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Scholastic Guide Writing Winning Reports and Essays (Scholastic Guide)by Paul B. Janeczko
How to Write a School Report
Most children and teens complain when they have to write a report, but those of us who are writers are happy. It’s another chance to improve our writing skill.
Don’t think of your assignment as a report. Call it an article. It’s a great way to practice writing articles you can someday publish. Since it’s an article, you’ll want to be completely professional in the way you prepare to write and then to do the actual writing.
If an exact topic wasn’t assigned, you’ll need to choose one. Don’t make it too big. The Revolutionary War is too big for a little school report. You can’t write everything about it. Instead, choose one part of the war, such as Education of Girls During the Revolutionary War, or “Why we lost the battle of __________.”
Now it’s time to research. I love to do research. Most writers do. It’s a chance to dig into the subject and really learn it. To write a really good report or article, you have to know more than you can ever use in the article. When you write, you’ll only choose the most important parts.
To make the research more interesting, create an imaginary character who is somehow involved with the topic of your report. She won’t be in the report you turn in. She’s just for you, to make the subject more real. If you were writing about the education of girls during the Revolutionary War, you might create Becky, a girl whose father was away in the war. Her mother had to keep the family business going and Becky…well, what will happen to Becky’s education? As you learn about the topic, put Becky, her family, and her friends into the events and think about how they affected your imaginary world. You’ll find the subject more exciting and you’ll care more about the events and your report won't sound like you were bored. When you’re finished with the report, you might really write a story about Becky using all the things you learned as you studied. You’ll get two writings out of one project.
Keep good notes as you read. Each time you write a fact, write all the information about where it came from. If you’re doing it on a computer, make your bibliography as you go. Then, each time you write a fact, copy and paste in the bibliography record you made for the source it came from and add the page number in case you need to find it again. If you’re doing it on paper, give each source a number and just write the source number and page number under the fact.
When I don’t use a computer, I like to put all the facts on file cards. I have different colors for the various categories I need. I organize the cards in a recipe box by category. Every now and then I stop and put the cards in an order that makes sense. When it’s time to write the report, the cards are in order and it’s easy to put them into the report.
Before you start writing, think of your purpose for writing this paper. “I want my reader to see how determined girls during the Revolutionary War were to get their educations.” “I want people to understand why it mattered that electricity was discovered.” The purpose will affect what you write and how you write it. Everything in your report should help the reader understand what you wanted them to learn.
Make sure everything is in your own words. If you use someone else’s words, you must give them credit. Use interesting words and be sure to put in true stories where they fit. Make the report interesting to the teacher. Proofread it and act like you’re going to send it to a publisher. Make it perfect!