# TIPS FOR WRITING YOUR REPORT

You don’t just pick up your pen (or sit down at the keyboard) and write a report. As you’ve seen, a great deal of preliminary work is required to get from the planning stage to the draft and then to the finished report.
Getting started is always the most difficult part of any writing task. One tip from the Website of Middlesex University in London is to write the introduction and summary after you’ve written the rest of your report since it’s easier to summarize what’s already there!
Quoting Other Writers
When quoting other writers, there are ways to indicate the source of the quotation and set it out in your report. Again, you may have to follow house rules, but in the absence of these, use these guidelines.
All information you've obtained from other sources should be referenced in the text by giving the author's surname (first names or initials are not necessary) and the year of publication.
"Smith and Jones (1998) found that ..."
If you don't use the author's name in the sentence, give it and the date in brackets:
"A recent study (Smith and Jones, 1998) shows that ..."
If there are two authors, always list both names whenever you cite their work. If there are three or more authors, list all names the first time you refer to the work,
but after that just the first followed by "et al."
"Brown, White, and Grey (1999) found ..."
"Brown et al. (1999) found ..."
If you come across several research papers with similar findings, but by different authors, you can cite them at the same time:
"But researchers have been more concerned by the pollution levels in the kelp beds (Poisson, 1999; Fischer, 1998; Salmon, 2001) and recommend ..."
Direct quotes are used for support and clarification of the text, and you must provide the page number: "Despite increased pollution levels, 'Few people realize that bottom trawling can cause extensive, long-lasting damage to marine ecosystems' (Smith and Jones,
1998, p. 123) ..."
Achieving Accuracy and Objectivity in Your Writing
We’ve already discussed the importance of presenting accurate information so readers can make informed decisions based on your report. You must also distinguish between fact and opinion, present both sides of an argument objectively, avoid bias, and maintain an impersonal tone in your report.
Proofreading!
Once you've written your report, put it aside for a couple of hours (longer if time permits) and then go through it carefully, checking your spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Then read it again to make sure everything makes sense and that your ideas flow naturally from one to the other.
Check that you've done what you said you were going to do in your introduction.
Check that you've included all the necessary parts in your report:
Title Page
Table of Contents
Summary
Introduction
Body
Conclusions
Recommendations
Bibliography
Appendices
Glossary