Find out what sort of report needs to be written. There are usually two types of reports, a book report, in which a child simply reads a book and reports what he has learned; and a research report, where the student must research a particular subject. This particular subject can be anything from their home state or city to a particular animal or famous political figure. Clarify with your child (and teacher, if necessary) as to what the report is about and any guidelines such as word count and presentation format.
Make an outline for your report. Write out the main points of what you would like to cover. For a book report, you must list main characters and settings and at least a basic plot summary. A review of what the student thought of the book is also usually standard, as is any moral or life lesson that was fairly obvious in the storyline. For a research report, the same rules follow. List the main achievements or features of your subject, give a brief biographical or anthropological history, and list key points that you found interesting in your research.
Pull up a word processing program such as Microsoft Word or Open Office. (See Resources) Help your child set it to the specified font and spacing, usually 12 point font and double spaced. Have them type up their report using their written outline as guidance. Use the "one sentence per paragraph rule" when writing a research report. This simply means summarizing what the student read in a paragraph into a single sentence. This helps avoid plagiarism and instills good learning and processing habits.
After you have reviewed the report for any spelling or grammatical errors, or any information that could be considered plagiarized, print the report using your inkjet printer. If you do not have a home printer, then save your work to disk or thumb drive and print it at your local print shop. You can also e-mail it to yourself and access it at the store.
Place your assignment in a report folder, specified by the teacher. Some teachers will allow stapled work but most require an inexpensive paper or plastic report folder that can be purchased at almost any drug or home store. Check over the assignment guideline sheet one final time then have your child pack the report in their backpack right away to prevent forgetting it at home.