Professional Studies- Writing a Report

In the upcoming weeks in professional studies we will be working on our report in the area we've chosen, so this weeks professional studies lesson focused on how to write a report and how to structure one for those who are new to writing reports. It covered all the information and techniques to successfully write a report and showed us the best way to start the process. The key points that were given to us at the start were to remember that writing a report is not writing an essay, there two different things and are done differently. Also to stress how you gathered the information and make sure all the available ways of linking your source in the report are there, it's key to remember that reports are designed to be read accurately and quickly so should be straight to the point with all the facts.

When it comes to starting the report you first need to research, to start this process you'll need to identify the purpose of your report and decide on the structure and style your going to use throughout the report. In many cases reports that are been written are aimed towards a client or boss and ours will be written with the readers in mind which will be our tutors, Mike and Di. A simple step process is to plan out your work and then collect the information, after that you start your first draft and then continue to check and re draft until satisfied. This is a good process to use and I'm currently focused on using this because it simplifies it and gets you writing instead of thinking to hard about it and if there any changes you can figure them out in the re drafts.

When researching on the internet or while reading books I need to make sure I trace back the information and make sure their quality sources and not unreliable or passing off as someone else's work. There are two different types of research to use while writing a report, primary research and secondary research. Primary research is first hand meaning you gathered the information and facts while secondary research is you using and incorporating research a third party has gathered. Interviews and questionnaires are a good way to get primary research while secondary research can be found all over the internet or again in books. It's significant to keep a balanced view throughout the report and not let any opinions or views effect how the report is been written. When I arrive at my conclusion I need to make sure it brings all the main issues together and to keep it nice and clear with no new information popping up. If I manage to use all this advice and knowledge when it comes to writing my report, I should be able to successfully finish my report to a high standard.