record Writing - How to Format a firm record

Introduction

Report writing is a time intriguing firm so it is a great shame if, having devoted all that time to writing your report, the quality is such that hardly anything can be bothered to read it. Quite frankly, most narrative readers do not verily read all the report; they are too short of time. You might as well know it and accept it -- that is normal. They only read the parts that interest them. Oftentimes these are the summary, the conclusions and recommendations.

Of course, some readers do need all the details you so carefully included, they are specialists, but most do not. Most readers just need two things: that the facts they want is where they expect it to be so they can find it, and that it is written clearly so that they can understand it.

It is similar to reading a newspaper. You expect the news headlines to be on the front page; the sports coverage to be at the back; the Tv listings on page anything and the editorial criticism in the middle. If what you want is not in its usual place then you have to hunt for it and you may get irritated. So it is with a report.

There is a institution as to what goes where. Stick with the institution and please your readers. Break the institution and citizen may get slightly angry - and bin your report.

So what is that convention, the standard format?

Standard Sections

Title Section. In a short narrative this may simply be the front cover. In a long one it could also comprise Terms of Reference, Table of Contents and so on.

Summary. Give a clear and very concise account of the main points, main conclusions and main recommendations. Keep it very short, a few percent of the total length. Some people, especially senior managers, may not read anything else so write as if it were a stand-alone document. It isn't but for some citizen it might as well be. Keep it brief and free from jargon so that anything can understand it and get the main points. Write it last, but do not copy and paste from the narrative itself; that rarely works well.

Introduction. This is the first part of the narrative proper. Use it to paint the background to 'the problem' and to show the reader why the narrative is prominent to them. Give your terms of reference (if not in the Title Section) and account for how the details that result are arranged. Write it in plain English.

Main Body. This is the heart of your report, the facts. It will probably have any sections or sub-sections each with its own subtitle. It is unique to your narrative and will recite what you discovered about 'the problem'.

These sections are most likely to be read by experts so you can use some standard jargon but account for it as you introduce it. Dispose the facts logically, usually putting things in order of priority -- most prominent first. In fact, result that guidance in every section of your report.

You may pick to comprise a argument in which you account for the importance of your findings.

Conclusions. Gift the logical conclusions of your investigation of 'the problem'. Bring it all together and maybe offer options for the way forward. Many citizen will read this section. Write it in plain English. If you have included a argument then this section may be quite short.

Recommendations. What do you propose should be done? Don't be shy; you did the work so state your recommendations in order of priority, and in plain English.

Appendices. Put the heavy details here, the facts that only specialists are likely to want to see. As a guide, if some information is needful to your argument then comprise it in the main body, if it merely supports the argument then it could go in an appendix.

Conclusions and Recommendations

In conclusion, remember that readers expect sure facts to be in sure places. They do not expect to hunt for what they want and the harder you make it for them the more likely they are to toss you narrative to one side and ignore it. So what should you do?

1. result the commonly standard format for a report: Summary, Introduction, Main Body, Conclusions, Recommendations and Appendices.
2. Organise your facts in each section in a logical fashion with the reader in mind, usually putting things in order of priority - most prominent first.

Good luck with your narrative writing!

Author: Tony Atherton
© Tony Atherton 2005)