Reports provide information for your reader on a specific topic. The examples on this page relate to reports for undergraduate assignments that are based on case studies. This kind of report is commonly organised into the following parts:
Check with your lecturer about the structure that they expect.
The executive summary section provides a succinct summary of the whole report. It is often limited to one page in length.
The introduction section provides an overview of what the reader can expect in the report, and the sequence in which the information will appear.
The discussion section contains the detailed information in your report. It is organised into numbered parts which may contain sub-parts.
The conclusions section brings together the main findings from the discussion and provides an outline of each conclusion’s significance.
You can prepare for writing conclusions by carefully matching specific findings with their significance.
The recommendations section is where you list specific actions that are derived from your conclusions.
You can prepare for writing this section by carefully matching specific conclusions with specific actions.
Not sure how to start sentences in your reports? Visit the Academic Phrasebank from the University of Manchester for examples you can use in your writing.
Journals are collections of articles which focus on particular topics. These articles are published periodically, such as four times a year. One common purpose of an article is to report on new research. For your report writing, journal articles can provide you with up-to-date content on topics you have to write or talk about. To efficiently read journal articles, you need to:
Information on the first page of the article will often help you decide if you should read further.
Abstracts are particularly good for quickly deciding if the content matches what you need for your essay. They are usually organised into distinctive parts that provide an overview of the whole article.
It is not always necessary to read the whole article. Two common shortcuts are:
Journal articles commonly have distinctive parts (eg, Abstract, Literature Review, Discussion…). Each part has a clear function, which helps you to find specific information. (You may not need to read the whole thing.)
There are different note taking options to keep track of your reading for report writing:
Gale, S. F. (2018, July/August). Blockchain: The future of HR? Workforce, p. 10. Retrieved from https://eds.b.ebscohost.com
Jahan, S. (2014) Human Resources Information System (HRIS): A theoretical perspective. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 2, 33-39. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jhrss.2014.22004
Wright, A. D. (2018, February). 6 HR tech trends for 2018. HR Magazine, 62–63. Retrieved from https://eds.b.ebscohost.com
Zielinski, D. Z. (2018, March). Is HR ready for blockchain? HR Magazine, 62–63. Retrieved from https://eds.b.ebscohost.com