Soft skills training by Svetlana Belic Malinic

1. Report Writing Skills
Presented by: Svetlana Belic Malinic

2. Report
writing?

4. Training objectives:
• To identify what constitutes a good piece
of writing
• To understand the writing process
• To define your own writing strengths and
weaknesses
• To improve your writing skills through
various strategies

5. Introduction
Why writing?

7. Message

9. A note sent to teacher
Dear Mrs. Jones,
I wish to clarify that I am not an exotic dancer.
I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter
how hectic it was last week before the blizzard
hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we
had, and that several people were fighting over
the last one. Her picture is supposed to depict
me, selling the last snow shovel we had.

10. Types of communication
Non-verbal
Oral
Written
Visual

12. Speech vs. writing (p.3)
SPEECH WRITING
Eye to eye contact No physical contact
Voice, tone, pitch,
intonation
No sounds
Body language No body language

13. Chapter 1
Good writing?

15. Survey
What is the biggest
obstacle to producing
clear written
communication at work?

16. Options
• Low standards and expectations
• Poor templates
• Managers do not support clear writing
• General writing skills
• Bad models
• Inadequate resources
• Insufficient time for writing

17. General
writing skills
Bad models Managers do
not support
clear writing
Insufficient
time for
writing
Poor
templates
Low
standards
and
expectations
Inadequate
resources
What is the biggest obstacle to producing clear written communication at work?

18. Good writing:
• Writing style
• Audience
• Format
• Content
• Structure
• Grammar and
punctuation
• Syntax
• Mood

19. Writing style
A good style in report writing
involves constructing sentences and
paragraphs in such a way that the
message you wish to convey is
conveyed accurately and quickly
to the reader.
“
“

20. Report writing
• clarity
• conciseness
• directness

21. Did you know?

22. Simply…
• tell them what you are going
to say
• then say it
• then tell them what you said

23. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

24. Audience
•general
•educated, but non-specialist
•specialist, professional

25. Adapting styles (p. 6)
Look at these examples of how the same
information is delivered to different
audiences. Then try to assign them to the
types of audience above. What are the
elements of the sentences that help you
identify which audience it is aimed at?

26. Woman without her man is nothing.
Punctuation
Woman without her man is nothing.

27. Punctuation
Woman without her man, is nothing.
Woman: without her, man is nothing.

29. Spelling

30. Syntax
• I am sorry to inform you that the
implementation of this project has been
postponed given that all the funds have
been used.
• The implementation of this project will be
supported as soon as the funds are
available.

31. How are you writing today?

33. Chapter 2
Writing process

36. Before…
• set your objective
• assess your readership
• decide what information you will need
• prepare your skeletal framework
• test and revise your skeletal framework

37. After…
• proofread for spelling and grammar
mistakes (yourself or someone else)
• discuss with your colleague or supervisor
if the objective is met
• obtain clearance for distribution
• distribute

39. Writing process
Pre-writing Drafting Revising Editing Publishing

40. 1 Pre-writing
• Targeting: Remember your readers.
• Outlining: Remember your purpose and
objective(s).
• Structuring: Refer to your skeletal
framework. Change if not fitting.

41. 2 Drafting

42. 3 Revising
• Assess whether the sub-structure of the main body
is really the most suitable one to present your facts.
• Examine the layout and general appearance.
• Determine whether the tone and balance are
correct.
• Check the accuracy of figures and calculations.
• Check the use of English, punctuation and spelling.

44. 4 Editing
• Assimilate: What is the report trying to achieve? How
has the writer attempted to achieve this?
• Question: Are all the facts, arguments, conclusions
and recommendations accurate, complete, convincing
and justified? Be prepared to face some very detailed
questioning.
• Evaluate: How significant are the findings?
• Check: Will the writer need to provide any further
evidence?

45. 4 Editing
• Amend: Will the report need to be re-structured?
• Edit: What changes will need to be made to the content
or presentation? Are the most important findings,
conclusions and recommendations given due
prominence? Are less important findings confined to the
main body, an appendix, or perhaps omitted?
• Finalise: Is the report now written to the standard the
recipients require, or, in an organisation with many
levels of management, to the standard other senior
levels require?

46. 5 Publishing

48. Chapter 3
Improving

52. Which is better?
A. There is a common misconception when it
comes to writing that a person must write
in a verbose manner to come across as
intelligent.
B. People often make a mistake in thinking
that writing long-winded sentences with
big words makes them appear smart.
C. You don't need to write a lot or use big
words to sound smart.

53. LESS IS MORE

54. Use plain English
• The ready availability of project reports
associated with delinquent cases has
become prevalent since the development
of Project Cycle Management.

55. Use plain English
• Project reports associated with
delinquent cases have become readily
available since the development of
Project Cycle Management.

56. Avoid overwriting
• Project manager is not concerned with
the follow-up of any of the items with the
exception of delinquent cases.
• Project manager follows up delinquent
cases only.

57. Avoid redundant words
• Past history suggests that our future
prospects are bright.
• History suggests that our prospects are
bright.

58. Be politically correct
• A good manager will gain the respect of
his staff.
• A good manager will gain the respect of
staff.
• A secretary should be loyal to her boss.
• Secretaries should be loyal to their
bosses.

59. Avoid foreign words
• President has not returned to his alma
mater since the day he graduated.
• He is not a dishonest politician because
his advice is bona fide.
• His role vis-à-vis the recent negotiations
was that of a peace-maker.

60. Negative to positive
• We do not believe the feedback is
adequate.
• We believe the feedback is inadequate.
• We must cancel this project.
• Given the project outcomes, we believe
that the project should be reassessed to
meet the rationale.

61. Place emphasis
• With a little clarification, the implementing
partner would have solved the difficulties
more readily.
• With a little clarification, the implementing
partner would more readily have solved
the difficulties.

62. Passive into active
• The report was prepared by the project
team in order to promote its sustainability.
• The project team prepared the report in
order to promote its sustainability.

65. 7Cs
1. Clarity
2. Completeness
3. Conciseness
4. Correctness
5. Concreteness
6. Consideration
7. Courtesy

68. Case study 1
Teamwork

71. Case study 2
Individual

75. Thank you!
Svetlana.Belic.Malinic
@consultant.com