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Enhancing the readability of expert reports
Citation
Howes, L, Enhancing the readability of expert reports, Australasian Society of Forensic Document Examiners Incorporated (ASFDE Inc) 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting, 24-28 May 2021, Online (2021) [Conference Extract]
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Abstract
A key role of forensic scientists is to provide findings and expert opinion that may help to
address questions of law. Although expert reports are often prepared with a potential court
case in mind, their use by police officers in investigations and lawyers in pre-trial contexts
suggests that they must be comprehensible to a range of possible readers. The report may
be the only communication from forensic scientists to other criminal justice practitioners,
making it necessary for forensic scientists to anticipate their information needs. However,
challenges exist for forensic scientists in writing expert reports in ways that are both
scientifically accurate and comprehensible for a range of readers. Not only is it challenging
for forensic scientists to think in lay terms about their specialist forensic discipline, but they
receive limited feedback on the suitability of their reports from criminal justice
practitioners. Readability analyses can assist forensic scientists to overcome these
challenges. Using a holistic approach to assessing readability, reports are examined for
various criteria associated with the completeness and coherence of the content included,
the logic of its sequence, the language used, and the format in which it is presented. This
presentation discusses readability as a guiding principle for the revision of reporting
templates. It outlines the elements to be considered and notes some aspects of expert
reports that might pose difficulties for readers. Finally, the presentation makes several
recommendations to enhance the readability of the reports, with the understanding that
revising reporting templates is an ongoing process.
Item Details
Item Type: | Conference Extract |
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Keywords: | forensic science, expert reports, readability, forensic document examination, handwriting examination, signature examination |
Research Division: | Human Society |
Research Group: | Criminology |
Research Field: | Police administration, procedures and practice |
Objective Division: | Law, Politics and Community Services |
Objective Group: | Justice and the law |
Objective Field: | Criminal justice |
UTAS Author: | Howes, L (Dr Loene Howes) |
ID Code: | 144648 |
Year Published: | 2021 |
Deposited By: | Office of the School of Social Sciences |
Deposited On: | 2021-06-02 |
Last Modified: | 2021-06-28 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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