Principles of Report Writing
Reports writing may involve the followings principles .
a.Easy to Follow : The body of the report should be written in a self evident and easy form. Every subject should be presented under different heads. There may be different sub topic and sub headings under one heading. The statement may be made in short and relevant paragraphs.
b.Adhere to the Study Objectives : A good report seeks to achieve certain results consisting primarily of answering the questions that derive from the statement of objectives. Merely to report the finding without reference to the objectives is to produce a sterile piece of writing. This requires researchers to be on intimate terms with the problem. If the management group has not permitted the researchers to participate in formulating the problem and has either handed down the problem or worse still merely demanded certain information then there can be no definite goal for the report and it will suffer. Under such conditions it will be difficult if not impossible for report writers to draw conclusions and make recommendations.
c.Be Selective : The research report should be comprehensive as well as concise. The report should be long enough to cover all the components and objectives of the research project. But this does not mean that it should be too detailed and wide. It should not be detailed unless it is really required to be extensive. The researcher should not try to impress the reader with all the information at his disposal. He should try to eliminate all unnecessary information and also such information which is commonly known to people. Conciseness can also obtained by the style of writing. Duplication of words use of unnecessary phrases poor expression and on sentences should be avoided. The researcher should express his findings in as few words as possible.
d.Be Objective: Writers must at all times retain their objectives. Often researchers will become so enamored of a study that they overlook their scientific role. This is a natural temptation since much marketing research is done within a sales environment. It is one thing to sell objective results and quite another to present results that have been slanted to make them salable. Writers do neither themselves nor the their company any favours if they lose their objectivity .
e.Have a Purposeful Organizations: Mere recording of facts without purpose or organization inevitably results in confusion which leads to loos of interest. The objective of the report is to give the reader the overall picture in the shortest possible time. Therefore each paragraph should be written with the thought of its position in the entire report in mind. Readers should be so conscious of the organization that at any time they know where they are in the report and where they are going. A working outline helps readers comprehend the organization and helps the writer make certain that every point is covered without duplication.
f.Write Clearly : It is easy write clearly but this difficult for most people to accomplish. Clarity has many facets and is highly subjective. Despite this subjectivity some basic principles can be itemized that if followed help t produce better reports.
a.Use short to the point sentences structures that are too elaborate.
b.Use words the reader will be familiar with but that will provide variety and change in pace to the report. Avoid too many difficult words.
c.Make certain the words express precisely what the writer wants to say.
d.Avoid mechanical flaws such as incorrect grammar.
e.Be sure that the report has uniform style and format.