REPORT

WRITING
AND
REFERENCING
What is a Report?
A report is a specific form of writing that is
organized around concisely identifying and
examining issues, events, or findings that have
happened in a physical sense, such as events
that have occurred within an organization, or
findings from a research investigation.
(Massey University, 2010)
Sections of a Reports
Preliminary Section
Title Page
Acknowledgment
Executive Summary/ Abstract
TOC, TOF
Main Body
Introduction
Body
Conclusion/ Recommendation (If any)
Supplementary Section
References/ Bibliography
Appendix
Glossary

Title Page
Should consist of a concise yet informative title
for the report.
EG:
Sales Performance Report for the 4
th
Quarter
(Oct-Dec) , 2011. (Quarter =3 months)
Employee Performance report for the Year 2012
Should Indicate the Author of the Report (Who
has done the report)
By John Smith, By the Department of Sales, By
the Faculty of Information Technology, By ICBT.
Table of Contents, Table/List of
Figures, List of Tables
TOC Should Consist of the Headings/
Subheadings of the report along with the
respective Page number.
Eg: 1. Executive Summary 03
2. Introduction 04
2.1. Background 04
2.2. Description to the Problem 05
3. Literature Review 06-
10
TOF, LOT Figures and Tables in the report
(Indicated the figure/table number and the
Title) with the respective Page number.

Executive Summary
This is the overview of the Report.
Should express as much as possible in
the fewest words. (Weaver and Weaver,
1977)
Should be self sufficient and can be
understood in isolation.
Written last and not more than one page
Should consist of problem description,
methodology used, main points,
conclusion and recommendation.
Introduction
Introduction to the report
Provides background information to the reader.
The introduction includes:
the background to the topic of your report to set your
work in its broad context
a clear statement of the purpose of the report, usually
to present the results of your research, investigation,
or design
a clear statement of the aims of the project
technical background necessary to understand the
report; e.g. theory or assumptions
a brief outline of the structure of the report if
appropriate (this would not be necessary in a short
report)
(Monash university, 2011)

Report Body
Main parts of the report where details will be
presented.
Should maintain a logical flow.
Use concise and informative headings and
subheadings
Can use
Figures and tables
Bulleted lists
Paragraphs
Conclusion
Provides an effective ending to the report.
Provide a brief summary of the report
Should relate to the aim of the report/
investigation. State whether objectives,
aim achieved or not.
Provide the outcomes and your
conclusion.
Recommendation
Optional
If there are any areas to be improved
or identified problems, can provide
action plan/ solutions as
recommendations.
Appendices
Materials which are relevant but too
detailed to go into the report body can be
included under appendices.
Each appendix need to be numbered.
Each appendix must be referred to by
using the number in the relevant section of
the report.
Formatting guidelines
Number headings. Subheadings
Eg: 2. Background
2.1. Problem behavior
Font
Size: 12pt for normal text, 14pt for headings
Type: Serif for hardcopy (TNR), san serif for
softcopy(Arial)
Page layout
Margins : 1.5 left , 1 right, Top, Bottom
Line spacing: 1.5
Page numbering: bottom, right
Preliminary section roman numbers (I, II, etc.)
Main body and supplementary Arabic numbers (1,2,3,
etc.)
Tables and figures
Heading of the table/ figure on the top
Source on the bottom.
Eg: Table 1.1: Sales information for last quarter.
Source: Annual report , 2010
Tables and figures
Figure 1.2: Relational model explaining the factors affecting business incubators
Source : Peters, Rice and Sundaralingam (2004)
REFERENCING USING
HARVARD SYSTEM
Citation and Referencing
citation is stating the sources you have
referred in the body of your work.
Referencing is providing certain information of
the sources you have cited.
Reference list is a collection of reference
entries provide at the very end of the report
(before the appendix)
Why Referencing?
German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu
Guttenberg has temporarily renounced his
doctorate title following accusations of
plagiarism.
Source : BBC, 2011
Why Referencing?
To avoid Plagiarism
To produce a legitimate piece of work (i.e. not
subject to copyright laws)
To give credits to the original authors
To show the breadth and the depth of the
research.
To enable to reader to locate the related
sources easily.
Reference Vs Bibliography
Reference the sources you have specifically
used, cited in your report.

Bibliography - the sources you may have just
referred and may be important to the reader
but, not used in the report body.
Harvard Referencing System
Author-date system
Two parts
In-text citation (in the text)
Reference list (in the final section of the report)
Most commonly used referencing system for
academic writing across the word.
In-text citation
The citation given in the body of the
report.
Eg: According to Daft (2000, p.34)
management is a process of planning,
organizing
Management can be considered as a
process of . (Daft, 2000, p34)
As stated by Porter and Armstrong (2006)
Marketing mix ..
Citing different Sources
Printed book with one author
Authors surname Published year, page no(if
required)
Eg: (Porter, 2005, p.55) or Porter(2005,p.55)

Printed book with two authors
Authors surnames separated with and
published year, page no (if required)
Eg: (Porter and Armstrong, 2005,p.55) or
Porter and Armstrong (2005,p.55)

Citing different Sources
Printed book with more than two authors
First Authors surname et al Published year,
page no(if required)
Eg: (Porter et al., 2005, p.55) or Porter et
al(2005,p.55)

Secondary sources
surnames of the original author (cited in
surname/s of the author/s of the cited source ,
publishes year, page no (if required))
Eg: Porter (cited in Armstrong, 2005,p.55)

Citing different Sources
More than one work of the Author in the same year
Use a,b,c, etc. along with the surname of the author.
Eg: (Porter, 2005a, p.55) (Porter, 2005b, p.45)

Authors Name unknown
Anon(published year)
Eg: Anon(2005)

Published year unknown
Authors surname (n.d.)
Eg: Porter(n.d.)

Citing different Sources
A website
Author/ Authorship/webpage published year
Eg: BCS, 2011 or BCS(2011)


Quotations
If a direct quote need to be used from a
source, quotation marks should be
included.
As stated by Porter (2005) Business
strategy can be defined as a long term plan
designed to achieve desired future
objectives.

Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is using your own words to
express someone else's ideas whilst still
preserving the main ideas of the original
source. (UNSW, 2008)
Reference List
For each source cited, there should be a
reference entry under reference list.

Book reference
Article reference
Electronic material reference
Books
With one author
Authors surname, initials. (Year of publication)
Title (Edition if not first edition). Place of
publication: Publisher.
Eg: Porter, M. (2005) Developing a business
strategy (3
rd
edition). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Two authors
More than two authors
Articles in Journals
Author of paper. (Year of publication) Title of
paper/Article. Title of journal. Volume number,
(Part number if any), Page numbers.

Eg: Akers, E.L. and Agah, A. (2008) Design and
simulation of a polar mobile robot. Journal of
intelligent systems, 17(25), 379-404.
Electronic Books
Authors name. (Year of publication) Title
[online] (Edition if not first edition).Place of
publication: Publisher. Available from: URL.
[Accessed date].

Eg: Porter, M. (2009) Developing a business
strategy [online] Poughkeepsie NY :Vassar
College. Available from:
http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/intro.html
[Accessed 1 May 2012].
Electronic Journals
Author of paper. (Year of publication) Title of
paper. Title of journal [online], Volume number,
(Part number if any), Page numbers. Available
from: URL [Accessed date]

Eg: Larus, J. and Kozyrakis, C. (2008)
Transactional memory. Communications of the
ACM [online], 51(7), 80-88. Available from:
http://mags.acm.org/communications/ [Accessed
1 May 2012].
Printed newspaper article
Authors name. (Year of publication). Title of article.
Name of newspaper. Day and month, Page number(s),
(Column number).
*The column number is optional.

Eg: Burrell, I. (2009). Broadband for every household by
2012. The Independent. 30 January, p15.
References
Monash university . 2011. Report writing: planning to write a report [online]
available at: http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/quickrefs/15-report-
writing.xml [accessed 12
th
May 2011].

Unlearning. 2000. Uni learning report writing [online] available at:
http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/report/4bi.html [accessed 12
th
May 2011].

Anglia Ruskin University. 2011. Harvard referencing guide. [pdf] Available at:
http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/files/Harvard_referencing_2011.pdf
[accessed 15
th
October 2011]


THANK YOU