Paper Writing Tips: Categories

Writing Progress Reports: How to Do It Well

Writing progress reports is frequently required when you are involved in a long-term project and the other party needs information on the state of events within a certain period. Below you can find a working scheme that will help you with writing progress reports at ease!

Writing Progress Reports: Objectives

Your progress report aims at explaining the following:

the amount of work complete;
the work currently in progress;
the amount of work still to be done;
the possibly arisen problems;
the general assessment of the project progress.

Writing Progress Reports: Functions

Your progress report performs the following tasks:

reassures the informants of the successful course of project and of its timely completion;
providing an overview of the project findings;
enabling the informants to evaluate the progress and to introduce changes if necessary.

Writing Progress Reports: Organizational Patterns

You may choose to organize your progress report according to the following criteria:

time periods: work accomplished, in progress, and planned;
individual tasks of the project;

You may either discuss all the tasks in each of the time periods, or focus on individual tasks and review each of them in contexts of all the time periods.

Writing Progress Reports: Structure

In any case the report is structured according to the traditional introduction–body–conclusion scheme:

the introduction contains the history of the project and the purpose and scope of work;
the body provides a detailed description of the project progress;
the conclusion formulates the overall assessment of the project up to date.

Writing progress reports is an important task that should be taken with all responsibility. Using our guidelines on writing progress reports will help you enjoy efficient reporting!

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