Steps for Preparing a Report

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WRITING A REPORT

“The test of a book,” said Ernest Hemingway, “is how much good stuff you can throw away.” He added that anything that does not have the ring of hard truth, that seems the least bit overdone, must go into the wastebasket. Deep feelings about something written in words that stay with the reader -- this is the goal of a good writer.

We can’t all gain the fame that Hemingway knew as a writer. He worked hard and long at perfecting his skill. We can all learn how to write a short paper, however, long before we get into Hemingway’s class. Almost all of us can learn to write a clear, interesting account about something we have read, heard, or seen. Let’s see how you might go about this job.

Steps for Preparing a Report

Choose the right subject. To begin with, you need to select a subject you know something about. One authority says such a choice may be the most important decision you make in planning and writing your composition. You can’t write about the growing of figs unless you know how figs are grown. However, you can get information from books, from talks with fig growers, or from growing figs yourself.

Limit your subject. Don’t try to cover too much ground in your paper. Young writers often butt their heads against this wall without getting anything more that a sore head for their trouble. As Warriner says, “Probably more student compositions turn out badly because their subjects are too broad than for any other reason.”.

Narrow your subject down. Write about the kind of soil fig trees like or how figs are prepared for the market. You can’t cover the whole like of a fig, from seedling to fig sauce, in two hundred words, not matter how skilled you become as a writer.

Prepare a preliminary outline. Jot down the major topics you expect to cover. This is the preliminary outline. It consists only of a number of topic headings. No subpoints need to be included.

Prepare bibliography cards. After you select a subject and prepare your preliminary outline, you must find out where you can obtain the information you need. For most students, books and articles will furnish the needed help.

As you find books and articles that appear to be helpful, write their titles on cards. On each card, write complete information about a single reference so the card can be used later to prepare the footnotes and bibliography for your paper.

Read and take notes. Start your reading. As you read, take notes. Record important facts, ideas, and quotations on note cards so that you can refer to them as you write your paper.

Each note card should be given a heading which describes the notes. Use one of the main headings of your preliminary outline, if you can, to identify each card. Write each note on a separate card. In every case, indicate the page number and reference from which the note was taken.

Prepare the final outline. When you have taken notes on all your readings, organize your cards in some order. This will usually be determined by the order of the points in the preliminary outline. You may find that some of the main points should now be changed. Try to group the cards under each major point into two or more subgroups. These will make up the subpoints of your outline.

Remember that an outline shows clearly what points are the most important as well as those that are less important. The Roman numerals show the chief ideas. The capital letters and Arabic numerals give details under the main points.

Steps for Writing a Report

Write the first draft. The first writing of a paper will usually not be the final one. Present the material you have collected. Don’t worry too much about words, spelling, and typing mistakes.

Revise the first draft. When the first draft has been completed, check it for wording and mistakes. Mark your corrections with a pen or pencil. Careful writers read and correct their copy two or three times to make sure that their papers read well. It is recommended that you do this too.

Prepare the final copy. Good appearance in papers is important. Follow accepted rules for typing the final copy. Pay close attention to margins, placement of footnotes, and other similar details.

Prepare the title page and bibliography. Long, formal reports usually have a title page and bibliography. The title page contains the name of the report and its writer. The bibliography contains titles of references that have been consulted.

It will pay you to learn how to write clear, interest-holding papers. It’s not an easy job, but with a plan to guide you and some practice, you can turn out good work on your typewriter.