Research and Writing Report Basics

Questions and Answers

Picking a topic, or what you'll write about (correct)

Taking notes along the way

Gathering information on your topic

Creating a bibliography

Summarizing important information in your own words

Using complete sentences in your notes

Doing some research to gather more information (correct)

Using quotation marks around an author's exact words

To plan about your audience, purpose, main idea, and organization (correct)

To revise and rewrite your report

To gather information on your topic

To take notes along the way

To get information from different types of sources Signup and view all the answers

Print materials or internet and media Signup and view all the answers

The content of the report Signup and view all the answers

To avoid plagiarism Signup and view all the answers

To list the sources used Signup and view all the answers

In alphabetical order Signup and view all the answers

Editing for errors Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

To start writing a report, first pick a topic and gather information from various sources.
There are two types of sources: print materials (e.g. books, newspapers) and internet and media (e.g. articles, videos).
Research involves gathering information from different sources and taking notes along the way.
When taking notes, summarize important information, avoid using complete sentences, and use quotation marks around an author's exact words.

The writing process consists of five steps: prewriting, writing, revising and rewriting, proofreading, and publishing.
During prewriting, plan your report by considering your audience, purpose, main idea, and organization.
Ask yourself questions like: Is your audience familiar with your topic? What do you want them to learn?
Use graphic organizers or outlines to plan your report and focus on the content.
Make sure your ideas are clear and supported with evidence from your research.
Use your own words as much as possible and put quotations around phrases if you're using an author's exact words.

Start with an introduction that presents your main idea.
End with a conclusion that wraps up your report.
Revise and rewrite your report to ensure you focus on your main idea throughout.
Proofread your report to fix mistakes like misspelled words, grammar issues, and punctuation errors.

A bibliography is a list of the sources you used to write your paper.
Include all sources you took information from in your bibliography.
Put the bibliography on the last page of your report, in alphabetical order, with indented lines and a blank line between each entry.
Each source has a unique way of writing the entry for the bibliography.