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Organization


Organizing a Report

There's not much doubt that at some point during your education you were taught to create an outline before you write. An outline is a way of structuring the information that you will include in whatever you're writing in a way that the ideas connect together. It also lets you see if you need to produce more information, and it can help give you ideas to make what you're writing stronger and better.

It's recommended that you outline every report you want to write, simply because it allows you to make sure that you cover all the points and information needed in the report. If you're missing something that needs to be included, you will see it when you create an outline.

That said, there are two ways to create an outline. You can create an outline as a sketch, or basic road map for the report – or you can include copious notes that remind you exactly what you want to write and how you want to write it. It's recommended that you create an outline that's a basic sketch – or road map. If you flesh out an outline too much, you can find that outline restrictive when you start to write the report.

Remember, the outline is not a draft. It's just a reminder of what you want to include, and helps you structure that information in an orderly fashion.

The first thing you need to do, even before you create an outline, is to create a folder on your computer that will contain the report and all related documentation. By having everything you need in one place, you'll save time and frustration when you start to write. Give the folder a name that represents the report you're going to write. For example: acctngBudgetReport. This lets you know the report is for the accounting department, and it regards the budget.

Next, open your word processing document and create a new document. This new document will contain your outline. Save the file with the word "outlineV1" (for version 1) in the name so that you know that it's the first version of your outline. At the top of this document, list your formatting preferences for the report. You should list the type of heading you'll use, and if you want to single- or double-space the report.

Now, list all the topics that you feel you need to cover in the report. They do not have to be in the proper order at this point. Just list all possible topics that you think you might want to include. An example outline is shown below.



Again, don't worry about putting the topics in the correct order. Just brainstorm and list all possible topics that you want to include.

Once you've finished brainstorming topics, you can ask yourself the following questions about each topic:

  1. Is the topic relevant to the report?

  2. Is this a topic my audience will want to read about?

  3. If the answer is "yes" to #1 and #2, what subtopics should be included?

List subtopics below each topic. When you're finished, save the outline and print out a copy. Assign each topic to a compartment in the report. To make it easier, you can label the compartments on the pyramid as A, B, C, and D. That way, you can write either A, B, C, or D beside each topic. Using the pyramid to label to the topics will also help ensure you answer all the questions (who, what, when, where, why, and how).

Now, create a new word processing document, and save it as the final version of your outline. You can copy and paste topics and subtopics from the first outline, but this time you will paste them in the order they will appear in your report. This will be easy, since you already labeled them in a way that you know which compartment they belong in.

As you create the final outline, break the topics up into sections. Each section should represent a compartment. Create a header for the sections, so you can easily find them as you write the report. Organize the topics in each compartment in the order they need to appear in the report.



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