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There are many forms of writing which you may have to undertake at university, from reflective journals to extended researched assignments. The two most common forms of writing are reports and essays. This page describes what a report is, outlines the main types of report you may need to write, and summarises the differences between reports and essays.

What is a report?

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A report is a clearly structured form of writing which presents and analyses information clearly and briefly for a particular audience. The information is usually the result of an experiment, investigation, or some other form of primary research such as a questionnaire or survey. It will contain headings and sub-headings, as well as graphics such as graphs, charts and tables. Reports often use the information they contain to present recommendations for future action. They are common not only at university, but also in industry and government. For more information on what a report is, see the section below which compares reports to essays.

Types of report

There are many different types of reports which can be written, though the type you will write at university depends very much on your course of study. Each report will have a different format and writing conventions, though the structure and language used are broadly similar for all reports. The following are some of the main reports written at university.

• Laboratory report. This type of report explains and analyses the results of an experiment. It may also be called lab report, experimental report, or science report.
• Business report. This analyses a situation and uses business theory to provide solutions or recommendations. It includes many types, e.g. market research report, marketing report, and financial report.
• Case study report. This examines a real-world situation (the 'case') and analyses it using appropriate theory (the 'study').
• project report. This reports on project work which has been conducted.
• Research report. This gives the results of research which has been conducted, for example through surveys (via questionnaires or interviews).
• progress report. This informs a supervisor about progress on a project over a certain period of time.
• Design report. This report describes and evaluates a design used to solve a particular problem.
• Field report. This combines theory and practice by describing an observed person, place or event and analysing the observation.

Other types of report are possible, such as a systems analysis report, a maths report, a feasibility study and a client case work report. Some disciplines, especially business, may require you to write an essay with headings. This is not a report, since all the other features, aside from the headings, are the same as a conventional essay.

Reports vs. essays

Although many of the writing skills required for essays also apply to reports, such as use of topic sentences, cohesion and citations, reports are quite unlike essays in several regards. The table below summarises the main differences. These are divided into three categories: general areas, structure, and content.