Report Writing

Report writing is a skill your child will need to develop throughout their school life to serve them in their life beyond - at university and in their professional career.

Reports require your child to work on their research, analytical, and critical thinking skills. This writing style teaches your child how to present and explain technical terms to readers and how to correctly use subheadings.

This section of our website has free, downloadable resources to help your child improve their report writing skills.

Let’s get into what report writing is, what the report writing process looks like, and how you can help your child improve their report writing skills!

What is report writing?

Report writing is a formal writing style that has specific features, and requires attention to detail and strong research skills. Children will learn how to write a good report in their late elementary/primary school years, as it calls for a higher level of understanding and writing skills.

Reports are used to make sense of facts, such as historical events, the results of an investigation, and to offer background information and insights on specific topics.

There are many types of reports, all of which used for a number of different reasons and objectives, including:

• Book reports
• Business reports
• Academic reports

While your child will not be asked to write a business report, they’ll likely come across this writing style when analyzing a book they’ve read in class, or by being asked to write a report on their favorite movie character. It’s important to note that report writing goes beyond English lessons, being used in other subjects, such as math and science.

How to write a good report

A good report follows a specific report writing format, which consists of:

1. An eye-catching title
2. An introductory paragraph, highlighting the main points of the report
3. The body of the report must be written in the present tense, and organized into separate paragraphs and/or subsections
4. Subheadings for each paragraph
5. Pictures of the subject, with captions to explain how each picture relates to the topic
6. Lists of facts using bullet points

Report writing tips

Here are our top tips for elementary/primary report writing:

1. Get your child to pick a topic they’re interested in (if they can pick their own topic)! Reports require a lot of information so ideally, it should be a topic they’d want to write a lot about.
2. Report writing requires research. What key points should definitely be included in this report?
3. Can the information gathered be broken down into subsections or different paragraphs?
4. Are there any supporting materials that can be used in the report? These include images, graphs, or any other factual or visual information that may help to reinforce the importance of the main points.
5. Your child should use bullet points and lists, as they can be helpful if there are a lot of facts that need to be included in order to form a good report.
6. Proofread and check that the facts and technical terms included are correct!

Report writing prompts

If your child is struggling to come up with a topic they feel inspired to write a report about, no need to fret! Here are five report topics your young writer can choose from:

1. What’s your favorite animal? Research and write a report about that animal, making sure to include a lot of information and facts.
2. Choose one planet in our solar system, besides Earth. Research and write a report about your chosen planet!
3. Pick a holiday you would like to know more about. Research its history and write a report about why people celebrate that holiday!
4. Research the author of your favorite book. Write a report on their life and career!
5. Pick a natural disaster to write about. Research your chosen natural disaster and write a report on it!

Free resource

Now that we’ve discussed the basics of report writing, your child should be ready to give this writing style a try! Included in this free resource is an explanation on the entire report writing process, from different title pages, to how to organize contents of the report, to how to end the text. We’ve even included a template for your child to use!