CHAPTER 4: Writing Rousing Technical Reports

Chapter Objectives

1. Explain the fundamental concepts of report writing.

2. Use different concepts in writing technical reports.
3. Distinguish the categories of technical reports.
4. Write different technical reports.
5. Compose minutes of the meeting.

Introduction

Aside from writing business letters, another way to communicate in business

or in organization effectively is writing a report. Every day, there is a tremendous
number of reports written and circulating in the corporate world.

There are two vital questions that every report writer should consider: “Who is
the audience?” and what is my purpose?”

Before writing any report, we should bear in mind the destination of our report.
In business, the audience might be your boss, Supervisor, manager, fellow
employee, or client. Furthermore, written reports may supply a record of work
accomplished, record and clarify complex information for future reference, present
information to a large number of people, record problems encountered, document
schedules, timetables, and milestones, recommend future actions, document current
status, and so on (Gerson, S.J. & Gerson, S.M., 2003).

Your purpose is your reason for writing a report. It may be for the purpose of
informing important details or progress about the company. Analyzing the costing or
strengths and weaknesses of the company, or recommending possible actions or
solutions based on certain facts and data:
LESSON 1 - Fundamental Concepts of Report Writing

“Being a real writer means being able to do the work on a bad day.”
- Norman Mailer

Discussion

In writing a report, language plays a vital role. The language should be

concise, coherent, and precise to smoothly connect the ideas and the sections of a
business report. There are four fundamentals of report writing.

1. The K-I-S-S Concept is an acronym for Keep It Short and Simple. This
concept highlights the use of simple but concise words rather than the use of jargons
and complex words. This concept also emphasizes expressing rather than
impressing.

2. Quoting, Paraphrasing and Summarizing. Quoting is the exact copying

of a portion of an original text. In doing this, certain punctuation must be observed. In
paraphrasing, you will need to use your own words in restating author’s ideas and or
words. In doing this, the same number of words like the original is observed.
Summarizing is recapitulating author’s ideas or words. This is a shorter restatement
of the original text in your own words. Lastly, these three need to be properly
documented.

3. Use of graphic organizers may be classified as tables or figures. Tables

are compact summary of Data or information which is systematically presented in
columns. Furthermore, figures may be include graphs and charts in presenting the
data or information.

4. Documentation and Citation - These are ethical practices used in

developing your report. These are the proper acknowledgement of references or
sources that used. It is composed of the author's last name and the date of
publication placed within parentheses.
 The two most commonly used citation styles are American Psychological
Association (APA) Style and Modern Language Association (MLA) Style.

There are Ten steps in writing a technical report:

Present or submit your report

Review and revise your report
Cite your references if applicable
Draw possible conclusions and recommendations
Design, organize, and write your report
Summarize your findings
Gather necessary information and data
Identify what you need to learn
Identify who you r audience is
Determine the problem

Moreover, all reports follow particular generic format development, and style.
Every report follows the four basic components: heading, Introduction, Discussion,
and conclusion/recommendation.

To make a report come alive, link the various pieces of information together to
create a story or build a case. First understand the information, then organize it by
checking and revising outline that was created earlier, and then write the report.
Headings can organize and synthesize information. Instead of just restating the date,
use headings that interpret the data (Locker, 2006)
Categories of Report
A report should be well-planned and organized, logically sequence and easy
to read. There are two main categories of report, according to Roberts (1999)

1. Informal report can range from a few paragraphs to several pages. Whether an
informal report is written as a letter or memo, or email message , It generally
includes an introduction, body and conclusion recommendations. This report may
function to inform, sell, direct, clarify, or recommend.

The introduction elaborates the subjects and procedures of the report while
the body presents the findings from thorough researchers. All findings are arranged
in order of priority. Lastly, the conclusion recommendation tells what the diagnosis is
all about. It also gives the possible actions, solutions or recommendation on what to
be done about the findings of the study.

2. Formal report is generally lengthy. It may include tittle page, executive summary,
table of contents, list of figures and tables, list of abbreviations and symbols, body,
conclusions or recommendation, appendixes, index, and more. This report may
function to inform, document, direct, clarify, examine, analyze, propose and
recommend.

A report should be long enough to be thorough and short enough to be

concise. To ensure that your report is thorough, cover all the key issues. To ensure
that it’s concise, KISS (Keep It Short and Simple)

Report can just provide information, both provide information and analyze it,
or provide information and analysis to support a recommendation. Report can be
called information report if they collect data for reader. Analytical reports if they
interpret data but do not recommend action, and recommendation reports if they
recommend action or solution (Locker, 2003).
Three Levels of Reports

Reports can provide the following:

Information Only
 Sales reports ( Sales figures for the week or month)
 Quarterly reports (Figures showing a plant’s productivity and profit for the
quarter)
Information plus analysis
 Annual reports ( Financial data and an organization’s accomplishment
during the past year)
 Audit Reports ( Interpretation of the facts revealed during audit)
 Make Good or pay-back reports ( Calculations of the points at which a
new capital investment will pay for itself)
Information plus analysis plus recommendation
 Feasibility reports ( Evaluate two or more alternatives and recommended
which alternative the organization should choose)
 Justification reports ( Justify the need for purchase, an investment, a new
personnel line, or a change in procedure)
 Problem solving reports ( Identify the causes of an organizational problem
and recommend a solution)
Lesson 2 - Classification of Technical Reports

Even in writing an annual report, the unconscious plays a role

-Maton Cooley

Discussion

In the workplace, the report plays an important role, whether you are
preparing one for your supervisor, the executive staff, board of directors, or clients. It
may be short and simple , in the form of a memorandum or email, or it may be more
several pages long. Whatever its length, content, or destination, is the end result is
the same. A report must be informative, factual, understandable, and neatly
presented (Oxford Dictionary).

Business report is broad in scope and covers numerous written documents

necessary in doing business such as incident report, accomplishment report,
recommendation report, financial report, and so on.

Even though there are several types of business reports, having a standard
business report format, according to Custodio et al. (2013), allows the reader to
easily locate the important information presented. It also enables the writer to
organize the report effectively and logically. Knowingly how to write a business report
is necessary in the business world.

These are basic classifications of written report:

1. Article Report - is a simple report which aims to inform the masses. This report
focuses on any general interest. This is like the magazine article we read on regular
days.

2. Laboratory Report - is a comprehensive report written to communicate laboratory

works and observations to the management. It also focuses on the question, “How
did we do it?”
The following are common parts of a laboratory report

a. Abstract - This part show the outline of the entire experiment.

b. Introduction - This part presents the objectives and importance of the
experiment.
Sometimes, the background of the report often includes theoretical predictions for
what the result should be.
c. Procedures - This part is sometimes called methods or steps for it present the
step by step methods on how the experiment is done.
d. Result and Discussions - This part presents the discussion of the experiment as
well as the results which are composed of the tables and figures.
e. References - This part summarizes the results of the experiment
f. Conclusion - This part summarizes the result of the experiment.
g. Appendices - This part is composed of raw data, calculations, and so on that you
have not included in the report itself.

3. Information Report - The main function of this report is based from the title itself,
to inform. This report includes periodic and annual reports

a. Periodic Report - is a type of information report written by the employees or

subordinates which they submit daily, weekly or monthly to their superiors to note
information of interest to the organization to show comparison and tendencies.

b. Annual Report - is a type of information report which includes the listing of

activities , projects, and events of an organization during the whole year round to
show progress, financial status, and general state of affairs. This report can be
classified as public or private.

4. Special Information Report - is composed of three subcategories which are

preliminary report, progress report, and final report.
a. Preliminary Report - is a type of special information report that collects
information about a proposed project which includes the costing. Designs and other
elements.

b. Progress Report - is a type of special information report that records the history
of an activity from the time it has started up to the present date of writing.

c. Final Report - is a type of special information report submitted after completing a

project to show how plans were delivered.

5. Research Report - is a common report which generates data either in a

laboratory or in the field. The contents and organization of this type of report have
basic logic: you present your data and conclusion. But also present information on
how you went about the experiment or survey. The following are the contents of
research report.

a. Introduction - This part of a research report provides the reader a background of

the report as well the purpose of the report.

b. Problem - This includes essential inquiries and situations that led to the writing of
the report.

c. Purpose, Objectives, and Scope - This section tells the reader what the
researchers intend to do. Also the aims of the research as well as the limits to be
covered are included in this part.

d. Review of Literature - This part of the report includes related readings from
different literature such as books, journals, articles, magazines, encyclopedia, and
likes

e. Materials, Equipment, and Facilities - These include the supplies, resources

and facilities that were utilized in the report.
f. Theory, Methods, Procedures - These tell the reader how report writer conducted
the research. These include the processes involved in the completion of the report.

g. Results, Findings and Data - These present the outcome of the research with
the use of tables, figures, and charts. The tables, figures, and Chart are interpreted
and explained by the researcher.

h. Discussion, Conclusions, and Recommendations - This section is the last part

of the research Report. This includes the conclusion based from the findings and
recommendations are in turn based on the conclusions.

i. Bibliography - This is the list of all the sources and references use by the report
writer in accomplishing the research report.

The General format of a research report commonly includes the following:

 Transmittal Letter
 Title Page
 Table of Contents
 List of Tables
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Problem, Background
 Purpose, Objectives, and Scope
 Review of Literature
 Materials, Equipment, and Facilities
 Theory, Methods, and Procedures
 Results, Findings and Data
 Discussion, Conclusion, and Recommendation
 Bibliography

6. Field Report - is intended to improve student understanding of key theoretical

concept of a course through observation and reflection of real life practice. In
addition, This type of report facilitates the development of Data collection and
observation skills and allows students to see how theory applies to real world
practice.

When writing a field report you need to consider two things:

a. systematically observe and accurately record the details and information of a

certain aspect of a situation: constantly analyze your observation for meaning.

b. keep the report’s aims in mind while you are observing: consciously observe,
record and analyze what you hear and see in the context of a theoretical framework
(Glesne & Peshkin, 1992)

Therefore, field report is linking theory and practice. It also involves both description
and analysis. It is necessary to avoid some common student errors when writing a
field report such as presenting description without any analysis of what has been
described or observed.

7. Recommendation Reports - is written to answer question which are somehow

critical to decide on. It shows options or choices so that a good decision can be
drafted.

The following elements are the typical contents of a recommendation report.

a. Introduction
b. Technical Background
c. Make comparisons
d. Critical Requirements
e. Conclusions
f. Recommendations

8. Incidental Report - is written to narrate incidents proir to, during, after a situation
suddenly occurred. We should bear in mind that incident report is definitely different
from narrative type essay. The presentation of ideas in an incident report is
systematically arranged and organized using appropriate language . This kind of
report uses simple and clear words and avoid using jargons and technical terms.

There are things to consider in writing an incident report:

a. The context of the incident.

b. Details of the incident
c. Thoughts, feeling, and concerns about the incident .
d. Demands of the incident
e. Impact of the incident

9. Accomplishment Report - is a written for the purpose of presenting the

company, organization, or institution’s activities and achievement and to monitor and
check if the plans were successfully carried out. Every organization or business
entity provides a format of an accomplishment report.

The following are some steps in writing an accomplishment report:

a. Use the prescribed template of your company.
b. Create tables or charts with the following columns, number, action or
activity, initiator person responsible, remarks ( target time, comments).
c. Add risk factor if needed; and
d. Include a list of who will be receiving this report.

There are more common types of reports such as feasibility reports, inventory
reports, staff utilization reports, travel reports, justification reports and so on.
Lesson 3 - Minutes of the Meeting

The trouble with the contemporary generation is that it has not read the minutes of
the last meeting.
- Richard Weaver

Discussion
Every meeting is important. Furthermore, every minute in a meeting is
important as well. Every minute in a meeting especially during board meetings,
annual meetings, and other executive meetings should be recorded so that none
from the agenda will be overlooked. This is vital in saving time and money.

Minutes of the meeting or sometimes called meeting minutes can be defined

as written or recorded documentation that is used to inform people of what happened
during the meeting and define the next step planned (beesapps.com).

Creating meeting minutes according to Meettingking.com provides a written

record of what was agreed at a meeting. Good meeting minutes tell people what was
decided and what they need to achieve and by what date. When meeting minutes
are received, it jogs memories about task that people need to do. If a task is not
performed then you can refer back to the meeting minutes to follow up on it. Without
meeting minutes, you have no recourse if an action was not carried out. In the worst
case, if meeting minutes is not written you may end up having to repeat the meeting.

Every company has its own format or template for the minutes of the meeting.
The Template depends on how the companies use the document. Here are some of
the essential and general parts of the minutes of the meeting.
1. Heading - contains the complete name and address of the company. Every
company has its own template for heading. Sometimes, company contact number
and e-mail address are included in this part.

2. Title of the meeting - includes the date, day, and starting time of the meeting.
Also, the venue or location of the meeting is included.

3. Attendance - is a complete list of names of all the attendees of the meeting. Most
of the time, the attendance of the meeting is listed on a separate sheet of paper that
is being attached to the minutes of the meeting.

The attendance of the meeting is divided into three components:

1. Present - the complete list of names of all those who are present at the
meeting
2. Regrets- The complete list of names of those who have contacted the
chairman or presider to let them know that they will be unable to attend the
scheduled meeting
3. Absent - the complete list of those who are absent at the meeting.

Usually the attendees of the meeting is being checked, monitored and approved by
the corporate secretary. The general rule in establishing the quorum of the meeting
is half plus one of the total number of the attendees.

4. Call to order - consist of the exact time of the scheduled meeting. Moreover in
this part, the complete name and position or designation of the one who set the
meeting is stated. You may refer to the Notice of the meeting for details needed in
this part.

5. Approval of the minutes of the previous Meeting- contains the motion to

approve the minutes of the previous or last meeting as circulated to approve the
minutes as amended. The attendees of the meeting may correct or revise the
minutes of the previous meeting.
6. Business Arising from the Previous minutes of the meeting - Includes some
agenda from previous meeting that are needed to be reviewed and needed to take
immediate action.

7. New Business - refers to the agenda of the meeting. You may refer to the Notice
of the meeting to follow the flow of the agenda of the meeting. Other agenda that are
not listed may be added in the other matters. This is the heart of every minutes of the
meeting. This part should be carefully written. Every detail should be included and
specified so that nothing will be overlooked.

8. Adjournment - is composed of the exact time the meeting was adjourned or

ended by the chairman or presider.

9. Signature - Contains the signature over complete name of the corporate

secretary who prepared the minutes of the meeting.

The corporate secretary should be keen in recording the minutes of the

meeting and be careful in writing them down.

Note: Look for a sample for each technical report.

Reference/s:

Rosales, MJ.D, Galano, E.A & Riviera, JA.A. (2019). Technical writing: a resource
guide to writing across disciplines. Lorimar Publishing, INC. 776 Aurora Blvd., cor.
Boston Street, Cubao, Quezon City, Metro Manila

Other related references/sources