11 Reporting in the Digital-Age Workplace Business Communication: Process and Product, 8e Mary Ellen Guffey and Dana Loewy Instructor PowerPoint Library, 8e © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Learning Objective 1 Explain report functions and types used in the digital-age workplace, understand direct and indirect organizational strategies, and describe report-writing style as well as typical report formats. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Reporting in the Digital-Age Workplace Routine reports keep managers informed about completed tasks, projects, and work in progress. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © bloomua/Fotolia Reports help executives understand the challenges they encounter in business. LO 1 Companies use enterprise-class business intelligence software to analyze key performance indicators.

Three Main Purposes of Business Reports Here is your Info Convey information Here’s your answer. Answer questions Here’s one solution. Solve problems © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © Iadam/Fotolia LO 1

Organizational Strategies Characteristics of Business Reports Report Functions Organizational Strategies Informa- tional reports Analytical reports Direct © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © denis_pc/Fotolia Indirect LO 1

Characteristics of Business Reports Writing Style Formal Informal © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. LO 1

Characteristics of Business Reports Report Formats Letter (often as PDF document sent by e-mail) Memo (often with e-mail cover note) Manuscript © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. LO 1 Preprinted forms Digital (as a slide deck and other formats)

Report Functions and Types Informational Reports Present data without analysis or recommendations © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Are routine and often periodic LO 1

Report Functions and Types Analytical Reports Provide data or findings, analyses, and conclusions © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © denis_pc/Fotolia May also supply recommendations LO 1 Intend to persuade readers

Audience Analysis and Report Organization Direct Strategy Indirect Strategy Readers are informed are supportive want results first Readers need to be educated need to be persuaded may be disappointed or hostile © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. LO 1

Informational Report– Letter Format Tips for Letter Reports: Use letter format for short, informal reports sent to outsiders. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Organize the facts section into logical divisions identified by consistent headings. LO 1

Informational Report– Letter Format Tips for Letter Reports: Single-space the body. Double-space between paragraphs. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Leave two blank lines above each side heading. LO 1

Informational Report– Letter Format Tips for Letter Reports: Create side margins of 1 to 1¼ inches. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Add a second-page heading, if necessary, consisting of the addressee’s name, the date, and the page number. LO 1

Analytical Report– Memo Format Tips for Memo Reports: Use memo format for short (ten or fewer pages) informal reports within an organization. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Leave side margins of 1 to 1¼ inches. LO 1 Sign your initials on the From line. Attach memo to a cover e-mail (some short reports are delivered as e-mails).

Informal Reports– E-mail and Memo Formats Tips for E-Mail and Memo Reports: Use an informal, conversational style. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Put recommendations first for direct analytical reports and last for indirect analytical reports. LO 1

Informal Reports– E-mail and Digital Formats PDF documents are a popular delivery format. Some reports are animated and may be hyperlinked to other content. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Slide presentations can be converted to video. LO 1 Slide decks are a condensed image-rich format not intended for verbal delivery.

Learning Objective 2 Apply the 3-x-3 writing process to contemporary business reports to create well-organized documents that show a firm grasp of audience and purpose. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Applying the 3-x-3 Writing Process to Reports 1 Analyze the problem and purpose. 2 Anticipate the audience and issues. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 3 Prepare a work plan. 4 Conduct research. LO 2

Applying the 3-x-3 Writing Process to Reports 5 Organize, analyze, interpret, and illustrate the data. 6 Compose the first draft. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 7 Edit, proofread, and evaluate. LO 2

Elements of a Work Plan for a Formal Report Problem statement Statement of the purpose, including scope, limitations, and significance © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © helen cingisiz/Fotolia Research strategy, including a description of potential sources and methods of collecting data LO 2 Tentative outline that factors the problem into manageable chunks Work schedule

Learning Objective 3 Locate and evaluate secondary sources such as databases and Web resources, and understand how to conduct credible primary research. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Gathering Information From Secondary Sources Research databases: ABI/INFORM Complete (ProQuest) © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © Marina Zlochin/Fotolia, © Fenton/Fotolia Factiva (Dow Jones) JSTOR Business LO 3 Business Source Premier (EBSCO) LexisNexis Academic

Gathering Information From Secondary Sources Print Resources Books – rarely accessed by print catalog (mostly online) © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © Marina Zlochin/Fotolia, © alexmillos/Fotolia.com LO 3 Periodicals – print indexes (now electronic indexes)

Tips for Searching the Web Use two or three search tools. 1 Know your search tool. 2 Understand case sensitivity. 3 © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Use nouns as search items and up to eight words in a query. 4 LO 3 Combine keywords into phrases. 5

Tips for Searching the Web Omit articles and prepositions. 6 Use wild cards. 7 Learn basic Boolean search strategies. 8 © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Bookmark the best Internet sites. 9 LO 3 Repeat your search a week later. 10

Evaluating Web Sources Currency © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © Tonis Pan/Fotolia LO 3 What is the date of the Web article? When was the website last updated? Is anything out of date?

Evaluating Web Sources Authority © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © denis_pc/Fotolia LO 3 Who publishes or sponsors the page? What makes the author an authority? Is contact information available?

Evaluating Web Sources Content © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © nataliasheinkin/Fotolia Is the purpose of the site to entertain, inform, persuade, or sell? Who is the intended audience? How does the content compare with content elsewhere? LO 3

Evaluating Web Sources Accuracy © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © Marina Zlochin/Fotolia LO 3 Do the facts seem reliable? Do you find errors in spelling, grammar, and usage? Can you detect bias?

Conducting Primary Research Surveys (e.g., Survey-Monkey or Zoomerang) Interviews Observation and experimenta-tion © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © mostafa fawzy/Fotolia, © Beboy/Fotolia LO 3

Learning Objective 4 Identify the purposes and techniques of citation and documentation in business reports, and avoid plagiarism. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Documenting Information Giving credit is ethical and offers these benefits: Strengthens your argument Protects you from charges of plagiarism © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © denis_pc/Fotolia Instructs readers Saves time LO 4

Documenting Information To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit whenever you use the following: Another person’s ideas, opinions, examples, or theory Any facts, statistics, charts, and drawings that are not common knowledge © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © TAlex/Fotolia Another person’s exact spoken or written words LO 4 Paraphrases of another person’s spoken or written words. Visuals, images, and any kind of electronic media

Documenting Information Practice the fine art of paraphrasing: Read the original material intently to comprehend its full meaning. Write your own version without looking at the original. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © TAlex/Fotolia Avoid repeating the grammatical structure of the original and merely replacing words with synonyms. LO 4 Reread the original to be sure you covered the main points but did not borrow specific language.

Two Documentation Formats Modern Language Association Author’s name and page (Smith 100) placed in text Complete list of sources in Works Cited © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. The MLA Handbook published by the Modern Language Association. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association published by American Psychological Association American Psychological Association Author’s name, date of publication, and page number placed near the text reference (Jones, 2015, p. 99) Complete list of sources in References LO 4

When and How to Quote Beware of overusing quotations. Use direct quotations for three purposes only: To provide objective background data and establish the severity of a problem as seen by experts. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. To repeat identical phrasing because of its precision, clarity, or aptness. LO 4 To duplicate exact working before criticizing.

Copyright Information Four factors for testing fair use rule: Purpose and character of the use, particularly whether for profit © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Nature of the copyrighted work Amount and substantiality of portion used LO 4 Effect of the use on the potential market

Copyright Information How to avoid copyright infringement: Assume that all intellectual property is copyrighted. Realize that Internet items and resources are NOT in the public domain. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. LO 4 Observe fair-use restrictions. Ask for permission. Don’t assume that a footnote is all that is needed.

Learning Objective 5 Generate, use, and convert numerical data to visual aids, and create meaningful and attractive graphics. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Creating Effective Visual Aids Graphics fulfill the following functions: 1 Clarify data 2 Create visual interest © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 3 Condense and simplify data 4 Make numerical data meaningful LO 5

Creating Effective Visual Aids Match the graphic to the objective: Bar chart to compare related items Table to show exact figures and values © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. LO 5

Creating Effective Visual Aids Match the graphic to the objective: Line chart to demonstrate changes in quantitative data over time Pie chart to visualize a whole unit and the proportion of its components. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © denis_pc/Fotolia LO 5

Creating Effective Visual Aids Match the graphic to the objective: Flow chart to display a process or procedure Organization chart to define a hierarchy of elements © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. LO 5

Creating Effective Visual Aids Match the graphic to the objective: © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. © smarques27/Fotolia LO 5 Photograph, map, illustration to create authenticity, to spotlight a location, and to show an item in use

END © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. LO 5