The Main Message

In your analysis and practice of the report writing planning process, you have considered your purpose, your reader’s needs, and your reader’s main question. Hopefully, you have been able to see how each of these elements in the dialogue is crucial to developing a focused and coherent report. The dialogue now continues with an answer to your reader’s main question. This answer is the writer’s main message, and it forms the most essential part of your report for both the planning and drafting stages.

The main message, which should be one or two sentences, forms the main idea that you wish to convey in your report. It also creates a reference point for organizing your entire report. With a clear main message, you will be able to assess how well your report answers the readers’ questions, supports your main message, and achieves your purpose.

In Module 4, you will learn about writing report introductions. In your report introduction, you will state your purpose if it’s not implicitly understood, and you will clearly state the main message.