CHAPTER 10
SOLUTIONS
Proposals and Formal Reports
Critical Thinking Discussion Guide
11. What category of proposal, solicited or unsolicited, is more likely to succeed, and
why? (L.O. 1)
12. What is the difference between conclusions and recommendations in a report?
(L.O. 2)
Authors of reports present facts or findings, and from those data they draw conclusions.
13. Why must researchers document their sources meticulously? (L.O. 4)
Using ideas, words, images, and other proprietary information without giving credit is
unethical. Even if the writer paraphrases the information, ideas taken from somebody else
14. How can report writers decide what type of graphic to use in a report? (L.O. 5)
To develop the best graphics, report writers need to decide what data they want to highlight.
In determining which graphics are most appropriate for their objectives, they consider the
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15. Is information obtained on the Web as reliable as information obtained from journals,
newspapers, and magazines? (L.O. 3)
Information obtained from professional journals and reputable newspapers and magazines
has generally been authenticated, edited, and reviewed. Professional journals are also
Activities and Cases
10.1 Proposal: Pinpoint That Workplace Problem (L.O. 1)
The advantage of this assignment is that most students have had some workplace or
internship experience to draw on. However, they may have difficulty identifying a problem
10.2 Proposal: Lending a Hand With Proposal Writing (L.O. 1, 2)
This activity encourages students to use the Web to locate actual proposals. Real proposals
10.3 Grant Writing: Learning From Nonprofits (L.O. 1, 2)
10.4 Service Learning: Write Away! (L.O. 1–6)
This activity could be merely a research project to raise student awareness. A more
substantive alternative would involve hands-on work in community projects such as working
10.5 Unsolicited Proposal: Requesting Funding for Your Campus Business Club
(L.O. 1)
10.6 Primary Research: Seeking Customer Feedback Through an Online Survey (L.O. 3)
Students will find typical survey templates from SurveyMonkey and Surveyonics. Student
examples will vary, but all examples should focus on the customers’ feelings about the sales
associates and product quality, and about their own loyalty to the products. Here are
possibilities:
1. If you have visited our store, were you treated courteously by our sales associates?
2. Would you recommend our products to people you know?
3. How do you feel about the quality of our product(s)?
4. Did you face any problems using our products?
5. How likely are you to purchase one of our products in the next six months?
6. What aspect(s) of our work do you think we do well?
7. In what ways could our company better serve you?
10.7 Formal Business Report: Gathering Data for International Expansion (L.O. 3)
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This popular research activity requires that students write formal reports based on
10.8 Citations: Citing Secondary Resources Using MLA Format (L.O. 4)
Student responses will vary depending on the resources they choose. The three
10.9 Who Gets Hurt? Examining Infamous Plagiarism Scandals (L.O. 4)
Who gets hurt? The short answer is that plagiarism, fabrication, cheating, and similar
offenses undermine the public’s trust and may shake people’s belief even in reputable,
legitimate science. Students could individually focus on a single plagiarism case, or they
scandalous incidents. The lesson for students should not be that plagiarism is rampant
and, therefore, somehow acceptable because even famous people do it. Rather, as a
10.10 Plagiarism, Paraphrasing, and Citing Sources (L.O. 4)
a. Weaknesses
This paraphrase is very close to the original. The writer substituted a few words here and
there and slightly changed the sentence structure, but overall the passage is too close to
a. Improved Passage
German luxury car manufacturers at first did not take Tesla seriously when the
b. Original Passage
Weaknesses
b. Improved Passage
Extraneous features in poorly designed charts cannot compensate for a lack of
c. Original Passage
Weaknesses
The paraphrased text follows the original too closely in sentence structure and word
c. Improved Passage
10.11 Selecting Graphics (L.O. 5)
a. Photo, map
b. Table for exact absolute numbers; line chart for trends
10.12 Evaluating Graphics (L.O. 5)
10.13 Creating a Bar Chart and Writing a Title (L.O. 5)
Sources for this activity may include sites such as Internet World Stats
10.14 Formal Report: Comparing Before Buying (L.O. 2–6)
This activity gives students an opportunity to create a formal report with various
10.15 Report Topics for Proposals and Formal Reports (L.O. 1–6)
Communication Workshop: Technology
Evaluating the Credibility of Web Documents: Let the Reader Beware
Research answers will vary.