ClearTips: Riveting reports

What's your purpose in writing?

Some reports have a clear purpose: interpreting the results of a study, introducing a new policy. Others may have lost their purpose, such as annual reports that are done the same way every year. Still others, such as fund-raising requests, mask their purpose intentionally.

For that Census Bureau policy brief I mentioned earlier, the first statement of purpose was:

To inform the public about U.S. census projections

After considerable pushing, we narrowed it:

To persuade state and local governments that the population projections provide a sound basis for planning

It's easy to inform. It's not easy to persuade. And almost all reports are meant to persuade someone of something.

For a policy report by the Benton Foundation and Libraries for the Future, the first attempt at the purpose was:

To show the importance of libraries in the digital age

That was quickly refined to this:

To persuade librarians, policymakers, foundations, and corporations of the importance of libraries as resource centers for the new communications and information tools in this digital age

Compare the timid show the importance of with the stronger persuade, surrounded by concrete detail.

So, to say that you are writing to inform your audience about your topic is not enough: there is almost always another purpose.

The following verbs all avoid the specific:

communicate
emphasize
describe
explore
tell
consider
suggest

while these verbs can push you toward greater detail and clarity:

create
persuade
promote
take
convince
force
motivate
quell
change
push

If you're having trouble identifying your purpose, ask yourself: What do you want your audience to do after reading your report? Adopt your recommendations? Formulate a new set of policies? Change their behavior? Sometimes your purpose may have a hidden agenda—to get a promotion or change the way your department is organized.

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