February 1952 — Vol. 33, No. 2 — Writing A Report
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Most of us find ourselves at some
time up against the job of writing a report. It may be a business
report or the report of a meeting; it may be our report as
secretary of an organization, or an analysis of a situation
in a factory.
Writing a report need not be the ordeal so many of us fear
it to be, and sometimes find it. Like so many other things,
it is not particularly difficult if we break it down into
small jobs. The purpose of this Monthly Letter is to show,
step—by—step, how to write a report. All the suggestions
will not be appropriate to every report, but the principles
will be generally useful.
We should try to make reports constructive. Instead of threshing
old straw, or moving in z pedestrian way through an account
of some convention or meeting, it is much more interesting
to offer vigorous and thought—provoking interpretations
and ideas of our own.
To prepare a good report we need to cultivate dependability,
resourcefulness and patience, and do some hard work. Dr. Ewen
Cameron says in What Is Life? that Mme. Curie combined
the intellect of a first—rate scientist with the skill
of a first—rate craftsman and the patience of a first—rate
charwoman. That is the recipe for holding the interest of
listeners and readers; it is the only way in which we can
discover or rediscover great truths.
There are, broadly, two kinds of business reports: the information
report and the research report.
The information report is to keep an executive up to date
with events, developments and projects. The research report
is the outcome of your investigation of phenomena. This may
be in any branch of human activity, from politics to labour
relations, from some crank's idea about taking electricity
out of the air to a plan for extending customer use of the
power already developed.
Any report upon which action may be based, or which may
influence executives in this or that direction, is an important
piece of work, and deserves our earnest attention. There is
no more engrossing job than that of exploring in search of
material for such a report.
Before Beginning
Your work starts long before you make a motion toward your
pen. You must be properly briefed, and that is a joint responsibility
of you and your boss. You must know exactly what is wanted
and why it is wanted. Requests for reports should refer to
definite and limited problems.
This simple working chart will be of help: 1) comprehend
what you are required to report on; 2) ascertain all possible
sources of information; 3) decide upon what sources to draw;
4) gather information and explanations; 5) sift the evidence;
6) synthesize the acceptable evidence; 7) abstract what is
to the point and discard the rest; 8) throw what is left into
report form; 9) summarize your findings.
There are at least four limitations upon research for a
report; time, staff, money and data. It is important that
the report writer should do his best within these limitations,
and his report should note any shortcoming because of them.
If the report is taken from the files years hence, it should
provide evidence of the difficulties the research man encountered,
so as to give a realistic starting point for following up
or modernizing the report.
Economy of effort will be possible to the report writer
if he keeps a clearly defined purpose in mind, and refuses
to allow himself to be drawn away by other things, however
attractive they may be.
Aesop Glim, known to advertising men through his articles
in Printers' Ink, advises that, the problem being stated,
the person preparing a report should sit down with time to
make notes of all he knows about the subject. "Don't try to
skimp and save words," he advises. "Go into detail. Enjoy
yourself to your heart's content in writing sentence after
sentence. Tell everything you know m explain the problem fully."
The Objective
In planning the report, serious thought should be given
to the need and temperament of the person for whom it is being
prepared. Some persons want great detail, others will be content
with deductions; some will want tables and graphs, while others
will run a mile from a statistic. "What," the report writer
should ask himself, "is to be done with what data by whom?"
The kind of report we are considering now - one that gives
information on the basis of which an executive may take action
- is a sort of diagnosis. It tells what is right and what
is wrong, and gives an interpretation which serves as the
executive's guide to the remedy, should one be needed.
There are two occasions when recommendations by the report
writer are in order: when they are requested, and when the
writer believes that because of his knowledge, experience,
and other qualities, his voice is worth listening to.
All recommendations are touched with the personality, of
the writer of the report. The wise man will make a distinction
between his conclusions, based upon the facts he has uncovered,
and his suggestions, based upon these conclusions. The former
are actualities, the latter are tinged with the colour of
his opinions.
If recommendations are made, they should be clear and definite.
They should tell what to do, who is to do it, where it should
be done, at what time, and why this is recommended.
Form of the Report
Writing a report will be much easier if you work out a form,
or skeleton.
A good plan for the inexperienced report writer is to start
with a statement in one sentence, setting forth the objective
of the study which is being reported upon. This will focus
attention upon the primary purpose. Then follow with main
and sub—headings; growing out of the sentence and leading
toward the conclusion.
It is surprising how greatly this plan helps to eliminate
vagueness, fill in gaps in information and reasoning, and
keep the writer on the track of competent thinking.
Although it does not hold true in every case, the success
of many reports may be attributed to a well—written introduction
or synopsis. If attention of the reader is seized at this
point, he is likely to proceed into the body of the report
with an expectant mind. Even when one is sure the report will
be read, as when the topic is one of particular interest to
an executive, it still is good practice to provide a summary
telling what the report is about and what point it makes.
It should be sharp in its diction, sparing of words, and careful
to promise no more than is in the report.
When you come to your preliminary outline, it should be
drafted so as to give you a fairly clear idea of the road
ahead, enable you to judge what you should stress, and provide
you with a test of the adequacy of your research.
The sheet which accompanies this Monthly Letter gives an
idea of an adaptable outline as it is applied to this article.
It may be used by anyone for a business or institutional or
philosophical report, merely by using appropriate headings
and sub—headings.
It is not necessary, in this short mention of the form of
the report, to go into detail about the appendix, the table
of contents, the index, and suchlike. These are features which
are required only in exhaustive and lengthy reports, and they
fall into place quite naturally when their use is indicated.
Chronological Reports and Research
The person who writes a report which records happenings
in the order of their time sequence must bear in mind that
events sometimes follow one another in successive points of
time without tending toward an end. He needs to look out for
cause—and—effect relationship. His report should
tell origin, history, and development. It should bring out
what is the focal point, the turning point, the key event
that marks a change or indicates the need for a change.
Many a chronological report is only a collection of episodes;
only the starting place for research. Nothing much that is
useful will flow from our work until we start asking questions
and finding answers.
This leads us into consideration of the analytical report,
which starts off with the idea that there is a problem to
be solved, and marches toward definite conclusions. It is
not a mere collection of data; it gathers facts for and against
the proposal being studied, and then goes on to assess them
by comparison and testing.
The person embarking upon preparation of such a report has
need of an open mind. His is a quest for truth, unbiased,
unprejudiced and clear—headed. He will not suspend his
researches until they have reached the point where the returns
from the investigation have ceased to be really important.
He will modify his thesis as he goes along, if necessary,
to fit the new thoughts born of his study.
There can be no more illustrious purpose than that of the
research man: "To find the truth no matter how obscure; to
recognize it no matter in what strange form it may present
itself; to formulate it honestly; to state it unmistakably;
and to reason from it remorselessly and without regard to
prejudice."
Business research is of many kinds. It may be designed to
solve a merchandising or production or distribution problem;
it may be called upon to find ways of effecting economies;
it may be done in response to management's desire to anticipate
trade developments within the industry, shifts in the economy
of the country, or progress in technology.
Its leading questions are: what is true? what is best? what
is necessary? how do we do it? A good test question, to be
used when the others have been answered, is: if I do that,
then what happens?
The writer of a report can be sure he has done a good job
if he is confident that he has analysed more profoundly than
others the problem put before him; that he has achieved an
original focus of facts toward a desired purpose; that he
has supplied, in his report, alternative courses of action,
the forseeable consequences of which he has fully thought
out; and that he provides not only a well—written report
but a solid block of knowledge on which to build.
Not much need be said about the various kinds of analytic
reports except just to name them. The case study, while incomplete
in itself because no conclusions can be drawn from one case,
is useful as part of a larger project. It can be enlightening,
and because of the narrowness of its field, it can be thorough.
The genetic study traces the development of its subject, stressing
the causal sequence of events. The comparative method involves
bringing together significant facts. Its chief impediment
seems to lie in the danger of bias attending selection of
the facts to be compared, and the perplexity of discriminating
wisely.
Much of abiding value may be learned by report writers and
research men who study military "appreciations." These follow
logical sequence:
I. The object to be attained
II. Factors which affect attainment of the object
III. Courses open to
A - our own side
B - the enemy
IV. The plan.
Instruction in preparation of appreciations is given in
Field Service Pocket Book, Part 1, Pamphlet No. 4,
issued by the War Office, London. The factors relevant to
a military situation do not all apply in industrial or social
life, but the thorough analysis of the problem demanded by
the military people is suggestive for all who write reports.
Sources of Information
Collecting information is the foundation of all good reporting.
Thomas Edison gave this advice: "The first thing is to find
out everything everybody else knows, and then begin where
they left off."
While every problem will have its peculiar requirements,
certain sources of data are common to nearly all: observation,
experimentation, books, questionnaires, interviews, workshop
and accounting records.
The successful writer will be resourceful in his research
activities, thinking of new approaches and seeking data overlooked
hitherto.
Data may be primary or secondary. Just as in law the evidence
of an eye—witness is more valuable than that of a person
who testifies at secondhand, so in business and other reports
the fruits of observation and experimentation rate high marks.
He is a wise report writer who applies, whenever possible,
observation and experimentation to check the findings of others;
he is likely to remain unremarkable for his work if he merely
echoes the opinions of others, believes things because others
believe them, and uses only books and papers with which he
is in complete accord.
Secondary sources depend for their value upon their accuracy,
their acuteness of valuation, the validity of their reasoning,
and the applicability of their conclusions to the case being
studied.
No statement is more reliable than its source. The report
writer must spend long. hours in gathering facts, arranging
them, interpreting them, - and then as much time again in
checking the accuracy and worthwhileness of what he has in
his hand. It is useless to quote a writer unless he is known
to be competent in his field. It is dangerous to give the
opinion of a man unless he is recognized as being unbiased,
up—to—date and in all respects reliable.
Writing the Report
Having gathered the facts and laid them out in order, we
must compose our report.
This is a time when a writer wishes to be alone. John Ruskin
had circulars which he used to head off visitors, invitations
and letters. They read like this: "Mr. J. Ruskin is about
to begin a work of great importance and therefore begs that
in reference to calls and correspondence you will consider
him dead for the next two months."
Literary skill, in whatever field it is exercised, means
ability to present a subject as accurately and as vividly
as possible. We should at least write our reports as if we
were interested in what we are trying to write, and when we
do so we have gone a long way toward giving our reports significance.
The report writer needs to analyse, and group, and marshal
his facts into order. He must classify and conquer the elements
of the chaos around him before he can hope to appeal with
any force to the intelligence of other people. In this process
of viewing the whole situation and at the same time seeing
its components, the writer will detect incongruities to avoid
and discern a path to follow.
These are skills which come only, so far as we know, with
practice, but there are some hints about the process of writing
which apply in all circumstances.
The report must be practical. We have a loose way
of thinking of a realist as one who not only sees things as
they are materially, but acquiesces in them: let us rather,
as report writers, consider ourselves as being realists in
the sense that we understand things as we have found them,
not as we would find it convenient to believe them.
The report must be complete. We must have walked
all around the matter about which we are reporting, seeing
the good and the bad, the perfect and the imperfect, the desirable
and the undesirable. We must have provided adequate proof
for our favourable and our unfavourable findings. Do not be
content with one opinion: it may be the wrong one. As Cicero
once pointed out, nothing is so absurd that someone has not
called it profound; nothing so profound that someone has not
called it absurd.
The report must be concise. It may be as long as
a roller towel, or as short as a message on a post card: length
is not the criterion. Conciseness does not consist in using
few words, but in covering the subject in the fewest possible
words that will express what is in the writer's mind.
Here is the story of the Odyssey in 79 words: "A certain
man is away from home for a number of years, being closely
watched by Poseidon and stripped of all his companions, while
his affairs at home are in such shape that his money is being
squandered by wooers of his wife, and his son is being plotted
against. After being shipwrecked by a storm, he arrives home,
makes himself known to some, and attacks the wooers, with
the result that he is saved and his enemies destroyed." In
giving us this gem of condensation in his Poetics,
Aristotle remarks: "That is the real story of the Odyssey.
The rest is episodes."
We recall Prime Minister Winston Churchill's wartime memoranda,
demanding that his cabinet ministers confine their reports
on the most momentous matters to a single page. "It is," he
told the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, "sheer laziness
not compressing thought into a reasonable space."
The report must be clear. Only the careful organization
of facts and interpretation will enable the reader to follow
what is to the writer a clear—cut line of reasoning.
The art of good prose resides not so much in the swing and
balance of the language as in the marshalling of argument,
the orderly procession of ideas, the disposition of parts
so that each finds its proper place. The writer misses his
target if the idea in his mind is not received with understanding.
As Alice said after reading Jabberwocky: "Somehow it
seems to fill my head with ideas - only I don't exactly know
what they are."
Use of trite expressions shows that the writer is in a rut.
If he has no imagination in his language is it likely, the
executive will ask, that he exercised any imagination in his
analysis of this problem?
There is no place in good writing for proverbs, saws, and
tinkling aphorisms.
Foggy language detracts from the force of writing, and use
of words loosely may well vitiate all usefulness that might
have been incorporated in a report. We say nothing against
trade, occupational or professional jargon so long as the
report is solely for people who are on speaking terms with
it. That sort of talk is not infrequently the only kind in
which a writer can convey the true meaning of his thought
to a particular audience. But jargon has no place in reports
which may be read by the uninitiated.
The report must be intellectually honest. The facts
must be scrupulously weighed and properly evaluated, and the
writer must sincerely attempt to present something that has
a judicial quality. He will draw a distinct line between what
he has found to be factual, what is his opinion, and what
he sets up as a hypothesis.
The report must be readable. We cannot afford to
assume that our report will be read because the boss is interested
in the subject. We should try to add to the clarity of our
presentation something that will lift it above the ordinary.
There may be an ivory—tower disposition toward decorum,
leading us to think that research requires a depersonalized
manner of writing. The truth is that nothing written is useful
unless it is attractive enough to be read. We are entitled
to be as brilliant and interesting as we can be, so long as
we observe the requirements of correctness, relevance and
the objective.
And Having Written:
Having written it, the writer would be well advised to forget
about his report for as long as time permits. If he tries
to make corrections and improvements as soon as he has finished
the writing, his memory of what he meant to write may be so
strong that he will overlook the shortcoming of what he actually
wrote.
Here are some questions to ask at the time of revision:
is my report fair, broad—minded and dignified? Have I
used enough imagination in presenting the facts? Have I answered
all the pertinent questions likely to arise in the reader's
mind? Does my report read as if a human being wrote it?
It is well to read the report aloud: if it is easy to read
you may bank upon its being easy to understand. If you hesitate
over a word, a phrase or a sentence, take a second look.
Finally, don't allow yourself to be lulled into feeling
that writing a report is an easy thing to do.
The writer who achieves distinction of expression, conciseness,
directness - and, if the nature of his work permits it, dramatic
quality, beauty of rhythm, and some adventurousness of phrase
and idea - has not done something miraculous. He has worked
hard and intelligently.
Writing A Report
Here are three sample outlines, adaptable to many kinds
of reports.
The first is the outline used in preparing this Monthly
Letter; the second is an imaginary outline for a report on
electrical development, and the third is the very concise
type of outline used in the Army.
At the end is a bibliography which may be of help in further
studies.
(1) Writing a Report
There are four steps in writing a report:
I. Define your Objective
A. Information
B. Policy Making
1. With diagnosis of conditions
2. With recommendations for action
II. Determine the Form
A. Narrative
1. Chronological ... (causes, origin, successive stages
of development, results, conclusions from the study)
2.Episodic ... (in story form)
B. Analysis (research)
1. Case Study 2. Genetic
3. Comparative 4. Appreciation
C. Compilation
III. Search your Sources
A. Kinds of Sources
1. Primary
a. Observation
b. Experimentation
2. Secondary
a. Documents
b. Comments by critics
B. Reliability of Sources
1. Informed Observation
2. Written Information
a. The Writer
b. The Work
IV. Do the Writing
A. Completeness B. Conciseness
C. Clarity
1. Semantic clearness
2. Intellectual honesty
D. Readability
1. Simple
2. Short paragraphs and sentences
3. Etc.
(Continued on back)
(2) A "Progressive" Outline
I. Canada's resources in electric energy are adequate, for
A. The present source of supply shows that
1. The hinterland storage areas are plentiful, and
2. Artificial catchment areas provide alternative storage.
B. The sites available for power development are in excess
of presently foreseen needs.
C. Water power may be depended on to furnish a supply, for
1. Precipitation is fairly constant
2. The flow is regular, or
a. may be regulated by afforestation
b. or by storage dams
II. Therefore no alternative kinds of power would be useful,
for
A. They would be uneconomical
1. in cost
2. by duplication of existing facilities
B. Canada's potential industrial development is limited
1. by the nature of its land
2. by market inaccessibility
3. by competition
- adapted from Business Reports page 180
(3) An Army Appreciation
I. The object to be attained
II. Factors which affect attainment of the object
III. Courses open to
A. our own side
B. the enemy
IV. The plan
Bibliography Books:
Business Reports, Investigation and Presentation,
by A. G. Saunders and C. R. Anderson. McGraw—Hill Book
Company, Inc., New York. 1929, 1940. 468 pages.
Writing Documented Papers, by G. S. Hubbell. Barnes
and Noble, Inc., New York. 1941. 164 pages.
The Art of Readable Writing, by Rudolf Flesch. Harper
and Brothers, New York. 1949. 237 pages.
Guide to the Use of Libraries, by Hutchins, Johnson
and Williams. The H.W.Wilson Co., New York. 1936. 252 pages.
Applied General Statistics, by F. R. Croxton and
D. J. Cowden. Prentice—Hall, Inc., New York, 1944. 944
pages.
Periodicals:
An Appreciation. Article by Major A. L. Brady, D.S.O.
Directorate of Military Training, Ottawa, in Canadian Army
Journal, Summer 1950. Page 1.
The Moral Obligation to be Intelligible. Article
by Dr. Neff E. Stevens in Scientific Monthly, February
1950, page 111.
Humanistic Scholarship. Article by Heinrich Henel,
in Queen's Quarterly, Spring 1950, page 45.
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