978-0133896787 Chapter 11 Part 1

11: Writing and Completing Reports and Proposals

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CHAPTER 11:

WRITING AND COMPLETING REPORTS AND PROPOSALS

CHAPTER SUMMARY

visual aids and how to design effective visuals. The final section focuses on Step 3, Completing

Reports and Proposals. Writers are introduced to the various components of reports: revising

reports and proposals, producing formal reports, producing formal proposals, proofreading

reports and proposals, and distributing reports and proposals.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Writing Reports and Proposals

Adapting to Your Audience

Drafting Report Content

Drafting Proposal Content

Writing for Websites and Wikis

Drafting Website Content

Collaborating on Wikis

Illustrating Your Reports with Effective Visuals

Choosing the Right Visual for the Job

Tables

Line Charts and Surface Charts

Bar Charts and Pie Charts

Data Visualization

Flowcharts and Organization Charts

Maps, Drawings, Diagrams, Infographics, and Photographs

Animation and Video

Designing Effective Visuals

Completing Reports and Proposals

Producing Formal Reports and Proposals

Distributing Reports and Proposals

Chapter Review and Activities

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TEACHING NOTES

Writing Reports and Proposals

Adapting to your audience involves the following:

 Adopting the “you” attitude

 Striking a balance between overly informal (which can be perceived as trivializing

to meet with their approval.

To make your tone less formal, speak to readers in the first person and refer to yourself as I.

To make your tone more formal:

 Use the impersonal journalism style.

 Emphasize objectivity.

Take into account that communicating with people in other cultures often calls for more

formality in reports.

As with other forms of written business communication, reports and proposals have three main

sections:

 Introduction (or opening)

An effective introduction accomplishes four major tasks:

is important

 Previews the main ideas and the order in which they’ll be covered

The body presents, analyzes, and interprets the information gathered during your investigation

and supports recommendations and conclusions.

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An effective close has three important functions:

 Summarizes your main points

 Emphasizes the benefits to the reader

To help readers find what they’re looking for and stay on track as they navigate through your

documents, follow these three steps:

 Write clear headings and subheadings.

 Use plenty of transitions to tie together ideas and show how one thought is related to

another.

Make the process as easy on yourself as possible by taking advantage of all available

productivity tools.

The general purpose of any proposal is to persuade readers to do something, so your writing

 Demonstrate your knowledge.

 Provide concrete information and examples.

Writing for Websites and Wikis

When drafting online content, keep these additional points in mind as well:

 Take special care to build trust with your intended audiences because careful readers can

be skeptical of online content. Make sure your content is accurate, current, complete, and

authoritative.

layers of detail—letting readers choose to see those additional layers if they want to.

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learning more if they want to.

 Write effective links that serve for both site navigation and content skimming. Above all

else, clearly identify where a link will take readers; don’t force them to click through and

To be a valuable wiki contributor keep these points in mind:

 Let go of traditional expectations of authorship (including individual recognition and

control).

 Encourage all team members to improve each other’s work.

rest of the wiki.

Before you add new pages to a wiki, figure out how the material fits with the existing content.

Illustrating Your Reports with Effective Visuals

Well-designed visuals:

 Enhance the communication power of textual messages

 Can replace text in some cases

Given the importance of visuals in today’s business environment, visual literacy—the ability (as

Even without any formal training in design, being aware of the following six principles will help

you be a more effective visual communicator:

 Consistency

 Contrast

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numerical values or detailed textual information.

Tables:

 Systematically arrange data in columns and rows

 Are ideal when the audience needs information that would be either difficult or tedious to

handle in the main text

When preparing a table, be careful to:

 Document the source of the data below the table.

Line charts illustrate trends over time or plot the relationship of two variables. They depict trends

Bar charts portray numbers with the height or length of its rectangular bars, making a series of

 Compare the size of several items at one time.

 Show changes in one item over time.

Conventional charts and graphs are limited in two ways:

 They can represent only numeric data.

 Most types show only a limited number of data points before the display becomes too

cluttered to interpret.

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A diverse class of display capabilities known as data visualization overcomes both of these

Flowcharts illustrate a sequence of events from start to finish; flowcharts are indispensable when

illustrating:

 Processes

they interrelate.

Maps are useful for showing location, distance, points of interest, and geographic distribution of

week.

More complex diagrams can convey technical topics such as the operation of a machine or repair

procedures. Diagrams that contain enough visual and textual information to function as

you need to show exact appearances.

Computer animation and video are among the most specialized forms of business visuals. When

they are appropriate and done well, they offer unparalleled visual impact. Product

 Position your visuals so that your audience won’t have to flip back and forth (in printed

documents) or scroll (on-screen) between the visuals and the text.

Captions usually offer additional discussion of the visual’s content and can be several sentences

long.

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design choices represent.

When checking completed visuals, proofread them carefully and ask these questions:

 Are there any typographical errors?

 Is the color treatment consistent?

Completing Reports and Proposals

 Revise

 Produce

When revising your message, evaluate the:

 Organization, style, and tone

subheadings

Tight, efficient writing is especially important with online content.

Report components fall into three categories:

 Prefatory parts

Various parts in the report text often run together and seldom stand alone.

Prefatory parts of a formal report may include some but usually not all of the following:

 Cover

 Title fly

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 Table of contents

 Give readers all the information they need to grasp the purpose of the scope of the report.

 Use high-quality cover stock for a formal report.

The title fly is a plain sheet of paper with only the title of the report on it.

The title page includes four blocks of information:

 The title of the report

The letter or memo of transmittal:

 Introduces your report on your behalf

 Begins by discussing the scope, methods, and limitations of the project

 Highlights important sections of the report, suggests follow-up studies, offers details to

The table of contents lists report parts and text headings to indicate the location and hierarchy of

the information in the report.

The synopsis:

reports.

The executive summary:

 May be used instead of a synopsis

 Is a fully developed “mini” version of the report

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They typically include the following:

 Appendixes

 Bibliography

 Index

An appendix contains additional information for readers who want it; this information is related

 Is too lengthy or bulky

 Lacks direct relevance

The bibliography is a list of secondary sources consulted when preparing the report.

Some prefatory parts for proposals differ from prefatory parts for other reports, including:

 The copy of or reference to the request for proposals (RFP)

A synopsis or an executive summary is often less useful in proposals than in other reports:

 In unsolicited proposals, your transmittal letter will catch the reader’s interest.

proposal is solicited or unsolicited:

 It follows the pattern for positive messages when the proposal is solicited.

As with other types of reports, the text of a proposal consists of the introduction, body, and close.

 The introduction presents and summarizes the problem you intend to solve and your

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 The body explains the complete details of the solution: how the job will be done, how it

readers to act.

When you proofread textual material, check for inconsistencies, errors, and missing components.

 For physical distribution to a large group, consider a professional courier or package

delivery service to help your document stand apart from the crowd.

 For physical distribution to a single person or small group, consider delivering it in

person to answer immediate questions and emphasize recipient benefits.