Research Writing

How to write a report/purposes/Structure/Tips for making a report

What are the purposes of making a report?

The report is a type of work that serves to expose the results and experiences of some activity. How to write a report?

So, in general, it presents the information in a descriptive and expository way.

In this sense, the report can be used to present the conclusions of a scientific research . Or else, to expose the results of some experience or interview .

That is to say, the main purpose of a report is, as its name suggests, to report on some experience or situation .

The most common type is the internship report , in which university people report the experience they had within the internship location. How to write a report?

In such cases, the report can also be a form of evaluation and a prerequisite for completing the degree .

Structure of a report

Now that we’ve talked a little about the content, let’s think about the structure of the report.

Structures are important because they guide you along the way of writing. In addition, they help you not to forget any important element.

So are we going to make peace with structures? <3

When it is an academic work, the report must have academic characteristics. And as such, it must obey certain methodological rigor.

However, unlike some works , the report does not need to follow a rigid structure. So you can be free to understand what fits best for you and your reality. How to write a report?

A very important point in this is to verify what the teacher expects from this report: what is the structure she requested? what should you understand?

From there, you can choose a structure that best suits your needs.

Anyway, let’s leave here our suggestion of structure:

  • Cover
  • cover sheet
  • approval sheet
  • summary
  • Introduction
  • Organization description
  • Developed activities
  • Conclusion
  • references
  • Attachment

You can also use  other pre-textual elements such  as  acknowledgment ,  dedication ,  epigraph , list of graphics, list of tables, list of images, list of abbreviations and acronyms, etc. How to write a report?

Tips for making a report

First of all, you must keep in mind that the most important thing is:  your report is yours, so it must represent you and your experience .

So focus on making that clear to anyone who will read it.

Now for the tips:

Formatting the report according to ABNT standards

The formation of ABNT of the reports has no secret, it must follow the already known format:

Text
  • Font Type: Arial or Times New Roman
  • Font Size: 12 How to write a report?
  • Line spacing: 1.5 (no extra spacing before and after)
  • Text Alignment: Justified
  • Indent from the beginning of the Paragraph: 1.25 cm
  • Font size in special texts*: 10

* Special texts are long direct quotes, footnotes,  number system references  , nature of work, titles of illustrations, sources of illustrations, and content of illustrations such as  graphs and tables .

page margins
  • Top: 3cm
  • Left: 3cm
  • Right: 2 cm
  • Bottom: 2cm
page size
  •  A4 format

Focus on your report objectives

You already know that all reports have a main purpose, right?

Well then. All your activities must be aimed at achieving this objective. How to write a report?

When writing some item of report content, ask yourself if this is necessary to fulfill it.

Use some lists to target content

Feed lists throughout the experience you need to report.

For example, you can list the skills you are developing. Or, you can list the difficulties you encountered along the way. Afterwards, you can go deeper, which difficulties were resolved along the way and which were not resolved.

You can also list the main tasks that you developed and the points that caught your attention.

Finally, you can link your initial expectations and which ones were (or were not) met. The possibilities are endless. The more lists that make sense for your work, the more detailed the report can be.  How to write a report?

The list differs from a journal in that you will only write down objective terms. That makes it a lot easier.

Write report content from structure

In  the introduction  you must contextualize the experience and objectives of the report.

In  the time-space description you must count the social-historical-political context, mission and vision ( if it is a company ), values, numbers and important facts.

In the  description of activities , use your diary and describe all the tasks and learnings, supporting the goals set.

And in the  conclusion , make a  summary  presenting the results and your final considerations.

If you’ve used  quotes  or content from elsewhere, don’t forget the  references .

As for the  number of pages , write enough to fulfill the objectives. Be careful not to hide important information and not to go on too long. How to write a report?

Pay attention to the report writing style

Write clearly and objectively. Use ABNT standards for formatting and demonstrate your personal style using your own words.

Unlike monograph and TCC , you can use the first and third person singular. Therefore, there is no need to write the text impersonally or to call yourself “the author”.

The most important thing is that you maintain a logical structure for your report with a beginning, middle and end. How to write a report?

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