Informational Reports for Non-Expert Readers: The Introduction

A good informational report provides necessary background on a subject by answering the Reporter's Questions, also known as the Five Ws Links to an external site.:

  • What?
  • Why?
  • When?
  • Who?
  • Where?

However, if you think about it, answers to those questions could be provided in boxes on a questionnaire. In and of themselves, they provide data, but they do not fully engage the reader in the subject. A good article will go a step beyond and make the subject come alive for readers by

  • incorporating quotations from subjects being interviewed,
  • using visual language to place the reader in the scene, and
  • adding illustrations, including photographs, to complement the story being told.

An informational article might be short and simple, two to three pages of information about a new organization in town, or it might be longer and more complex, a five page standalone document, complete with figures, diagrams, and equations. Your goal in this module will be to present an effectively-detailed report that is engaging to the reader, logically organized, and reader friendly in design, style, and tone.

Unfortunately, no organizational pattern exists for the informational report, because such documents are by their very nature quite different from one another. Like all documents, however, this one must possess

  • an introduction,
  • a body, and
  • a conclusion.

This page and following pages discuss how you might approach organizing your informational report.

Organizing the Introduction

Your introduction will be the most important part of your report, for what you say there can either capture or lose an audience. Take time to build your subject: define or describe it. It takes an effort to draw the reader into the subject, to ā€œhookā€ him or her into wanting to learn more, so donā€™t be afraid to spend two or more paragraphs just introducing it, defining or describing it, providing background information for context.

Consider the example below, which was adapted from a past student submission for ENGL 3764: Technical Writing: it introduces the concept of robotics to readers by explaining the technical dimensions of robots, then by showing how complex technologies have been adapted effectively into everyday, easy-to-use devices, such as the Roomba vacuum cleaner.

Sample Introduction: Household Robotics

When you consider the term "robot," you likely conjure images designed by Hollywood: a hulk of metal in vaguely human form that moves on wheels, waves its pincer-like hands around wildly, expresses emotion through blinking lights, and talksā€”if it talks at allā€”like it is standing beneath six feet of water. Although horribly outdated, films like Plan 9 from Outer Space and Forbidden Planet and television programs like Lost in Space and The Jetsons have created the robotic images with which most of us are familiar.

Contrary to their popular representation on film and in science fiction literature, however, robots in general are not designed to look like humans, but are designed simply to accomplish a given task with the greatest level of efficiency. They might possess arms, but no legs; legs, but no arms; arms and legs, but no heads.  They are designed for function rather than for form. In fact, the word robot itself comes from the Czech word robota, which means ā€˜forced workā€™ or ā€˜labor.ā€™  And indeed, when scientists, researchers, and inventors devote their attention to robotic inventions, those they create more often than not are designed to assume labor that normally would be performed by humans.

Although robotics is a relatively new field, robots long have been used in factories to carry out difficult or repetitious work like car or computer manufacturing. Because they operate as machines, robots can withstand heavy workloads and work in environments unsatisfactory for humans.  It is unlikely than an ordinary family comes into contact with such robots.

Today, however, robots are moving out of the factories and into our homes in the forms of vacuum cleaners, stereo systems, lawn mowers, and other devices designed to simplify our everyday lives.  They might not look like us, talk like us, or move like us, but robots like the Roomba vacuum cleaner and the RoboMower might just be our new best friends.

As you can tell from this example, there are no hard and fast rules governing the length of a reportā€™s introduction. Additionally, although direct address is acceptable, it is not required, so there is no single writing technique or narrative stance you should adopt.

So how can you most effectively produce a successful introduction?

Tips for Creating a Strong Introduction

Follow these three tips when you write your introduction.

Attempt to Interest the Reader

Use interesting facts, figures, information. Ask a rhetorical question. Begin with a story, an anecdote or case study drawn from real life, to illustrate the topic youā€™ll be discussing.  Remember: you have only a limited amount of time to capture the readerā€™s attention. Your intro must do this for you.

Let Content Provide the Purpose Statement

Hereā€™s one case where you want to avoid a blunt purpose statement, like The purpose of this white paper is to explain to you the value of household robotics. Instead, break the Always Use a Purpose Statement rule and let your content develop your purpose and identify your subject.  The next piece of advice shows you one way you can do that.

Move From Generic Into Specific

Notice how the introduction shown above begins by introducing the concept of robots in general, discusses the general concept, then moves to the end of the intro to a narrowed aspect of that larger subject:  household robotics.  This is a very good technique if you want to capture the readerā€™s attention, provide a purpose statement, and clue in the reader to the subject ā€” all in one ball of wax!