Module 24

Module 24 discusses long reports.  Long reports are also known as formal reports, and contain additional components: a cover, title page, letter of transmittal, table of contents, list of illustrations, executive summary, and report body.  The first thing to do when writing a long report is to write parts as soon as you can, and to make sure you spend most of your time on sections that support your recommendations.  Much of the introduction part of your report comes from your proposal.  You should also save a copy of your questionnaires and interview questions for the appendix.  Although normally shorter titles are best, when making a title page for a long report you want it to be as informative as possible, so short three word titles may not always be the best.  The letter of transmittal is used to orient the reader to the report, and to help the writer build a good image of the report.

One important thing that I learned from this module, is that you should always create a table of contents for long reports so that your reader can find important sections fast and easy.  Make sure that you list all the important headings in you table of contents, and try to write the most important sections towards the beginning of the letter.

Another important thing that I learned from this module, is that the format and style of the report greatly depends on the information being portrayed in the report.  For instance corporate annual reports will be printed in an effort to be attractive to the eye, with lots of colors, charts, and graphs for presenting to others.  Engineering and accounting reports will be much different, with almost all text except for a few technical diagrams or charts, these will be very heavy on words and jargon as well as have very plain covers.