If you have ever written a report, you’ll know that there is no section with the title ‘impact narrative’. The impact narrative is something that you can reference in many different parts of a report structure.
When writing the impact assessment report for Europeana 2020, we referenced the narrative we created in the executive summary, introduction and the conclusions. The conclusions and executive summary were the real home for the narrative.
Furthermore, the visuals you create can have a life outside of a report. You might have designed your visuals for sharing on social media and not for your report. Your visual narrative (e.g. a narrative infographic) might be all that you want to share. You might use infographics or charts in a presentation you develop to share the findings.
Structuring your report
Here we share a structure commonly used for report templates. These are the core components but can be adapted when needed. We add in the key components that you should consider and how you can build your narrative into a report structure.
Tip
Visuals (e.g. charts, infographics or imagery) can be placed throughout your report but should always improve or facilitate your reader’s experience. Make sure that they’re not distracting!
Don’t forget to add the date when the report was published (month and year) and the author. It helps anyone who might want to reference your work in future. You might even add a suggested citation, which is particularly helpful if your report has had input from a number of people who might be credited on the report.
Executive summary
‘Everything in a very short form’
Two-pages max (or even less?)
Share or summarise your narrative while introducing the research question and main findings from your data
This is the last thing you write even though it comes first in your report
Introduction
Background and context
Introduce your stakeholders (the people that you aimed to create change for)
Conceptual framework
Value lens, strategic framework
Methodology
Summary of your data collection approach
How you analysed the data (e.g. with what tools)
Data validation and review
Limitations to your approach
Findings
Set out your data analysis in a structured way.
Tip: Can you use your narrative structure to shape how you present the different sections of your findings?
Conclusions and recommendations
The real home for your narrative
Reference your original research questions or the anticipated outcomes you hoped to measure and compare those with the actual findings
Recommend actions and next steps
Close with some impactful and memorable words
Appendices
Any data that is useful to share or referenced but not part of the report already
Anything useful but not essential to or difficult to fit into the main body of the report
Additional information not directly related to the impact assessment but useful to document
Your questionnaire or interview questions
Tip.
Your executive summary should be concise and present - in summary - the whole report. You might find that this is the hardest thing to write! Someone else may be able to edit down the text for you or even write the executive summary, based on their reading of the report. Having someone else draft your executive summary can help you understand how your narrative is being understood by others.
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