report writing 1

1

MUET
OPEN
LECTURE

2

QUESTION 1:
REPORT WRITING

3 Question 1 – Format

Title
Introduction
Over view
Body paragraph
Conclusion

TITLE

4

REFER TO THE
QUESTION
(Title of visuals)
+ (TF)

•Short and simple
•refer to the
question given

INTRODUCTION
PARAGRAPH
ONLY 2 SENTENCES

5

6

INTRODUCTORY

PARAGRAPH

FIRST • Introduce

SENTENCE stimulus/stimuli

• COPY the title(s)
above the
graphs/ tables/
charts

7

SECOND • GENERAL IDEA of the
SENTENCE stimulus

Overview • COMPARISON

between the stimuli
• LINK between the

stimuli
• CONNECTION

between the stimuli

8

SENTENCE ONE:
INTRODUCTION

Introduce
the graphs/ charts/
tables/ figures/
newspaper excerpts

Refer to the title of the
graphs/ charts/ tables/
figures and the
gist(information) from
newspaper excerpts

9

ONLY ONE Title of
VISUAL the
E.g
graphs
The graph
shows… + TF/
The table
shows… charts/
tables/
+The figure figures

shows…
The stimulus

shows…
Figure 1
shows…
Table 1
shows…

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•MORE THAN
ONE VISUALS

•E.g Title of TF
the
Figure 1
shows… + +graphs/
and Table 1 charts/
shows… tables/
Figures
- The figures +
show… respectively
- The tables
show…

Just COPY the title AS IT IS
WRITTEN

11

Sample INTRODUCTION

•The table shows
Employer’s
Expectation and
Applicants’
Perceptions of
qualities required at
the workplace.

1 STIMULUS

Qualities Ranking of Ranking of

qualities qualities

12 employers applicants

look for in job believe

applicants employers

look for

Communicati 1 5
on skills

Diligence 2 6
3 7
Team-work
skills 4 3

Computer 5 4
literacy 6 8
7 1
Personality 8 9
9 2
Work ethics 10 10

Qualification

Motivation

Experience

Respect for
authority

Note: 1 – highest; 10 – lowest

13 Sample INTRODUCTION

•The figures show Number
of Heart Attack cases
among Men and Women
(2011 – 2015) and
Activities Performed by
Men and Women (2011 –
2015)respectively.

2 STIMULI

14 MUET MARCH 2016

Sample 1-
15 MUET MARCH 2016

Figure 1 – Line Graph

The figures show Number
of Heart Attack cases
among Men and Women
(2011 – 2015) and
Activities Performed by
Men and Women (2011 –
2015) respectively.

Figure 2 – Table

16 Compare these INTRODUCTIONS

● The figures show Number of
Heart Attack cases among
Men and Women and
Activities Performed by Men
and Women (2011 – 2015)
respectively.

● Figure 1 shows the Number
of Heart Attack cases
among Men and Women
(2011 – 2015) and Figure 2
shows Activities Performed
by Men and Women (2011 –
2015).

Sample 1-
17 MUET MARCH 2016

Figure 1 – Line Graph

The figures show

Number of Heart
Attack cases among
Men and Women
and Activities

Performed by Men
and Women (2011 –
2015) respectively.

Figure 2 – Table

Similar years can be
mentioned ONCE

18 MUET END 2010

19 Sample 2 –
MUET END 2010

Figure 1 – Line graph

The stimuli show
Number of Air
Travellers by Airlines
(2003 – 2008) and Air
Travellers’ Rating of
Satisfaction for 2008.

Figure 2 –Bar graph

Be careful when different TIME FRAMES
were given. Both TIME FRAMES should be in
the Introduction.

20 Sentence 2

How to start a
Controlling
Idea?

● Generally,...
● Overall,...

OVERVIEW

21

(Controlling idea)

● ONE stimulus
Significant General
trend

Eg:
– Highest/lowest
– Increased/decreased
– Remained const

● TWO stimuli

22

– Significant General trend

– correlation between
stimuli

● Find the FOCUS by
looking at the similarities
or obvious differences

● Connect/link the visuals

23 E.g.

–Highest •…due to…
•…correspond

–Lowest with…
+–Increase
•…because of…
•…correlate to…

–Decrease •…affected by…

•…caused by…

Sample OVERVIEW
24 (Controlling Idea)

• Generally, the number of
heart attack cases among
men and women was
influenced by the activities
performed by them in 2011
– 2015.

Connect the
idea to the
second visual

25 BODY PARAGRAPH

• KEY PAST
FEATURES TENSE

• TREND

• DATA

• TIME
FRAME

ANALYSIS & SYNTHESIS

A = TF + KF + T (D) + L
+ TF + KF + T (D)
S

26 BODY

1. ANALYSIS
Key features +
Trend +
Figure(data) + Time
Frame (week/ year)

•TREND

1. MOVING 2. NON-
27 TREND MOVING
TREND

The highest/ Ranked first/
The most ranked 5th
The lowest/ Ranked last
the least Rated good(1)/
increase/ rose/ rated average
soared (2)/ rated
decrease/ satisfied
dipped/ The most/ the
dropped least
Fluctuated
NO TF or ONLY 1
TF – DIFFERENT YEAR
2010
2007, 2008, 2009,
2010 Reasons/ factors

2010 & 2017

28

KEY FEATURES

• The subject
Eg: qualities/reasons/

items

DATA

• Numbers

TIME

• Week/month/year

MUET MID 2009

29 Figure 1: Annual Sales of Southern Book Store (2005 - 2007)

9000

8000

7000

6000

Copies 5000 2005
4000 2006
3000 2007

2000

1000

0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Month

Copies Figure 2: Sales of Reading Materials in 2007 Best seller
Textbook
16000 Workbook
14000 Magazine
12000
10000

8000
6000
4000
2000

0
1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter

Year

SAMPLE ANALYSIS

30

YEAR KF TREND

(1) In 2005, sales
remained constant at
2000 copies.

DATA

2) In 2007, sales dropped
from 3000 to 2000 copies
from January to March,
then increased to 8000
copies in August and
remained constant until
December.

unit

31 2. SYNTHESIS

•Comparison of Data /
correlation /
correspond/reasons

Use linking words to
32 signal synthesis

–E.g.:

»While/ whereas/ but/
compared to/
however/ correlates
to/ due to/
corresponds to/
because of/ affected
by/ on the other
hand...

SAMPLE SYNTHESIS

33

In 2005, sales
remained constant
at 2000 copies but
in 2006, sales
fluctuated between
3500 and 5500
copies.

34 MID YEAR 2009

3. The increase in
sales of reading
materials in the
second half of the
year (46 000 copies)
corresponds to the
overall increase of
annual sales in 2007

Compare TWO
different stimuli

35 CONCLUDING
PARAGRAPH

REPHRASE OVERVIEW
(CONTROLLING IDEA

-Rephrase Trend

(Controlling Idea)

–Information from the
excerpts (newspaper)

READ and UNDERSTAND
36 the INSTRUCTIONS

CAREFULLY!!!

... In your writing, you
are to link the data
presented in both
charts. (MID YEAR 2009)

... In your writing, you
are to link the profile of
the professionals with
their goals. (MID YEAR
2011)

The Do's

37

DO:
1)Read the INSTRUCTIONS
carefully.
2)Present the DATA accurately
3)Be careful with the small prints

- notes below the non-linear
texts

- notes above the axis
4) Present the unit accurately
5) Be careful with the subject/KF of
the report

The Don’ts

38

DO NOT:
1)Exceed the word limit – 200 words
ONLY
2)Make assumption
3)Describe
4)List
5)Use conjunction, e.g: and
6)Use “followed by” to describe data
7)Forget to use logical link

2: Make assumption

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1.The employees ranked
qualification as the highest
expectation because they think
the higher the qualification, the
better the chance to get the
job.

2. The bestseller was the highest
sales in 2007 because people like
to read fictions.

Assumption
= CREATING
Information that is NOT
stated in the visuals.
= Present OWN thoughts

3: Description

40 No DATA,
just

description
of trend

1) The highest sales of
reading materials was
bestseller followed by
textbook while the lowest was
magazine.

2)In the 3rd quarter, the sales
of reading materials was
bestseller with 14 000,
followed by textbook with
5000, workbook with 2000
and then magazine with 1000
copies respectively.

No TREND,
just description

of data

41 4: Listing

1) The sales of reading

materials was bestseller,
textbook, workbook and
magazine with 14 000, 5000,
2000 and 1000 copies
respectively.

No TREND,
No DESCRIPTION,

just numbers

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