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Right from creation, man, more than any other creature, has maintained his distinctiveness through his ability to keep records of events affecting his existence by simply writing such down in report form. This practice took a deepened dimension following man’s capacity to form organizations, thereby underscoring the importance of report writing in modern society for purposeful human interactions.

Without report writing, owners of organizations, manager of industries and individuals for that matter would have found it increasingly difficult if not impossible to carry out assigned tasks; perform their duties and run their concerns satisfactorily. Indeed, report writing is a functional requirement in the day-to-day running of any human endeavour.

Admittedly, it is from the practice of report writing that valuable records of corporate entities/organisations are maintained; departmental activities are monitored; important decisions/policies affecting the lives of organizations and people are taken as well as the rules and regulations governing the behaviours of individuals within organizations are also formulated and enforced.

What Is A Report?

A report refers to a document, which provides an account of something witnessed or examined, or of work carried-out or of an investigation together with conclusions arrived at as a result of the investigation.

Why Have A Report?

Reports may be written for many reasons, for example they may intend to:

(i) Inform

(ii) Recommend

(iii) Motivate

(iv) Prompt or play a part in debate

(V) Persuade

(vi) Impress

(Vii) Record

(viii) Reinforce or build existing situations or beliefs

(ix) Instruct

In addition, they may have more complex objectives such as changing people’s attitudes or used to do a number of things simultaneously for one group of people and others for different groups.

Types Of Reports

Generally, reports can be classified according to their content, periodicity, length or form as follows:

. Oral Reports

. Written Reports

. Regular Reports

.Ad Hoc Reports

.Short or Long Reports

. Narrative Reports

. Eye witness Reports

. Technical Reports

. Feasibility or Progress Reports

. Visitation Reports

Qualities Of A Report

In writing a report, what is aimed at is a structured document where facts are set out clearly so that arguments flow naturally to the conclusions reached. A good report should highlight some basic characteristics such as:

1. It has to be in writing, oral or by convention

2. It is meant to produce decisions or actions

3. It has to be factual, convincing and unbiased

4. The language, tone, and choice of words must be clear, appropriate, precise, simple and unambiguous.

5. It must be well-planned, well paragraphed, sequential in presentation, logical and unified in thought as well as being lucid in reading.

6. It must be purposeful, result-oriented, clear in its direction and mush as possible be concise without rambling or delving into extraneous matters.

7. It must be a complete document, which does not call on the reader to make other reading or references in order to understand any point being made in the said report.

8. It should deal with a specific problem and one problem only in order for it to be coherent and be able to look at the problem in all its ramifications.

Report Format

Reports can be presented in either of the following forms:

1. Letter Form

2. Memo Form

3. Fill-in-Form

4. Schematic Presentation

5. Many-page Document

6. Mixed Form

Structure Of report

(a) Title

(b) Addressee

(c) Date

(d) Introduction

(e) Terms of Reference

(f) Procedure

(g) Findings

(h) Conclusions

(i) Recommendations

(j) Name and Writer

Finally, a fill-in-form report may not have more than five of these parts whereas the many-page form report, which is in a book form, can have all the parts stated above.