Report Writing

A report is an exercise in persuasion.

This course gives you the skills to write persuasive and coherent reports. It will help you organise information and communicate powerful ideas to support decision-making.  We’ll explore style, tone, structure and content to determine what makes a compelling report in 2026.

The training focuses on five key areas: planning, organising, writing, editing and reviewing.

We will look at the process of working out what we want to say in the report, and how we organise that material. The output of the planning phase is an outline, and we will produce report outlines during the first half of the course. We also discuss how to present visual information.

Editing is the process of improving the style of our report. We develop a strategic approach to editing, working on paragraphs, sentences, and words, in that order. We explore methods of evaluating and measuring readability, as well as online tools for improving grammar, punctuation, and style.

 Key Training Features:

• The course is intensely practical. We will work on real reports throughout the day, using a combination of practical exercises to highlight key tools and techniques
• Participants are invited to bring ideas for reports they are currently working on, or have produced recently

 Who Can Attend:

This course is suitable for anyone who produces reports or similar reporting documents, for example briefings, business cases, consultation responses, White Papers. It is especially relevant for people who produce reports as part of strategic decision-making.

 Learning Outcomes:

As a result of attending this course, participants will be able to:

• understand the purpose and function of reports
• prepare and construct persuasive reports
• organise information more efficiently and convincingly
• improve your use of language, style and tone
• develop and use a set of objective criteria to evaluate and improve your own reports.

This course is supported by a workbook which can be printed or used as an electronic document. It includes a considerable amount of practical work. A key focus of the workshop is attention to individual needs; wherever possible, you will work on your own material. You should be ready to produce work on a laptop or PC during the workshop and be able to share it on screen with the group.