Providing the Necessary Information by Christopher

Reports: Providing the Necessary Information by Christopher Smith There are as many types of reports as there are superheroes in the Marvel Universe1. Reports come from news sources, weather stations, farmer’s markets, the day’s current market, teachers reporting students’ progress, scientific studies, and on and on and on. The thing that every single one of these reports have in common is that they all give information. They—wait for it—report2 on various topics and findings. Most likely, your first real experience with crafting one of these was back in the good ole days3 of book reports. These tended to be a brief summation of what you’d read, summarizing the plot, the characters, and possibly even the themes. Basically, you reported on what you found out, letting your peers and teachers see that you had, in fact, read the book4. Again, while there are many types of reports that come from all manner of sources, this will focus on a very basic form: Providing evidence to show why a statement is true and should be believed by its readers. What’s the Point? Can’t People Find This Information on Their Own? Yes. Yes, they can. Especially in this day and age. However, a few things to keep in mind: 1. Also in this age of the internet, folks are all about convenience. They want all their information in one location5. 2. Having all this information in a single spot helps us to compare/contrast elements, lets us see trends, spot flaws, and on. Basically, it gives us a quick way to interpret the data. 3. It lets us see a complete picture of an event rather than having only one perspective. (Along with that, it saves us the trouble of having to track down multiple individuals to get/see all of the details.) 4. It helps us keep up to date—especially with such “report” forums as social media, Twitter and Facebook and the like providing us with instantaneous information about our friends and family6. 5. Most importantly, it fills us in on a certain topic/subject and allows us to understand it. In essence, it’s a great learning tool built to provide information in a quick and convenient form. 1 These are the peeps that bring us X-Men, The Avengers, Spider-man, et al. Hilarious, right? No? Well… : p 3 The time between ages of 5 - 12 in anyone’s life. 4 Or at least faked it by watching the film adaptation and/or reading the Cliff Notes. 5 Really, do you want to have to got to more than one website? 6 Hooray! Your best friend saw an old man at Wal-Mart that looked like a wizard! Isn’t that information you would have died without knowing? 2 Information is What Makes Reports Go ‘Round7 You don’t even have to ask what goes into a report because you already know this. And if you don’t, here’s a hint: It’s in the section header title. That’s right, you knew it: Information. Facts. Evidence. That’s the majority of the report, and in some cases, that’s the whole of the report, fact after fact. But what kind of facts are necessary? Annoying of an answer as this might be, it depends upon the report. However, here’s the best rule of thumb for any report that you may have to write. Be specific. Be concrete. Think about it. How would you enjoy a weather report like, “Today is going to be a crappy one”? And that’s all you got. You’re left with questions, right? What will make it crappy? Will it be windy? 110 degrees? -10 degrees? Will it rain, have a heavy fog? Will literal turds fall from the sky? We won’t know because the information was vague and abstract. Instead, elaborate on the crappy day by giving your readers the specifics and let them be the judge of the level of crapness the day holds. “It’s going to rain all morning until the sun comes out this afternoon and brings the temperature up to 100 degrees, with 60 percent humidity.” Notice how we now know exactly what the day will hold. And—bonus—it’s even longer. So if you’re worried about word count, specifics can help you get there. Is that really all there is to a report? Just about. Outside of the information, you simply need a way to frame it so that readers know what to expect. Otherwise, it’s just a barrage of information that may—or may not—make any sense based on what’s given. This can be as simple as a title, or it can be as “complex” as tying all of your information together, showing your reader the links between each and how it relates to the main topic at hand 8 . Forming the Report Because you only, really, have one key piece to work with in a report, the form is very straightforward. Often, it simply looks like a stripped down version of the basic structures discussed in Chapter Four. 7 8 What they “go ‘round” is another topic to ponder. Psssst… this is the form you’ll most likely be using throughout your academic career. ● Introduction ○ Introduce main topic and provide preview of main pieces of evidence ● Evidence A (Second Most Compelling Piece of Evidence) ○ Present evidence as facts, statistics, anecdote, observations, etc. while showing how it relates to your main topic. ● Evidence B ○ Present evidence as facts, statistics, anecdote, observations, etc. while showing how it relates to your main topic. ● Evidence C ○ Present evidence as facts, statistics, anecdote, observations, etc. while showing how it relates to your main topic. ● Evidence … Z (MOST Compelling Piece of Evidence) ○ Present evidence as facts, statistics, anecdote, observations, etc. while showing how it relates to your main topic. ● Conclusion ○ Reiterate topic’s importance and why/how it all ties together. Again, this is one of the most common forms that you’ll work with; however, the various styles of reports will have preferred forms. In particular, Literature Reviews are written in APA Style and have a very specific—and different format9. The simple form of reports boils down to three things: State your topic clearly. Give specific and concrete evidence. And keep your audience in mind. Remember Those Looking to Be Informed As with our narrative essays—and pretty much every essay you’ll ever right—we want to keep our target audience in mind. With reports, though, it becomes even more important. Why? In short, we don’t want to send our readers into a boredom coma10. With reports, we tend to be writing for a specific audience, and in that instance, we should remember what our audience already knows then. It’s like video game tutorials. Almost every video game has a first level that acclimatizes you to the controls, “Use the Left Stick to Move Your Character,” “Press X to Attack,” etc. And after you’ve played a few, it starts to drive you insane. Well-designed games will either let you skip the tutorial, or they simply build the controls into the gameplay, letting each new ability unfold as the need arises. The latter is the best way to go, as we should all give the appropriate info as the need arises. So, when writing a report to a mathematics professor, you probably won’t need to discuss what a 9 If you’re curious, feel free to Google these. But, for now, you can file this information away. However, if you’re a pre-med or nursing major, this is a form you will become extremely familiar with. 10 Little known fact: This is one of the worst kinds of a coma, as it can strike at anytime, especially when one has to wait in a line at the grocery store or sit in a waiting room. Thank God for Smartphones, right? People would be falling into this type of coma all the time. perfect number is, or what is the numeric value of pi, or how to find the inverse curve on a parabola. However, if you wrote that same report to a first grade, like Lucy11 Ricardo, “You’d have some ‘splainin’ to do.” Keeping your audience in mind will allow you to give only the information you need. You won’t have to waste any space with unnecessary explanations, and on the flipside, you won’t forget to define and elaborate on the information and definitions that need it. The best way to think about it? It will make your life easier. And who doesn’t like easy12? 11 The late, great Lucille Ball, famous for her role in I Love Lucy. Track down the episode, “The Ricardos Visit Cuba.” Her rolling cigars is one of the best bits in TV history. 12 Well… nevermind. You can figure that one out on your own.