An informal report and a formal report are two major forms of report classification based on the length and formality of the report. There is a certain major difference between formal and informal reports.
If you are well acquainted with these differences, you can quickly adapt your knowledge of report writing to a wide variety of reports. A significant difference between formal and informal reports stands out as follows:
| Head | Short Report | Long Report |
| Length | As the name implies, a short report is very short in length. Short report writing is usually completed in a page or two. | A long report is never possible to be completed in a page or two. A long report usually includes some special pages (e.g. prefatory page) that do not appear in short reports. |
| Nature | A short report deals with routine matters. | Subjects of the long report are not a routine type. It deals with major complex problems. |
| Reader | A short report is usually written for someone within the organization. It is used when the reader’s time is very limited and the full detail of the subject is not needed. | A long report is written for someone within the organization or outside the organization. |
| Format | Many short reports are written in memorandum and letter formats. | A long report is always written in a manuscript (narrative style) format. |
| Formality | Short reports being informal do not require extended planning and contain varieties of formats. | A long report being formal needs careful planning before it is written because planning focuses on your reader(s). |
| Use of Supplement | A short report does not include prefatory parts\nor appended once because it presents only day-to-day events. | A long report includes these special parts. As long report deals with major complex problems and is kept on the file for posterity, the inclusion of the supplements will increase the reliability and validity of the report. |
| Writing | Short reports follow deductive writing styles. A short report highlights facts and specific recommendations. It avoids the analysis and inclusion of supporting information. | A long report on the other hand, after analyzing and interpreting the conclusion of the draw and making recommendations. |
| Style | Personal writing styles (using first or second person style) are used in writing a short report. | A formal long report is written using impersonal (using third-person style) styles. |
| Coherence | With the lessening of the length of the report, the need for coherence aid is lessened. In extremely short reports like memorandums and letters, reports, the information is presented in a so brief and simple way that extra coherence aids are not needed. | The formal (long) report displays summaries, introductory, forward-looking sentences, and paragraphs in key places. These are needed to relate the different parts of complex long reports. |
If anyone understands the difference between formal and informal reports he will get an idea about both formal reports and informal reports.
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