The Art of Annual Report Writing

Published 23 April 07 10:25 AM

This weekend I've been working on my annual report. The good thing about this being my fourth one is that I have a fairly good handle on the forms and the process by now: I've copied the research codes over from 2006, sorted through my to-file pile for find the dates for various employment contracts (with the bonus of having now filed everything in the pile), and am now trying to get the one page minimum written section done.

Given that myresearchspace is inhabited by both research students and staff, I though this might be a good chance to ask about the written section of the report. I'm never quite sure what to write or what is really expected, beyond enough words to fill that one page. How much detail - and details of what - are useful? I've started writing a paragraph on my redrafting of chapter three, but do the people reviewing the report really want to hear about the pros and cons of organising it chronologically, thematically or according to which magazine the material I'm looking at was published in? Do they want a vent about the unrealistic, or at least challenging, expectations placed on casual tutors or part-time staff or a cheerful 'this is how I have made this situation work' with no critique of the structural issues involved? When talking about the conferences I attended, do I need to show I dutifully attended all the relevant sessions, or can I confess to blowing off a plenary to go shopping?

Part of the issue, I think, is that I have pretty good supervisorial relationships. I don't feel that they need much on chapter three, for example, because they were there when it happened. So my feeling is that I am writing for someone up the line at GRS and I have no clue what they know, don't know, or do/don't want to know.

At the moment, my report begins with 'I have written stuff. Thesis stuff. I have then rewritten this stuff.' Guess I'd better go and expand that.  

by Karen.Hall
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# robyn.owens said on April 23, 2007 4:42 PM:

The Annual Report is a report to the Board of the Graduate Research School about your progress relative to your original proposal (or whatever modifications may have occurred to that up until the time of your previous report). However, in practice, your Report is read by a Senior Administrator in the GRS, or me, if there is a problem highlighted.

So here are some tips:

1. The RFCD code is actually used for things these days. When you are applying for grants, it's the code that triggers who your assessors will be. And with the forthcoming RQF, it's the code that will determine what research groupings you will be in. While these matters might not seem important to most research students, it is a reportable matter to the Federal Government in terms of what research the university actually undertakes. Having said all that, you'll probably just put the same codes you put last year because you got it right then.

2. The Board doesn't actually need too much detail of what you've done, but rather whether you have achieved what you set out to do over the past year and where you are in terms of overall completion.

3. It is good to indicate whether there have been any problems in achieving your aims, because early indication of problems can help with solutions and with understanding why extensions might be needed.

4. A satisfactory progress report is needed to ensure enrollment in the next calendar year.

5. A satisfactory progress report is needed to be eligible for a completion scholarship.

6. It is good to list measurable outputs: papers, conferences attended, seminars given, any skill acquisition workshops attended etc.

Hope this helps.

# Karen.Hall said on April 23, 2007 5:05 PM:

Thanks Robyn! I've just finished the report - including the 'stuff' section with somethig hopefully more comprehensible. I think it is useful to think about the report in terms of the outputs - though possibly depressing where the outputs aren't as high as planned! Now to send it off upwards to the supervisors, school and GRS.

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About Karen.Hall

I've recently submitted my PhD thesis, titled 'Discovering the Lost Race Story: Writing Science Fiction, Writing Temporality', for examination. In the meantime, I'm teaching in the discipline of Communication Studies at UWA and starting a new project on medievalism and media through a Whitfeld Fellowship.