Writing the Report

1
CHAPTER 12

• Writing the Report

2
Planning

• Determining the Report Structure
• Three Most Common Formats
• Manuscript
• Formal writing. Use impersonal language and
  third-person pronouns until the conclusions and
  recommendations sections.
• Memorandum
• Informal writing. Use I and You.
• Contain the standard headings

3
Planning (continued)

• Letter format
• Use standard letter parts
• Organizing the Report
• Unity
• Order
• Logic
• Beauty

4
Common Ways for OrganizingYour Findings

• Time
• Start-up of Firm 1993
• Rapid Expansion1994-1996
• Retrenchment 1997-1999
• Location
• Expanding the Mailroom
• Modernizing the Reception Area
• Installing a Humidity System in Warehouse C

5
Organizing (continued)

• Importance
• Conversion in on Budget
• Time Schedule Slipped One Month
• Branch Offices Added to Project
• Criteria
• Roberts Has Higher Professional Training
• Jenson Has More Relevant Work Experience
• Smiths Written Work Is More Effective

6
Organizing (continued)

• Criteria
• What Are the Firms Legal and Social Obligations?
• What Policies Have Other Firms Established?
• What Policies Are Needed to Deal with the Need of
  AIDS-infected Employees?

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Findings, Conclusions, Recommendations

• Finding The computer monitor sometimes goes
  blank during operation.
• Conclusion The computer monitor is broken.
• Recommendation We should repair the computer
  monitor before May 3 when payroll processing
  begins.

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Direct Plan

• Reader prefers the direct plan
• Reader will be receptive to conclusions and
  recommendations
• Reader can more efficiently evaluate evidence
  when conclusions and recommendations are given
  at the beginning.

9
Indirect Plan

• Reader prefers indirect plan
• Reader will be initially uninterested in or
  resistant to the conclusions and recommendations
• Topic is so complex that explanation is needed
  prior to conclusions and recommendations

10
Outlining the Report

• Use all upper caps, initial caps, and lowercase
  letters
• Talking versus generic headings
• Parallelism
• Length and Number of Headings
• four to eight words for most headings
• enough headings to be inviting to read
• Balance among sections

11
Drafting

• Drafting body introduction, findings, summary,
  conclusions, and recommendations
• Introduction background, need, authorization,
  hypotheses, or problem statement
• Purpose and scope
• Procedures used

12

• Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendation

13
Our Class Report

• Introduction
• Background information
• Purpose statement, problem statement, or question
• Areas to be discussed
• Body
• Major area 1 (include quotes or paraphrases from
  references)
• Major area 2 (include quotes or paraphrases from
  references)
• Major area 3 (include quotes or paraphrases from
  references)

14
Our Class Report

• Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations
• Summary
• Background information
• Purpose statement
• Areas to be discussed
• Conclusions
• Your opinion
• Be sure to base on major areas discussed
• Recommendation
• Recommend a course of action
• Be sure to base on summary and conclusions

15
Our Class Report

• You do not need the following items
• Hypotheses
• Authorization
• Procedures

16
Drafting Supplementary Sections

• Title page
• Transmittal document
• Executive Summary
• Table of Contents
• Appendix
• References

17
Developing an Effective Writing Style

• Tone
• Pronouns
• Verb Tense
• Emphasis and Subordination
• Coherence
• Paraphrasing versus Direct Quotation

18

• Documenting Your Sources (Avoid plagiarism)
• What needs to be documented
• What does not need to be documented
• Forms of documentation

19
Distortion by Omission

• Give appropriate facts
• Avoid leading reader inappropriately

20
Reviewing

• Revising content, style, correctness
• Formatting
• Proofreading