BASIC PRINCIPLES OF WRITING A REPORT

Allocation of marks for Question 1

 Task fulfillment – 20 marks

 Language and organization – 20 marks
 Total 40 marks

Format

 Title
 Introduction
 Overall view / overall trend
 Analysis and synthesis
 Conclusion

Candidates are advised to carefully observe the following:

Numerical data

Example: %, frequency of events, ranking or items, etc

Differences and similarities

 Higher / highest
 Lower / lowest
 Busier / busiest
 Least / less / more / most (popular)
 Least / most (favourite)
 Least / less / more / most (expensive)
 More / fewer
 Has good / average / poor rating (s)
 Ranked first / second, etc.

Change in the trend

Normal change / movement

 Increase(s) / increased
 Rise(s) / rose
 Climb(s) / climbed
 Grow(s) / grew
 Decrease(s) / decreased
 Drop(s) / dropped
 Decline(s) / declined
 Fall(s) / fell from…to
 Go(es) / went down
  An increase of…
 A rise of…
 A growth of…
 An upward trend
 A decrease of
 A drop of
 A downward trend

 Remain(s) / remained unchanged

 Remain(s) / remained constant
at
 Stay(s) / stayed constant
 Maintain (s) / maintained
 Level (s) out / levelled out

Drastic change / movement

 Dip(s) / dipped
 Slump(s) / slumped
 Plummet(s) / plummeted
 Boom(s) / boomed
 A dramatic rise from…to
 A dramatic fall
 A sudden increase
 A sudden decrease
 Fluctuate(s) / fluctuated
 Peak(s) / peaked at

Items of comparison

 Percentage
 Food outlet
 Number of
 Expensive
 Favourite
 Profitable
 Popular
 Score
 Opportunities

Expressions showing preference

 Preferred…to
 Liked…more than
 Enjoyed…more than
 Favoured…more than
THE REPORT WRITING CONVENTION
Title
This may be extracted either from the given
instruction or found in the titles of the given
visuals. The number of words written in the
title is not counted in the word count.
Introduction
A complete introduction clearly mentions the
charts and includes specific data
(year/month/week/day) when introducing the
report. The following can be used to start off:
 Figure 1 shows … while Table 1
shows...
Overview
The overview shows the link / connection
between the visuals.
Overall trend
The general trend shows the overall movement
/ pattern of an item in comparisons.
Analysis
Candidates are advised to produce the
following to qualify marks for analysis. This
includes stating the:
i. Key Features (KF) – refers to the items
being discussed
ii. Trend (T) – refers to the change or
movement in the data
iii. Data (T) – refers to items that can be
quantified and presented in percentage,
frequency or ranking of popularity and
the year, month or week.
Question:
Study the following information carefully.
Write about the teenagers’ choice of courses in
the university in 2009 and 2012. Relate to the
various job opportunities in 2012. You should
write 150 to 200 words.
Example:
Teenagers’ choice of courses in the university
in 2009 and 2012 and job opportunities in
2012.
Example:
Figure 1 shows teenagers’ choice of courses in
the university in 2009 while Table 1 shows job
opportunities in 2012.
Example:
The students’ weekend activities were
influenced by their involvement in tuition
classes in August 2010.
Example:
The number of travellers to highlands showed
an increasing trend from 2005 to 2010.
Example:
Tourist’s arrival to Malaysia increased from
985000 in 2007 to 1.1 million in 2010.
KF -
Trend -
Data -