APA style and citations for dummies - Joe Giampalmi 2021

APA report writing: creating and organizing
Perfecting specialized writings: APA reports
Perfecting presentation: beginnings, endings, and other writings

In this chapter

Making information meaningful

Harvesting reports

Turning to experts for important lessons

Reporting for school and work

You’ve been reading reports since your first report card in kindergarten. That first academic report was a treasure that someone in your family may still possess today. Reports are the ATMs of the writing genre: They perform a variety of services at a high level of efficiency.

You’ve been writing reports since your first book report as an elementary school student. Those early reports included an introduction, body, and conclusion — similar to the structure of reports you’re writing today. The content of your first report was information, also similar to reports you’re writing today. Writing and reading reports represents a skill you’ll carry with you throughout your academic life, your career, and your personal life.

In this chapter I guide you through creating and organizing more than a dozen reports and adapting APA’s writing style and formatting to those reports. I also model language representative of various sections of reports. The purpose of this chapter is to focus on information, information, and information. Report writing represents the last APA-specialized writing genre in this book. Finish strong, and I hope you earn yourself a good report in your course.

APA report writing: creating and organizing

Reports are like cereal; they come in a variety of packages, appearances, and content, but they’re still breakfast. Reports contain a variety of structural elements. No two are alike, but all are focused on information. They’re built on the foundation of writing research papers, essays, and reviews of literature. They require research, narrative explanation, and laser focus on answering questions.

Some professors, especially in content areas, use the terms “report” and “essay” interchangeably, but these terms represent two ends of the genre spectrum. Be sure to clarify what your professor is asking for. Reports are common in business, science, technical courses, and in the workplace. Essays are common in literacy courses.

At this point in your life, you’ve read more reports than you’ve written: academic reports, health reports, credit reports, government reports, product reviews, employee evaluations, but hopefully not too many police reports. Report writing represents one of the most practical and valued writing genres today. Among modern businesses, institutions, and organizations, reports represent a valued intellectual property. They solve problems, establish policy, determine budgets, evaluate programs, manage spending, update projects, disseminate information, determine feasibility, recommend action, investigate incidents, and upgrade processes.

Think of report-writing as career-building skills and money-making skills, one of the best investments you can make in your future. The next few sections guide you through the why and how of report writing.

Eyeing the purpose and benefits of reports

A report is a focused package of information for a specific audience, organized into manageable sections. Table 17-1 breaks down the types of questions that different reports answer.

More than most types of writing, reports offer benefits for both the writer and the reader, because the writer is usually a member of the audience that benefits from the report. Reports are designed to systematically lead readers through information and present content in an easily retrievable format.

TABLE 17-1 Determining the type of report

Benefits of reports include the following:

· Establish record-keeping and outcomes of major issues.

· Record a history of successes and failures.

· Communicate the development of projects.

· Determine future actions needed for improvement.

· Identify expectations.

Examining report characteristics

Writing reports is a requirement of academic life — from elementary-school book reports to workplace sales reports. They appear in a variety of sizes and formats; the following sections examine the characteristics of reports.

As you can see in the section, “APA Report Writing: Specializing and Personalizing,” later in this chapter, research reports differ from research papers as lightning bolts differ from lightning rods.

Unless your professor specifies otherwise, assigned academic reports are written formally and analytically for internal audiences — readers within the organization — and vertical audiences — readers up and down the organizational structure. Ask questions to clarify your audience.

Report length

One of your early report decisions is determining your report’s length. Can you develop your workplace topic with eight or nine pages and limited optional features, or does the significance require more pages of development with additional supporting information?

Long reports extend to ten or more pages, and sometimes as many as 30 or more pages. The extended length requires organizational options such as a table of contents, executive summary, transmittal memo, and APA’s five-level heading strategies (see Chapter 14).

They may also require a glossary, appendices, tables and figures, and links to audio and video clips. Longer reports are written in a formal tone and are commonly assigned in business courses. College short reports generally run from six to eight pages.

Formal or informal

Academic and organizational reports are structured formally and written in a formal tone. An informal tone is acceptable for reports within a small group or team. If you’re unsure of which tone to use, prefer formal.

Internal or external

Internal reports are disseminated within an organization, and external reports are disseminated outside the organization. These two specialized audiences require distinctive tone, language, formality, and content. Misidentifying audiences can be as costly as giving the wrong person your credit card information.

Vertical or horizontal

Vertical reports are disseminated throughout the hierarchy of an organization. The writer’s supervisor and supervisor’s supervisor read vertical reports. Horizontal reports are disseminated throughout a department or across similar departments.

Informational or analytical

Informational reports communicate data with or without analysis. They include monthly reports, update reports, budget reports, and new information reports. Analytical reports add meaning to data for the purpose of supporting a position or recommending a plan of action. Analytical reports include recommendation reports, proposal reports, sales and marketing reports, and research reports.

Why write reports

You may never write an essay after you graduate from college, but in most careers, report writing is as common as receiving a paycheck. Writing reports in college resembles what you’ll do in the workplace. Reports in the workplace influence budgeting, policy, staffing, performance, and work conditions. Writing reports represents the staff development of an organization or institution. Organizations that write reports demonstrate an openness to solve problems and capitalize on their successes. Reports written by employees show an organization’s respect for its workforce.