Report Text

PURPOSE
to provide information about natural and non-natural phenomena, to document, to organize and store factual information on a topic, to classify and describe the phenomena about a whole class of things –living and non living, to describe the way things are.

Reports can be used in textbooks, encyclopedias, scientific magazines, historical texts, factual reading books, reference books, classroom lesson, environment program, TV documentaries, magazines etc.

GENERIC STRUCTURE
1.General Classification : tells what the phenomenon under discussion is
2.Descriptions : tells what the phenomenon under discussion is like in terms of: Parts (and their function), Qualities and Habits or behaviour

NOTES

1. Difference between reports and descriptions: Repots classify and describe a whole class of things e.g. “Houses”. By contrast, descriptive texts talk about on specific person, place or thing e.g. “My houses”. In short, reports deal with general classification and description of a thing while descriptions describe a particular thing.

2. The description can cover the facts about various aspects of the object (colour, shape, habits, behaviour etc), giving examples, comparing and contrasting, describing components and their functions.

LANGUAGE FEATURES

• Generalized participants: a whole class of things (volcanoes, newspapers, the royal family)
• Action verbs/material processes
• Simple present tense. It states general thing, like: comodo dragon usually weight more tha 160 kg.
• Language for defining, classifying, comparing, contrasting (are called, belong to, can be classified as, are similar to, are more powerful than)
• May contain technical vocabulary e.g. water contains oxygen and hydrogen
• Is written in a formal and objective style

Example of Report Text / Contoh Report Text

Volcanoes

General Classification

A volcano is a mountain which is formed by the eruption of material from the earth’s interior through a central opening or groups of openings. Volcanoes are scattered over the world. Volcanoes can be divided into three categories based on volcano forms and type of volcanic activities. They are Shield, Composite and Explosion volcanoes

Description

A shield volcano is formed chiefly of layers of basalt (a dark, heavy lava). A few shield volcanoes are composed of andesite ( a related, less dense type of lava).

A composite volcano has more frequent and violent explosive eruptions than shield volcanoes do. Lava may be extruded from either central crater or fissures on a volcano’s sides.

Explosion volcanoes are composed of inclined layers of pyroclastic debris and contain no lava. During the eruption, debris is ejected from the crater. Most explosion volcanoes are formed during one period of eruption.

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