Business Communication, 12eLehman and DuFrene?1999 South-Western College Publishing

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Chapter 11 Objectives

• Identify the parts of a formal report and the
  contribution each part makes to the overall
  effectiveness of a report.
• Organize report findings.
• Prepare effective formal reports using an
  acceptable format and writing style.

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Parts of a Formal Report
TA 112 Parts of a Formal Report
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TA 113 Basic Outline Grows into a Contents Page
Basic Outline Grows into a Contents Page
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TA 114 Characteristics of Short Reports
Writing Short Informal Reports

• Use a personal writing style (first- or
  second-person) and contractions that contribute
  to a natural style.
• Use graphics to reinforce text.
• Use headings to partition text and reflect
  organization.

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Suggestions for Creating an Conducive Writing
Environment
TA 115 Suggestions for Creating a Conducive
Writing Environment

• Plan earlyallow plenty of time to finish.
• Work at a steady pace in a nondistracting writing
  environment.
• Start with an easy section skip difficult
  sections and write them later.
• Write rapidly and allow time to edit and rewrite
  your first draft.

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Check Your Writing Report Writing

• Transmittal Letter or Memorandum
• Transmit a warm greeting to the reader.
• Open with a Here is the report you requested
  tone.
• Establish the subject in the first sentence.
• Follow the opening with a brief summary. Expand
  the discussion if a separate summary is not
  included in the report.
• Acknowledge the assistance of those who helped
  with the study.
• Close the letter with a thank-you and a forward
  look.
• Title Page
• Include the title of the report.
• Provide full identification of the authority for
  the report (the person for whom the report was
  prepared).

• Provide full identification of the preparer of
  the report.
• Provide the report completion date.
• Assure an attractive layout.
• Contents Page
• Use Contents as the title.
• Use indentation to indicate the heading degrees
  used in the report.
• List numerous figures separately.
• Center the entire contents outline horizontally.
  Allow 1 1/2 inch top margin.
• Executive Summary
• Use a one-word title, such as Executive Summary,
  Synopsis, or Abstract.
• Condense the major sections of the report.
• Use effective generalized statements that avoid
  detail available in the report itself. Simply
  tell the reader what was done, how it was done,
  and what conclusions were reached.

See pages 400 - 401 in text.
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Check Your Writing Report Writing

• Report text
• Avoid the personal I and we pronouns. Minimize
  the use of the writer, the investigator, and the
  author.
• Use active construction to give emphasis to the
  doer of the action use passive voice to give
  emphasis to the results of the action.
• Use proper tense. Tell naturally about things in
  the order in which they happened, are happening,
  or will happen. Write as though the reader were
  reading the report at the same time it is
  written.
• Avoid ambiguous pronoun references.
• Avoid expletive beginnings.
• Use bulleted or enumerated lists of three or more
  items if tabulation will make reading easier.
• Incorporate transition sentences to ensure
  coherence.

• Physical Layout
• Use headings to assist the reader by making them
  descriptive of the contents of the section.
  Talking headings are preferred.
• Maintain consistency in the mechanical placement
  of headings of equal value.
• Use parallel construction in headings of equal
  degree in the same section of the report.
• Incorporate the statement of the problem or
  purpose and method of research as minor parts of
  the introduction unless the research method is
  the unique element in the study.
• Use the picture-frame layout for all pages. See
  p. 400 for recommended margins.

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Check Your Writing Report Writing

• Number all pages with the first page of the body
  of the report being page 1. For page 1, omit the
  number or place it in the center 1 from the
  bottom of the page. Place the number of all other
  pages 1 from the top of the page.
• Use of Graphics
• Number consecutive figures used in the report.
• Give each graph or table a descriptive title.
• Refer to the graph or table within the text
  discussion that precedes its appearance.
• Place the graph or table as close to the textural
  reference as possible and limit the reference to
  analysis.

• Use effective layout, appropriate captions,
  legends, and realistic vertical and horizontal
  scales that help the table or graph stand clearly
  by itself.
• Reporting Analysis
• Question each statement for its contribution to
  the solution of the problem. Is each statement
  either descriptive or evaluative?
• Reduce large, unwieldy numbers to understandable
  ones through a common language, such as units of
  production, percentages, or ratios.
• Use objective reporting style rather than
  persuasive language avoid emotional terms.
  Identify assumptions and opinion. Avoid
  unwarranted judgments and inference.
• Tabulate or enumerate items when it will simplify
  the reading or add emphasis.

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Check Your Writing Report Writing

• Citations
• Include a citation (in-text reference, footnote,
  or end note) for material used from another
  source.
• Adhere to an acceptable, authoritative style or
  company policy.
• Present consistent citations, including adequate
  information for readers to locate the source in
  the reference list.
• References
• Include an entry for every reference cited in the
  text.
• Adhere to an acceptable, authoritative style or
  company policy.
• Include more information than might be necessary
  in cases of doubt about what to include in an
  entry.
• Present the bibliography in alphabetic sequence
  by authors surnames.

• Appendix
• Include cover letters for survey instruments,
  maps, explanations of formulas used, and other
  items that should be included but are not
  important enough to be in the body of the report.
• Label each item beginning with Appendix A,
  Appendix B, and so on.
• Identify each item with a title.

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TM 116 Solution, Application 20, Step 3
Weston Engineering, Inc. Impact of Cellular
Phones on Gross Profit Second Quarter, 1999
Cellular phones were installed at the beginning
of the second quarter. Sales representatives are
listed in order of cellular telephone usage.