Perfecting Your Writing Style

You don't have to be a professional-level writer, or an aspiring bestselling author to write effective, high-quality reports. In fact, the language you use to write e-mails to colleagues and bosses is pretty much the same language you will use when writing reports. You only have to remember three things:

1. When writing a report, you must present all the information that your audience needs and/or wants.


2. While you must present that information, you wanted to present it in the briefest way possible. Don't waste your audience's time saying the same thing three different ways. In addition, don't bury the message by using flowery language or overly long sentences or paragraphs. Present the details that you need to present. Nothing more, nothing less. It's that simple.


3. Don't try to write like someone else. Your voice and personality should go behind every word you write. Your audience should be able to hear your voice as they read a report.

The Golden Rules of Report Writing

The worst thing you could do is write a report without knowing exactly what you want to write – or how you want to write it. That's the equivalent of jumping in deep water before you remember that you can't swim. You always need to know your audience, the purpose of the report, and what you want to accomplish by writing the report. For example, do you want to sell an idea or provide information?

Always ask yourself these questions – and come up with the answers – before you start writing.

1. Who is my audience?


2. Why am I writing this report – or what is the purpose?


3. Do I want to sell or tell?

Find Your Audience

We talked about this in the last lesson, but it's important enough that we need to cover it again. Knowing who your audience is will help you focus your report. It will give your report direction.

Here's an example. Let's say that you're writing directions for fixing barbecue chicken. While fixing chicken is not a report topic, this example will help you see how important it is to find your audience before you write. So, you sit down and start to write instructions for how to fix barbecue chicken. There's only one problem. Will your audience bake, grill, or smoke their chicken? The directions you give will depend on the audience. If you don't know who is going to be reading your instructions – and the method they'll use to cook the chicken – you're not going to know what to write. If you start writing without determining your audience, your instructions are going be long winded, because you'll have to include every method.

Now, picture that happens with a report you are writing. You don't know your audience. Because you don't know your audience, you have to include every bit of information and give all the details for every bit of the information. That way, no matter who reads the report, you can be sure they'll get what they need.

• But who wants to write all of that?


• How effective is your report going to be if it's that unfocused?

Here are the answers: Never write a report like that. You will only make it harder on yourself – and your audience won't like you too much, either. Always find your audience before you start writing. It will make writing easier, because you have a focus. It will make your audience respond well to you, because you're giving them exactly the information they need or want.

Determine the Purpose of Your Report

Another step you need to take before you even think of starting to write a report is to determine the purpose.

Answer this question:

"The purpose of my report is to…"

For example: "The purpose of my report is to explain that new safety procedures need to be adopted after a consistent and gradual increase of on-the-job injuries."

When you combine the purpose of the report with the intended audience, you have a direction for the report. You will know what you need to write.