Report

For other uses, see Report (disambiguation).

Example of a front page of a report

A report or account is any informational work (usually of writing, speech, television, or film) made with the specific intention of relaying information or recounting certain events in a widely presentable form.

Description

A report is an informational work made with the specific intention of relaying information or recounting certain events in a widely presentable form. Reports are often conveyed in writing, speech, television, or film.

Use

Reports fill a vast array of critical needs for many of society's important organizations. Reports are used for keeping track of information, which may be used to make decisions. Written reports are documents which present focused, salient content, generally to a specific audience. Reports are used in government, business, education, science, and other fields, are often to display the result of an experiment, investigation, or inquiry.

Attributes

Reports use features such as graphics, images, voice, or specialized vocabulary in order to persuade that specific audience to undertake an action. One of the most common formats for presenting reports is IMRAD: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion. This structure is standard for the genre because it mirrors the traditional publication of scientific research and summons the ethos and credibility of that discipline. Reports are not required to follow this pattern, and may use alternative patterns like the problem-solution format.

Additional elements often used to persuade readers include: headings to indicate topics, to more complex formats including charts, tables, figures, pictures, tables of contents, abstracts,and nouns summaries, appendices, footnotes, hyperlinks, and references.

Types

Some examples of reports are:

• annual reports
• auditor's reports
• book reports
• bound reports
• budget reports
• census reports
• credit reports
• demographic reports
• expense report
• experience report
• inspection reports
• military reports
• police reports
• policy reports
• progress reports
• recommendation reports
• investigative reports
• scientific reports
• trip reports
• white papers
• appraisal reports
• workplace reports

See also

• Reporting (disambiguation)
• Customer relationship management
• Data quality
• Enterprise application integration
• Enterprise resource planning
• Decision support system
• Global Reporting Initiative
• Management information system
• Grey Literature International Steering Committee – International guidelines for the production of scientific and technical reports

References

Reports or an explanation about them

• Geopolicity - Publications (Iraq 2013 Health Care Sector Outlook, UAE 2013 Real Estate, New Silk Road)
• Link, Morton and Hill, Winfrey (1970). Hill-Link Minority Report of the Presidential Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. Random House.
• United States Immigration Commission (1933). Abstracts Of Reports Of The Immigration Commission, With Conclusions And Recommendations And Views Of The Minority. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1-4366-1613-1.

The process of writing reports

• Blicq, Ronald (2003). "Technically-Write!". Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-114878-8.
• Gerson, Sharon and Gerson, Steven (2005). Technical Writing: Process and Product. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-119664-2.
• Lannon, John (2007). Technical Communication. Longman. ISBN 0-205-55957-3.

External links

• Grey Literature International Steering Committee (GLISC), Guidelines for the production of scientific and technical reports: how to write and distribute grey literature, Version 1.1