Writing a Report

by John Bowden

With this 8th edition, John Bowden offers a comprehensive and practical guide to report writing. Among the topics featured are preparation and planning, collecting and handling information, style, grammar, and writing and revising a report.

Genres: Writing

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Alexandru · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is an excellent book for anyone writing reports in English on various topics. The author is going through topical business reports (audit, financial, minutes, board meetings, etc.) and academic reports (research reports, scientific reports and so on). The only drawback is that sometimes the reader might feel that the book was made intentionally longer than needed, with entire pages containing very few words. But the contents are pretty helpful - it begins with the drafting stage - preparatory work, information analysis - the actual writing with standard errors. It finishes with samples and examples of a large variety of reports.

It is important to understand - that the book can be of use only to those who are drafting reports or reading them on almost a daily basis.

[Lloyd Downey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've found that no matter how good I think I'm getting at doing something, I can always learn new tricks from someone else. And this book has taught me a few new tricks about report writing. It's often just with the throw away lines, like: don't say things in your report that you wouldn't say to the recipient face to face.
The book is divided into three parts: 1. the typical systematic approach (setting objectives, considering the audience etc); 2. the creative part including word processing and graphics; and 3. Different types of reports ....including things like accident reports, feasibility reports, student projects and scientific reports.
I found it quite useful. I mean, we all know that you should sit down before you write your report and be clear about your objectives but it's really easy to just start writing and hope the objectives will self-emerge. If there is an issue with the book, I think it's that technology has somewhat overtaken it. Originally written in 1991 and this edition published in 2000, it is not really up to date with modern apps and presentation software. And one thing that I've found problematic in my own writing is the difficulty of keeping references and web site linkages up-to-date. Virtually impossible without constant re-checking and re-writing.
But, one should not overstate the technology gap. The fundamentals are still the same; A report needs to be clear and understandable; it needs to deliver what it sets out to do and it needs to be tailored for the audience. All pretty basic but all easy to miss. And this book makes sure that a writer is well aware of the basics. I give the book 3.5 stars.

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introductory, but it makes some good points and would be a useful reference book. I definitely agree with this:

"Factors that most affect readability are:
- an attractive appearance
- non-technical subject matter
- a clear and direct style
- short sentences
- short and familiar words."

The "revised eighth edition" wasn't revised very carefully... Surely in 2008, readers didn't need an explanation of the word "internet"? And these paragraphs made me laugh:

"Artwork can be inserted in your report in two ways... In the traditional pasteup method, you simply leave space for the art. Before reproducing the copy on a duplicating machine, you paste the artwork in place. In an electronic pasteup, you will have the entire document on disk and can make a copy or copies from the printer."

"Reports printed only in black, and always against a white background, are rapidly becoming as old fashioned as black and white television sets. Today’s technology can make full colour printing a reality."

[Steven De Landtsheer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am going to be short on this book. I think this a descent help to "writing a report". The big plus of this book, is that is approaches the topic systematically and is therefore handy for further use and reference. Personally, I feel that I have learnt little from it's content, therfore the moderate scoring.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful book about preparing and writing effective reports.