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In the written part of the LCCI 2 exam you may be asked to write a report in Question 1 or in Question 3. Below you will find a sample report and a set of suggestions on how to tackle this kind of task properly.

You work at the Paris branch of Wavemark Wholesale Medical Supplies Ltd, 90-100 rue de la Grazza, 75004 Paris. Your Office Manager is Trixi Piaggio.

"Several companies today offer incentives - usually financial rewards - to members of staff who come up with money-saving ideas or ways to improve work practices," says Trixi Piaggio. "I was wondering if any of our workers would be interested in such a scheme. Would you speak to a sample of them about it and find out their opinions and then write a report for me? Any information or suggestions about this proposed scheme would be welcome."

Write the required report.

Sample report:

Proposed Incentive Scheme

Terms of reference

Mr Trixi Piaggio, Office Manager, has asked me to write this report on a proposed incentive scheme offering rewards, possibly financial, to members of staff for money-saving ideas or ways to improve work practices.

Proceedings

A sample of workers were questioned individually and asked for their opinions.

Findings

1.      Most workers thought an incentive scheme was a good idea.

2.      The majority of these preferred financial reward as an incentive.

3.      Some workers suggested time off instead.

4.      A few thought it was the job of management to come up with new ideas.

Conclusions

In general most workers were in favour of an incentive scheme offering financial rewards.

Recommendations

I recommend that the scheme be introduced.

(signature)

(today's date)

Below you will find some useful hints on how to tackle this kind of task successfully:

1.      You should start with identifying the kind of task – here it is a report.

2.      As a layout is so important in the exam you should pay special attention to it. A report requires a title underlined at the top. This will describe briefly what the report is about. There should then be 5 sub-sections with the following headings;

- Terms of reference

- Proceedings

- Findings

- Conclusions

- Recommendations

The report should also be signed and dated.

3.      The next step includes identifying relevant information. A report is usually asked for and requires details of what you found out, how you found it out and what it means. It is normally very factual so all information included in it must be relevant to the title. If you are asked to invent information then make sure it is relevant to the task.

4.      The information is ordered under the headings as follows:

Terms of reference:        Explain what the report is about (briefly), who the report is for and when the report is to be handed in by.

Proceedings:                   Explain how you collected information (e.g. talking to people, questionnaires).

Findings:                          Give the facts which this information provided (e.g. most people find traffic on A64 bad).

Conclusions:                    Explain what the facts mean (e.g. people are late because of traffic).

Recommendations:        What action do you suggest (e.g. build a new road).

5.      And now the time has come to write the report. Reports are matter-of-fact and to the point. Language is therefore neutral and factual. Numbering points is a useful technique. Nothing irrelevant should be included. Your work may be marked down if you do not use correct grammar, paragraphing, punctuation and spelling.

6.      Finally, remember about checking your work. It might be useful to ask yourself the following questions:

a.      Have you completed the task? (Have you collected information and analysed it to produce figures, results and suggestions?)

b.      Do you have an appropriate title and the correct headings?

c.      Are the headings in the correct order?

d.      Is information under the correct heading and relevant?

e.      Have you signed it and dated it?

f.        Is the language appropriate for a report?

g.      Have you checked spelling, grammar and punctuation?