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.

As a rule, all numbers smaller than 10 are usually spelled out in words.  Filling your copy with single digit numerals will just leave your paragraphs looking odd – as if you’re poring through a math textbook instead of whatever it is you’re actually composing.   Similarly try to avoid starting sentences with a number.  If you must to do it, spell out the number in words, regardless of how long it is.

Apart from the above, there aren’t really any other hard-and-fast guideline in the English language for writing out numbers, which means every other way of implementing them into your documents will likely be accepted without any objections from an English writing software.  There are quite a few things you can do, however, to make sure your emails, reports and other business materials read considerably better.

One word numbers (ten, fifty) typically read better in the middle of sentences when spelled out.  Anything longer will need to be written in their numeric format.  While commas are not mandatory, using them will improve your text’s readability, especially when your document includes plenty of large numbers.

Any rounded number over a million needs to be written using a number along with a word (e.g. $2 billion).  Writing all those zeros, especially if you don’t use commas, can be quite painful to the eyes.  In a similar way, sentences where two numbers need to be written next to each other best work either spelled out or done in combination (e.g. one $15,000 check).

If you’ve found it hard to construct your paragraphs without running into either one of the two problems above, you can use this brief guide to help you manage them  a bit more easily.

1.  Start with a topic sentence

Always include a topic sentence that expresses the main idea you will expound on explicitly.  That helps prepare the reader for what is to come, as well as avoid any confusion as they read through it.  For academic-type work as well as business reports, it always works best to begin each paragraph with the topic sentence.

2. Use the paragraph to expand on your topic sentence

With a topic sentence clearly in place, the rest of the paragraph’s job is to spell it out in detail.  If a particular sentence or statement doesn’t support any of the issues in your topic sentence, consider leaving it out or moving it elsewhere in the copy.

3. Arrange the paragraph in a logical sequence

Use a logical progression in writing out your paragraphs, presenting your ideas in a recognizable pattern (e.g. cause and effect) instead of throwing out statements in a disjointed manner.  Use descriptive language to demonstrate each connection.

4. Keep it to reasonable lengths

For academic work, business documents and prose, long sentences spanning up to an entire page in length is usually acceptable.  It is highly frowned upon in other forms of writing, though (such as magazines, blogs and newspapers), especially where a large number of readers will be involved.   If you feel your paragraph running a little too long, try breaking it down further by cutting it off at logical points.  Look for sections where some of the focus changes as potential candidates for splitting your paragraph.

English writing software, for the most part, can catch common grammar errors.  It can even give suggestions when you’re trying to write in a particular style.  We all know, though, that good writing is more than just about avoiding double negatives and bad punctuation.  In many ways, writing well has to do with clarity and how well you impart your message.

Here’s a little secret: you can intentionally write the most garbled statements using flawless grammar and fool any writing software into thinking that you’re writing is good.  It sucks, but it’s true.  When you’re using English grammar software to help you, put faith that it can clean up bad entries in your copy, but it won’t change the core ideas that you use to express your message – that bit is all up to you.

All software are based on algorithms.  The best English grammar software are usually derived from “learning” systems that read millions of different copy (from newspapers to business reports to blog posts) and processes those input to develop its core set of good practices.

Personally, I’ve seen what grammar software can do with large writing projects and I’m amazed with its results.  If you take care of the job at your end, making sure your ideas express your message the best it can, the software can usually manage the rest.

Purpose

The most important part of any business report is its intended purpose.  Is it aimed at educating the stockholders about the company’s current standing?  Is the goal to clarify the technical details of a project to the more senior staff members in a way that they can appreciate?

Resolve the purpose of your business report and work on it from there.

Facts

A business report thrives on facts.  As such, you will need to organize your data and put all your information in order. Clear and unambiguous presentation of the details is key – spend the most time on it.

Form and Structure

Due to its straightforward quality and lack of creative requirements,  writing a business report usually doesn’t necessitate a strong grasp of the English language.  The fact that mastery isn’t required, however, doesn’t give you permission to turn it into a mess of grammar and spelling.

To ensure that your report exhibits at least a modicum of professionalism, always run it through a capable English writing software.  With the help of a polished grammar correction tool, you’ll guarantee that your report will be read for its content, without the structure ever getting in the way.

Writing a business report is actually quite straightforward.  Before you even start writing careful consideration has to be given to the purpose of the report, i.e. why has it been requested or why is it expected?  What kind of information is it supposed to convey?  How long is it expected to be?

Always ensure that you make a business report factual.  Do not make claims that are not true and only state something which you can back up with facts.  For example, if sales figures were up by 75% then you can boast that they were excellent.  But if they were only up by 5% then be honest and say so.  You may want to include some reasons why the figure is disappointing, but always be honest.

The best reports are those which cover the good and the bad news.  So even if the report is basically a good news story it is also helpful to look at any potential threats to the business and so help prepare a strategy to make sure that the business is prepared and therefore much better protected.

Ensure that any business report is also correct in terms of grammar as well as using proper punctuation.  Any glaring errors will simply make the report look as if it was not written by a professional and the message which the report should be conveying may be confused and muddled.  A good grammar and punctuation check, as well as a final proofread and edit will be well worth the time taken since they will help polish your report into a first class document.