A report on a student meeting

A report on a student meeting

Learn how to write a report.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and tips and do the exercises.

Preparation

Reading text

Improvements to Oak Hall

Introduction

This report aims to describe problems in Oak Hall of Residence and discuss possible maintenance work to solve them. The two biggest issues were discussed at a meeting on 12 May, which was attended by 165 of the 250 students who live in the building.

Issue 1: temperature in rooms

A number of students complained that the second-floor bedrooms are too hot. Concerns were raised about lack of sleep and students finding it hard to study in their rooms. Air conditioning was suggested as a possible solution.

However, there is no budget left for installing air conditioning this academic year. Also, installation can only be carried out during holidays as students cannot be present in the building while the work takes place.

Issue 2: improving wheelchair access to Oak Café

It was noted that wheelchair users can only access Oak Café from the back and not the front entrance nearer the lifts. This makes access to the café difficult for wheelchair users. The university is looking to improve its wheelchair access in general by installing ramps in key areas and work can take place during term time with no issues for staff or students.

Conclusion and recommendations

Taking the factors mentioned into account, August would be the best time for the installation of air conditioning. Until then, the university could consider supplying fans to each second-floor room so students can sleep and study comfortably.

The front of the café is recommended as an ideal place to install a wheelchair ramp. This work can take place immediately and should be a priority.

Tips

  1. Start with the aim of the report and say where the information comes from.
  2. Use subheadings to make the layout clear. Follow a logical structure, e.g.:
    • Introduction
    • The problem(s) (Give each issue a separate section)
    • Conclusion and recommendations
  3. Assume the person reading the report has asked you to write it and needs only a brief introduction to the situation.
  4. Use an impersonal, formal style.
  5. Use the passive to keep the focus off individual people:
    Concerns were raised about ...
    ... was suggested ...
  6. You should also use objective language for recommendations and conclusions:
    ... would be the best …
    the university could consider ...
    ... is recommended ...

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Discussion

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Average: 4.3 (11 votes)

Submitted by IKEDA on Fri, 21/08/2020 - 17:05

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Sometimes I write reports for our clients to report the process of our work or tasks. Originally, I didn't like making reports for clients, that's because I didn't think that it's the main task to complete the work, only boring sub-task. Now, I don't have this idea because the right communication with clients is very important to build trust with each other and for the work to be a success.
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Submitted by Hennadii on Tue, 11/08/2020 - 10:33

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Unfortunately, I had to write reports a lot. I used the word "unfortunately" because I think writing reports is the most boring thing ever. I used to take part in the weekly meetings at my previous work and writing reports was my duty. And I wasn't the worst part of this job. After the report had been written, I had to confirm its text with all participants. Some of them (actually, all of them) had their own view at the last meeting so I had to rewrite every report several times. I hated this job. I mean I physically hate this job and was happy when this duty shifted to another person.

Submitted by Abassomooyedele on Fri, 17/07/2020 - 10:50

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Suspension of request for payment Introduction This report aims to describe the grievances of JSS students and discuss possible panacea for them. The two major issues were discussed at a meeting on July 17, 2020 which was well attended by 135 out of 141 students expected. Issue 1: The request for school fee Two weeks ago, the management of this great citadel of learning mandated all JSS students to pay their school fee before August Concerns were raised about how difficult it is for their parents to make money amid this pandemic. It was also mentioned that schools have not been permitted to open officially and payment of tuition would be out of place. It was also said that schools might not be allowed to resume till next year and the whole session might be cancelled. So asking for schools is not in. their interest but it is for the personal aggrandisement of the proprietor. issue 2: Request for examination fee It is noted all most everyone has paid nearly 80 percent of the fee. And since there is no certainty that schools will resume any time soon, it is unbelievable that the school is threatening us that it would withdrawal our names from its candidates' list. In contrary, the management is expected to assure them that it would refund their money should government cancel the examination due to closure of schools. Conclusion and recommendations Considering all the factors mentioned above, it would be out of place to ask the students to pay tuition or examination fee. It would be recommended that management seeks the financial assistance of their students' parents in order to finance their running expenses. It would also be thoughtful of the school to save the money already paid for examination and be ready to use it for tuition should government cancel the exam.
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Submitted by Red Sus on Fri, 17/07/2020 - 04:02

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Increase Sales in the next two months - Introduction This report aims to describe problems in sales volume and suggest new strategies to improve the situation. Two key issues were discussed at a meeting on 5 July, including the participation of distributors representatives and all salespeople. - Issue 1: Lack of sales service Based on the sales reports for the past three months, June sales volume showed no increase. A number of retailers have stopped ordering the new 700ml fish sauce. The cause was determined by lack of sales service, although the number of new retail partners were steadily increasing. The suggested solution was to stop looking for new customers and focus on existing partners. All sales employees need to continue tracking sales of each retailer, therefore the retailer will have supply before they need it. - Issue 2: In need of more staff On the salesman side, they could not handle the market with the current number of people. But as issue 1 has pointed out, the problem lies in the sales service activity. The supervisor also stated there would be no recruiting until the situation is overcome and sales volume increase again. - Conclusion: The priority objectives for July and August include: The sales team needs to build stronger relationships with clients who are near around and potential. Also temporarily ignore far or small-scale retailers. After consolidating the market, hiring new employees will be considered depending on the situation.

Submitted by la17mi on Fri, 19/06/2020 - 05:41

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Could you explain something confuses me, please? "Concerns were raised about lack of sleep and students finding it hard to study in their rooms." I just wonder "finding" is a verb with ing came after a subject. I want to know more about how to use 'verb+ing' after subject without helping verb?

Hello la17mi,

This is an example of an -ing form used as a postmodifier of a noun phrase.

Sometimes these are reduced relative clauses where the relative pronoun and auxiliary verb are omitted:

I am worried about people sleeping on the street.

I am worried about people who are sleeping on the street.

 

Sometimes, as in your case, there is a different implied phrase:

Concerns were raised about the lack of sleep and the fact that students are finding it hard to study in their rooms.

 

There are a number of different ways to modify nouns, both pre-modifying and post-modifying, and you can read about them and practise them on this page:

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/noun-phrases

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by seito kaito on Wed, 10/06/2020 - 08:46

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I have written some reports of various class in my university. There are various classes at university, some classes are for English conversation, and some classes are for writing reports. This time, I will try to write what I wrote in the report writing class. In the spring semester of first grade, there were various report classes. For example, I searched for English newspaper I was interested in and summarized them in report. I also summarized the manuscripts and powerpoints I presented in class in reports. I still cannot go to school because of the corona virus, so I have a lot of reports to submit. For instance, I think about what kind of occupation I want to have in the future and make a report. There is also a class where I read my favorite book and put it together in a report. The more reports I write, the better I can write. Even if you are not good at writing reports, if you write a lot, you will be good at writing. So, it is important to write reports.

Submitted by Ayano on Sun, 07/06/2020 - 09:37

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I have written some reports of various class in my university. There are classes of taking tastes but also there are classes of writing reports. I had ever written so many reports, but I’d like to show you a report about the formation of career. The formation of career is to acquire power of self-actualization according to plan currently study at university. For example, you attend to your studies for obtaining some qualifications and improve your scholastic and human qualities. Then, you maybe gain power of self-actualization. I wrote like these things. First, I wrote that it is important for us to study at seminar of outside the university and to be involved in our family, friends, and seniors of university. This thing influences the formation of career. Second, I wrote also you had better to experience part-time job. It is necessary for us, but it is not good to work a long time because the time is decreased to study. I was convinced this. In fact, I worked part-time job too a long time to do my homework. I never want to do like this. In this way, I have written reports. By writing report myself, I think I understand the thing of considering myself because my idea become letters. It is hard work for me to write report, but the thing I did is helpful to me someday.

Submitted by Nanako Suzuki on Fri, 05/06/2020 - 03:03

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I have written a report of my one semester studying abroad. I wrote that I went to Vancouver in Canada and had many experiences, and I divided into five points of view about things which I learned. I wrote about UBC and ELI at first. I had been at UBC to learn English and practice what I studied there from May 5th to August 26th. UBC is one of the universities which has oldest history in Canada. ELI is English Language Institute at UBC and it provides English course that is affiliated with UBC. The ELI has own rule. This is ‘Speak English Only’. Students can’t speak own native language or other language without English in the ELI building. And next, I talked about specific language. There were many other countries students like Japanese, Chinese, Saudi Arabian, Korean and Taiwan at UBC, so I could other countries language every day. Third, I wrote about some students who have unique cultural clothes. I was concerned with Korean culture of clothes. My Korean friend showed her presentation at Speaking and Listening class and she taught her classmates include me that Korean wear suits when they attend someone’s wedding. Next, I wrote cultural food. My host family often ate serial, bread, cookies and chips, and I ate serial every day. Around my homestay house, some parties are called block party were sometimes held by neighbor. They blockaded the street in front of their houses, they brought their handmade dishes on the street, and they shared the dishes each other. I attended this parties and I could try some Canadians’ dishes. Finally, I wrote about character of Canadian. I heard Canadian’s character was polite and friendly before I went abroad, and I think it was true from my experiences. They say ‘thank you’ to a driver when they get off the bus. Moreover, when I was looking for the bus stop seeing a map on a road, one woman chatted up me and taught the place of bus stop. In this way, I understood that there were many polite people in Canada.

Submitted by Havan saberi on Thu, 04/06/2020 - 15:11

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I had to write reports when I was doing my bachelor degree and when I was working in a training center. Reports at uni was basically about the laboratory work and experiments and they usually contain four main parts which are the introduction, the method or the process, the results and finally the discussion. While the reports that I have written in the training center was mainly for each training session and they should include the number of the participants and a brief informations about them. In addition, their evaluations at the end of the session. To sum up, the two types of reports were brief although they have different structure.