SPEAKER: As you continue working on your proposal and as you prepare to work on your recommendation report, let's take a few moments to just very briefly talk about informal reports and formal reports, what their differences are, and what they have in common. 

Now, just to briefly review, reports can be created to do any number of the following. Many reports will do multiple things. For example, your recommendation report is going to present information. It's also going to analyze that information and then ultimately recommend an action. 

Now, as I said, there are two broad types of reports, informal reports and formal reports. And you'll sometimes hear these referred to as short reports and long reports. And that's one of the key differences between the two report types. Informal reports are typically no more than 1 to 6 or so pages in length. And formal reports can be incredibly lengthy. Informal reports are often written for internal audiences, although that is not always going to be the case. 

Formal reports are written for internal or external audiences and sometimes may be presented to both. Informal reports, though, are going to cover a fairly simple topic. And that is why they can be so much shorter. Formal reports are going to cover something that is complex enough that it needs multiple pages to really cover it in entirety. And formal reports are typically going to carry a pretty high significance in the work situation that is causing you to create it. 

Now, because formal reports are so much longer and more complicated than informal reports, that means that a formal report is going to include what is called front matter and back matter. The front matter is going to include a title page, a letter of transmittal, a table of contents, a list of illustrations if you're using visuals, and a summary or abstract. And the back matter would include any other information, such as a glossary, any appendix information that you might need to include, and a references list. 

Informal reports will not include any of that information because, again, it's a simple topic. And it's not a very long document. So you don't really need a table of contents and a list of illustrations, an abstract, all of that stuff in order to get through the document. 

There are three overall functions for a report. And it's important that you keep in mind that although reports might inform, analyze, and/or recommend, many reports will do two or all three of these. For example, again, your recommendation report is going to inform. It is going to then analyze that information. And ultimately, it is going to provide a recommendation. 

You'll see now several different types of reports that are common in the workplace world. And depending on what your field is, you may have to write some or all of these report types in your future career. 

Regardless of whether you are creating an informal or formal report, it is important that you keep in mind the layout and design and content issues that we've been discussing for all technical documents. Any report, whether it's formal or informal, should include headings and subheadings. It should include an introduction, a discussion section or body, and a conclusion and/or recommendation section. 

Your formal report, again, is going to be lengthy enough that it will require a table of contents to lead the reader to each heading. Your informal report will be short and simple enough that it won't need that. Regardless, both types of reports will include headings and all of these other sections.