How to Write a Letter Report

Often in business, a manager is required to submit a report of a company initiative in the form of a business letter. Whether it is the findings from a major R&D project, a summary list of individuals recommended for merit bonuses, or an explanatory report for a legal proceeding, doing a report in letter format is a common task encountered in business. There are certain rules that should be followed to ensure the final document is one that gets read and reflects positively on the writer.

Instructions

Writing a Letter Report

1. Do an outline of the main points you want to cover in your letter report before beginning to write it. Note any sub points you'll need to cover to explain or clarify the main points presented. This is the basic structure of the letter.

2. Check the outline to ensure that the most important points of the report are covered up in the up-front section of your letter. Don't bury your lead message latter part of your letter. It might not get read.

3. Adhere to recognized practices of good grammatical use as well as structure and content flow. The letter must be able to stand on its own as the explanatory vehicle for your message. As such, clarity of message delivery is key. Ask yourself if the way in which the information is presented makes sense to a reader.

4. Divide your letter report into three main sections: an introduction, the letter body, and the summary. Introduce the subject of the letter in the first section. Use direct language such as "This provides preliminary findings from the biotech research conducted in May 2010." Be succinct in the letter's introductory section. Save long explanations for the body of the letter if needed.

5. Use grammatical aids such as lists, bullets, boldface type and underlining to assist with clarity and structure. Don't overuse grammatical aids siince it can be annoying for the reader who won't be able to distinguish what's most important in the report. Be consistent in how and when you do use them.

6. Follow accepted practices for formal letters such as including the recipient's name, title, company address as well as the date. The report letter is one of the more formal letters in business. Include a salutation such as "Dear Mr. Johnson." Print the final version of the letter report on letterhead stationary and use page numbers if the document has more than one page.

References

• Recipient's Address in a Business Letter
• Body of a Business Letter

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish