BULATS Writing Part Two- Report Checklist

BULATS Writing Part Two Reports checklist

Check these things about your own or your partner’s piece of writing:

Task completion

• Have they kept to the word limit?
• Have they included all three parts of the question in their answer?
• Is there enough supporting information for the answers to all three bullet points in the question?
• Is that supporting information enough to understand their reasoning?
• Is there any information which is not asked for in the question? If so, is it relevant and reasonably short?

 

Paragraphing

• Are all paragraphs at least two sentences long?
• Are all the sections appropriately kept as one paragraph or split into different paragraphs?
• Is there a space between paragraphs?
• Is there are space between the end of one section and the heading of the next section?

 

Title

• Does the report have a title?
• Is the title underlined?
• Is the title fairly short (avoiding unnecessary grammar words, etc)?
• Does the title match the task?
• Does the title match the content of the answer?
• Does the title avoid repeating words from the question?

 

Section headings

• Do all the sections have headings?
• Are the headings underlined?
• Are the headings fairly short?
• Do the headings match the content of the sections?
• Do the headings avoid repeating words from the question?

 

Introduction

• Does the introduction explain the reason for writing the report?
• Does the introduction use the right verb(s) to explain what the report is doing (e.g. “recommend”, “examine” or “compare”)?
• Does the introduction give more information (e.g. how the data was gathered or why the writer was asked to write the report)?
• Is the introduction the right length?

 

 

Final section

• Is there a summary, conclusion or recommendation, and is it the correct one of those?
• Does the content of this section match the heading?
• Is the final section linked well to the rest of the text, either naturally or with the use of linking phrases, i.e. does it follow on naturally from what goes before and is the information earlier in the text enough to support that conclusion?

 

Language

• Can you find any grammar, vocabulary, spelling or punctuation mistakes?
• Is there repetition of language from the question?
• Is there repetition of language from elsewhere in the answer?
• Is the general level of formality correct for the situation/ who will read it?
• Are there any examples of words or phrases which don’t match the general level of formality of the text?
• Are there any nice examples of more advanced formal or informal language that matches the general level of formality of the text?
• Are there any places where you could put in more advanced formal or informal language without changing the meaning (too much)?
• Are there any nice examples of typical phrases for reports?
• Are there any places where you could add typical phrases for reports?