REPORT WRITING Report writing 7 You have been asked to write a report for your school newspaper which is celebrating Environment Day. Choose one of the topics on which to do your research and then answer the questions. Our town and the environment The 3R s in our school (Reduce/Recycle/Reuse) Reducing plastic locally Green transport and school locally sourced food and drink Protecting animal life in our area How much do we really know about environmental issues? 1. Who will read your report? 2. What is its purpose? 3. Why is it needed? 4. What information do you need to write it? 8 Here are parts of a report on Green Transport and school. Answer the questions. 1. Which section/s explain and inform? 2. Which section/s voice important information? 3. Which section/s draws conclusions and expresses recommendations? a. From our research we can see that students, families, the school, transport companies and the town council need to think more about how the environment can be protected by changing habits and providing improved facilities. Families can lower their car use and encourage cycling and walking, or the use of trains and eco buses. Students can avoid asking parents for lifts by car. We recommend that the school provide bike shelters and amenities for pupils to change in hot or wet weather if they cycle. The town council can provide eco school buses and shuttle service from the station. Green transport is the future, we must all work together. b. Our aim is to show what the most common means of transport to and from school is at present and how necessary it is for all those involved to think about turning Green , as well as recommending some relatively simple ways of doing so. c. We carried out both surveys and interviews among pupils at school and also parents. 55% use the car to go to school because it is easier and they can get up later in the mornings. 35% use the school bus and 10% walk or cycle. However, 35% of pupils said they would not mind changing to walking or cycling. We looked at reports on the town s level of air pollution at school entry and exit times: it is much higher at those times. We also spoke to the transport department of the council and the bus company which runs the school bus service. The present bus is diesel fueled but could be converted to natural gas at a relatively low cost. The council had not investigated this possibility, but said they were planning a special cycle track all around the town. 9 Now choose one of the topics in exercise 7 and write your report. Use about 150-180 words. Follow the structure: Introduction: method of research; body: findings, good aspects bad aspects; conclusion and recommendations. 65 UNIT 6 B1+