Chapter 8 Reports: Informing and Explaining

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 2 Overview Looks at the genre of reports—documents designed to inform and explain Reports range from simple to complex, and take many different formats Gives strategies to select, organize, and deliver information

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 3 The Genre of Report Writing Reports inform and explain They range in purpose and audience, depending on the context Reports take an objective, factual tone

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 4 Why do reports take an objective tone? The focus of a report is not on the writer, but on the content. The tone is then objective, factual, formal.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 5 Examples of Reports News reports Research articles in professional journals Organizational fact sheets Brochures Informational Web sites

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 6 Research and Reports Reports are often written to answer a question. They involve gathering information and doing research.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 7 Readings Two articles on the Mentally Ill 1.A short piece from the Associated Press that ran in many local papers 2.A longer article from the New York Times The Sentencing Project, “New Incarceration Figures: Growth in Population Continues”

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 8 More Readings Barbara Kruger, “I Shop, Therefore I Am” Milton Glaser, “Dylan” Daniel Pauly and Reg Watson, “Counting the Last Fish” Edward R. Tufte, “PowerPoint is Evil” (can be used with Ellen Lupton’s “PowerPoint Do’s and Don’ts” in Chapter 21)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 9 An Informational Web Site The Triangle Factory Fire gives background about “one of the worst industrial disasters of the twentieth century,” (269).

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 10 Writing assignment Your assignment is to write a report. There is a list of six options on pages The list includes: news report, fact sheet, explanatory essay, article, brochure, and Web site. Your instructor will let you know whether your class will be doing this particular assignment, and provide you with additional guidelines.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 11 Web sites for news New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Time,

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 12 The Writing Process The last part of the chapter takes you through the writing process; notice the use of questions to prepare you for doing research. There are suggestions to help you organize and present the information you find, as well as suggestions to guide peer review and revision.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 13 Student Sample See the essay by Michael E. Crouch (“Lost in a Smog,” pages ). Note the comment that he is following the typical layout of an article in Scientific American; he uses a headline, photos, sidebars, and information boxes. See the list of questions, page 287.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.8 | 14 Student Companion Website Go to the student side of the Web site for exercises, chapter overviews, and links to writing resources for this chapter: