Reporting Food Security Information

Writing Effective Reports Learning Objectives

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At the end of this lesson you will be able to: understand the principles for writing introductions, conclusions and executive summaries;

recognize techniques to organize and explain your information;

understand techniques for writing clear and concise sentences; and understand how to effectively edit your documents.

Reporting Food Security Information

Writing Effective Reports Introduction
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The structure and language of your report should engage your readers easily and convincingly.

But how do you choose the most appropriate way to organize your information?

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Writing Effective Reports
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Writing the introduction, conclusion and summary

Every report needs an effective introduction and conclusion. But what information should it contain, and how much?

Executive summary

Introduction

The same is true of executive summaries, with the additional question: Do I need one at all?

Main body

Conclusion

Reporting Food Security Information

Writing Effective Reports
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Writing the introduction, conclusion and summary

The introduction is like a business card. It is your first and best chance to engage your audience.

Executive summary

Introduction The main question to ask is: Main body What are most important events that have led to the writing of this report?

Conclusion

Reporting Food Security Information

Writing Effective Reports
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Writing the introduction, conclusion and summary

A good introduction leads the reader from general knowledge into details. It should also do at least three specific things for the reader: 1

Executive summary

Introduction

Create a context shared by the reader and the writer

Main body

Clearly establish the purpose of the report

Conclusion

Describe the organization of the report

Reporting Food Security Information

Writing Effective Reports
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Writing the introduction, conclusion and summary

The conclusion gives you one last chance to move your reader in the direction you choose.
Executive summary

Techniques for effective conclusions: Recommend actions Repeat the major points Main body Summarize the entire document Re-emphasize the importance of the topic Create a sense of ending Conclusion Introduction

Reporting Food Security Information

Writing Effective Reports
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Writing the introduction, conclusion and summary

An executive summary is a brief description of a reports most relevant contents.

Executive summary

If your report is well written and organized, you will:

review what youve written, extract the most essential ideas, and include them into the summary.

Introduction

Main body

Conclusion

The executive summary should include what you want the reader to remember.

Reporting Food Security Information

Writing Effective Reports
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Writing the introduction, conclusion and summary

An executive summary must answer the questions that decisions makers will look for on the report. Therefore, keep this list in mind: Executive Summary What is the problem? What does it need to be solved? How should it be solved?

What are the benefits of solving it in this way?

Reporting Food Security Information

Writing Effective Reports
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Organization and explanation techniques

How to organize and explain your information?

There are three common schemes (or sequences) that can help you: The inductive sequence begins with specific details and uses them to build up to a general conclusion or recommendation.

The deductive pattern is the opposite of the inductive pattern.

The space/time pattern arranges information according to the sequence in which you or your readers might encounter it in the real world.

Reporting Food Security Information

Writing Effective Reports
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Organization and explanation techniques

Within the organizing schemes, there are essentially six techniques for explaining your information: Example An example makes a general idea concrete, by giving one or more specific instances. An analogy is a type of example, which compares one thing to another. A definition uniquely identifies something.

Analogy
Definition Categorization
Comparison and contrast

Categorization is taking information and dividing it into distinct parts. Comparison and contrast illustrates the similarities and differences, respectively. Cause and effect explains why something happened.

Cause and effect

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Writing Effective Reports
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Writing clear and concise sentences

Your writing style needs to be: clear, explicit, and to move along quickly and logically. A high level of readability can be reached by incorporating: clarity, economy and straightforwardness into your writing. (especially at the sentence level)

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Writing Effective Reports
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Writing clear and concise sentences

To measure readability, ask yourself the following questions:

Will my reader be able to understand what I have just stated by reading the sentence quickly?
Will my reader be able to understand what I have just stated without having to go back and re-read parts of it? Will my reader run out of breath in the middle of the sentence?

Have I used a big word when a little word will suffice?

Is there more than one idea in my sentence? Are there any words (particularly adjectives and adverbs) that I can remove?

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Writing Effective Reports
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Writing clear and concise sentences

Example of a sentence: The area of communication that the focal points are interested in learning more about is along the line of technical reports used in agriculture and government.

The same sentence improved:

The focal points would like to learn more about technical reports used in agriculture and government.

Please look at the annex Writing readable sentences to learn about important techniques for improved readability.

Reporting Food Security Information

Writing Effective Reports
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Editing your documents

Once you have completed a draft of your report, you will need to review it carefully.
Here are some of the elements to pay attention to:

Spelling
Punctuation Sequencing of paragraphs/ideas Missing information

Repetition of information
Dense, heavy sentences Clarity of the message Politically sensitive issues

Format
Unnecessary information Logical sequence of sentences

Paragraph coherence
Unnecessary word repetition Grammatical mistakes

Reporting Food Security Information

Writing Effective Reports
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Editing your documents

An optimal editing process has three stages:

Conceptual/structural stage

Linguistic stage

Proofreading/format stage

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Writing Effective Reports
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Editing your documents

Conceptual/structural stage In this first stage you are simply reading quickly the document.

You should only be focusing on the following elements from the previous chart:

Clarity of message Sequencing of paragraphs/ideas Missing information Unnecessary information Repetition of information

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Writing Effective Reports
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Editing your documents

Linguistic stage

The linguistic editing is the time-consuming stage, since you are carefully reading the document, word by word, and asking yourself, Do I like the way that I have expressed this idea?
You will be focusing on the following elements from the chart:

Dense, heavy sentences Clarity of the message Politically sensitive issues Unnecessary word fodder and repetition Logical sequence of sentences

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Writing Effective Reports
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Editing your documents

Proofreading/format stage

Proofreading is simply checking for mistakes. You will be focusing on the following elements from the chart:

Spelling Punctuation Grammar

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Writing Effective Reports Summary
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A good introduction should clearly establish the purpose of the report and forecast the organization of the report. Techniques for providing effective conclusions are: recommending actions, repeating the major points, summarizing the entire document, re-emphasizing the importance of the topic. You will use inductive, deductive and/or space/time schemes to organize your information and various techniques for explaining your information. Incorporating clarity into your writing, especially at the sentence level, can help you establish a high level of readability.

An optimal editing process has three stages: conceptual/structural stage, linguistic stage and proofreading/format stage.