How to write BTEC evidence: reports, posters, presentations

BTEC work is judged on whether you can do the job in the scenario, not on flowery phrases. The assessor wants to see your decisions, the reasons behind them, and the traces of where those reasons came from. This page shows you how to shape three common evidence types, reports, posters, and presentations, so they read like real work produced by a competent learner in the UK.

Start From the Brief, Not From a Template

Every good submission begins with a small piece of detective work. Read the brief and underline the role you’ve been given (lab technician, junior business analyst, health care assistant), the verbs (describe, explain, analyse, evaluate, justify), and the deliverable (report, poster, slides, word count, file type). Now write a one-line promise to yourself:

“In this role, I will answer [the exact question] by using [the sources you actually have], and I will prove it on [these pages or slides].”

Keep that line at the top of your draft. It stops you drifting into generic waffle and it gives your page a clear spine.

Reports: The Working Document that Shows your thinking

A report is the place where you lay out the job, show the evidence, and reach a decision. Don’t write it like an essay. Write it like something you’d hand to a manager on Tuesday afternoon.

A structure that reads well on screen and on paper

Open with a tight introduction, three short paragraphs at most. State the scenario in your own words, confirm the purpose of the report, and define what a “good” outcome looks like for this task. If there’s a limit (e.g., 1,500 words), say how you’re going to use it: “This report focuses on delivery reliability and unit cost because these determine service level for Quarter 2.”

Move into a brief method section. Name the sources and why they’re suitable: a five-minute tally of late deliveries from the booking log, a quick questionnaire run in the canteen (n=42), a maintenance sheet, one industry article. You’re not padding here, you’re making your work traceable.

The findings section is about what the numbers or facts show, not yet what you think. Keep it clean. Use short, labelled tables. If you include a chart, the title should carry the meaning: “Late Friday deliveries peak 4–6 pm (8 of 13 incidents)”. Under every figure, write a one-line caption that says the point out loud.

Only then do you analyse. This is where you compare options, weigh trade-offs, and make the call. A simple way to sound like a professional, not a robot: write the claim, then force yourself to add “because…” and finish the sentence with a number, a source, or a comparison.

Supplier B costs 6% more per unit because their defect rate is half of Supplier A’s (2.1% vs 4.4% January–March), which cuts rework and emergency courier fees by roughly £420 per month.

Finish with conclusions and recommendations that someone could act on tomorrow morning. Attach timescales and a measure of success. Instead of “Staff training recommended”, say “Train two packers on the returns flow this Friday; cut average refund time from five minutes to two within four weeks.”

UK touchstones that markers notice: consistent date format (14 Oct 2025), pounds sign in the right place, units on every table column, and headings that are numbered so feedback can point to them.