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Business Reports That Grab People’s Attention
Writing a report for work? Make sure both your co-workers and bosses pay enough attention to flesh out the details, instead of just giving it a glance, leaving your proposals and recommendations in incompletely-informed hands. If you don’t consider yourself and find the task overwhelming, here are a few tips to hopefully help you out.
1. Organization
If your company has a standard for reports, make sure to follow them diligently – the more familiar your readers will be to your format, the easier it will be to read through your material. If there isn’t, try to review similar reports you’ve seen in the past and decide which ones got the best results inside your organization. Follow that.
2. Paragraph presentation
If your report isn’t required reading, laying out paragraphs in an easy-to-read format can make or break your report. As such, follow news article standards by employing short paragraphs, each with a maximum of five sentences. Make sure ideas flow from one to the other.
3. Sections
Arrange each portion of the report into sections. If it doesn’t look tacky, give each major idea its own section.
4. Graphs and tables
Make ample use of graphs and tables to elucidate figures – they’re very much appreciated. If you’re using graphs and tables to illustrate facts, always integrate them within the body of text, instead of forcing your reader to refer to an appendix. You can use an appendix to duplicate all the graphs and tables so they’re all in one place, if needed.
5. Editing
Like most any form of writing, never send out a first draft. Perform due diligence and run it through a capable English writing software to improve your report’s legibility. Double-check facts, especially charts and tables, to ensure accuracy. The last thing you want is to pass off a suggestion based on false numbers – that’s one of the easiest way to get fired fast.
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