The most substantive part of a formal report is the body; thus, you’ll want to compose the body with care to effectively convey your research. Following the body are back matter components, including conclusions, recommendations, appendixes, and the works cited or references section. Familiarize yourself with these back matter components to create a well-organized and complete formal report.

Read the scenario, and then answer the question.

Your colleague is preparing a formal report on how the Millennial generation uses Internet search engines. This is his first formal report, and he asks you what the purpose of the body section should be.

1. What should you tell your colleague?

The purpose of the body is to make suggestions for solving the report problem.

The purpose of the body is to provide materials that are relevant to only some readers.

The purpose of the body is to show the evidence that justifies your conclusions.

2. Conclusions explain what the findings mean in terms of (defining the scope / identifying relevant sources / solving the original problem) .

3. What should the recommendations section include?

Definitions of key terms

Who commissioned the report

Information describing how to implement each recommendation

4. Which of the following might you include in the appendix of a formal report? Check all that apply.

Copies of other reports

A works cited list

Survey forms

Data tables

Definitions of key terms

Formal business reports involve considerable effort in all three phases of the writing process. Be sure to follow best practices and writing tips when writing formal reports.

Read the scenario, and then answer the questions.

You are attending a workshop on how to compose formal reports. You are required to write down the main problem you had while composing your report. After everyone has written his or her problem down, the instructor reads them out loud to the class and asks for advice for the writer.

5. What is the best advice to give the writer who had to backtrack?

Write rapidly and don’t go back and revise.

Start writing as you begin to collect your data.

Do not begin writing until you’ve collected all the data and drawn primary conclusions.

6. What is the best advice to give the writer who has many mechanical errors and lost three pages of the report when his computer crashed?

Write rapidly and revise as you go.

Use your computer’s spell check and grammar check features, and save your work regularly.

Handwrite your report in addition to typing it on a computer.