This guide to writing a report with Harvard referencing is published by EdCitation, whose tools look each reference up in the publisher's record rather than write it. It covers how a report differs from an essay, what each part must do, and how to cite company reports, market data and statistics. Layout, numbered sections and "Source:" lines are in Harvard essay and report format, and the citation rules in the Harvard referencing guide.
The craft comes from five universities' report guides in the UK and Australia, and the Harvard examples from library guides that follow Cite Them Right, whose subscription site could not be read; all were read on 23 September 2026. Every guide defers to the brief, so start there: EdCitation's free Check your paper turns a report brief into a checklist, and Cite a source builds each Harvard reference from the record, both with no account.
How is a report different from an essay?
A report is written for a named reader who needs one answer quickly; an essay argues a case for a marker who reads every line. The University of Leeds (n.d.) calls reports concise and formally structured, and essays discursive, their structure left to the writer.
Purpose and reader
UNSW Business School (n.d.) says an essay's reader is your lecturer, judging your argument, while a business report also has an imagined client, so its tone is respectful yet authoritative. The University of Reading (2026a) sums a report up as what was done and what it means, written to a brief for a specific reader.
Structure, headings and recommendations
- Headings. Reading says reports always have section headings and essays usually do not. The University of Portsmouth (2019) adds numbered sections and a contents page.
- Bullet points. Leeds allows bullets or numbering inside sections, and shorter paragraphs than an essay's.
- Tables and methods. Portsmouth says a report usually has tables and charts and describes its methods; an essay usually has neither.
- Recommendations. Portsmouth says reports sometimes make them and essays never do.
The guides disagree on method. Portsmouth expects a methods section in most reports, while Reading says a business report may need Recommendations and no Methods. UNSW even describes a "report essay", an argument set in a report's format.
What are the parts of a report, in order?
The five guides list nine or ten parts each, no two the same set, and each says the structure varies with the discipline or the brief. The table follows Leeds, Reading, UNSW and Queensland University of Technology (QUT); the reference list uses your school's style, Harvard in most UNSW business courses.
| Part | Its job | The common slip |
|---|---|---|
| Title page | States the topic; UNSW adds name, ID, course, tutor and date | A title that hides the purpose |
| Executive summary or abstract | Purpose, findings, conclusions and recommendations, standing alone | Written first |
| Contents | Numbered sections with page numbers | Numbers that no longer match the headings |
| Introduction | Background, purpose, scope and limits; terms of reference if asked | Assuming the summary was read |
| Method | What was done, precisely enough to repeat | Missing when you collected data |
| Findings | The results, stated objectively | Explaining them here |
| Discussion | What the findings mean for the purpose and earlier work | Results never related to the purpose |
| Conclusions | The main points, answering the brief | New evidence |
| Recommendations | Actions that follow from the conclusions | No one named to act |
| References | Every source cited, in the course's Harvard | Entries nobody can find; EdCitation's Verify references checks them |
| Appendices | Detail too long for the body, in the order cited | Never referred to in the text |
Where the guides part company
Queensland University of Technology (2025) numbers its worked structure 1 to 6, with sub-sections such as 2.2.2 Sample size, and folds method and analysis into section 2, Discussion, which Leeds keeps apart. UNSW lists References after the appendix, adds a letter of transmittal carrying the terms of reference for very formal reports only, and wants headings that are noun phrases, never questions.
How do I write the executive summary?
Write it last, on its own page, to stand alone. Leeds, Portsmouth, QUT and UNSW all advise writing it after the report, and UNSW says the introduction must not assume it has been read.
What it covers
Leeds names the key problem and objectives, then the main findings and key recommendations. UNSW asks for the purpose, findings, conclusions and recommendations. The University of Reading (2026b) adds the methods and calls the summary the "shop window": the first part read, and sometimes the only one.
How long it should be
The guides split. QUT describes a single paragraph; Reading a paragraph or two, always under a page; UNSW a page at most, and none at all for a short report. Leeds Beckett, as the format guide reports, asks for about half a page. A length in the brief overrides them all.
What goes in the introduction, method, findings and discussion?
The introduction sets the task, the method says what was done, the findings what was found, and the discussion what it means.
Introduction and terms of reference
Leeds asks for the background, aims and objectives, and says some reports need terms of reference: who asked for the report, what it covers and its limits. UNSW adds scope and definitions, QUT limitations and assumptions, and Reading the reader's name when there is one. Hull puts them before the contents, as the format guide shows.
Method
Leeds and Reading set one test: someone else could repeat the work from your method. QUT asks what you did and why, the sample size and the selection criteria.
Findings against discussion
Leeds wants findings summarised objectively, without reasons; the discussion then weighs them against the aims and earlier research. UNSW puts it plainly: findings are facts, discussion is opinion, and the wording should show which is which. Reading notes that some briefs combine the two.
Tables, figures and data
Reading (2026b) wants every graph and table labelled and titled, a sentence on what each shows, and no chart that repeats a table. Appendix tables are numbered B1, B2, apart from the text's. A borrowed or recalculated table takes a source line; in Southern Cross's pattern, shown in the format guide, a table from the bulletin below ends "Source: Office for National Statistics (2026)".
How do I write conclusions and recommendations?
Conclusions say what the report found; recommendations say what should be done about it. Reading wants it short, answering the brief with no new argument or evidence; QUT puts the major conclusions first.
Separate or together
Leeds heads one section Conclusion/recommendations. UNSW and QUT give recommendations a section of their own, though UNSW says a separate list is not always required, and QUT that some reports want recommendations in place of a conclusion. Use the brief's headings exactly.
Writing a recommendation
UNSW asks for "should" statements, in points or numbers, saying who should do what, where, when, how and sometimes at what cost. QUT wants them realistic and achievable. A pattern: [who] should [do what] by [when], because of [the conclusion it rests on].
How do I cite company reports, market data and statistics in Harvard?
Mostly as reports or web pages: the organisation as author, the year, the title in italics, then Available at: with the address and access date. City St George's, University of London (2026) lists the matching Cite Them Right categories, from company annual reports to government publications. Each example below is from a university guide that follows Cite Them Right.
A company's annual report
The University of Worcester (2026a) treats a company report read online as a web page: WH Smith PLC (2024) Annual report and accounts 2024, then Available at:, the PDF's address and (Accessed: 9 January 2025). For company data from a database, Robert Gordon University (2026a) makes the database the author: FAME (2024) Marks and Spencer PLC.
Market research
Robert Gordon University (2026a) sets a Mintel report with no named analyst as:
Mintel (2024) Digital lives of consumers - UK - 2024. Available at: https://data.mintel.com/databook/digital-lives-of-consumers-uk-2024/ (Accessed: 18 April 2024).
The University of Westminster (2026), citing the 13th edition, writes MINTEL, adds the day and month of issue, and gives only Mintel's home page. Follow your library's version.
Government statistics: a worked example
The University of Worcester (2026b) sets a government publication like a web page, with the issuing body as author. Looked up for this guide, ONS's August 2026 retail sales bulletin becomes:
Office for National Statistics (2026) Retail sales, Great Britain: August 2026. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/bulletins/retailsales/august2026 (Accessed: 23 September 2026).
The exception: each ONS series also has a "latest" address, which moves on at the next release (23 October 2026, says the page). Cite the dated address, or the reference will point at figures you never used.
Reports from other organisations
For grey literature, such as a regulator's or charity's report, Newcastle University (2025) gives the organisation, year, title and any report number, then the publisher or Available at: with the address and access date. Robert Gordon University (2026b) treats a PDF with an ISBN, or a long report with covers and publication details, as a book.
What counts in a report's word count?
Usually the body, tables included, not the parts before or after it; the brief decides. The University of Worcester (2026c) counts the main text with its citations, quotations and tables, and excludes the abstract, contents, executive summary, references and appendices. The University of the West of England (2022) also counts headings and figures, and excludes the title, reference list, appendices and abstract. It lets an executive summary carry a limit of its own, and its markers stop marking at the limit. At Brunel, the format guide records, the module lead decides.
How do I write a report from brief to submission?
In the order the facts arrive, with the summary last. The University of Reading (2026c) suggests writing the most factual sections first.
- Read the brief into a list of sections, word limit, style and number of sources. EdCitation's Check your paper does this free, quoting the sentence behind each rule.
- Name the reader and write the terms of reference.
- Find published research with EdCitation's Find sources, which searches about 300 million works by topic or by the claim a sentence needs; company and market data come from library databases.
- Write the method and findings, every table titled and sourced.
- Write the introduction, then the discussion.
- Write the conclusions, then a recommendation for each one that calls for action.
- Cite as you write with EdCitation's Cite a source, from the publisher's record.
- Write the executive summary, and test it on someone who has not read the report.
- Number the sections, build the contents, label the appendices.
- Check the list with Verify references, then count words as the brief does.
Which EdCitation tools help with a Harvard report?
Check your paper is the best tool to start with, because a report is marked against its brief, and the five guides read here, listing nine or ten parts each with no two alike, cannot settle its structure for you. Free with no account, it reads the brief into a checklist of word limits, required sections, style and number of sources, each rule shown with the sentence it came from. Theoretics QA, part of Max at $24 a month, then judges the report against its own brief, with quotations from the report, and never rewrites anything.
Cite a source, free with no account, builds a Harvard reference from a DOI, a PubMed ID, an ISBN, a title or a web address, from the publisher's record, and screens the source for retraction. It follows Cite Them Right's 12th edition, which keeps the place of publication, so a student whose university follows the 13th deletes it from each book; City St George's accepts either for now, if the list is consistent. Verify references, also free, marks each entry verified, doubtful ("check this") or not found, flags retractions, and never shows one it could not check as not found. A free account keeps the list in the dashboard.
EdCitation never writes any part of a report, does not analyse your data or judge whether a calculation was the right one, and gives no grade. Mechanics QA, part of Pro at $8 a month, checks formatting against the APA 7 student paper, so it is not a Harvard format check.
Quick questions
Is a report just an essay with headings?
No. A report serves a named reader in numbered parts, often with tables and recommendations; an essay argues in continuous prose, and Portsmouth says it never makes recommendations.
Does the executive summary count towards a report's word count?
Often not. The University of Worcester excludes it, and the University of the West of England says an executive summary may carry a separate limit.
Should conclusions and recommendations be separate sections?
Follow the brief. Leeds combines them under one heading, while UNSW and QUT give recommendations their own section.
How do I reference a Mintel report in Harvard?
In Cite Them Right Harvard, give Mintel or the named analyst as author, the year, the title in italics, then Available at: with the address and access date. Guides differ on capitals and the date of issue, so follow your library's.
Which EdCitation tool reads a report brief?
EdCitation's Check your paper, free with no account, reads it into a checklist of word limits, required sections, style and number of sources.
References
- City St George's, University of London. (2026, August 5). Harvard style citing and referencing. Citing and referencing for business. https://libguides.citystgeorges.ac.uk/referencingforbusiness/harvard
- Newcastle University. (2025). Cite Them Right Harvard style sheet [PDF]. Newcastle University Library. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/mediav8/academic-skills-kit/file-downloads/manage-info/2025%20Cite%20Them%20Right%20Harvard%20Style%20Sheet.pdf
- Office for National Statistics. (2026, September 18). Retail sales, Great Britain: August 2026. https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/bulletins/retailsales/august2026
- Queensland University of Technology. (2025, February 17). How to write a report. QUT cite|write. https://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/write/writing-well/report.html
- Robert Gordon University. (2026a, April 15). Databases. Cite Them Right Harvard templates. https://library.rgu.ac.uk/harvard-referencing-templates/databases
- Robert Gordon University. (2026b, April 15). PDFs, reports, policy documents. Cite Them Right Harvard templates. https://library.rgu.ac.uk/harvard-referencing-templates/pdf-reports-policy-documents
- University of Leeds. (n.d.). Report writing. Leeds University Library. https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/14011/writing/114/report_writing
- University of Portsmouth. (2019). Reports and essays: Key differences [PDF]. https://www.port.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2022-10/Reports%20and%20Essays%20key%20differences.pdf
- University of Reading. (2026a, September 4). Features of good reports. Report writing. https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/reports/features
- University of Reading. (2026b, September 4). Structuring your report. Report writing. https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/reports/structuring
- University of Reading. (2026c, September 4). Writing up your report. Report writing. https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/reports/writing-up
- University of the West of England. (2022). Assessment content limit policy [PDF]. https://www.uwe.ac.uk/-/media/uwe/documents/about/policies/assessment-content-limit-policy.pdf
- University of Westminster. (2026, September 9). Harvard style. Referencing your sources. https://libguides.westminster.ac.uk/referencing/harvard
- University of Worcester. (2026a, July 7). How do I Harvard reference a company report accessed online? Library Services FAQs. https://libraryfaqs.worc.ac.uk/faq/164517
- University of Worcester. (2026b, July 7). How do I Harvard reference a government report / publication? Library Services FAQs. https://libraryfaqs.worc.ac.uk/faq/177945
- University of Worcester. (2026c, August 17). What is included in the word count? Library Services FAQs. https://libraryfaqs.worc.ac.uk/faq/189241
- UNSW Business School. (n.d.). Writing a report [PDF]. UNSW Sydney. https://www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/pdfs/business/general/resources/2023-07-business-academic-communication-essentials/Writingareport.pdf