Informal Reports
Informal reports are generally going to be reports that you will just have to share with your coworkers, like a report of the status of a project, or simply some statistics that you need to share with your coworkers. The difference between an informal report and a formal one mostly comes down to the audience and of course as the names state the amount of formality required when writing for those audiences. The example below is one of an informal lab report that shows a great visual on the difference between that and a formal one. http://writing.umn.edu/tww/disciplines/engineering/assignments/assignmelab.htmlThese examples explain the formats and what should be involved.
Formal Reports
Formal reports require more attention to detail, for instance making sure the ideas that the report is explaining are understandable to the audience by using words that explain concepts in the simplest way possible. Using the example of a lab report, with an informal version you would be able to use jargon because you know the people you are writing to have the same knowledge base that you do, but with a formal report you cannot assume these things are cannot leave out details that to you and your coworkers could be considered common knowledge. Formal to me is just another way of saying that the report has to be as perfect as possible for every one to see while informal is allowed to have a few imperfections. The example I have chosen for formal reports explains that shows what elements have to be involved.
http://engr.bd.psu.edu/psu007/metbd-formal-report.html
Tips for Report Writing
Here are a few of my personal quick tips to deciding which type of report you need to write:
- Be sure to remember who your audience is.
- Make sure whether or not you can use jargon in the report.
- Make sure all the information you are using is correct and from reliable sources.
- Focus on making sure you are using the right tone.
Hopefully these tips make these reports a little easier to understand, and I wish you all luck in your future report writing endeavors.
I like that you distinguished between the two. Each section is separated well and includes a decent amount of information. It is east to read, and I like that you included the bullet pointed tips. The only thing I would have done differently is included a youtube video, or uploaded the examples that you used to where the reader can see it and not have to follow a different link to view it.
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ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog post. I like to use bullets too. Really great tips for someone who doesnt know the difference between the two.
ReplyDeleteYou did a good job on explaining differences between informal and formal reports. Your post is very informative. I like how you divided your post into sections and you described informal and formal reports separately. I think that the tips that you included at the very end of your post are very useful. I also like that you provided two links so everybody can get more information on informal and formal reports. However, you have several grammatically incorrect and confusing sentences in your post. In addition, there is a lot of missing commas. You should proofread your work before posting. Moreover, I did not see your voice in this blog post that much. I also think that your post would be more effective if you included a video or visual. Your post looks kind of unattractive because it does not include any visuals or videos. Other than that, I think that you did a good job.
ReplyDeleteYour post is very informative but i think you should have broken up the paragraphs a little more. It gets hard to read and readers get tire of long passages. I think that you should have included a video to reinforce you post. Other than that good job.
ReplyDeleteTerri,
ReplyDeleteNice job with this weeks blog. I thought that your introduction to the topic was good especially because you included yourself and your own experience right from the beginning.
I also liked that you divided the post into the two main types [informal and formal]. It made following the concepts of each easier. I just wish that you would've posted the examples as well as given the address to each in order to break up the writing and give the readers something else to look at [we all know we love pictures].
I also really liked your last section with the bullet points. They were great things that I feel are useful to know and defiantly gave me things to make sure I think about for the future.
Overall great job!