Previous articles on report writing emphasized the need to pay attention to the preparation and planning stage, which includes setting your objective, assessing your readership, and deciding what information you will need. The article this week will show how you can prepare your skeletal framework.

After a complete picture of information requirements emerges from your mind mapping, you will then be able to think about the complete plan of your report. That is what the skeletal framework is about. This is the same as drawing up the plans for a new house. Not only will it show its overall structure, but it will also remind you of the materials you will need to gather before the process of construction can begin. Remember, I always note that writing is constructing. 

What do you stand to gain when you construct a skeletal framework before embarking on the complete writeup? As a writer, you will be sure there is no misunderstanding over the Terms of Reference (we will come to that shortly). You will also have an overview of the entire report and be reminded of what information must be collected, what is readily available, and what is not needed. Additionally, you will be able to order your thoughts before considering how they should be expressed. What is more, you will be helped to appreciate the significance of, and the relationship between the various items of information that will be gathered. If there are any gaps in coverage or logic, you will easily identify them and thus be able to maintain a sense of perspective while gathering required information as well as when writing the report. In summary, a well-planned skeletal framework is the key to effective report writing. Let’s now focus on three stages involved in the preparation of a skeletal framework.

The first stage has to do with writing a working title. This defines the subject matter of the document. If the title does not accurately depict what the text is all about, you may lose your audience. Usually, a functional title works all the time and is helpful in continually reminding you of the document’s objective. If you rather choose a creative and fun title, you may soon lose focus. At the skeletal stage, the functional title helps you keep your eyes on the ball. 

At the second stage of preparing your skeletal framework, you need to consider the overall structure of the report. Keep in mind that reports come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are made up of a variety of sections. If you can design a suitable framework, everything else will then fall into place. There is this process that has always helped me in my writing: tell them what you are going to say, then say it, then tell them what you have said. Try it out and see if it works for you as well. Writing that way gives you the opportunity to highlight the most important parts of your report. Also, people tend to remember what they read first and last far more than what they read in the middle of any document. It’s a phenomenon known as the effect of primacy and recency. Keep this in mind always! 

The third stage has to do with considering how information will be presented within the main body. In this wise, give a beginning, a middle, and an end. It is your task to select the most appropriate components to build up each of these main sections. Recall that all reports have several commonly recognised components including the following: (for the beginning) title page, foreword, preface, acknowledgments, contents page, summary or abstract, introduction; (for the middle) main body, including the substructures; and (for the end) conclusions, recommendations, appendixes, references, bibliography, glossary, index. 

The large number of components may seem overwhelming, but don’t let that worry you much! There’s no single report that ever gets to use them all. The reason it’s important for you to know about them all is so that you get to choose the ones that best suit your reports, plus you may be asked to include one or more of them. So, it works in your best interests to know them.

A Little Overview of the Parts

The title page is a must-have for every report. It helps your reader know what the report is about. Be sure to include the following information on your title page: the title; the name and position of the person who authorised the report; the name of the author(s); their position within the organisation; the date the report was issued; a reference number; copyright information, if necessary; its degree of confidentiality; and the distribution list. Let’s have a quick run-through of these aspects of the title page.

The title should be clear, concise, and relevant; restate your terms of reference in your own words. Do not choose a title which is like any other report tile. Rather than overload your title, use subtitles to unpack the idea your ideas. Make sure the title is more prominent than any headings that appear in the report by using one font size higher. You can then go on to say who commissioned the report (for example, ‘Produced at the request of …’). For the names and dates, house styles mostly determine the format to adopt. It could be a first name and any qualifications approach or any other. Generally, though, people within your organisation will not need to be reminded of your qualifications whereas relevant qualifications will add authority to a report which is distributed externally. In the same way, it is not necessary to say that you work for ABC LTD, if the report is for internal circulation alone. The date on the report should be the date it was issued, which is not necessarily the date it was printed. Write this issue date in full to avoid possible ambiguities. For example, 12-06-23 means 12th June 2023, in Britain. In the USA it means 6th December 2023.

•Dr. Oji is a Senior Lecturer of English at the Institute of Humanities, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos