What a Research Report should have.

Hi - Catherine and I went through your lists of what a research report should have and we've compiled a 'super' list - here you go:

Aims of the Report

Your report should aim to do one or more of the following:

Raise questions
Explore a subject
Be controversial and challenge established views
Prove a point
Contribute or start a debate
Raise awareness and/or highlight good practice
Highlight or solve a problem
Meet the needs or interests of a target audience

Objectives of the Report

To achieve this your report should:

Be purposeful
Identify a target audience
Research, select and use an appropriate tone of voice for the audience
Be designed to suit both the content and intended audience (use right visual language)
Use appropriate type and layout
Have good spelling and grammar
Be easy to read for the intended audience
Be consistent

Structure

The actual format of your report should include a:

Title or Question
Introduction that shows a literature review has been done
Middle sections or chapters with headings and subheadings
Captions and pull quotes to break the material down into digestible bite-sized chunks
Conclusion, summary, closing questions or argument
Bibliography
Appendix that includes any primary research materials you have generated and gathered

Back-up Information

You can prove your points and arguments by using:

Quotes and references
Facts, figures and statistics
Case studies
Interviews
Expert viewpoints
Surveys and market research
Graphs, charts, maps, diagrams
Images and/or photographs
Materials from different sources such as information from historical, political, social, scientific, theoretical, philosophical, psychological, ethical, environmental papers and contexts
Periodicals – magazines, newspapers, Internet, radio, TV etc.