Hello and welcome to IGCSE Success and if you're new here a big hello to you. I'm an English teacher and I post content here on YouTube to prepare students for their Cambridge First Language English exam and if that's what you're looking for be sure to check out my other videos because I break down a number of the core skills needed to succeed with First Language English. Today's video is all about report writing. Yes. I said it.
Now without a shadow of a doubt whenever I mention report writing in class there is this palpable sense of fear. I can just feel it. I'm not going to lie report writing can be quite tricky but in reality it's no more difficult than any other text type you are asked to write in and I've said this before and I will say it again. You do not want to be one of those students who come exam day you are sat there hoping and praying that the directed writing task is not a report you need to be confident with all aspects of non-fiction writing and that includes being able to confidently write in all of the seven text types which could possibly come up let's see if i can remember them so you've got newspaper report formal report speech letter journal interview and article so in today's video i will be breaking down the features of formal report writing and i will end this video looking at a full formal report and discussing what is good about it so let's get on with today's video now formal reports have two functions first of all they serve as a record of something which has been observed or investigated and secondly they can highlight problems and offer solutions so an appraisal of sorts now usually there are three parts to a report and the first part is an overview now your overview will establish the purpose of the report and of course what you hope to achieve by carrying out the investigation now the main body of your report will highlight the problems found during your investigation and a report will conclude with a number of sensible solutions to tackle the problems you have found and you may also want to consider suitable subheadings to structure your work but more on that later and the last thing i wanted to mention is the voice and style of formal report writing and this i think is probably what makes students feel a little bit apprehensive when they are presented with any kind of formal report writing tasks of course there's no flowery language there's no figurative language it's very much a factual piece of writing and this can be quite scary to some students want to try and write in third person and sustain an objective viewpoint throughout your report and as always guys it really is practice makes perfect it's just a different way of writing so now let's take a look at a formal report okay guys so what you are looking at is a report and it looks at the electricity consumption at how original the school of youtube now in terms of presentational features i.e how it looks you want to think of an appropriate title you want to use suitable subheadings and although i've not used them in this report you may also want to use bullet points So as mentioned you want to start with an overview which kind of highlights the purpose of your report so why you are carrying out whatever assessment or investigation. So let's just read the overview.
This report will outline the details of an inspection carried out at the school of YouTube in which a recent visit was made to assess their high electricity consumption. This report will outline the problems observed and offer several recommendations to begin. Slight change there. And offer several recommendations for the school of YouTube to begin conserving more energy throughout the school.
And then we begin our main body. And I've used the subheading problems observed. So. At the end of the school year, it was made clear that the school of YouTube had spent over £50,000 on electricity.
This was a 40% increase on the previous year. Upon the inspection on Friday, July 24, 2020, it was clear that electricity was wasted around the school constantly. It was noted that computers were left on even overnight.
Interactive whiteboards, light bulbs and photocopiers were almost always left on. The school of YouTube must start making necessary steps to lessen their electricity usage in order for funds to be spent in other areas and departments around the school. And if you just take note of the style and voice here, guys, it's very much that objective, factual voice which I've...
try to sustain throughout that paragraph and of course we've got lots of facts and statistics. You may also want to consider including some sort of interviews in your report as well. So let's take a look at how I've achieved that and I've just used the subheading feedback gathered.
So one staff member commented that reducing their electricity usage was not a priority. Several students also remarked that teachers often left their computers on overnight. In addition to this, many parents also shared their concerns over necessary funds being wasted on electricity.
One parent highlighted the fact that the PE department was massively lacking in sports equipment. So we've got a mixture there of direct and reported speech. And that's perfectly OK if you want to do that. And then moving on to, I guess, the conclusion, and I've used the subheading summary of findings and recommendations, I have ended the report with, taking everything into account, the school of YouTube need to ensure that all staff are reminded of the small things that could make a big difference. If staff leave a room, lights and air con units must be switched off.
Similarly, computers should not be left on overnight. Simple actions like these would undoubtedly allow the school to invest money into departments and areas of the school that need it most. Secondly, it is recommended that the school of YouTube switch to using energy saving light bulbs. Perhaps a designated person could also check each room at the end of the day and turn off anything that doesn't need to be on. in a very very idealized world if only and I've ended the report with a further inspection will happen next year to observe my listed recommendations and of course although I've not mentioned these things explicitly things such as complex sentence starters complex sentences in general discourse markers to link your ideas together they are very very important for a task such as a formal report and that's all from me today guys i will see you again very soon until next time bye