Report- Writing Guide

Writing Guide

The report is the only piece of writing which has a title and subheadings. Each paragraph should have a subheading which summarises its main topic

Introduction

in which you explain your purpose for writing your report and the matters you have investigated.

Introduction: “The aim of this report is to…”

Main Body

Paragraphs 2-3-4 (depending on your specific task and issues): present each aspect of the subject under suitable subheadings (positive/negative points). Use the language of describing comparing and analysing.

Paragraph 2: “After interviewing some…, we have identified some serious problems.”
Paragraph 3: “Also,…”
Paragraph 4: “Although,…”

Conclusions

overall assessment and/or opinion and recommendations to the target reader on measures to improve the current situation/issue.

Conclusion: “To sum up, I believe that if we take care of these problems…”

A report is a formal paper, it has to be concise, well-organized, which makes it recommended to use bullet points and headings so that the reader can quickly find the information they are looking for in your text.

The language of a report is expected to be formal and objective. For this reason, you should avoid including yourself or your views in most of your sentences. However, you must give your opinion in the conclusion or recommendations paragraph.

Tips

• Begin by stating the purpose of your report.
• You may use invented statistics to provide a succinct summary of your results.
• Use headings. They will make it clear that your report is not an essay or review.
• Use lists of numbered points or bullets where appropriate.
• Divide your report into sections according to the input.
•  Develop the ideas in the task input.
• Include a sentence summarising your opinion at the beginning of the final section of your report.
• Use an impersonal, formal style.

Useful Language & Phrases

We will finish it with some useful vocabulary mostly used to organize information. Although it is taking a shortcut, if you learn several expressions for each paragraph in each type of text that could be on your exam, you will certainly be able to create a very consistent and well-organized text.

Introduction (the goal of the report)

The aim of this report is to
As requested, I am writing this report to
This report aims to outline/assess
The purpose behind this report is to

Development

The first observation to make concerns…
It has to been stressed that…
According to (the majority of respondents)…
In spite of (the fact that)…
Despite (the fact that)…
The outlook for …… is (far from) bright/optimistic/depressing/daunting
The future looks bleak/remains uncertain/is promising
This seems unlikely in the near/foreseeable future

Recommendations

I suggest/recommend
I would like to suggest/recommend
I therefore suggest
I advise you (not) to
I believe it would be beneficial
It would be advisable to
You may wish/want to consider
If you wish to…, you should
If we wish to…, we ought to

Conclusion

Provided that these recommendations are taken into consideration,…
In conclusion,…
From the research one can conclude that…

Example Answers

FCE REPORT SAMPLE 1

Subject:

Your college has just published the first issue of the new college magazine. The organisers are interested in knowing what students thought about it, so they have asked you to write a report. In your report, you should talk about what the students liked and disliked about the articles, the sports section and the news section. Then, you should make suggestions on how to improve the magazine.

Write a report.

Student’s FCE Report Answer:

The New College Magazine

Introduction
The purpose of this report is to outline students’ opinions about the new college magazine, and to make recommendations based on their views.

The articles
Most students thought the articles were interesting and well written. However, they did not talk about modern topics, so some students found this part of the magazine a little boring.

The sports section
It is thought that the sports section is good, but most articles were about football or basketball. This is not a good thing because most of our sporty students play rugby, not football or basketball.

The news section
Many students complained about the news section, because it only focused on news about the college. These students were expecting to read some news about the city, too.

Recommendations
In order to solve the problems above, I recommend taking some measures. Firstly, article writers should focus more on technology and other modern issues. Secondly, we should consider writing more about rugby and less about other sports. Finally, we should include some news about our city. If we do these things, the magazine will be more interesting to our students.

FCE REPORT SAMPLE 2

Subject:

The gym you work for has been losing members recently and would like to know why they are leaving. The gym manager has asked you to write a report about why these customers are leaving. In your report you should specify what the problems are and should give recommendations for improvement.

Student’s FCE Report Answer:

Improving Our Gym

Introduction

The aim of this report is to explain the main reasons why members are leaving the gym. After interviewing some clients, we have identified some serious problems.

Limited opening hours
Some members have complained that the gym opens a little late for them. For this reason, workers cannot exercise before going to work. If the gym opened at 7 a.m., clients could exercise easily before going to work.

The changing rooms
Many of the lockers are broken so customers cannot leave their belongings in a safe place. Also, some of the showers are not working properly so members have to queue before having a shower. In order to solve this, I suggest replacing all lockers and showers immediately.

Lack of parking spaces
Some previous members have joined gyms which have a parking lot. Although we cannot build a parking lot, we can offer a parking area for bicycles. As a result, this might encourage members to use their bikes to come to the gym.

Conclusion
To sum up, I believe that if we take care of these problems, members will be happier and will decide to stay with us.