Module 23

Short reports need to be organized according to the reader’s expectations. An informative or closure report summarizes completed work or research that doesn’t result in action or recommendation. This pattern includes and introductory paragraph summarizing the problems or successes of the project, a chronological account of the history of the problem, and a concluding paragraph with suggestions for later actions.
Feasibility reports are structured to evaluate alternatives and should open by explaining the decisions made, followed by evaluations of each alternative, and finally the recommendation. Justification reports recommend or justify a purchase, investment, hiring, or change in policy. They should be organized by (1) indicating what is being asked for and why it’s needed, (2) a brief background of the problem or need, (3) explain each possible solution, (4) summary of action needed to implement recommendation, then (5) ask for the action wanted.
There are seven basic strategies for organizing information in reports: comparison/contrast, problem-solution, elimination of alternative, general to particular or particular to general, geographic or spatial, functional, and chronological.
Typically, reports should be written in the same style as other business documents with three exceptions: (1) reports need to be written with a formal style, (2) avoid the word “you”, and (3) all definitions and documents needed to understand recommendation needs to be included in the report.