Report DesignPrint Communications 25F

What does a report look like?

•Like this:

What is a Report?

0 A written document describing the findings of some individual or group.

0 Reports are often used to display the result of an experiment, investigation, or inquiry.

0 The audience may be public or private, an individual, or the public in general. Reports are used in government, business, education, science, and other fields.

0 Reports often use persuasive elements, such as graphics, images, voice, or specialized vocabulary in order to persuade that specific audience to undertake an action.

0 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Report0 Source: http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/

Reports vs. Essays

0There is little difference except in the formatting and writing styles

0Reports use headings to introduce topics; paragraphs in essays flow one after the other

0Reports are less wordy and more technical/to the point

0Reports are more likely to use graphs, illustrations.0Reports typically include footnotes/endnotes on

each page instead of a References page at the end

Key Points0READABILITY is KEY0Use the right font type, size, and

color0NO spelling or grammar errors.

Starting Title Line

Starting Title Line0The title goes 2 inches from the top edge of

the page0Use the rulers (View menu > Ruler)0Set spacing to single before typing anything0The cursor is at 1” from the top by default,

so you need to press Enter until you get to 2”0Line the title up with 1” on the ruler to be

2” from the top of the page

Title

0DO NOT change the top margin to set the title at 2” from the top of the page0Why is this?0Because then every page will have a 2”

top margin0Margins are normally set to 1”

Formatting the Title

Titles Should Be:0ALL UPPERCASE

0Centered0Can be a slightly larger font size and

bolded to make it stand out

0Triple space after the title0Triple spacing leave 2 blank spaces

after the title0This gives the title room to breathe0Press Enter twice after the title if

spacing is set to single to leave 2 blank spaces0 OR0Click on the title and set 3.0 (triple)

spacing from the Home menu

Fonts

0Title and headings are in a sans serif font (like this one) 0Usually Calibri or Arial

0Body of the report uses a serif font (like this one) 0Usually Times New Roman

0Different fonts make the title stand out from the body

Body Spacing

DOUBLE SPACE

Body Spacing

0Body is entirely double-spaced0Between lines and paragraphs

0Set spacing to double (2.0 or CTRL + 2) before typing your first line0Otherwise, you’ll have to select the whole

document when you’re done and change it to double spacing

0Press Enter only once to start a new paragraph

Indenting Paragraphs

Indenting Paragraphs0Press Tab once to indent the first line

of each paragraph0OPTIONAL: 0Have Word automatically indent each

paragraph by choosing First Line Indent in the Paragraph options0Useful for longer reports

Title Headings and Subheadings

Side Headings0Side headings introduce a section within a section.0E.g.:

FOOD (main heading)¶¶

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES (subheading)¶¶

FRUITS (side heading)¶

Page Numbers

0Documents longer than one page require page numbers: