The ability to write good reports and proposals is a skill that will help you do well in your academic and professional lives. When you are in school or college, you will need to write reports often on various topics. The teachers give report writing as a major assignment to judge a student's research and analytical ability. In your professional life, you may need to submit weekly or monthly work-related reports to your senior managers, suppliers, or other stakeholders.

Difference between a report and a proposal

A report and a proposal differ in structure and purpose. A report analyses an issue, identifies a problem giving relevant explanations and evidence. Then recommends actions that may help in decision making. A proposal, on the other hand, identifies a need and suggests how to meet the need. It provides a plan that others might consider. Here, persuasive language is used to persuade the readers. People often write proposals for projects to collect funds. So, the proposal must contain clear information and a message so that investors feel interested in providing funds for the project.

Formats of proposal and report

The format of a proposal and report is different. A proposal is shorter than a report. It consists of the following sections:
• contents page
• introduction
• statement of need
• project scope
• technical specifications and other details
• project cost
• solutions or recommendations
• deliverables
• milestones timelines
• summary or closing statement
• appendix (add your research findings, facts, tables, graphs, or other extra information to support your proposal).

A report contains more elaborate information. It has the following sections:
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Literature review (or background of the study)
• Research instruments
• Findings
• Analysis
• Summary and conclusion
• Appendix
• Bibliography (in APA or other styles)

In a report, you may have to mention facts, works of others, and references to books and quotes. You need to mention all the sources of your information in the bibliography section. Otherwise, you may become a victim of plagiarism.

How to write good reports or proposals

In the case of both reports and proposals, you must tailor your thoughts to meet the audience's expectations. For example, if you are writing a report on the sales progress of your team for an investor, then you must highlight information to show that your sales team is doing well and the company is progressing financially with a promising future. You must adopt a similar approach when presenting a proposal to a potential new investor of your company. You must then define the purpose and scope of your report or proposal. You need to be special about what you want to get from this report or proposal. Then put your content in a logical manner. You should include headings, subheadings, bullet points, tables, graphs, and other tools to explain the content clearly.

You must choose words carefully. Avoid using slang, acronyms, or jargon as these will make the content difficult to understand. You must mention any assumptions you have made in writing the report or proposal and also the limitations you faced. You may recommend future courses of action in your report.

You will find various online tools like paid templates or checklists to help you write proposals and reports. You can create nice tables or charts with different tools as well.

A proposal or report must be well-formatted. You must revise the content before submission. A document that is free from grammatical, spelling, formatting, or punctuation errors is considered to be highly professional. So, you should review your document carefully.