Writing Reports and Proposals Chapter 14

Composing reports and proposals  Introduction  States the purpose for the report  Overviews the main idea of the report  Initiates tone for the audience, to create a relationship  Body  Presents, informs, analyzes, and interprets information  Closing  Emphasizes the main points  Summarizes the benefits or suggests course of action  Provides the actions that bring the report together: like who, what, where, when, and how

Drafting the report All the information that you provide in a report must: be accurate Double check your facts and references Be complete In order to make a sound decision, the audience must be informed of all the crucial information Present all sides equally and fairly Make sure the words you use are logical and clear to understand Make sure you document your sources properly

Elements of a report  Authorization  Who ordered the report or wants the information  Problem / opportunity / purpose  What the goals of the report are  Background  Historical facts and or conditions that led to the reports findings  Sources and methods  Primary and secondary sources  Definitions  A list of terms that might be unfamiliar to your audience  Limitations  Any outside parties that the report can affect, or if you are relying on outside parties to complete partial or all of the tasks involved in your report  Organization  Topics you covered  Plan

Report Body  Explanation  Facts, evidence  Results, studies or investigations  Discussion or analyses  Advantages, disadvantages, costs, benefits…etc  Procedures or steps  Methods or approaches  Criteria that was used to evaluate  Conclusion or recommendations  Supporting reasons for conclusions

Proposal Report  Demonstrate your knowledge  Provide good information  Research competition  Prove that your proposal is workable  Adopt the “you” attitude  Make the proposal attractive – show benefits

Proposal Intro – Body and Closing Introduction: Background or statement Solution Body: Work plan Statement of qualifications Costs Closing Summarizes key points

Headings  Title  Centered at the top of the page  Bold-faced  Double-spaced, inverted like an upside down triangle  1 st level reading  Purpose  Bold-faced  Heading is slightly smaller than the title and the lettering is smaller still  2 nd level reading  Like the fist-level reading, this section indicates the material necessary to complete the purpose  Third-level reading  Follows the second-level reading that reflects the content of the report All level of readings are parallel except for any fourth-level reading that requires lists. Then that level of reading will be set apart from bullets or smaller paragraph content

Exercise Complete exercsie 14.3  Find an article in a business newspaper or journal (in print or online) that recommends a solution to a problem. Identify the problem, the recommended solution(s), and the supporting evidence provided by the author to justify his or her recommendation(s). Did the author cite any formal or informal studies as evidence? What facts or statistics did the author inlcude? Did the author cite any criteria for evaluation possible options? If so, what were they?  In memo format, please complete this exercise and hand in before leaving class.

Homework for 2/10/09 Complete report to turn in: Informational Analysis Evaluation Proposal If you do not have an idea for a report: Try the following exercises on page 447: Expand your Knowledge or any in the back of the chapter.