1. 11 Reporting in the Digital-Age Workplace Business Communication:
Process and Product, 8e
Mary Ellen Guffey and Dana Loewy
Instructor PowerPoint Library, 8e
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2. 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.

3. Reporting in the Digital-Age Workplace
Routine reports keep managers informed about completed tasks, projects, and work in progress.
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Reports help executives understand the challenges they encounter in business.
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Companies use enterprise-class business intelligence software to analyze key performance indicators.

4. Three Main Purposes of Business Reports
Here is your
Info
Convey information
Here’s your answer.
Answer questions
Here’s one solution.
Solve problems
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5. Organizational Strategies
Characteristics of
Business Reports
Report Functions
Organizational Strategies
Informa- tional reports
Analytical reports
Direct
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Indirect
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6. Characteristics of Business Reports
Writing Style
Formal
Informal
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7. Characteristics of Business Reports
Report Formats
Letter (often as PDF document sent by )
Memo (often with cover note)
Manuscript
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Preprinted forms
Digital (as a slide deck and other formats)

8. Report Functions and Types Informational Reports
Present data without analysis or recommendations
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Are routine and often periodic
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9. Report Functions and Types
Analytical Reports
Provide data or findings, analyses, and conclusions
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May also supply recommendations
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Intend to persuade readers

10. 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
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11. Informational Report– Letter Format Tips for Letter Reports:
Use letter format for short, informal reports sent to outsiders.
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Organize the facts section into logical divisions identified by consistent headings.
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12. Informational Report– Letter Format Tips for Letter Reports:
Single-space the body.
Double-space between paragraphs.
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Leave two blank lines above each side heading.
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13. Informational Report– Letter Format Tips for Letter Reports:
Create side margins of 1 to 1¼ inches.
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Add a second-page heading, if necessary, consisting of the addressee’s name, the date, and the page number.
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14. Analytical Report– Memo Format
Tips for Memo Reports:
Use memo format for short (ten or fewer pages) informal reports within an organization.
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Leave side margins of 1 to 1¼ inches.
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Sign your initials on the From line.
Attach memo to a cover (some short reports are delivered as s).

15. Informal Reports– E-mail and Memo Formats
Tips for and Memo Reports:
Use an informal, conversational style.
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Put recommendations first for direct analytical reports and last for indirect analytical reports.
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16. 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.
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Slide presentations can be converted to video.
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Slide decks are a condensed image-rich format not intended for verbal delivery.

17. 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.
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18. Applying the 3-x-3 Writing Process to Reports1
Analyze the problem and purpose. 2
Anticipate the audience and issues.
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Prepare a work plan. 4
Conduct research.
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19. Applying the 3-x-3 Writing Process to Reports5
Organize, analyze, interpret, and illustrate the data. 6
Compose the first draft.
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Edit, proofread, and evaluate.
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20. Elements of a Work Plan for a Formal Report
Problem statement
Statement of the purpose, including scope, limitations, and significance
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Research strategy, including a description of potential sources and methods of collecting data
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Tentative outline that factors the problem into manageable chunks
Work schedule

21. Learning Objective 3
Locate and evaluate secondary sources such as databases and Web resources, and understand how to conduct credible primary research.
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22. Gathering Information From Secondary Sources
Research databases:
ABI/INFORM Complete (ProQuest)
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Factiva (Dow Jones)
JSTOR Business
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Business Source Premier (EBSCO)
LexisNexis Academic

23. Gathering Information From Secondary Sources
Print Resources
Books – rarely accessed by print catalog (mostly online)
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Periodicals – print indexes (now electronic indexes)

24. Tips for Searching the Web
Use two or three search tools. 1
Know your search tool. 2
Understand case sensitivity. 3
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Use nouns as search items and up to eight words in a query. 4
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Combine keywords into phrases. 5

25. Tips for Searching the Web
Omit articles and prepositions. 6
Use wild cards. 7
Learn basic Boolean search strategies. 8
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Bookmark the best Internet sites. 9
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Repeat your search a week later. 10

26. Evaluating Web Sources
Currency
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LO 3
What is the date of the Web article?
When was the website last updated?
Is anything out of date?

27. Evaluating Web Sources
Authority
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Who publishes or sponsors the page?
What makes the author an authority?
Is contact information available?

28. Evaluating Web Sources
Content
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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?
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29. Evaluating Web Sources
Accuracy
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LO 3
Do the facts seem reliable?
Do you find errors in spelling, grammar, and usage?
Can you detect bias?

30. Conducting Primary Research
Surveys
(e.g., Survey-Monkey or Zoomerang)
Interviews
Observation and experimenta-tion
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31. Learning Objective 4
Identify the purposes and techniques of citation and documentation in business reports, and avoid plagiarism.
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32. Documenting Information
Giving credit is ethical and offers these benefits:
Strengthens your argument
Protects you from charges of plagiarism
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Instructs readers
Saves time
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33. 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
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Another person’s exact spoken or written words
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Paraphrases of another person’s spoken or written words.
Visuals, images, and any kind of electronic media

34. 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.
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Avoid repeating the grammatical structure of the original and merely replacing words with synonyms.
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Reread the original to be sure you covered the main points but did not borrow specific language.

35. 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
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36. 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.
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To repeat identical phrasing because of its precision, clarity, or aptness.
LO 4
To duplicate exact working before criticizing.

37. Copyright Information
Four factors for testing fair use rule:
Purpose and character of the use, particularly whether for profit
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Nature of the copyrighted work
Amount and substantiality of portion used
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Effect of the use on the potential market

38. 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.
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LO 4
Observe fair-use restrictions.
Ask for permission.
Don’t assume that a footnote is all that is needed.

39. Learning Objective 5
Generate, use, and convert numerical data to visual aids, and create meaningful and attractive graphics.
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40. Creating Effective Visual Aids
Graphics fulfill the following functions: 1
Clarify data 2
Create visual interest
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Condense and simplify data 4
Make numerical data meaningful
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41. Creating Effective Visual Aids Match the graphic to the objective:
Bar chart to compare related items
Table to show exact figures and values
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42. 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.
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43. 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
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44. Creating Effective Visual Aids Match the graphic to the objective:
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Photograph, map, illustration to create authenticity, to spotlight a location, and to show an item in use

45. END
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