Structure
A report is highly factual and informs the reader rather than trying to make them feel or react in a particular way.
A report typically uses subheadings, to organise the text. There might also be statistics, graphs or evidence to support the text. Bullet points could be used to highlight key information to the reader.
Language
The language in a report is objective. It states facts rather than attempting to manipulate the reader’s emotions.
The purpose is usually to provide the reader with relevant information in an ordered way. Therefore, the vocabulary should be Standard Englishand straightforward, presenting the topic precisely.
Here’s a report about the catering services at a school. Notice the use of subheadings to focus each area of the reporter’s findings.
Report: Little Gotham Catering Services
Overview
The report found that most areas of the catering facilities were adequate or exceeding expectations for their purpose. Inspections were carried out at each stage of the service process, including a customer satisfaction survey. The report includes strengths of the service provided, and recommended areas of improvement.
Preparation and hygiene standards
All staff followed a strict hygiene policy prior to handling any food. Raw and cooked foods are prepared in separate areas of the kitchen, using the regulation stated chopping boards and equipment for the food in question. Prepared food is checked rigorously for expiry dates and additional marks or signs of the food being at an inedible stage.
Quality control and nutritional value
All dishes present on the menu are checked both at ingredient quantity stages, and also at tasting for salt content and temperature. Food is circulated every eight minutes, with any food out on the service floor for a period that exceeded eight minutes being disposed of immediately.
On more than one occasion, food was not checked for content before service; for example, meat/vegetable ratio in the winter stew, or custard measurement for dessert dishes.
Service and customer satisfaction
Service is both efficient and polite. All staff are available to respond to customer needs and queries. During the survey, many customers made personal reference to particular members of staff - this shows that staff have built up rapport over a long period of time.
The only area of concern was that the condiment and cutlery drawer was not replenished on regular occasions to meet customer demand.
Summary of findings
Overall, the catering service is clearly a business that has high expectations of its staff, and consistently uses strict policy and guidelines regarding food preparation and hygiene to ensure that customers received a high quality of service.
The only points of recommendation that the report would like to put forward are:
more rigorous quality control of portion sizes
ensure staff responsibilities during service are clear so that customer demand (eg for condiments) is met
The writer has used subheadings to highlight the areas of focus within the report. The writer also uses signposting sentences at the beginning of each paragraph. Notice in the structure of the third paragraph - negative areas are mentioned only after the positive findings have been included. The report ends with a clear summary of the report findings, and a bullet-pointed list of general recommendations to end.
