Report, Definition and Importance (Unit four)

Report

A report is information about something.

People generally feel intimidated by the very word report. They think that writing report is very difficult and not everybody can do it. But I am telling you it is very simple. It is not a specialized work. In fact, it is the work that we do almost every day. It is the work that we do routinely. It’s a very common activity that we indulge in so often in our daily life. If you are my friend and if you are going to London and from there you share your photographs to me and your friends on WhatsApp or Facebook, you are reporting. When a student goes back home, he does the reporting to his parents about all that took place in the college / school. If a student does not go to school, he depends upon the reporting by his friend for all class activities. Thus we can safely say that a report is information about something.

Importance of Report

Remember that this simple job of reporting is very important in our daily life. We depend upon many reports for many things. A parent depends upon the school/teachers to know the academic progress of his son/daughter. Your electricity bill is prepared on the basis of the meter reading report submitted by the meter reader. A doctor depends upon your blood examination report to prescribe medicines for you.

Here you must note that the importance of reporting is much greater for a business organization than what we observe in our day to day life. There are many things in a business organization that need reporting. In other words, much of an organization’s work depends upon reporting. You can imagine what will happen to an organization without reporting. A business organization exists for profit. An organization invests money to earn profit therefore the owner of the organization or the board of directors must know whether the organization is earning profit or it is in loss. For this, an organization depends upon reports from different departments. Besides this, the owner must know whether the employees of the organization are working as per the policies issued by the owner or not. The owner of the organization must get true reports otherwise the organization will collapse very soon.

Thus in a broad sense, many letters, memos and news items are reports. Readings taken by a technician / student on an instrument, present/absent list of students, progress reports / mark sheets of students, results by the scientists / engineers/ technicians after careful and logical investigation, all are such reports.

Linguistic History of the Word Report

The word report has been taken from Latin word ‘Repotare’ which means to carry back (re=back + portare=to carry). A report therefore is a description of an event carried back to someone who was not present on the scene.

The above definition of the report fits event reporting. You might have written report of any accident or any function. But I must tell you that it is in fact event reporting which is good for a newspaper correspondent. As an engineer you need to focus on different types of reports.

Definition

A number of writers have attempted to define ‘report’. Let us have some samples from them.

“In a very general sense a report is an account of something…… (It) is usually an answer to a question or a demand from some other person for information.”

Bruce Cooper

 “A report is a communication from someone who has the information, to someone who wants to use that information.”

C.A. Brown

Reports in a Business Organization

The above definitions were simple definitions which are applicable to all sorts of reports but when you start working in a business organization, you will see that an organization collects/receives different types of reports from different departments. Some of these reports are routine reports which are collected daily like attendance of employees, daily sales, daily business transactions from account department, and daily progress report of a project. Similarly, these reports are also prepared on weekly, monthly, quarterly half yearly and yearly basis. These routine reports, as you can see are actually the backbone of a business organization because they help the owner of the business organization take right decision. One more thing that you must note here is that these reports have generally a fixed format in which they are sent. You too must follow the same format. Don’t change the traditional format. If you want some changes, you may talk to your seniors, then it may be changed if your suggestion is good.

On the other hand you will also see that there are some ‘on demand reports’ which you will have to prepare on demand by your seniors because the owner of the business organization requires a report on any topic related to the business of the organization. The example that I can give you here is like that you just imagine that the product of your company is experiencing decline. Customers are not buying this product and the sale is coming down and it is quite natural if you are in Sales Department, you may be asked to write a report as to why the product is not selling in the market. To prepare the report, you must know the correct reason so that the problem should be corrected and the sale is back on the track. To know the reason, you must talk to the customers and ask them why they are not buying your product. You can take their interview and record it or you can prepare a questionnaire (list of questions) and get it answered by the customers. Thus you collect a reliable and factual data that you can present in your report.

In such reports, you have to collect a useful and important data and present it in a systematic and conventional format. You can call such reports, technical reports or business reports. Remember that you have to present a factual and impartial report objectively. You not only present data but you also mention the source of such data along with the method of collecting such data. Then only your report becomes reliable.

Language of Report

The language of a report is characterized by several key features that ensure clarity, precision, and professionalism. These features include:

Formal Tone:

Reports typically employ a formal tone, avoiding colloquial language, slang, and contractions. This helps maintain a professional and respectful tone suitable for academic, business, or technical contexts.

Objectivity:

The language used in reports is objective, focusing on facts and evidence rather than personal opinions or emotions. This objectivity is achieved through the use of third-person pronouns and impersonal structures.

Clarity and Precision:

Clear and precise language is essential in reports to ensure that the information is easily understood by the reader. This involves using specific terms, avoiding ambiguity, and clearly defining any technical jargon or acronyms.

Conciseness:

Reports aim to convey information as succinctly as possible without sacrificing essential details. This means avoiding unnecessary words and being direct in expression.

Structured and Organized:

The language of a report reflects its structured format, often using headings, subheadings, bullet points, and numbered lists to organize information logically and hierarchically.

Passive Voice:

The passive voice is often used to emphasize the action or findings rather than the doer, which helps maintain an objective tone. For example, "The experiment was conducted" rather than "We conducted the experiment."

Technical and Specific Vocabulary:

Depending on the subject of the report, technical terminology specific to the field is used. These terms should be defined or explained when first introduced to ensure the reader can follow along.

Evidence-based Language:

Reports rely on evidence to support their findings and recommendations. Phrases like "according to the data," "the results indicate," and "studies show" are commonly used to present evidence and justify conclusions.

Citation and References:

Proper citation and referencing of sources are crucial in reports to acknowledge the work of others and provide credibility to the information presented. This includes in-text citations and a bibliography or reference list.

Impersonal Language:

Reports often avoid personal pronouns like "I" and "we," instead opting for phrases like "It is found," "The report shows," or "This section discusses."

Graphics and Visual Aids:

While not strictly part of the language, reports often integrate graphs, charts, tables, and other visual aids. The accompanying text should clearly explain these visuals and their relevance to the report's findings.

By adhering to these features, the language of a report ensures that the document is professional, clear, and effective in communicating its intended message to the audience.

Difference Between a Report and an Essay

The Subjective and the Objective Style

Remember that an essay is an essay and a report is a report. You cannot write a report like an essay. The language of a report is different from that of an essay. An essay is written in a subjective style and a report is highly objective in style. Subjective style means you express your feelings, emotions and opinions but objective style has got no room for your feelings or emotions. It is like a chemistry practical where you write observations which have no room for your feelings and emotions. You can compare the two styles by another examples like suppose you have to write an essay on “A Road Accident" and you have to write a report on “ A Road Accident” In the essay, you can express your feelings of disappointment and anger if no government official was seen there but in the report you have to inform it without anger as one of several facts that you are presenting but you can report the anger and frustration of the victims. You can start your essay with an introduction in which you can mention how people’s life is affected by accidents and how many people are dying in accidents and so on but you cannot do so in a report. There is no room for long introductions and preliminaries in a report. You have to come to point directly in a report. There is a prescribed format for a report and you have write the information at a place for which it is meant. The language of the report should be simple, concise, precise and direct. Highly bombastic and literary words may be suitable for an essay but they have no place in a report. People in the world of work are not interested in how you say a thing but they are only interested in what you want to say.

Now you can understand these definitions of report:-

“A formal report presents in organized form the information that has been requested by an authorized person.”

Philip S. Atkinson and Helen Reynolds

If you read the above definition carefully, you can very well see that an authorized person like your boss or your senior would ask you to prepare a report. Besides this, you must note here that like communication there are two people or parties in a report also. One party is the author of the report and other party is the recipient of the report to whom you will present the report.

 Now see the following definition:-

“A technical report is a written statement of the facts of a situation, project, process or test; how these facts were ascertained; their significance; the conclusions that have been drawn from them; the recommendations that are being made.”(Note- Recommendations are not requested in all cases.)

John Mitchell

Now, you can make the following conclusions about a report i.e. technical report:-

            (i)                 A report is a formal information or a collection of facts or an account of something.
(ii)               It is presented in a conventional format.
(iii)             It is written for a specific audience.
(iv)             It includes information about how data was collected and what is the importance of such data.
(v)               It contains conclusions reached by the writer.
(vi)             It may include recommendations also.

Exercise in questions:-

1. What is report? Define.

2. What is report? Explain the importance of report.

3. Explain the importance of report for an organization.

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Types of Reports

Structure / Layout of a Report

Formats of Report

Sample Recommendation Report

Sample Report of Trouble

Sample Progress Report

 RGPV B.Tech First Year Unit 4 Report Writing Definition and Importance