Business Reports

Planning Business Reports

It is a rare person who can sit down with a blank page and produce a coherent and effective report. Have a clear idea what you want to write before you start anything. Gather all the information you need. Not only does this produce a better organized document, but the writing comes more easily if you don't have to stop every few paragraphs to go look up data.

After you have all the data, create an outline. Make a list of important topics and subtopics. Make notes about what information you want to include in each heading, then organize your topics in a logical order. Most reports work best with a topics-subtopic organization, but don't be afraid to use another format if it better suits your data.

Plan your introduction and conclusion. Reports read better if the reader isn't suddenly dumped into the hard data in the first sentence or left hanging at the end. The basic organization of any report is:

• Tell them what you are going to tell them
• Tell them
• Tell them what you just told them

Illustrations and charts are often effective ways of presenting information, but don't overuse them. Keep them simple, clean, and usually black and white. Excess decoration looks amateurish.

Writing the First Draft

Once you have an outline and a clear idea of what you want to say, it is time to face the blank page and start writing. Remember this is just the first draft, so don't overthink each sentence. Let the ideas flow and put words to paper. You can clean it up in later revisions.

Write a paragraph for each idea or topic in your outline. Each paragraph should start with a strong sentence that clearly states what the paragraph is about. You aren't writing a mystery story where you spring the answer on the readers at the end. With good topic sentences, it is easier for readers to skim and find the information they seek.

Be concise. Don't use ten words if two will do.

Don't use jargon if you can avoid it. If you must use jargon, then define the term the first time you use it. Even if you are writing an internal report and your audience knows the terms, use them sparingly.

Proofreading and Polish

After finishing your first draft, it is time to revise. All business reports will benefit from a few minutes of proofreading.

• Read it aloud. Language that seems fine when you write it may be clumsy when spoken. That means it might be clumsy when read by someone other than the report's author.
• Spell and grammar checkers are wonderful tools but don't take the place of a human proofreader. Read the report backward; read the last sentence first, then the next to the last sentence, and so on. If you read the report forward, it is too easy to get caught up in the ideas and skim over words.
• Put it aside for a day, then read it again. You will catch more errors with a fresh perspective.
• Get someone else to read it. A third party will generally catch errors you missed.
• Print it out and look at it again. Occasionally the printed version won't look exactly like the version on the screen, and you want to be sure there aren't any glaring problems like a section title at the bottom of a page rather than on the top of the following page.
• Make sure charts and illustrations are in their places and look correct. If they have captions, don't forget to proofread them as well.

Take your time and keep an eye on the details, and you can write efficient and professional business reports.