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Some people prefer to put this section at the beginning of their report, immediately after the introduction, so that readers can see what they have concluded and then read the background information on which the recommendation or conclusion is based. I do not recommend this order, however, particularly if you think some of your readers might resist your conclusions. If they see and disagree with your conclusions before reading the facts on which they are based, they may well look at the facts with a jaundiced eye, trying to pick holes in your arguments. It is better, and more logical, for them to look at the facts first. That, after all, is how you yourself will have reached your conclusion, so that is the way to lead your readers to the same conclusion.

If this section consists of your main findings or highlights from the report rather than a con-clusion – in other words, if it is something like a briefing report, which does not present an argument – then there is perhaps not the same need to put it at the end. However, I would still prefer to see it there. If your main findings appear at the beginning, your readers will be tempted to read only them, and to skip the rest. But if your report has been written prop-erly, there should be nothing in it that is not necessary, so those readers who skip the body of the report will miss some important information. Moreover, a section of highlights at the end serves as a useful summation and reminder of what has gone before.

In an investigative or analytical report, you may discover several possible solutions to the problem you have been investigating. You may, of course, only recommend one solution, but you should give all the possibilities in your conclusion, with their advantages and

disadvantages. If your report is to contain both a conclusion and a recommendation, then put them in two separate sections. It only makes the report confusing if you try to com-bine both a conclusion and a recommendation in one section.

Your recommendation should follow on logically from the facts and arguments you have presented earlier in your report. Always give your reasons for recommending a particular course of action, especially if you have proposed several possible solutions in your conclu-sion and are recommending just one. If you are making more than one recommendation they should be numbered, to make them clearer and easier to differentiate.

Be very specific in your recommendations. It is no good saying, ‘I recommend that the management structure of Gunton’s be changed’, or even ‘I recommend that the manage-ment structure of Gunton’s be made more flexible, with greater responsibility for junior managers.’ What exactly does this mean? Say more specifically what the new structure should be and how it should be brought in. Or, at the very least, recommend that the structure be changed and that a working party be set up (specifying its composition and terms of reference) to see how best to introduce it. You might also suggest a timescale for introducing the measures recommended. Your report is less likely to be politely ignored or shelved if you make your recommendation specific and give a timescale.

Acknowledgements

Most reports will not need an acknowledgements section, but if you use material from other sources you should acknowledge it. Do not try to pass someone else’s work off as your own. Not only is this dishonest, but if you are found out, it will discredit everything you have written, even the parts that are your own work.

But you do not want to clutter up the body of the report with acknowledgements; they will interrupt the flow of your argument. So if you do need to acknowledge the help of other people, or if you have referred to their written work, you will need a separate acknowledgements section. How you lay it out is largely a matter of personal preference.

If you just want to thank certain people for their help, then you can simply say, ‘I would like to acknowledge the help of the following people in the compilation of this report:’

and then list their names. Alternatively you can actually mention what help they gave you. If, on the other hand, you have referred to documents and publications, then it is customary to give full publication information. There is no ‘right’ way of presenting it, so long as everything is there that a reader would need if they wanted to refer to the publi-cations themselves. Look at the acknowledgements sections of other people’s reports, and at the bibliographies of books, and choose a system that you like. But once you have chosen a system, stick to it and be consistent throughout this section.

If you actually quote from an article or book in your report, then you should acknowl-edge the quote in the text, giving the page reference. So you might put in brackets after a quote: (Smith, p. 27). The reader can then refer to your acknowledgements section to find the publication you are quoting from.

Appendices

The body of your report should be as short and as interesting as possible, without omit-ting anything important, so as to keep your readers’ attention. However, there will be times when you need to provide long documents or tables of figures to support your arguments. These will only clutter up the report and, like acknowledgements, spoil the flow of your argument. If you feel they are necessary, therefore, it is a good idea to men-tion just the main features in the report itself, but to reproduce the whole document as an appendix. For example, you might say: ‘You may recall that in his report on the new computer systems last year, Jeremy Cornwood concluded that some systems would be better organised on a product rather than a departmental basis (see Appendix A).’ You would then reproduce the whole of Jeremy Cornwood’s report as Appendix A.

The same principle applies even when you are referring not to a previously issued docu-ment, but to something you have prepared yourself. For example: ‘A department-by-department analysis of the company’s overheads in the last five years shows a worry-ing increase in the Systems Department’s share in relation to other departments (see Appendix B).’ You would then attach your analysis of overheads as Appendix B.

EXERCISE 9

A new Chief Executive has recently taken over at your company or organisation. Write a report briefing him or her on what your department does and how it operates. If you do not work for an organisation at present, then write about any organisation of which you are a member – a club, college, school, voluntary organisation, etc.

Acknowledging Publications Referred To

It is customary, when acknowledging publications, to give the following information:

G In the case of books, the author, the title, the publisher, and usually the year of publication (shown in the copyright information of the book), e.g. Smith, P.J. Business Organisation, Jones & Co., 20XX.

G In the case of journal or magazine articles, the author, the titles of the article and the publication, the volume and number (or date) of the particular issue, and usually the year of publication, e.g.

Smith, P.J. ‘Organising an Accounting System’, Small Trader, Vol. 7, No. 12, 20XX.

G In the case of government documents, the department or author, the title, the document number if there is one, the publisher if it is a published document, and the year of issue, e.g.

Department for Universities, Skills and Enterprise. Training Employees on the Job, Cmnd 6354, HMSO, 20XX.

G In the case of unpublished documents, the author, the title, what the document is and the year of issue, e.g. Smith, P.J. Organisational Dynamics in Multinational Organisations, PhD thesis, University of Liverpool, 20XX.