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REPORT WRITING. Colin Neville EFFECTIVE LEARNING SERVICE. REPORT Analyses real and current or past events/situations Presentation style different to a traditional essay, e.g. can include bullet points, sub-headings, graphs, charts. ESSAY
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REPORT WRITING Colin Neville EFFECTIVE LEARNING SERVICE
REPORT Analyses real and current or past events/situations Presentation style different to a traditional essay, e.g. can include bullet points, sub-headings, graphs, charts ESSAY Allows you to pursue hypothetical possibilities and arguments A traditional essay does not have sub-headings, bullet points, graphs, charts etc. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A REPORT & AN ESSAY:
A REPORT CAN: • Describe • Analyse • Summarise • Criticise or praise • Make predictions based on.. PAST EVENTS
BEST REPORT WRITING STRUCTURE & STYLE: • Language is plain and clear • Breaks items up into sections and sub-sections • Gives precise detail, backed up with evidence • Is not afraid to be critical of the reporting issue • Will make clear recommendations, if appropriate
REPORT STRUCTURE: Classic5 Point Structure • Introduction • Background • Development • Discussion • Conclusion/Summary/Recommendations
Example: Call Centre Report • Introduction: • Tells reader what to expect; sets the parameters (focus on UK, then narrows to give local examples; defines terms
Example: Call Centre Report • Background: • Historical, technological and economic perspectives to explain growth. • Geographical perspective: UK, Yorkshire (South & West) then moves to one location: Bradford. • Presentation to the reader is still largely descriptive in nature: statistics are presented; facts are presented. • The point is established: that call centres in Britain are big players, in terms of numbers employed.
Example: Call Centre Report • Development: • The report moves away from macro overview to start to look at the way work is organised in call centres. • Toward the end of the section it becomes more analytical. • It distinguishes between different types of call centre and sets the scene for a more analytical discussion on working conditions in call centres.
Example: Call Centre Report • Discussion • Reasons why customer and staff related problems have arisen • Future of the call centre industry: offers a a revision to gloomy forecasts in late 1990s. • However, it looks at threat to UK employment from outsourcing; presents evidence from USDAW - but encourages caution about findings because of possible bias; concludes that the findings need to be tested by other research • Discussion broadened: by trying to understand why problems occur in overseas call centres • It moves towards a conclusion with a prediction of what might happen in the future, based on a UK government (DTI) report.
Example: Call Centre Report • Conclusion The report attempts to summarise some of the key points that were made earlier in the report; finishes on an important point
Includes References (Harvard Style) REFERENCES BBC (2004) Brassed Off Britain: Call Centres, [online] http://www.bbc.co.uk/bob/callcentres/ (accessed 09/08/2004). Business Strategies (2000) Tomorrow’s Call Centres: a research study [online] www.business-strategies.co.uk (accessed 02/01/2001). DTI: Department for Trade and Industry (2004) The UK Contact Centre Industry: a study’, London: Department for Trade and Industry. E-Logistics (2003) Call centres - an inexorable flight? [online] at http://www.elogmag.com/magazine/29/call-centres.shtml, accessed 20/6/04. Huws, U (1996) Teleworking: an Overview of the Research. Analytical Social & Economic Research ltd. DS: Income Data Services (1998) [online] ww.incomesdata.co.uk/index.html (accessed 20/06/2004). Management Issues (2005) ‘Call Centres are Modern Day Satanic Mills’ [online] http://www.management-issues.com/display_page.asp?section=research&id=1063 (accessed 20/07/2005) ‘The Observer’ 07/12/2003, Bombay Calling..(p.19) Manchester: Guardian Group Newspapers. PSU: Policy Research Unit (1996) Shaping the Future: an economic & labour market assessment of Yorkshire & Humberside. Leeds Metropolitan University/ Leeds Training & Enterprise Council. ‘Telegraph & Argus’, 21/06/2004, Bradford: Newsquest Media Group. USDAW (2004) [online] at www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=442, (accessed 20/06/2004).