9th April 2008, 01:56 PM
A lot of this problem derives from inadequate briefing of the often rather inexperienced staff that write the reports, and inadequate technical review/editing of the reports before issue. There are a number of questions that can be asked in briefing report-writers and in reviewing the work, and I would ask them in this order:
1. does the report clearly identify the reasons for and aims and objectives of the work at the outset?
2. does the content of the report address those aims and objectives effectively?
3. does the content of the report appear to be a fair reflection of the work carried out in the field (methods and results)?
4. does the report meet the requirements of the Specification or equivalent?
5. is the report clearly and logically structured in a way appropriate to the scale of the project and the significance/ complexity of its results?
6. is the report written in clear, good quality English?
All of those questions are important, but I have placed them in order of priority.
If I were reviewing an in-house report, there would be a number of other QA and house-style related questions.
Of course, it is not just a question for briefers/reviewers. If authors themselves carefully thought out their approach to a particular report in the light of a list of questions like that before starting to write, their products would be more likely to pass muster first time round.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
1. does the report clearly identify the reasons for and aims and objectives of the work at the outset?
2. does the content of the report address those aims and objectives effectively?
3. does the content of the report appear to be a fair reflection of the work carried out in the field (methods and results)?
4. does the report meet the requirements of the Specification or equivalent?
5. is the report clearly and logically structured in a way appropriate to the scale of the project and the significance/ complexity of its results?
6. is the report written in clear, good quality English?
All of those questions are important, but I have placed them in order of priority.
If I were reviewing an in-house report, there would be a number of other QA and house-style related questions.
Of course, it is not just a question for briefers/reviewers. If authors themselves carefully thought out their approach to a particular report in the light of a list of questions like that before starting to write, their products would be more likely to pass muster first time round.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished