Business reports are written for a number of reasons. They can be written to discuss projected sales or earnings for a certain time period, to identify and offer solutions to certain problems and even just to deliver information. Whatever the reason for the report, the writer must complete all of the necessary research and incorporate that into a report that is easy to read and understand. Here are 5 tips on how to accomplish that.
- Identify the ReaderThe reader is ultimately the person or group of people who will receive this document. If you do not take the reader into consideration as you are writing it then the report could be useless. Profile the reader. Look for things like education, level of responsibility, biases, preferences and age. Write your report based on the information you gained from profiling the reader.
- Make an OutlineYou remember outlines from school, right? They are the road maps to your reports and papers. By creating an effective outline you will make both the research and the writing go more smoothly. An outline will enable you to keep your thoughts and facts in order and keep you focused.
- Cut WordsTry not to use big words that the reader may have to look up to understand. KISS. Remember that. Keep It Simple Stupid. The simpler it is the more easy to understand it will be and your reader will appreciate that.
- Make it interestingYes, most business reports are boring and dull. That is a fact of life. What if you were the one who had to read all of those reports that are generated all of the time? Would you enjoy reading them? Probably not. Keep that in mind as you are writing and try to make it interesting while being relevant.
- Edit/ReviseWe know you are not in school anymore but editing and revisions are still key. Proper spelling, grammar and punctuation may be important to the reader and if you have multiple errors will the reader think that you are intelligent enough to be writing a report or will it negate the writer’s efforts. For example: look at the title of this article. There is a very blatant grammatical error. What was your first impression when you saw that? Did you think that because there was a grammatical error that the writer wouldn’t know what they were talking about? What do you think now after reading the article?
Spelling, punctuation and grammar can be vital to any well written document whether it is for school, work or even for pleasure and on social networking sites. If the first impression someone has of you is that you are an idiot then you are sunk.