How To Write A Report

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This first part of how to write a report is about the structure. Your report should be filled with logical, coherent information based on your own knowledge and enhanced by research you’ve gleaned from other sources.

It’s crucial that you understand at the outset that plagiarism is illegal, and in no way is this document recommending it. You should never use someone else’s words verbatim in any report or other document you write unless you’re willing to give them full credit and a link back to their site. You can however, use outside knowledge to strengthen your position if you’re able to adapt it into your own words.

The best way to keep your information fresh and up to date is to research current news on your topic. Google News is a perfect source of information that you can tap into to get it. What I recommend is to sign up to a feed reading service like Bloglines, go to Google and click on the News link, type in the keyword that your report is based on, and subscribe to that news page and send it to your feed reader.

This way you can check it daily to see what new information is coming through the wire along with other sources of material.

While you’re there on Google News, click on the blog feed link and subscribe to that too. As I mentioned in the introduction, part of your research should be to find counterpoints that conflict with your position. By subscribing to the blog feeds for your topic you can pull in what others are saying about it, and learn what your competitors may be teaching. This should provide you with plenty of material for your report in the way of answering objections.

Forums are another great source for finding the big questions people may have. Once again, go to Google and type “your topic”+forums in the search box. You’ll get links to all the individual posts that relate. You’ll also get a good dose of the answers people are giving.

Another source of research might be sitting on your computer already. If you’re the type who buys a lot of ebook products, there may be information in some of the older ones that you could update with the latest trends.

Whatever you decide to do on the lines of research, you’ll want to get as much as possible so you’ll have enough ammunition to present a complete guide. If your report leaves more questions unanswered than it supplies, chances are your readers won’t come back for more.

With the right amount of research, your report can become the definitive source for your topic. Having that under your belt will make you an overnight expert in your field which in turn will increase your reader base and have them eating out of the palm of your hand.

Not a bad position to be in!

Stay tuned for more information about how to write a report as we get into other aspects like style, format, and marketing it.