Formal Reports. Rhonda L. McCaffery, PhD E W18

Transcription

1 Formal Reports Rhonda L. McCaffery, PhD E W18

2 Formal Reports longer than memos, formal reports are often analytical, and contain several formal features: cover pages tables of contents headings & subheadings visuals appendices

3 a few report types Research & Empirical Research Reports present a study s or scientific project s findings; report causes & effects, methods and results, analysis & conclusions Johnson-Sheehan, 2005

4 a few report types Completion Reports assess a technical project s accomplishments at its end; often written for management and/or the project s clients Johnson-Sheehan, 2005, p. 654

5 a few report types Recommendation Reports suggest a course of action after studying a problem and possible solutions Johnson-Sheehan, 2005, p. 654

6 a few report types Feasibility Reports determine the possibility of following a course of action or developing a product; often written for management and/or clients unsure about their next steps Johnson-Sheehan, 2005, p. 654

7 Your final report is a type of completion report describes what happened during a project discusses the project s results demonstrates that a project was successfully completed or explains why it wasn t Johnson-Sheehan, 2005, p. 654

8 Report order cover page executive summary table of contents report body (start page numbering) references appendixes

9 Cover Page Conveys purpose & information similarly to a memo heading Contains report title, recipients names & titles, authors names & titles, project dates, report date, & distribution list

10 Executive Summary Conveys purpose & information conveyed similarly to a memo s foreword & summary Contains purpose statement, problem statement, task statement, design description, conclusions/implications, & recommendations (if necessary)

11 background, project information, ~ 10% of report length (1 page for you) general specific

12 Table of Contents Lists all of a report s parts & acts as a report outline; helps readers locate information Contains report headings & corresponding numbers, subheadings & corresponding numbers, & page numbers

13 Headings Help organize information by hierarchy & help readers locate information quickly Use a numeric decimal scheme with Arabic numerals (in this class)

14 All first, second, and third level headings are numbered

15 Each level heading is visually distinct 1 FIRST (HIGH) LEVEL TITLE 1.1 Second (Mid) Level Title Third (Low) Level Title Fourth (Really Low) Level Title

16 Numbering scheme tips don t stack headings don t use only one level of a subheading don t place a figure or table immediately after a heading

17 Report Body Contains all relevant information Includes introduction, sufficient background, design description, & conclusion

18 Report body introduction contains motivation/problem statement contains your task with criteria and constraints

19 Design description describes prototype describes finished product describes testing results assesses prototype

20 Example of a conventional report body structure 1. Introduction (relevant background) 2. Design objectives, criteria & constraints 3. Design description detailed features & benefits; explanations of how your design meets the criteria; major design decisions & tradeoffs; alternative designs considered (and reasons these were rejected); potential drawbacks to the design (including refutations for these drawbacks) 4. Testing 5. Conclusion

21 References Contains citations (APA style in this class) to the source materials referenced in the report body

22 Contain information that would interrupt Appendixes or is too long for report body Could include data tables, figures too big for the text, honor code, etc. Are named alphabetically (Appendix A, B, etc.)

23 Report Examples & Mock-Ups cover page, executive summary, table of contents, typical page

24

25 descriptive report title project dates team name with team members report date names (add titles) distribution list with recipients names, titles, & affiliations

26 i

27 begins with purpose statement short paragraphs no page number

28

29 page numbers entries match headings are vertically aligned & subheadings entries are hierarchically arranged leader lines are used for easy reading numbered with lowercase Roman numeral

30

31 team name with hierarchical headings & subheadings with differing styles page number (page 1 starts with introduction) (but don t think that every paragraph needs its own heading)

32

33 figure is referred figure is centered between margins, labeled, to in the text before it appears & captioned (but confine caption margin to figure margins) figure is explained in the text (*blue font is for illustrative purposes only)

34

35 appendix begins on a new page, is labeled alphabetically, and titled related tables (or figures) are titled (not labeled) and each appear on their own page + include a short sentence or paragraph introducing or explaining the appendix pages are numbered with appendix letter-number contents

36 References & Acknowledgements Johnson-Sheehan, R. (2005). Technical communication today, p New York: Pearson Longman. Images Report Examples & Mock-Ups (reports image): reportsandproposals.weebly.com/ Acknowledgements Much of the information in this lecture has been adapted from Dr. Erik Hildinger s previous lectures for E