RESEARCH

REPORT WRITING

Prepared by

Khursheed Ahmad Bhat (Assistant Professor Accounting & Finance)

HOD Department of Hospital Administration

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

◊ Types of Reports

◊ Choice of topic and type

◊ How to Write Reports

◊ Anatomy of a Report

◊ Presentation

◊ Bibliography

◊ Copyright issues

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TYPES OF REPORTS

Dissertation.

Thesis (A Ph.D is one type of thesis).

Report

Essay

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DISCOURSE

"Dissertation" comes from the Latin term dissertātiō, meaning

"discourse[1]."

[1] Discourse is communication that goes back and forth (from the

Latin, discursus, "running to and from"), such as debate or argument.

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REPORTS

The word "thesis" comes from the Greek θέσις, meaning

"position", and refers to an intellectual proposition. That

needs to be proved or disproved

A report is a document characterized by information or

other content reflective of inquiry or investigation, which is

tailored to the context of a given situation and audience. The

purpose of reports is usually to inform.

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APPROACHES

An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into

its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents

this breakdown and evaluation to the audience.

An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to

the audience.

An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and

justifies this claim with specific evidence.

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SOME EXAMPLES

Dissertation: A critical review of feminist criticism in recent

Indian writings in English. Highlighting the debate.

Thesis: Have pollution levels gone down in Delhi? Arguing the

case with some evidence.

Report: What is sub-prime crisis? Or Nanotechnologies in daily

life or Global Warming. Gathering and presenting information.

Essay: Rashtravadi andolan aur yuva lekhak.

Janvadi lekhakon mein boli ka pratibimb.

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COMMON UNDERSTANDING

OF A REPORT

In the practical world of business or government, a report conveys

information and (sometimes) recommendations from a researcher

who has investigated a topic in detail.

A report like this will usually be requested by people who need the

information for a specific purpose and their request may be written in

terms of reference or the brief. Whatever the report, it is important to

look at the instructions for what is wanted

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CONSIDERATIONS FOR

CHOICE OF TOPIC

Current topic – lots of information available on net.Old topic – information available in library. But must have scope to show a new angle.Scope for data analysis and graphic presentation makes the final presentation attractive. Good at computers? Go ahead. Good expression – essay type better.General or specific - Have a specific point to make go for thesis. But with only one clearly stated hypothesis.

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CRITERIA FOR DECIDING

Choice of Issues

Assessing your capabilities

Availability of information or data

Time frame

Feasibility

Interest

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5 STEPS TO REPORT WRITING

1. Define the problem

2. Gather the necessary information

3. Analyse the information

4. Organize the information

5. Write the report

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PROBLEM DEFINITION

Review the background information - do not re-invent the wheel. Use existing reviews.

Pick up the precise topic

State the problem/ issue

All of the above has to be done by yourself and to yourself. You could consult a colleague or senior.

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STRATEGIES TO ORGANIZE

REPORTS

Comparison/contrast – FDI -India vs. China

Problem-solution – Child labour and night schools.

Elimination of alternatives – Nuclear energy: debating alternative sources of energy.

General to particular – Fundamental rights to RTI.

Geographic or spatial – Female foeticide: The Case of Punjab.

Functional – How do credit cards work?

Chronological – Fifty years of post colonial writings.

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LANGUAGE

UK English and US English• International English and Indian English

Denotation and Connotation• Let me know when you’re free next week for a meeting.

• Could you let me know what times you have free?

Tone• She is hung up on trivial details.

• She is meticulous and takes care of details that others sometimes ignore.

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Brief writing style

• Omit needless words

• Combine sentences

• Rewrite

WRITING STYLE

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WE DO IT IN STYLE!

Chicago Manual of Style

Microsoft Manual of Style

AMA Style Guide

Dictionary

Thesaurus

Online research

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ANATOMY OF A REPORT

Cover Page

Acknowledgements A thank you to the people who helped you.

Contents or Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Executive Summary

Report Body

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COVER PAGE

Cover Sheet This should contain some or all of the following: full title of the

report; your name; the name of the unit of which the project is a part; the name

of the institution; the date.

If there are multiple authors the presenters surname must be in capitals.

The details of the author for correspondence must be given

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CONTENTS OR TABLE OF

CONTENTS

Headings and subheadings used in the report with their page numbers. Remember that each new chapter should begin on a new page.

Use a consistent system in dividing the report into parts. The simplest may be to use chapters for each major part and subdivide these into sections and subsections. 1, 2, 3, etc, can be used as the numbers for each chapter. The sections for chapter 3 (for example) would be 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and so on. For a further subdivision of a subsection you can use 3.2.1, 3.2.2, and so on.

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I L L U S T R A T I O N S

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ABSTRACT

Abstract or Summary or Executive Summary or IntroductionThis is the overview of the whole report. It should let the reader see, in advance, what is in it. This includes what you set out to do, how reviewing literature focused and narrowed your research, the relation of the methodology you chose to your aims, a summary of your findings and of your analysis of the findings.

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REPORT BODY

Introduction• Purpose and Scope; Limitations, Assumptions, and

Methods Background/History of the Problem Layout - section wise Body

• Presents and interprets data Conclusions and Recommendations References or Works Cited Appendixes

• Interview transcripts, questionnaires, question tallies, printouts, and previous reports

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AIMS AND PURPOSE

Aims and Purpose or Aims and Objectives

Why did you do the work? What was the problem you were

investigating? If you are not including a literature review, mention

here the other research which is relevant to your work.

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METHODOLOGY

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• Methodology deals with the methods and principles used in anactivity, in this case research. In the methodology chapter youexplain the method/s you used for the research and why you thoughtthey were the appropriate ones. You may, for example, be doingmostly documentary research or you may have collected you owndata.

• You should explain the methods of data collection, materials used,subjects interviewed, or places you visited. Give a detailed accountof how and when you carried out your research and explain why youused the particular methods which you did use, rather than othermethods.

• Included in this discussion should be an examination of ethicalissues.

DATA COLLECTION

Primary or Secondary – Questionnaire or experimental

observations.

Source – Unctad Trade & Development Report 2001.

Time period – with justification.

Missing data – treatment of.

Cross sectional or time series.

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MAIN: PRESENT AND

INTERPRET DATA

Give a clear presentation of your results:

What is the hypothesis (ses) (if any).

What did you find out?

How did you verify?

Could there be any exceptions?

Show the essential data and calculations here. You may want to use tables, graphs and figures.

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PRESENTATION

This has two aspects:

The written report and the oral presentation.

Regarding the written report look below:

1. General guidelines

2. Document Design

3. FAQ and CE

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GENERAL GUIDELINES I

Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard,white 8.5 x 11-inch paper,

Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible fontlike Times New Roman or Courier. The font size should be10-12 pt.

Leave only one space after periods or other punctuationmarks (unless otherwise instructed by your instructor).

Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides.Indent the first line of a paragraph one half-inch (five spacesor press tab once) from the left margin.

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GENERAL GUIDELINES II

Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in theupper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flushwith the right margin. (Note: Your instructor may ask that youomit the number on your first page. Always follow yourinstructor's guidelines.)

Use either italics or underlining throughout your essay forthe titles of longer works and, only when absolutely necessary,providing emphasis.

If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate pagebefore your Works Cited page.

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DOCUMENT DESIGN

Use nomore than 5 fonts.

Use no more than 5 colors.

Use glossy paper.

Use white space.

Use templates.

Use parallelism.

Avoid double emphasis.

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FAQ AND CE

Questions

• You, We, I – personal pronouns

• Standards for reports

• How long?

Common Errors

• It’s a common error! Its consequences are great!

• Singular & Plural errors.

• Neutrality (he/she, John)

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REFERENCING STYLE

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of PeriodicalDay Month Year: pages.

Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71.

Buchman, Dana. "A Special Education." Good Housekeeping Mar. 2006: 143-8.

Web-resources: Decent Proposal” by John Fellows,

www.sellingpower.com, 2002 Newspaper report - Better Business Writing,

The Sunday Times, 22 April 2002.

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PROPRIETY OF

REFERENCES

Acknowledge all sources.

All things referred to in the text must appear in bibliography.

All things in bibliography must find a place in the text and must be

referenced. Smith (2003) or [2] Arya.

References must be in alphabetical order.

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COPYRIGHT

All open source material like wikipedia need not be referenced.

Figures / Tables from net or books should be if source is open and known.

Some websites like “open learn” of Open University UK, only need acknowledging.

Source code from “open source” need not.

Priced material/published material can be used if acknowledged and after permission.

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ORAL PRESENTATION

Avoid lengthy and technical explanation. Judges already know the subject matter.

Acknowledge your co-authors and others’ if necessary.

Prepare 1 slide per minute of presentation.

Try to engage the audience.

Do not read out very fast.

Pause at logical place.

Stand erect and look just above the spectators.

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IRONIC!! ! !

How was my presentation?

Thanks!

Any queries please address to

Any praise.

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