how to start report writing
Answers
Format the report according to the guidelines you were given.
State your thesis in the introduction. ...
Start each paragraph in the body of the reportwith a topic sentence.
Support each topic sentence with evidence from your research.
Answer:
Read the report prompt or guidelines carefully. If your teacher, professor, or boss gave you guidelines for your report, make sure you read them thoroughly to make sure you understand the assignment. Generally, the prompt will give you information such as whether your report should be informative or persuasive, who your audience should be, and any issues your report should address.[1]
The guidelines will also typically tell you the requirements for the structure and format of your report.
If you have any questions about the assignment, speak up as soon as possible. That way, you don’t start working on the report, only to find out you have to start over because you misunderstood the report prompt.
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Choose a topic you find interesting. Typically, you’ll have some leeway in what your report will be on. If you pick a subject you’re interested in, you’ll be more engaged during the research and the writing process. This often results in a report that’s more fun to read, so you’ll likely get better feedback or a higher grade.[2]
For instance, if your report is supposed to be on a historical figure, you might choose someone you find really interesting, like the first woman to be governor of a state in the U.S., or the man who invented Silly Putty.
Even if you don’t have the option to choose your topic, you can often find something in your research that you find interesting. If your assignment is to give a report on the historical events of the 1960s in America, for example, you could focus your report on the way popular music reflected the events that occurred during that time.
Tip: Always get approval from your teacher or boss on the topic you choose before you start working on the report!
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Try to pick a topic that is as specific as possible. If you write about too broad of a topic, your report will seem disorganized, since you’ll be trying to cover too much information all at once. On the other hand, your topic shouldn’t be so narrow that you can’t find anything to write about. Try to find one aspect of the topic that has a lot of supporting details.[3]
If you’re not sure what to write about at first, pick a larger topic, then narrow it down as you start researching.
For instance, if you wanted to do your report on World Fairs, then you realize that there are way too many of them to talk about, you might choose one specific world fair, such as the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, to focus on.
However, you wouldn’t necessarily want to narrow it down to something too specific, like “Food at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition,” since it could be hard to find sources on the subject without just listing a lot of recipes.