HOW TO WRITE A REPORT

DEFINITION :

A report is usually written for a superior (e.g. a teacher) or a peer group

(e.g. members of an English club). Candidates are expected to give some
factual information and make suggestions or recommendations. A report
should be clearly organised and may include headings.

What a typical report task looks like

Report tasks always look similar and once you know what to search for, you will see
that there are patterns which you can take advantage of. A typical task might be like
the one below:

With all the different writing tasks in the FCE exam you have to check two things
when you read the information given:

1. What do you have to include in your report?

2. Who is going to read it?

Read the task carefully and underline the key information to find the answers to the two
questions above. Because I’m a nice person I’ve already done it for you:
What do you have to include? In almost every writing task in the FCE
exam you will find that there are three main points. In this example, you
have to include the best (1) and the worst (2) aspects of the club as well
as your suggestions for new facilities (3).

Making a suggestion/recommendation is the one piece of content that we

can see in every single report because, after all, reports are usually written
to make a suggestion. To sum up, while each task talks about a different
topic there are clear similarities for you to benefit from, especially making
a suggestion.

The other question was about the reader of your report. As you can see
above, the manager of the club is going to be the person you are going to
write to.

You might ask yourself why this bit of information is important. The short
answer is: register. When we speak or write in English there are different
levels of politeness and/or formality and in the FCE writing exam you have
to be careful to choose an appropriate tone depending on your target
reader.

Because the manager of the club has authority we should be polite and use
formal to semi-formal language. This means you shouldn’t use
contractions like ‘I’m’, but instead write ‘I am’ nor colloquial expressions
like ‘Cheers!’, but rather ‘Thank you’. This also includes phrasal verbs so
try to avoid those too.

How to organise your report

Now that we know what to include and how formal/polite we have to be we
can start organising our report. Luckily, reports can always be organised in
a similar way because most tasks ask you to do the same (just with a
different topic).

Example task of FCE report writing

If you remember, there are three main points we have to include in our
report:

- The good aspects of the club

- The bad aspects of the club
- Your suggestions for new facilities

It probably makes sense to give each of these main topic points an extra
paragraph so we’ve already got three. Let’s add a title and an introduction
to this so we get to four main sections, which work in almost every single
report:

• Title and introduction

• First topic point (The good aspects of the club)
• Second topic point (The bad aspects of the club)
• Your suggestions/recommendations (Your suggestions for new
facilities)

In a report we also give each section a heading so your text Will be clearly
separated in different parts so it becomes easier for the reader to find a
specific piece of information.

Plan before you start writing

Planning what you are going to write is so easy to do, It takes only 3-4
minutes and saves you so much time and frustration. Please, always make
a plan before you start writing. Just make a list with the different
paragraphs like the one above and add just a few notes to each section.
This way, you know the structure of your text, and what you want to include

The different parts of a report

EXERCISE : You must answer this question.

Your college has been asked to accept a group of 50 students from another
country for two weeks. You have been asked by your principal to find out
what the advantages and disadvantages would be of accepting this
group. Is it a good idea?
Write your report to the principal in 140- 190 words in an appropriate style
on the separate answer sheet.

Sample answer:

Title : Report on Proposed Visit by 50 Overseas Students

Introduction:

In your introduction, therefore, you should clearly state why you are
writing the report and what is going to be included. Also, try not to repeat
the words as you find them in the task, but instead paraphrase and use
your own words. You can also say where you got the information from,
but this point is optional.

The purpose of this report is to consider the advantages and disadvantages

of accepting a large group of students from overseas for two weeks. I have
discussed the issue with all the senior members of college staff.

You start with Paragraph 1- Introduction

In the introduction you :
– use headings – this makes it easier to find the main info

– state the aim of the report and where you got/ collected the information

– don’t begin with Dear Sir/ Madam – it’s not a letter

Phrases you can use in the introduction:

* This report is intended to show / discuss / outline …

* The aim / purpose of this report is to …
* In this report I Will

REMEMBER: It’s a formal piece of writing that means: use a formal,

neutral style: no contractions, no colloquial language, no direct
questions, no informal punctuation such as exclamation marks.

Topic paragraphs

The topic paragraphs are where you give most of the information of your
report. Again, it shouldn’t sound like a great story, but be factual and
clear.

Of course, there are always things to be careful with:

• Only write about things related to the task.

• Support your points with reasons and examples.
• Don’t write from your personal perspective, but rather from the
group’s point of view.
• Use some language to generalise your arguments:
- In general, …
- Generally speaking, …
- Most (members) seem to …
- It appears that …
 - According to …
- Passive voice (be + past participle)

Advantages

All those I interviewed believe that for students this would be an exciting
opportunity to explore a foreign culture, both in the classroom and socially.
Overall, they thought the visit would be stimulating for the college at a quiet
time of the year.

In the 2nd Paragraph you :

– balance the positive and negative points fairly

– you can use numbering or bullet points to highlight main points

– use a range of specific vocabulary or set phrases e.g. Some thought this
was …../ other students said they preferred…

– don’t use a lot of adjectives and dramatic language. A report gives

factual information

Phrases you can use to in the 2nd and 3rd paragraph:

Suggesting additional ideas

Another option would be to …

I would also suggest …
Another point to consider is hat …
Alternatively…. Moreover. / Furthermore.
Apart from this / In addition to this

Making recommendations
I would strongly / highly recommend …
My first / second recommendation would be to ..
It would be (highly) advisable to …
If my recommendations are followed, then …
The best solution / ideas would seem to be …

Listing ideas

I would suggest the following: … might like to consider the following:

The following are highly recommended: 1….. OR 2. ……….
They gave/ suggested the following reasons:
They made the following points: 1….2…

Reporting findings

It appears that the majority of …

The only problem is that … .
Most …(students seem) … .
Not surprisingly, …
According to …

Disadvantages

Some members of staff are concerned that:

1 there would be insufficient seating in the library at bus times;
2 the visitors might be more interested in enjoying themselves than
studying;
3 the restaurant queue would be very slow at lunchtime.

In the 3rd Paragraph you :

– balance the positive and negative points fairly

– you can use numbering or bullet points to highlight main points

– use a range of specific vocabulary or set phrases e.g. Some thought this
was …../ other students said they preferred…

Conclusion and recommendation

We need to finish off our report with our suggestions.You should always
base your recommendations on the things you wrote in the previous
paragraphs to make sure that your report as a whole makes sense.

You can do this by using some specific language:

• Based on the findings of this report I recommend/suggest +ing

• I (would) recommend/suggest that …
• The following (improvements) are recommended: …
• The best ideas/solutions seem to be …
• It would be (highly) advisable to …
• If it is decided to follow my recommendations, …

Clearly, the group might cause some practical difficulties but on the whole
everyone thought that the visit should seen as an opportunity not to be
missed.

In the last paragraph you :

– give the recommendations

– generalise
– express opinions impersonally

Phrases you can use to end the letter

Concluding and making recommendations
All things considered, …
We have no hesitation in recommending… .

Checklist

When writing the answer to any task, check that you have paid attention to
the following points. Make sure you:

– think about who your reader is and what they want to know

– begin with an introduction explaining the purpose of the report

– address all of the points in the instructions

– organise your ideas clearly, with headings if appropriate

– include a personal recommendation if you are asked for one.

– use a variety of formal expressions and structures

– use the correct number of words

– check your work for accuracy

EXERCISE EXAMPLE :

REPORT ON THE ASPECTS OF THE CLUB

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to outline the best and worst parts of our
club, which I gathered speaking to other members, as well as to
recommend improvements to the facilities.

The best aspects of the club

Most members seem to enjoy the swimming pool with it’s daily water
exercise classes and the opportunity to swim in 50-metre lanes. It also
appears that offering a child care programme is appreciated by the
majority of our members since many of them have families, but still would
like to use the facilities of the club.
The worst aspects of the club

According to most of the members I have spoken to, the café does not
meet their expectations with below-average food and slow service.
Another problem is the state of the gymnasium which, in general, is
avoided by many because of broken equipment and a lack of staff during
peak times.

Suggestions to improve the club’s facilities

Based on the findings of this report the best solutions seem to be to

improve the quality of the menu and the service at the café as well as the
maintenance schedule and number of staff at the gymnasium. If it is
decided to follow my recommendations, I am sure that the experience for
our members can be improved even more.
 EXERCISE

Here’s the next task you can do:

Your teacher wants to recommend a television programme for students

who are learning your language.

Write a report on a television programme which you know well, saying why
you think it would be helpful and interesting for foreign learners.

Write your report in 140- 190 words in an appropriate style on the separate
answer sheet.

Points to remember:

- Organise your ideas into a clear report: either rely on paragraphing or use
subheadings (or both).

-Briefly introduce the programme, include its title and say what it is about.

-Mention a few things about the programme that support your

recommendation from the foreign learner’s point of view.