How to Write a Weekly Report

Whether you're writing a weekly report, a trip report, a progress report, or a simple memo, certain principles will give your writing more punch and get you noticed.

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Steps

1.  Find out what format your organization normally uses for whatever kind of report you're writing. Some companies use memos for weekly reports, while others have special forms.

 

2. Be aware of the typical "fate" of your report. Many reports are just filed for reference and never read. If you have something important to tell, a standard report form might not be the best choice. When an accident almost caused a nuclear disaster at the Three Mile Island power plant, the investigation found that an engineer had foreseen the problem and written it up. But he wrote it as part of a standard trip report on a visit he had made to another power plant. It was filed away, and no one ever read it. If there's something important that you really want people to read, put it up front in big, bold letters!

 

3. Use headings to make it easier for your reader to find important pieces of information and to make the main points stand out.

 

4. Use lists- numbered for items in decreasing order of importance, or bulleted for items of equal weight. Lists break up dense paragraphs and make your report easier to scan.

 

5. Use powerful verbs. In studies of how people read, researchers found that readers remember the verbs (the actions) more than anything else in what they've read. Make sure that the real action is in the verb. For example:

• "There are several steps that need to be taken" is weak.
• "We need to take several steps" is much stronger.
• "Your attention is invited to the attached document" is weak. There's no inviting going on-- this is not a party!
• "Please read the attached document" is better.
• "The attached document contains information on ..." is even better-- it tells the reader what to expect in the attachment.

6.Whenever possible, make the doer of the action the subject of the verb. There are times when for political or diplomatic reasons you might not want to reveal who is doing what to whom, but readers process the information better and remember it longer if you're clear about the relationships. For example:

• "Expenses were mistakenly charged to the wrong account" is weak.
• "The computer mistakenly charged the expenses to the wrong account" is clearer, but most readers find blaming things on a computer to be cowardly.
• "I mistakenly charged some expenses to the wrong account" is much better. Taking responsibility and fixing problems is usually seen as a strength, not a weakness.

7. End with the "so what?" What was the main accomplishment of the week, or the main observation on a trip, or the steps remaining if you're reporting progress. Let your reader take away the impression that something more happened than the passage of another week or work.