Writing an Academic Report

Report Structure

A good structure for a report would be as follows:

• Title Page – showing the title of the report, the author, the person for whom the report is prepared, and the date of completion
• Summary/Synopsis/Executive Summary (approx 10% of word count) – this will identify:
  • The purpose of the report
  • The scope of the report – issues covered/not covered
  • The important results and findings
  • The conclusions and recommendations
  • Acknowledgement of any assistance in researching and compiling the report
• Table of contents – not including the title and contents page!
• Body of report – this will include:
  • Introduction – what is the report about
  • Discussion – divided into sections and sub sections, presented clearly and confined to fact rather than analysis/opinion
• Conclusion – this should:
  • Relate back to the findings in the body of the report
  • Include a clear summary of the main points
  • Outline the findings of the research

There should be nothing in the conclusion that has not already been mentioned in the body of the report.

• Recommendations – these should:
  • Emerge from the conclusions
  • Suggest what is to be done, who is to do it and how/when it is to be done
  • Be justified based on findings, not just the opinion of the writer
• Bibliography
• Appendix/Appendices – containing supplementary material too detailed for the main body of the report, such as tables, charts, statistics, questionnaires etc

(Adapted from Source: NCI Learning Centre: Study Skills/Writing Skills/Writing Reports)