By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Assemble large volumes of information into a logical flow

• Write reports that are clear, concise, complete and correct

• Present evidence in a way that supports comprehension and decision-making

• Apply AI techniques appropriately to polish technical and investigative reports

Understanding the readers

• Identifying primary and secondary readers

• Understanding the needs of different audiences

• Determining the appropriate level of detail

Report structure

Front matter

• Cover page

• Executive summary

• Table of contents

• Acknowledgements

• Acronyms and terminology definitions

• Version control

Body

• Standard heading structures

• Presenting analysis clearly

• Conclusions and recommendations

Back matter

• Appendices

• References

Report writing techniques

• Writing a clear aim statement

• Aligning the aim statement with conclusions

• Writing clear recommendations

• Using factual statements

• Identifying relevant and irrelevant information

• Presenting data effectively

• Interpreting data into practical statements

• Interpreting and referencing tables, charts and diagrams

• Writing executive summaries

• Including and referencing appendices

• Referencing correctly

• Reviewing real examples

Creating a logical flow

• What a spidergram is

• Advantages of using a spidergram

• Creating a spidergram to organise complex information

General principles of effective writing

• Writing clearly so the reader comprehends content on first reading

• How people comprehend and retain information

Techniques to increase readability

Editing techniques to support comprehension:

• Sentence length and structure

• Main message first

• Passive versus active voice

• Plain and correct English

• Writing concisely using minimum words

• Modern formatting techniques and visual presentation

• Paragraph length

• Bullet points

• Heading styles

• Table formats

• Including graphics

Final editing and proofreading

• Reviewing content for accuracy and consistency

• Proofreading techniques to reduce risk

Using AI appropriately

• Using AI to help craft and polish reports

• Dos and don’ts for AI-assisted writing