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How to Begin Writing a Report

Writing reports is a necessary job for nearly all sectors of business, education and government. Reports provide information about a certain subject in a well informed manner that would otherwise be difficult to find without a lot of research. Reports help companies, schools and the government decide on solutions, understand problems and plan for the future. Writing a report takes practice, knowledge and the ability to condense loads of research into a concise form of information.

Things You'll Need

  • Word processor or writing tablet
  • Research sources
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Instructions

    • 1

      Decide which kind of report you're writing. Business reports, research papers, technical reports, book reports all differ in what content must be included in them.

    • 2

      Research the subject. Researching allows you to include even more information than you already knew about the subject. Researching also lends a hand when it comes time to include reference material.

    • 3

      Outline a rough draft. Outlining gives you the basic structure of a report and provides you with the main points needed to complete the report.

    • 4

      Create a thorough structure. The structure of a report contains the most important parts of the report: title, introduction, body and conclusion. The introduction and body must introduce and expand on the main objective of your report, while the conclusion ties up everything you've said.

    • 5

      Stay on topic. Jumping from one thought to another in a report doesn't allow the reader to fully understand what you're trying to present. Making the reader wade through a sea of off-topic paragraphs and sentences weakens your report.

    • 6

      Revise and rewrite. First drafts normally contain a litany of mistakes. Revising and rewriting allows you to polish the report.

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