| Whether it be a 'term paper' or 'study report' or 'thesis' or 'dissertation' there is a commonality to academic, research, and other similar reports. Whether 20 text pages or 200, they usually discuss one or more of Who, What, Which, Why, When, Where, How, and Outcome. Most of us, whether as resident of a community, or member of an organization, or as an employer, or employee, etc have at some time had direct involvement or experience in an exploration, event, discovery, dispute, hypothesis, innovation (starting a new school or business etc), opportunity, query, research topic, or the like. In such context, people often have copies of relevant media or journal articles, communications received and sent, etc - in a file, disk, or hard-drive. A narrative report of the matter can very often thus be quite readily drafted and edited, along with appendices which reproduce (by photocopy or otherwise) the significant background correspondence or other documents as referenced in the text of the now-produced report. (In such appendices, items of privacy - like home telephone numbers, names, etc - may appropriately be blanked out). Most bookstores (see their 'study aids' section) and libraries have guides which further detail formats for reports, term papers, dissertations, etc. So "Who, What, Why, When and Where" should be well within your capability - and your archived report should subsequently be helpful to others interested in your topic! |