Finding the purpose

Check your assignment criteria to find out the focus of your report. Are you reporting on an experiment you conducted or providing information based on your research? The focus of your report will dictate the type of information that needs to be in your report.

It is important to know who you are writing for and why. Different people will want to know different information and a report should only include the relevant information to the appropriate reader. Look at the image below for an example of a singular project, the range of people and their perspectives you could be writing for. Each one would require their own report to answer their personal questions. 

Ask yourself some basic questions before you begin to organise your information for your report: 

• Why are your writing this report (other than because it’s an assignment)? 
• What is your project trying to present or argue? 
• What is your research question or the research objective(s)? 
• Who is this report for and what will they need to know about?

The answers to these questions will help you define the purpose of your report. Keep your answers in mind at all times when writing. Remember, your report sections should be brief and concise, therefore keeping your information focussed and to the right audience will help you to stay on topic and avoid deviation.