items commonly included as appendixes include sample questionnaires and cover letter, computer printouts of raw data, working papers, financial statements, statistical formulas, complex illustration, and supporting material. For Example:

Appendix A: Computer printouts of daily sales.

Appendix B: Sample follow-Up Letter.

Bibliography: A bibliography, also known as a reference o source list, is an alphabetical list of all references used as sources of information in the study, including those that do not appear in footnotes. In additions to books and articles, sources lists may include videotapes, e-mails, world-wide-web sites and other nonpoint tools for communication information.

Index:  An index is an alphabetical list of names, places and subjects mentioned in your report, along with the pages on which they occur, if you think your reader will need to access specific points of information in a lengthy report, consider including an index that lists all key topics, product names, important persons ____ whatever is relevant to your subject matter.