Planningtowriteareport-MonashUniversity.doc

Quick study guide 15Writing a report Before writing, prepare thoroughly by following these steps: Establish the purpose A report: can be based on practical work, a review of literature or an industrial or business situation is always written with the intention of achieving an objective First steps: establish the topic, scope and aim of your investigation (what you want to learn) clarify the objective/s of your report (eg. to inform, convince, advise [who] of [what]) This forms the focus for the type of information you need to include and how you will gather it. Analyse your audience A report: is always written for a client, who can be within the organisation (eg. your supervisor), or outside the organisation (eg. a company, government body or industrial group) must bridge the gap between the readers background knowledge and their needs First steps: identify your audience, their background knowledge and what they need or want to learn. This will help you to determine: the type and amount of background information to include content to include, and appropriate depth and breadth of treatment linguistic style, choice of vocabulary, degree of detail, tone and emphasis Investigate existing knowledge This is likely to involve a literature review and perhaps interviews with key people. Prepare your reading list, making sure to find out if you need information from sources other than books and articles. Collect your information, making sure it is directly relevant to your topic and objectives. Consider interviewing or talking to people who are involved. Avoid hearsay; the content of a report must be reliable and verifiable, ie. backed up by citations. Obtain new evidence This will involve one or more of the following: conducting experiments collecting and analysing data visiting a site performing calculations creating or modifying a design conducting interviews testing an application Analyse data to formulate conclusions and recommendations Think back to