Report Text (Complete Explanation)

If my friend is still confused about how and how to create a report text, maybe you should
learn this article. Maybe the this explanation of report text can help to understand this type of
text that can make us a little dizzy.

In general, report text is one type of text that is categorized as “factual texts.” This kind of
text is often said as “twin brother” of descriptive text. So that many students are “confused”
how to distinguish the these texts.
But actually to distinguish between Descriptive Text and Report Text is easy. Descriptive text
gives a specific description; on the other side the report text gives description about objects in
general. In other words descriptive text describes a specific object while the report text
describes common object. Descriptive text is written based on opinions of what the author
sees and feels. Then, the report text is written scientifically based on the results of deep
research.

Definition of Report text

The term report text is often also known as informational report. The Report, in Concise
Oxford Dictionary 10th Edition, is defined as 1) an account given of a matter after
investigation or consideration. 2) a piece of information about an event or situation. It can be
concluded, in term of language, the report text is a text that function to provide information
about an event or situation, after the holding of the investigation and through various
considerations.

The definition of this report text is also almost similar to what is often mentioned in some
English books at high school level, “Reports a text which is the result of systematic
observation and analyzes.”

Thus, actually Report Text and Descriptive Text have a fairly clear distinction, although it
appears that the both text are said to be “twin siblings”.

In conclusion, in the report text it usually contains facts that can be proven scientifically,
Okay ..

Generic Structure of Report text

As descriptive text, Report text also has only two generic structures:
# General Classification ; Stating classification of general aspect of thing; animal, public
place, plant, etc which will be discussed in general
# Description : tells what the phenomenon under discussion ; in terms of parts, qualities,
habits or behaviors.

The other says that the generic structure of Report Text are :
* General information
* Bundles of Specific Information
General information is the part that mentions general information from the written objects
discussed. Then, the Bundles of specific information, is the descriptions of objects in detail.

I myself am more likely to agree with the second generic structure; because this can make
students have better understanding how to write Report Text.

Purpose of Report text

Every text must have the purpose why it was written. So do this. Some experts mention that
the purpose of the report text is:

Its social purpose is presenting information about something. They generally describe an
entire class of things, whether natural or made: mammals, the planets, rocks, plants, countries
of region, culture, transportation, and so on.

It can be concluded, the purpose of report text is to convey information of observation

through systematic analysis. The information described in the report text is usually general,
whether natural or artificial like mammals, planets, rocks, plants, states, culture,
transportation, and so forth.

In high school level books, it is mentioned that the purpose of report text are :
– To describe something in general.
– To presenting information about (something), as it is.
– To describe the way things are..

Language Feature of Report text:

– Use of general nouns, eg hunting dogs, rather than particular nouns, eg our dog;
– Use of relating verbs to describe features, eg Molecules are tiny particles;
– Some use of action verbs when describing behavior, eg Emus cannot fly;
– Use of timeless present tense to indicate usualness, eg Tropical cyclones always begin over
the sea;
– Use of technical terms, eg Isobars are lines drawn on a weather map;
– Use of paragraphs with topic sentences to organize bundles of information; repeated
naming of the topic as the beginning focus of the clause.

Example of Report Text

Example of Report Text about Cats

Cats

Do you ever touch a cat?

Do you have a cat at home?

A cat is one of the mammal animal which is liked a lion. It is called small lion. Although they
have a similarity but they are different much. A cat is categorized as a tame animal, is a
carnivore which consumes meat, flesh or fish. We can see it everywhere such as at home, at
road, at the cat conservation and other.
This mammal, has four legs for making it easy to run so don’t be shocked if you see the fast
cat takes your meal in the dining table. It can run as fast as a dog. It has paws to protect itself
from the enemy, climbing the tree and danger. It has sharp teeth which is useful to cut the
meal, eat something and bring something. The beautiful and smooth feather is for protecting
form the unpredicted situation and keeps the important body part. Every cat has different
feather color, such as cream, black, white, or black-white and other.

It is a tame pet so everybody to take care of it at home, to protect from the mouse too. But we
have to be careful when we are with it. There are many disease from the cat, guys.. for
example influenza, cough, respiratory error who can be caused by the cat feather. If you have
a cat at home and you love it so much, please wash your hand before touching your meal and
face, sweep the floor after it sleeps and also takes a bath it once a day.

Example of Report Text about Jellyfish

Jellyfish

Have you ever heard about jellyfish? Does it have same meaning with “jelly” and “fish”??
According from the main word, “jelly is one of the food which is made from the jelly grass;
or we can describe that jelly is one of the form of something. And fish is one of the animal
which lives in the water which can swim, has tail, gills and vertebrate animal. And the
jellyfish is not a fish exactly, it is an invertebrate animal which does not have back bone on it.
Although it does not have bones but it can act and swim as fast as the wave.

It lives in the water especially in the sea which taste sour. Jellyfish has a stomach, a mouth
but remember that it does not have a head. How can it adapt and defend itself from the
enemy? The answer is,, it has a special nervous system for sensing the world around it. The
body of it is almost entirely made of water so don’t be shocked if you see the jellyfish like
water.

There are some kinds of jellyfish; they are a jellyfish which can live in the darkness and in
the salt water. For the jellyfish in the darkness, it has a light by itself. The usage of is for the
defending in the sea. The enemy will feel scary after knowing it. It live in the deep ocean
without the sunlight anymore. That is why it has own light on its body. Next about the
jellyfish which lives in the salt water, it can be seen in the ocean and also almost in the sea of
the world. It looks so beautiful and easy for looking by our eyes. But we have to remember
when we swim in the sea, we have to be careful because there are some dangerous jellyfish
around you. Talking about them between jellyfish in the darkness and jellyfish in the salt
water , they have same body structure but the difference is for jellyfish in the darkness has
own light so will glow in the dark but jellyfish in the salt water does not have it.

Example of Report Text about Goats

Goats

Do you have a goat in your home?

Have you ever seen a goat directly?
Where do you always see it?
Goats are the interesting mammal animal. They are vertebrates. They belong to mammal and
they can be found over the world.

Goats breathe with their lung. They can walk and run but they can be in hurry, they use their
four legs. There are many kinds of goats. All of them eat grass because that are herbivore.
They live in all the world. Some of them have torn in their head. You can hear their voice
“embeeeeeeeeeek”. Don’t you know that they have teeth to eat something?

Female goat can be pregnant and bear their baby goat. They always live together with others
goat to find the food. We can consume them in satay, soup, barbeque and other meal.

Example of Report Text – Birds Of Paradise

Birds Of Paradise

The birds of paradise are a group of birds that belong to the family Paradisaeidae and order
Passeriformes. They can be found in the tropical rainforests in Eastern Indonesia, Papua New
Guinea and Eastern Australia. There are 42 species in the family. They are omnivorous, their
main diet is fruit, but they also consume arthropods in a small amount.

They have more than one color on their body. Their beak can be yellow, blue, black and gray.
The fur around their beak is either green or black. The color of the fur on their head to their
back are also varied, it can be black, yellow, blue or brown. The fur on their wings also have
various colour such as brown, black, red, blue and also yellow. Their tail is very long and
soft. The color can be reddish, yellow and white, red and yellow, black, black and white, or
blue. There is also a species who has curved tail.

Each species have a different body measurement. The smallest of them can reach the size of
15 cm with the weight of 50 gr, while the largest of them can reach the size of 110 cm with
the weight of 430 gr. Mostly, the male have longer tails than the female. Some species have
rounded wings that can produce unique sound. It is recorded that they can live up to 5 or 8
years.