By Leah Lamb, Research and Communications Coordinator
In 15 years I’ve written a lot of reports! I’m certainly not an expert but I’ve learnt some things along the way about what makes a good report – one which is both easy to read and stimulating. See if you agree.
Look and Feel
Right at the planning stage of the project you’ll need to think about what the report is going to look like – not the finer details, but what you or whoever has commissioned the work, expect from it. Its style whether formal, academic or more conversational and its content. So think about it and discuss it at the start and ensure you’re on the same page!
Who’s the audience?
You’ll need to think about the audience – who will be reading the report, service commissioners or providers, or the general public for example. Your audience will help you decide the language you will use and its formality, but a good report can be picked up and understood by a layperson. Language used should be concise and active to ensure that it holds the reader’s attention.
Can you make a summary?
If it’s for an organisation for example, but patients/service users have been involved in the project, think about developing a shorter summary document to go alongside the full report (and ensure you don’t use jargon but instead follow Plain English rules). You should also think about creating an Easy Read version of this to ensure accessibility. To this end, think about whether people would prefer the report summary in a different format entirely – a video with subtitling, a BSL (British Sign Language) video or a poster to display should all be considered.
Structure – take them on a journey
The structure of the report is so important. It should take readers on a journey with an introduction explaining the aim of the report and what to expect from it, followed by the main body of the report, some conclusions/summaries and if requested, some recommendations. I like to have a summary/key themes section at the start of each chapter followed by the data/evidence in detail so that readers have the option to take the key points and move one or delve further into it if they wish.
Think about design
It’s not about being pretty but you want to make your report visually appealing and easy to read. If you’ve got a budget for some professional design then use it but if not, think about what you can do yourself.
- I’d recommend a clear sans-serif font like Calibri and a mixture of paragraphs and bulleted sections – I’m a big fan of bullet points.
- Remember back in the day when everyone went wild for Clipart in Microsoft Word? I’ve seen lots of ill-thought-out Clipart and WordArt in my time but if you want to add some pictures or play with fonts then Word has moved on so have a look at what is available, but I would caution that less is more.
- Consider using colour to distinguish different sections of your report and break up words with charts and tables to display your data. Use alt text for images/charts/tables in case they don’t display.
- We’ve touched on using Plain English and producing Easy Read versions of your reports but there are other things you can do to make your reports more accessible. For example, text should be at least size 12 and you should avoid using capital letters for continuous text. Justify text to the left as it makes it easier to find the start of each line and ensures that there is an even gap between words.
Get a second pair of eyes
And before you publish, review and edit, ask someone else not connected with the project to proofread it and then review it all again. If you’re using Microsoft Word to create your document take advantage of the Editor (under Review) and Check Accessibility facilities and amend accordingly.
I think I’ll stop there but I hope you’ve found something useful. Let me know what you think!
