Preparing Reports
· When you plan a report you need to ask yourself questions to determine the purposes, determine the formality , identify the audiences, decide how the report should be organized, and select the genre.
Determine the Purpose
Reports fall into one of three categories.
· To report information
· To analyze information
· To persuade readers
Writing a purpose statement gives a clear focus for a report and provides you with a way to control content and organization. A purpose statement should be placed at the beginning of the report and should state the problem, identify questions and activities related to the problem, and explain the ways the report responds to the problem.
Assess the Formality
Reports can be informal or formal or anywhere in between. Informal reports are fine when the writer has regular contact with the readers because they probably already know the background. Informal reports can be written as memos, letters, or short reports. Formal reports are used when the writer isn’t in regular contact. The background needs to be included and more documentation is required. Front and end matter are included in formal reports such as a table of contents and references. Determining whether or not to write a formal or informal report is based on the relationship the writer has with the reader and what they need to know.
Identify Audiences
Knowing the audience helps clarify purpose and organization. There are two different kinds of readers.
· Primary Readers: those who will use the recommendations for decision making and those who will be interested in the technical details.
· Secondary Readers: those indirectly affected by the conclusions and recommendations of a document
Organize the Information
1. Overview: This section states the purpose and/or problem.
2. Background: This section presents information dealing with methods of investigation as well as materials and equipment used. (optional)
3. Recommendation: This section identifies conclusions and/or recommendations.
4. Evidence: This section presents the results.
5. Discussion: This section explains or justifies the conclusion or recommendations.
Select a Genre
Information can be presented in prepared forms, memos, letters, or formal reports.
· Prepared and memos can be a routine task. Memos, letters, formal repots can be a non-routine task.
· Prepared forms, memos, and formal reports can be for internal audiences. Prepared forms, letters, and formal reports can be for external audiences.
· Prepared forms, memos, and letters can be written with an informal tone and format. Letters and formal reports can be written with a formal tone and format.
Types of Reports
· Research Reports and Articles should be accessible, open to analysis by peers and available to the public. It should be transparent, clear in structure, process, and outcomes. It should also be transferable, useful beyond the specific research project.
· Task Reports
o A recommendation report or justification report presents or defends specific suggestions or solutions for a particular situation
o An inspection report or examination report focuses on recording observable details, sometimes followed with recommendations.
o An information or investigation report is the result of an investigation that collects and evaluates information about some existing situation, but a recommendation isn’t always required.
· Periodic Activity Reports are usually used when the work is routine.
1. Overview: Identify projects
2. Activities: Specify project activities that are completed, in process, and planned.
3. Recommendations: Establish needed changes in scheduling, personnel, and budget.
· Progress Reports answer some questions like:
o How is the project going?
o Where are we now?
o Are we on schedule to meet our completion date?
1. Overview: Introduce the project.
2. Progress: Summarize the project to date.
3. Recommendation: Identify major recommended schedule changes.
4. Evidence: Provide reasons for changes.
5. Discussion: Discuss the impact of the proposed changes.
· Meeting Minutes provide a record of the discussion and decisions that occur at meetings, serving as official records.
· Trip and Conference Reports: The information is usually incorporated into a logically organized clearly stated report.
· Trip/ Conference
o Purpose
o Primary task
o Personal role
o People contacted/ Sessions attended
o Questions raised/ Information gainedConclusions
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13 comments:
When writing a report It can be very easy to ramble to just get to the desired length of an assignment. The organization of the report can help me anyway stay on subject by stating the purpose give background and touching on important points. Tell readers what you want them to know. There are many different types of reports some can be simply informational some persuasive, depending on the type the paper may change a lot. Progressive reports can show how something is going and in construction Progression reports are very common and I will most likely be asked to prepare some every once an a while. I would answer questions about the completion date and weather it is attainable make recommendations to get back to it or how to get done early and what the benefits are.
I think preparing reports is a pretty familiar task for students, especially college students. In my last few semesters of school, I have definitely noticed a trend where a final report is due at the end of each semester. I can remember a year ago I was in a Business Writing class and the final was a 20+ page formal report. It had to include all of the different aspects discussed in our textbook including a table of contents, introduction, executive summary, background information, documented research and evidence, descriptions, charts/graphs, etc. It was a very long and overwhelming process to complete. Because of the requirements and nature of the final report, it was definitely considered formal which ultimately made it longer and more detailed because of the extensive amount of information I had to include.
Progress reports are a big aspect of the construction industry. Progress reports are usually made up by the general contractor explaining the work that has been completed. This document is usually composed for the owner's sake. This gives the owner a heads up on the progress of their project and also acts as a written schedule for the completion of the project. This may also be used by the general contractor's company. The progress report allows the company to monitor the general contractor's work without actually having to make frequent trips to the construction site. Many contractors are required to write up daily reports of the project they are working on.
There are many different kinds of reports in todays world. Analysis reports, budget reports, and progress reports, to name a few. These reports and many others help my company function day to day. Our company will hand out budget reports weekly for us to analyze and see if our project needs to change direction to make the project a profit. During the week, I will have meetings with the owners to discuss progress. I have to put together progess schedules and reports to better illustrate our direction. Every month, each project manager has to analyze each projects profits to predict the profit outcome. If analyzed wrong, when the project ends, that project manager will be a pretty bad position. Reports are all around us and in my opinion, there's no changing in the future.
Writing an effective report is a great skill to have. Businesses depend on information to make choices and reports are typically the means of converying that information to the decision makers. This makes report organization, tone, & usuability (accurate information well presented) all the more important. This chapter i think tied together concepts from other chapters quite nicely. Like rossmand said, i find its easy to start rambling or stray from the point in a report, so for me, having an outline helps me stay on track.
This Chapter was really helpful in writing reports. I think it is especially important for college students because there are different types of reports, and different ways of preparing them. I guess one thing that I know I don't really do when preparing a report, is thinking about my audience and who my report is suppose to relate to. Most reports are just going to be for my professors so I make sure I meet their requirements for writing the report. This chapter amazed me a little with all the different things that go into a report. Such as, the research, and then table of contents, appendixes, glossary, footnotes, refrences and so on. Another thing that I rarely do when writing a report is starting out with a ouline of my report. Since there is a lot going into this next assignment, I do think that an outline will be helpful, to make sure nothing was forgotten. Usually I just start writing when I prepare a report and fill things in when needed.
Probably the most important chapter for this class since 100 pts revolve around this chapter. I read this chapter twice to make sure I know this one. I have some experience with final reports like the ones done here so at least this isn't too new of a concept. I thought it was interesting to see how my thoughts about the way final reports should be done compared to their way was pretty interesting. I thought it was interesting just how much I was doing wrong! I think that I should be able to learn a lot after this report is done. This should also be very applicable to me because I am an engineering major and will have to write many reports like this. This chapter is very important to me.
Reporting will be a common thing in many careers out there. Progress reports will regularly be given to update how things are coming along. Meetings in which they would normally be given does not make me a big fan because I'm not the most skilled communicator out there.
Writing effective reports in college can be a timely process. Researching and finding valid resources can be a headache sometimes. This chapter definitely updated me on good ways to write effective reports. I still have a tendency to use old habits from high school.
This chapter was once again based on my ISYS 380 class. We have to send weekly updates to our teacher documenting what we have done so far in our project, what we plan to do and when we plan to have it done, we also use Gantt charts. We did not have to do an outline for this class, but one was provided for us, so we knew the structure the project needed to take. I thnk that is one of the hardest parts of a paper for me to write. I looked at the Ethics sidebar again and I remember an example of this in a class previously. I remember that advertisment 4 out of 5 dentists recommend colgate, when many more were asked, but they selectivly picked which 5 they were going to use in the report. I think it is poor practice because the author would be infact just making up statistics to support the thesis, when in actuality it may not.
Reports are very common for most students but I think some may confuse a report with just a simple paper. There are many different types of reports and many different forms. There research papers and then there are written reports that could report the status of a job. Knowing the difference in reports can help you write a clear and intelligible report.
Reports are very important in a professional environment. A company would not run if they didn't have projects, and projects are not complete without project reports. Also there are other kinds of reports like persuasive reports, status reports etc that are corresponded within a company back and forth. A report could be anywhere from half a page to 100 pages or more. This chapter was undoubtedly very important, not only for the assignment, but for our professional career ahead as well.
There was a lot of helpful information in this chapter. One thing I hadn't really given much thought to was how many different types of reports there are and the differences between them. After I graduate the most common report I think I'll use will be progress reports since I'll be in the Construction Industry. These are hugely important in helping to stay on track during a project and also tracking things like progress, materials, weather and many other things for documentation reasons.
I know having a plan is always good. i like reports that get to the point. but anyways great job.
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