{"id":263,"date":"2025-09-15T13:22:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/chapter\/11-2-parts-of-an-informational-report\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T14:19:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:19:39","slug":"11-2-parts-of-an-informational-report","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/chapter\/11-2-parts-of-an-informational-report\/","title":{"raw":"11.2 Parts of an Informational Report","rendered":"11.2 Parts of an Informational Report"},"content":{"raw":"
\n

A common approach to structuring informational reports includes a section on summary, introduction, project status, and conclusion. See Table 11.1 for section details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Table 11.1 Parts of an Informational Report<\/caption>\n
\n

Section Name<\/p>\n<\/th>\n

\n

Purpose<\/p>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Summary<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Preface your progress report with a Summary section that provides a comprehensive overview of the most important information (i.e., the number and a descriptor of each task and its completion status).
As with your project proposal, you are most likely going to use a pure summary to discuss the status of each task, rather than an executive summary. This is because progress reports tend to emphasize what needs to be done and if any changes need to be made, rather than analyzing data and making final recommendations.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Introduction<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Review the details of your project\u2019s purpose, scope, and activities. The introduction may also contain the following:<\/p>\nDate the project began\n\nDate the project is scheduled to be completed\n\nPeople or organization working on the project\n\nPeople or organization for whom the project is being done\n\nOverview of the contents of the progress report<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Project status<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

This section (which could have sub-sections) should give the reader a clear idea of the status of your project. It should review the work completed, work in progress, and work remaining to be done on the project, organized into sub-sections by time, task, or topic. These sections might include<\/p>\nDirect reference to milestones or deliverables established in previous documents related to the project.\n\nA timeline for when the remaining work will be completed.\n\nAny problems encountered or issues that have arisen that might affect completion, direction, requirements, or scope.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Conclusion<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

The final section provides an overall assessment of the current state of the project and its expected completion, usually reassuring the reader that all is going well and on schedule. It can also alert recipients to unexpected changes in direction or scope, or problems in the project that may require intervention.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

References<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

This additional section provides full citations for any outside material included in the progress report.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Lab reports are another common type of technical document you can expect to produce at work, especially if you enter a medical, scientific, technical, engineering, or research field. The main purpose of a typical lab report is to document procedures and results of experiments or another similar primary research. The target audience of a lab report is usually a colleague or peer who will use the information to decide, better understand the material being studied, or replicate the procedure or experiment. Although most lab reports share these underlying similarities, the structure, organization, presentation of material, and design of the document vary widely by field and institution. If your discipline\u2019s style guide does not offer details on how to prepare a lab report, you should seek the guidance of a subject-matter expert in your field or at your organization.<\/p>\n

This section is derived from\u00a0Types of Informational Reports <\/span><\/a>and Progress Reports<\/span><\/a> in Howdy or Hello? Technical and Professional Communication \u2013 Simple Book Publishing<\/span><\/a> Copyright \u00a9 2022 by Matt McKinney, Kalani Pattison, Sarah LeMire, Kathy Anders, and Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt licensed under a\u00a0Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License<\/span><\/a>, except where otherwise noted.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>","rendered":"

\n

A common approach to structuring informational reports includes a section on summary, introduction, project status, and conclusion. See Table 11.1 for section details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Table 11.1 Parts of an Informational Report<\/caption>\n
\n

Section Name<\/p>\n<\/th>\n

\n

Purpose<\/p>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Summary<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Preface your progress report with a Summary section that provides a comprehensive overview of the most important information (i.e., the number and a descriptor of each task and its completion status).
As with your project proposal, you are most likely going to use a pure summary to discuss the status of each task, rather than an executive summary. This is because progress reports tend to emphasize what needs to be done and if any changes need to be made, rather than analyzing data and making final recommendations.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Introduction<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Review the details of your project\u2019s purpose, scope, and activities. The introduction may also contain the following:<\/p>\n

Date the project began<\/p>\n

Date the project is scheduled to be completed<\/p>\n

People or organization working on the project<\/p>\n

People or organization for whom the project is being done<\/p>\n

Overview of the contents of the progress report<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Project status<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

This section (which could have sub-sections) should give the reader a clear idea of the status of your project. It should review the work completed, work in progress, and work remaining to be done on the project, organized into sub-sections by time, task, or topic. These sections might include<\/p>\n

Direct reference to milestones or deliverables established in previous documents related to the project.<\/p>\n

A timeline for when the remaining work will be completed.<\/p>\n

Any problems encountered or issues that have arisen that might affect completion, direction, requirements, or scope.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Conclusion<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

The final section provides an overall assessment of the current state of the project and its expected completion, usually reassuring the reader that all is going well and on schedule. It can also alert recipients to unexpected changes in direction or scope, or problems in the project that may require intervention.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

References<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

This additional section provides full citations for any outside material included in the progress report.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Lab reports are another common type of technical document you can expect to produce at work, especially if you enter a medical, scientific, technical, engineering, or research field. The main purpose of a typical lab report is to document procedures and results of experiments or another similar primary research. The target audience of a lab report is usually a colleague or peer who will use the information to decide, better understand the material being studied, or replicate the procedure or experiment. Although most lab reports share these underlying similarities, the structure, organization, presentation of material, and design of the document vary widely by field and institution. If your discipline\u2019s style guide does not offer details on how to prepare a lab report, you should seek the guidance of a subject-matter expert in your field or at your organization.<\/p>\n

This section is derived from\u00a0Types of Informational Reports <\/span><\/a>and Progress Reports<\/span><\/a> in Howdy or Hello? Technical and Professional Communication \u2013 Simple Book Publishing<\/span><\/a> Copyright \u00a9 2022 by Matt McKinney, Kalani Pattison, Sarah LeMire, Kathy Anders, and Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt licensed under a\u00a0Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License<\/span><\/a>, except where otherwise noted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":10,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-263","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":260,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/263\/revisions\/264"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/260"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/263\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=263"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=263"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}