1. Chapter Thirteen Completing Business Reports McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. 13-2 Learning Objectives LO13.1 Explain how completed reports affect your credibility. LO13.2 Demonstrate excellent thinking by applying a precision-oriented style to reports. LO13.3 Design your reports to aid in decision making. LO13.4 Project objectivity in reports. LO13.5 Review reports for effectiveness and fairness.

3. 13-3 Excellence in Thinking for Reports Figure 13.1

4. 13-4 Use Fact-Based Language You can raise the credibility of your report by: a)supplying the facts with precision b)providing supporting details for your conclusions c)carefully dealing with predictions and cause- effect statements d)responsibly citing your research sources

5. Document Secondary Research and Avoid Plagiarism  Plagiarism  “steal and pass off (the ideas of another) as one’s own”  “to commit literary theft.” 13-5

6. 13-6 References in APA and MLA Documentation Styles Table 13.3

7. 13-7 Basing Recommendations on Facts and Conclusions

8. 13-8 Making Recommendations Specific and Actionable

9. 13-9 Designing Your Reports to Help Decision Makers  Assume that decision makers may not read your report from start to end, and design it so they can navigate the information rapidly  One way to make your report easy to navigate is to provide a structure that decision makers are familiar with

10. 13-10 Tell the Story of Your Report with an Executive Summary  Executive Summary  purpose is to summarize the most important contents, including key findings, conclusions, and recommendations, so that busy executives and other decision makers can quickly understand and act on the report

11. 13-11 Providing Clear Headings that Support a Story Line

12. 13-12 Creating Headings to Help Decision Makers Navigate the Document

13. 13-13 Providing Clear Preview Statements

14. 13-14 Using Charts to Support the Story Line of the Report

15. 13-15 Create a Cover Page, a Table of Contents, and Appendixes  A table of contents is expected for nearly any report over ten pages long  Reports also frequently include appendixes to provide reference materials