Session 8

Writing a Report (Academic and

Business Contexts)8.1. Generic structure of a report

8.2. Differences between an abstract and an

executive summary

8.3. Differences between an executive summary

and an introduction

8.4. Good and poor examples of executive

summary

8.5. Business report writing and its structure

8.6. Recommendations/suggestions exercise

8.7. Guidelines and Student examples

This material is copyright © by Dr Sook Hee (Susan) Lee

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Writing a business report

I. Introduction......................................................................................................................3II. Types of report genre and schematic structures..............................................................3III. Business Report structures.............................................................................................7

3.1 The Cover page..........................................................................................................93.2. Table of contents.......................................................................................................93.3. Abstract/executive summary..................................................................................103.4. Introduction.............................................................................................................17

3.4.1. Background to the report.................................................................................18

3.4.2. Literature review..............................................................................................18

3.4.3. Introduce your research...................................................................................19

3.4.4. Aims of the report............................................................................................19

3.5. Methodology...........................................................................................................223.5.1. Design..............................................................................................................22

3.5.2. Method.............................................................................................................23

3.6 Results......................................................................................................................233.7 Discussion................................................................................................................243.8. Conclusion and recommendations..........................................................................25

References..........................................................................................................................26

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I. Introduction

Writing a report is one of the most common genres of assignments set at universities.

Reports are usually written for research or lab-based assignments. Report writing, in its

simplest form, refers to the presentation of information of mutual concern to a group of

people. It is a type of writing, often quite extensive, based on investigation and

sometimes experimentation, which details the results of that investigation and often

concludes with some recommendations. Writing a report is very different from writing a

persuasive essay. While report writing is different from discursive essay writing, the

techniques for planning, researching, organizing and referencing your materials still

apply. In particular, students are often expected to include a strong arguing element.

This chapter begins by canvassing types of reports within a macro report and generic

research formats alongside guidelines and emphasis. This is followed by exploring

generic formats of a report in a business context. Examples of good and poor research

formats will be reviewed and analysed.

II. Types of report genre and schematic structures

Both in university and in the real world, there are three main different macro-types of

reports written: scientific lab reports, research report and business reports. All of these

different reports have their own formats and conventions. Business report can include

systems analysis reports, management case study reports, feasibility studies, and client

case work reports. Business reports are required in disciplines such as Accounting,

Finance, ITC, and Business that covers mainly management, marketing and commerce

(see further information on business report writing). Business reports will obviously

differ according to the specific question and the task they seek to answer. It is

important, however, to be clear what the overall purpose of the

business report is: to inform/review what is going on to

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identify/evaluate problems and situations, to make a proposal, and to

solve a problem.

Under a macro-report, there are four elementary types of a report: descriptive,

texanomic, comparative and critical report (see Figure 1). As seen in the Table 1, each

sub genre of the report has slightly different purposes so that the structures of the

schematic stages and language features are also differently constructed. The former

three text types are often required to write in the secondary schools. At the university

level, students are requested to write a critical research report which involves all these

three forms of the report. These types are incorporated into a research report and used

to contextualize the issues, to exemplify a factor, consequences or argument, classify

things and places and compare the events and things. Most importantly, at universities,

you need to write a critical report which means that a macro-genre is a report but strong

argument elements need to be embedded in the report.

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Figure 1: Types of report genres

Report writing in an academic context

(Super-genre)

Scientific lab reports

Research reportBusiness reports: systems analysis

reports, management case

study reports, feasibility studies, client case work,

IT report

Empirical report Hypothetical report

TexanomicDescriptive Comparative Critical report

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Table 1: Elementary Types of a report

Report Descriptive report Taxonomic report Comparative reportSocial purpose

Describing the features of things or places according to setting in time not sequence in time

Classifying and describing things and places

Describing similarities or differences between things and places

Stages IdentificationDescriptionFeatures 1, 2, 3Deduction (optional)

ClassificationDescription of types or parts

IdentificationComparative description1, 2, 3

Language features

Simple past tenseGeneral /abstract participants

Being processes (is)Word processing part-whole or type of relationships (there are two kinds: Anarchism and Marxist communist)

Similarity (as/ just as .., so/ as with/ in common with/similar to/alike/resemble/have something in common/ the similarity/the resemblance/the likenessContrast (whereas/while/in contrast to/unlike/compared with or to/in comparison with/different from/differ in/dissimilar/contrast/the difference/the contrast

Examples What is your first impression of Australia?

How many types of kangaroos are there?

Compare Australia and your country in terms of the quality of public transport?

Based on my experience, scientific and research report usually involve Empirical report,

while business report at university level requires quite commonly Hypothetical report.

Empirical report is derived from experiment, experience, and observation rather than

from theory or logic. Hypothetical report relies on the scenario based analysis method.

A major difference between the two is in the methodology. The empirical report

involves obtaining data directly using the primary sources such as interview, a survey or

observation, whereas the hypothetical report relies on only the secondary sources of data

gathering such as books, journals, information on the net, etc. The empirical report thus

requires employing a qualitative, qualitative or a mixed method which uses both a

quantitative and qualitative approach. Therefore, in the empirical report, methodology

should be very rigorously and precisely presented, and yet the hypothetical report should

be very fussy about the method. However, it is quite often the case where some business

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reports can straddle between empirical and hypothetical report, which require using both

direct sources such as interview and secondary sources.

III. Business Report structures

The nature of research formats varies, depending on the discipline and the assignment.

However, there are some common structures that can apply regardless of any kinds of

report (see additional materials on the net). As seen in the table 2, a research report

should consist of the following 9 stages. Each stage has specific functions to fulfill.

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Table 2: Relationships between stages of report and functions

Formats Macro-structures

Questions Functions

Cover page Title

How, what, who, where

Give a rough idea of what your research is all about

General

Specific

Table of Contents

Give an overview of the report

Abstract/executive summary

Why, what, how, where, when, so what

Give a brief summary of the report

1 Introduction1.1 Background

1.2 Aims

Contextualisation

Why

Pose questions by pointing out problems to draw out the significance of the report

2. Methodology2.1 Design

2.2 Method

When, who, where, How (collect data)How (analyse data)

Explain how to answer the question posed in the introduction

3 Results/ findings/ Analysis and Discussion

What Explain what was produced by your methods

4Conclusion and

Recommendations

So what?

How to resolve problems

Explain what results are significant for answering the question posed in the introduction

References On what grounds?

Convince the reader of your claims

Appendices

More details Give additional information

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3.1 The Cover page

This stage should include the title of your research, your name, your student number,

your tutor or lecturer’s name, the due date, and the word count (Abstract is often

excluded)

A title/topic is the first starting point where you can give a good or bad impression of

your report to a reader. A good tile/topic provides the most general idea of your purpose

of writing a report. Usually you can find it in the assessment guidelines. The title needs

to have a rough but clear description of what the report is about. It should indicate

enough information about the field of the report (What), participants (Who), where the

data was collected (Where) and what kinds of research method used for analysis (How)

such as a qualitative (e.g. A case study on … A report on), quantitative (A survey

on…) or a mixed approach where both qualitative and quantitative methods are

utilized (An investigation on , A study on , An analysis on, etc ) (see additional

information about research methods). If you can not contain most information in a

sentence then use sub titles. However, the tile should be clear and precise. The title

should be neither too short or too long. It should be approximately 10-

15 words long. It should provide keywords for indexing and avoid

unnecessary words, abbreviations and jargon.

Exercise 1: Look at the tiles below. Which titles are well written and which are not?

3.2. Table of contents

Use a computer to make the table of contents. To do that, the first thing you need to do

is to designate each heading according to TOC levels such as Heading one or two, three

Click on Insert and then Reference, Index and Tables, Table of Contents. If you

want to alter the content, you need to fix them inside writing not on the content of

tables.

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3.3. Abstract/executive summary

There are slight differences between an abstract and an executive summary (see details).

Put simply, an abstract is written in an academic context focusing on propositions

(Informational values), while an executive summary (hereafter ES) is written in a

commercial context, focusing on proposals (interactional values). Therefore, any report

written in a business context requires to write an ES not an abstract. The ES should thus

contain strong selling points. The ES is a place where a reader gets the most important

impression on the quality of the report. It helps your managers or supervisors to decide

whether they should read the rest of the report. Therefore, poorly written ES can drive

readers away from your report. It is a concise/brief summary of your report. An

executive summary should be designed to be read by people who will not have

sufficient time to read the whole report or are deciding if this is necessary; therefore, in

your executive summary you need to say as much as possible in the fewest words

(Weaver & Weaver, 1977). It should be read self-sufficiently.

The ES should be approximately 200 words long, typed as usually a single paragraph.

You can make two paragraphs before findings if the essay is more than 3000 words

limit. It usually takes up 10 % of the word limit. For example, if you write 3000 words

for a report, then maximum words for the ES should be 300. It must be separated from

the rest of the text on a separate page. References should not be included in the

executive summary. Because of the succinctness required, students must make sure that

every word chosen contributes to making meaning. The ES should be written in plain,

precise English so that even a layperson should be able to quickly grasp the most

important parts of your research. Begin by selecting the key points from each section of

the report, then condensing them over several drafts. Technically speaking, although ES

is located in the beginning of a report, the ES should be written at the last stage of your

report. This is because you execute the activity first and summarise later.

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The ES consists of the following formats: the purpose of the research (WHY), the

method used to do your research (HOW) and the findings of your research

(WHAT), and recommendations or implications (SO WHAT), as shown in Table 3.

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Table 3: Structure and language features of an abstract/an executive summaryStages Functions Grammars Examples of language featuresPurposes/aims

The broad purpose and main aims of your research

Present/Past tense

The present research examines/identifies/explores/investigates/study/addresses/concerns/finds out…This study aims to/ attempts to explore …The focus of this paper is on …This paper is focused on/focuses on/ A particular focus/concern is on …A particular focus of this paper is to/that .This paper reports on a study of …A main aim of this study is to … The purpose of this research is first to … how much/ to what extent/ the extent to which/ the ways in which …An additional/ a further/ the second aim/ also/ secondly is to/that …A final aim/finally is to/that …

Methods A brief description of theoretical/analytical frameworks, your design and methods

Past tense

Passive voice

The main methods used to analyse data were….Drawing on …, data was collected from… 20 participants/the cohort/the subjects/respondents were involved included/interviewed/surveyed/selected/chosen/participated in/took part in/ A questionnaire consists of/comprises/constitutes/is made up of…The survey was carried out/conducted/undertaken/performed/administered The sample/data was analysed/ complied/collated/devised by

Major findings/results

A summary of the most important results and outcomes

Present/past

Research results/ the results of this survey/the findings/ the outcomes of the report reveal/show/display/manifest/indicate/illustrate/demonstrate that while…,

Implications/Recommendations

A statement of your conclusions and the importance or theoretical/pedagogical/practical implications/ recommendations of your results

Present/ Future

While it is clear that… the results will have significant implications in…/will imply that

Based on the results, recommendations are as follows:

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Exercise 2: Look at the following examples of executive summaries and

abstracts written by students and scholars.

1 Figure out what the research is all about by only reading the title.

2 Underline each stage and mark tenses

3 Identify which one is well written abstracts/ ES and which ones are not? Why?

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1 This is a GOOD example from an Accounting & Finance assignment.

Executive Summary

This report provides an analysis and evaluation of the current and prospective profitability, liquidity and financial stability of Outdoor Equipment Ltd. Methods of analysis include trend, horizontal and vertical analyses as well as ratios such as Debt, Current and Quick ratios. Other calculations include rates of return on Shareholders Equity and Total Assets and earnings per share to name a few. All calculations can be found in the appendices. Results of data analysed show that all ratios are below industry averages. In particular, comparative performance is poor in the areas of profit margins, liquidity, credit control, and inventory management.

The report finds the prospects of the company in its current position are not positive. The major areas of weakness require further investigation and remedial action by management. Recommendations discussed include:

improving the average collection period for accounts receivable·

improving/increasing inventory turnover· reducing prepayments and perhaps increasing

inventory levelsThe report also investigates the fact that the analysis conducted has limitations. Some of the limitations include:forecasting figures are not provided nature and type of company is not known nor the current economic conditions data limitations as not enough information is provided or enough detail i.e. monthly details not known results are based on past performances not present

subject matter

methods of analysis

Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations (note that conclusions and recommendations can be bulleted)

Limitations of the report.

2 This is a GOOD example of an executive summary from a marketing report.

This report was commissioned to examine why the sales Terms of reference

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volume of Choice Chocolate has dropped over the past two years since its peak in 1998 and to recommend ways of increasing the volume.

The research draws attention to the fact that in 1998, the market share of Choice Chocolate was 37%. The shares of their key competitors such as Venus and Bradbury were 22% and 18% respectively. The size of the chocolate market then was $36 million. Over the next two years, although Choice Chocolate retained its market share the volume of sales in the whole market decreased to $29 million. Further investigations reveal that this market shrinkage coincided with an increase in health awareness amongst consumers who regard the milk and sugar ingredients in chocolate as negative; moreover, since the second half of 1999, an increasing number of rival ‘health candies’ had appeared on the market. These claimed to offer the consumers a healthy alternative. These factors appear to be the major causes of the decreased sales volume of Choice Chocolate.

Slim Choice is the latest chocolate range put forward by the R & D Department of Choice Chocolate. The report evaluates this range and concludes that it would be an ideal candidate to meet the challenge presented by the market and could satisfy the new consumer demand since it uses significantly reduced milk and sugar ingredients and is endorsed by renowned health experts. According to 97% of the 2000 subjects tested recently, it also retains the same flavour as the original range.

It is recommended:that Choice Chocolate take immediate measures to

launch and promote Slim Choice alongside its existing product range;

that Slim Choice adopt a fresh and healthy image;that part of the launch campaign contains product

endorsement statements by renowned health experts;that Slim Choice be available in health food shops as

well as in traditional chocolate retail outlets

Statement of problem/ topic

Formal language appropriate to report writing

Key findings summarised

Problem solution summarised

Recommendations summarised

3. This is a POOR example of an executive summary from a marketing assignment

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Executive Summary

Every time a business or consumer purchases

products or services they display forms of

buyer behaviour that are influenced by many

factors. The following report looks at the fast

food industry and will analyse four McDonalds’

key products and services. It highlights what

type of consumer buying or business buying

behaviours are displayed in the purchase of a

product or service and explains why each

behaviour may occur. This enables a conclusion

to be drawn from applying theory to reality.

Although a full comprehension of buying

behaviour is impossible, since everyone is an

individual, it is useful to reflect on common

behaviours and attempt to divide behaviours in

types and stages. Even McDonalds, a leader in

marketing cannot always predict consumer

behaviour.

Background to problem

Report’s aims

Outlines what information the report

deals with but FAILS to provide a

summary of the results gained,

conclusions drawn and

recommendations made. These are the

functions of an executive summary and

are absent in this example.

The information in this executive

summary is vague rather than

summarising what the report found.

4. Report writing – a good example of an executive summary

The purpose of this report was to examine the implications

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on university teaching raised in the article by Joe Gelonesi

in the Education Supplement of The Age (27/2/02).

Research for this report included a review of current

literature on web-based tuition and interviews with three

experienced academics.

The major findings indicate that while there is a need for

some caution, e-learning should be seen as a way of

enriching the teaching and learning currently being offered

in universities.

While it is clear that student needs will vary, this report

recommends that Beacon University continue to develop

and implement its e-learning approach if it wishes to

continue providing quality education for traditional on-

campus students as well as those who for work, family,

geographic location or other reasons choose to study

through distance education.

Purpose

Methodology

Findings

Conclusion &

Recommendations

3.4. Introduction

While the main function of the ES is to highlight the major findings of the report, the

introduction functions to contextualise the report and emphasise the importance of doing

the research. In the introduction, you tell a reader about exactly what the report will be

about and why it is so important highlighting the significance of your research .

Your introduction can do this by answering these three questions described in Table 4

below. Therefore, your introduction also should move from the general and specific and

positive and negative evaluation, which leads to problems.

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Although the introduction is located early, it does not necessarily have to be written

early in the process. In fact, skilful writers write the introduction last. It can be much

easier to describe your experiment or field research after you have finished writing up

the results and your discussion. It should take up 20% of your word limit. The

introduction also consists of several stages, as demonstrated in Table 4.

3.4.1. Background to the report

You need to identify an issue such as social, economic, environmental, cultural personal

issues which draw a great deal of attention to the public. Further you are interested in a

current issue which should be reflected in the choice of tenses such as present, present

perfect, and present continuous tenses. This helps a reader to orient to the topic by

providing some contextual background information. If you need to define key terms, do

this around here. And then you need to take up a problematic aspect of the issue in order

to stress the need for the research. Utilise assessment guidelines as much as possible by

paraphrasing them. Use causes/effects and problems/solutions in order to write the

introduction critically

3.4.2. Literature reviewYou need to canvass what others did in relation to the issue under investigation in

order to find a gap and ultimately for highlighting the significance of your study.

This is a place where evidence is heavily cited in writing a report.

When you provide a review on literature relevant to your area, the following points

should be kept in mind.

an understanding of the conceptual and theoretical background,

contexts and justification of the research you are undertaking.

An appreciation of the significance of this area in general and your topic in

particular.

Always remember, each paragraph starts with a general claim (topic sentences)

and elaboration should be followed by using evidence. It is not enough to merely string

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together a series of quotes from different sources. You must conceptualise these and

incorporate those quotes into a critical analysis of the research as it relates to your topic.

In a case where you need to write a scenario based business report, writing

literature does not seem to take a very important position. However, when you write a

research report using empirical studies, this is the most important part of the

introduction in order to identify gaps.

3.4.3. Introduce your researchNow you are ready to reinforce the purpose of your research briefly.

Introduce your research showing that your research aims to bridge the gaps identified.

3.4.4. Aims of the reportThis section can be placed in the beginning part of the introduction or the last section of

the introduction using a transitional paragraph. In the executive summary, you have

already mentioned the broad purpose of the report and main aims. It is in the

introduction that you repeat the aims and further list all the specific objectives of the

report. It should begin with a broad purpose and be broken into several aims and

objectives under each aim. Usually, assessment guidelines contain all these aims. You

need to paraphrase them not copy them word for word. Aims should be listed

according to broad/specific, major/minor goals, immediate and long term goals.

Briefly mention future benefits and outcomes of the research at the end of

describing aims.

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Table 4: Introduction stages of the report

Stages Functions(language aspects)

Why and what kinds of problems are you dealing with? What kinds of relationships between causes and effects

Aims of the research To introduce general/specific aims

( Specifically/most importantly/ the present study explores …)

What is the problem?Describe the problem and causes of the problems being investigated

Background (Establishing field) (general/specific)

To introduce the topic by giving general statements about the topic and establishing that the field of the study is significant and the research is relevant, useful and timely.

(Although … is crucially/significantly/increasingly/important/integral/essential/indispensable/prevalent , it has been problematic/ exacerbating/deteriorating, issue/concern/problem/challenge

Why is the problem importantReview the relevant research to provide rationale

Summary of previous research(general/specific)

To review the literature on significant research in the field.(There are many previous …. However, )

Indication of a gap in the previous research (Preparing for present research)

To indicate that there is a gap in the research area that has not been covered by previous research, or that previous research was flawed in some way.

(While many previous studies… little research has investigated/ few studies have explored…)

What solution do you propose?Briefly describe your research

Statement of purpose and hypothesis/ research questions (Introducing the present research)(general/specific)

Overviews of the research

To introduce present theoretical/analytical frameworks for the rationale of the research. (The particular method frames provide…)

To reinforce the exact aims of your research.(The present research aims to…) To outline/preview the present research.(In order to achieve the aims, the paper goes through six stages…)

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Exercise 3: Examples of the introduction of the report

Table 5: Substages of a report

ReportGlobal structure

Stages Sub-stages

IntroductionMethodology Design Topic and aim of research

InstrumentsParticipants including limitations of the sample groupSetting (the site of the data collection): location and timeData collection procedures including pilot study, and the nature of research teams

Method Research questionsMethod and procedures of data analysis according to the research questions

Results/Findings

Title/ major findings

Table/graph/diagramDescribe themSummary of statement of findingsPattern, analysis, comparison between findings

Discussion Discussion/ Interpretations

Main purpose/relate hypothesis

Conclusion Summary of main findings/resultsSpeculate about possible explanation for findings

Interpret major findings relating back to the literatureGeneral/specific; theoretical/practical implications of findingsLimitations of research doneRecommendations for future/further researchA final conclusive remark

Recommendations

Targeting the issues/ problems identified/arising/ raised

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3.5. Methodology

The methodology section consists of two subsections: Design and Method. In the

Design section, you are expected to describe what kind of research you did such as the

participants and the materials used, while the Method section focuses on how you

conducted the research. You will be simply describing rather than analyzing,

interpreting or drawing conclusions. You will be able to write the Methodology section

as soon as information gathering has been completed.

That’s why this section should be written in the simple past tense and passive voices,

as a reader is not so much interested in who did ( an actor) as in what events happened

(the action). However, using active voices is becoming more acceptable these days even

in some scientific fields. As long as your writing displays a successful drift from a

formal tone to an informal tone, vice versa, it should be fine.

3.5.1 Design

The design section should begin with a brief reminding of the purpose of the research

and to achieve the goals, you need to provide a description of your information

gathering techniques. This could be a qualitative approach such as interviews, a case

study, focus groups, observations or a quantitative method such as questionnaire or

survey , data bases or a mixed method. If you use a questionnaire or survey, give a

description here, and attach a copy as an Appendix. You must indicate clearly to readers

where the information is attached in the back. Next, you need to provide information on

the participants or the sample group (Who), and the nature of data such as the location

or settings for the data (Where), and the time of the data collection (When). Finally

describe the steps/ procedures you followed when collecting the data the procedure

(How). When you give descriptions of the subjects, include demographic information

such as genders, nationality, ages, or other special characteristics that are directly

relevant to your research. If you can, try to use a table format so that a reader can easily

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identify the information. If there are limiting conditioned on the sample group or

instrument them these should be mentioned. For example, only married women over the

age of 35 living in cities were interviewed. When you describe data collection

procedures, these steps are described in time order. You need to mention a pilot study

you did including the description of the nature of research team, afterwards, real data

collection procedures need to be mentioned such as notification, pre-entry survey, and

real data collection.

3.5.2. Method This section focuses on demonstrating how you analyse the data using examples.

This section begins with providing detailed research questions and macro-level of data

collection procedures. It is important that you be accurate and precise in your

description so that others can follow the steps and so that they can replicate your work

later. Do not include any results or any discussion in this section. When you explain

how to analyse data, you need to address which tools you used. Whether you used

others’ tools or methods or modified them, you need to explain clearly, which are

existing models and which one is extended. You also need to evaluate the strengths and

weaknesses of the existing model and provide justifications for why you modified and

how you modified.

3.6 Results

You should only present results that relate back to the question. It does not explain or

interpret the results as in the methodology sections, you are simply describing. It is a

stepping stone to the Discussion. It begins by outlining the major results, and then goes

into details.

Organise the findings in accordance with report purposes

Introductory statements: Briefly outline structures of findings and major findings

Body

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3.6 1 Sub-heading 1 (e.g. Ways of identifying possible marketing opportunities

One paragraph: Issue 1/ Aim 1

Break down into a couple of para: Statement of issue 1/Findings/Discussion or

interpretations 1

One of the significant findings that has emerged from this report is that…

As demonstrated/described/displayed/illustrated/explained/indicated in the table…

3.6.2 Sub-heading 2 (e.g. Ways of investigating Marketing opportunities)

The next paragraph: Issue 2/Aim 2

One Para : Contextualise: Statement of issue 2

Another para: Findings/discussion or interpretations 2

3.6. 3 Sub-heading 3 (e.g. Ways of evaluating…)

Or you can organize the body by writing issues 1, 2, 3’s findings/Discussions 1, 2, 3.

When you discuss the findings, you have to get back to the introduction and literature

review, incorporating them into your discussion.

Conclusive summaries

Exercise 4 : : see further detailed guidelines on writing a business report

3.7 Discussion

You may realize that the Discussion section is the most difficult part to write. You will

be required to interpret your results and present them to your readers in a way that

convinces them your research is significant. You can not do this by merely describing.

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This is where you will demonstrate how well you understand the ideas and techniques

involved in your research and how your results relate to other research in the field

described in the literature. The results should be analysed by linking them to the existing

empirical and theoretical literature that you summarised in your introduction or

literature reviews. Note any similarities and differences between your findings and those

reported in the literature. Some report formats allow you to combine the results and the

discussion, while others prefer the two sections to be dealt with separately.

The discussion has two main goals:

To explain the results of your research, and

To explore the significance of those results.

To achieve these goals you need to

Interpret and explain your results;

Examine whether and how the questions raised in the introduction section have

been answered;

Show how your results relate to the literature;

Qualify and explore the theoretical importance/significance of your results

Outline any new research questions or areas for future research that your results

have suggested. In this section, you will use both the past tense-to explain the details of

your results- and the present tense-to draw conclusions or outline the implications of

your results.

3.8. Conclusion and recommendations

(focusing on what the report has been about): 15-20%

With research question in mind, make some conclusions based on your analysis of the

data. Don’t try to add any new information. While the question is the main point of

the introduction, the answer should be the focus of the conclusions. The conclusions

may form part of the discussion or they may be written as a separate section. Conclusion

also contains several stages described in the table.

Reiterate purposes briefly using one sentence

Reiterate background briefly using one sentence

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Summarise major findings: don’t add new information

Limitations of the report by suggesting for the further research

Implications for the report

Recommendations on a separate paragraph

Recommendation resources

Think about the macro-proposal of this report: evaluate and utilise marketing

opportunities. The following lists are the recommendation resources that can be used in

an academic context. Due to the nature of the register where you need to command a

reader in a formal manner, metaphorised commands or indirect commands are needed

to use. This is a section where you can use your powerful innovative ideas.

It is necessary/essential/important/imperative/compulsory/obligatory/a good idea

One solution/recommendation/suggestion would be to/ that It requires/benefits/ helps to It is desirable/advisable/beneficial It is suggested/recommended/requested/demanded/ that… should Need to/ought to/should/must consider… ing. The company is required to/obliged to/supposed to/ encouraged to Developing this deposit provides/offers/presents the company

with/contribute to By developing A, the company If the manager choose this, There is a strong need to. The first reason for… The necessity/ the

requirements/ the advantages/ the importance/ benefits of developing this product is to…

Exercise 5: Recommendation resources

Exercise 6: See some good examples of business reports written by students

Exercise 7: Evaluation on the teaching of a business report writing

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References

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