Business Communication Chapter 11 Homework Prospective students deserve to receive truthful information so that they can make choices based on facts. The exaggerated admissions figures resulted

Unlock access to all the studying documents.

View Full Document

Solution and Answer Guide

Guffey/Loewy, Business Communication: Process & Product, 10e, 2022, 9780357129234;

Chapter 11: Report Writing Basics

Table of Contents

Zooming In—Critical Thinking Answers …………………………………………………………………………… 1

Can Seventh Generation Democratize Sustainable Cleaning Products?……………………………………………. 1

Zooming In—Your Turn Solution ……………………………………………………………………………………. 2

Applying Your Skills at Seventh Generation ………………………………………………………………………………….. 2

Ethics Check Answers …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3

Outraged Students …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3

Jail Time for Fraudulent Researchers? ………………………………………………………………………………………… 3

Pilfering References………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

Critical Thinking Answers ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

Activities Solutions …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 7

Zooming In—Critical Thinking Answers

Can Seventh Generation Democratize Sustainable Cleaning Products?

• Why should consumers care about nontoxic and eco-friendly products?

Solution

Consumers around the world are becoming more environmentally conscious. Many

correlate the words “sustainability” and “green” with “organic” and “healthy.” They recognize

• Are you willing to pay as much as 1 percent, 5 percent, or even 10 percent more for

nontoxic, eco-friendly products? Why or why not?

Solution

Students should have definite answers to this question. It might be interesting to conduct an

• Why do you think report writing might be important to organizations such as Seventh

Generation?

Solution

Reports provide information that helps management answer questions and make decisions.

[return to top]

Zooming In—Your Turn Solution

Applying Your Skills at Seventh Generation

• Locate at least seven Internet articles on the topic of B corporations. What are they,

why are they important, and how does a company become certified? Prepare an

annotated bibliography that includes a brief synopsis of each article. Your boss might

want to distribute the bibliography to the audience at her talk. To make it look

professional, list each article using APA citation format. See Appendix C for examples.

For additional examples, look at the Notes section for all references in this textbook.

Prepare your list as part of a memo report addressed to your instructor.

Solution

Answers will vary. Two sample citations are found below.

Weinreb, S. (2018, April 30). Mission driven business? Here’s why to become a B corp,

according to four certified companies. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com

This article in Forbes is especially useful because it explains many benefits from

becoming certified as a B corp. One benefit is that the certification sets high

Ethics Check Answers

Outraged Students

• Fuming students sued Temple University over its admission that it had submitted

inflated figures leading to the business school’s top ranking in U.S. News & World

Report. The university settled the lawsuit by agreeing to pay $5.5 million to online and

MBA business students who were part of the class-action suit. Temple also agreed to

create a $5,000 scholarship in business ethics. Why is it unethical for a university to

mislead prospective students about the ranking of its programs?

Solution

Prospective students deserve to receive truthful information so that they can make choices

based on facts. The exaggerated admissions figures resulted in a No. 1 ranking in the

prestigious U.S. News & World Report rankings, which might have substantial influence on

Jail Time for Fraudulent Researchers?

• Australian researcher Bruce Murdoch admitted that his breakthrough findings for

Parkinson’s disease were false. A judge concluded that there was no evidence that the

neuroscientist had conducted the clinical trial on which his published findings were

based. Murdoch admitted that he had even forged consent forms for participants, one

of whom was dead at the time of the study. Should researchers go to jail for

fabricating data in their studies?

Solution

Regardless of a researcher’s zeal for a subject and hope that his findings are valid, it is

unethical and possibly illegal to publish fabricated findings. In this case, Brisbane magistrate

Tina Priviera condemned Murdoch for giving false hope to Parkinson’s sufferers. However,

Pilfering References

• You’re struggling to complete the research for a project you have put off until the last

minute. You find a particularly good article on your topic in a little–known scholarly

article. Because your list of works cited is skimpy, you decide to borrow many of the

listed references. This would considerably boost your number of works cited. Is it

unethical to list sources you have not actually found in your research and have not

read?

Solution

Opinions may vary on whether copying someone else’s sources without reading them

constitutes cheating. In any case, it is lazy scholarship and shows poor study habits.

Critical Thinking Answers

1. Why do researchers trust the reliability of information obtained from scholarly

journals, major newspapers, and well-known magazines? Why should researchers use

caution when accessing information from anonymous blogs, Wikipedia, and other

crowdsourced content?

Solution

Information obtained from professional journals and reputable newspapers and magazines

has generally been authenticated, edited, and reviewed. Professional journals are also

refereed, which means that the articles have undergone stiff peer review. Therefore, the

2. An infographic is far more effective at conveying statistics than any bar graph or pie

chart, claims Dallas marketing firm Frozen Fire. Do you agree or disagree? How could

infographics be useful in your field?

Solution

Infographics have become popular because they often present complex information clearly

and creatively. Engaging infographics (a) grab a reader’s attention; (b) communicate ideas

more quickly than traditional text can; (c) may combine traditional bar charts, diagrams, and

3. Some people say that business reports never contain footnotes. If you were writing

your first report for a business and you did considerable research, what would you do

about documenting your sources?

Solution

Although some people do assert that business reports never contain documentation, it’s

dangerous to avoid revealing sources. The best plan is to check with a supervisor or look in

4. Of what use is a business report that is merely informational? That is, it does not

present analysis, conclusions, or recommendations.

Solution

Informational reports are often important to decision makers because they present facts

5. Consider this logical appeal under the heading “Reasons Students Hate Writing Essays

or Term Papers” and evaluate its validity and ethics:

Three term papers due tomorrow with three major tests from three of the classes as well

as a long math assignment. What should a student do? This problem while in [sic]

exaggeration often happens to students. It is like all the teachers decide to overwhelm the

students in their classes with not only tests on the same day but also term papers, essays,

or other writing assignments. This is the reason most students hate writing term papers or

other types of writing. Other reasons for disliking writing assignments are poor English

classes in high school, often instructors fail to explain different writing styles, unsure of

topics to write, and instructors fail to read the writing assignments.[…] Don’t be afraid to

reach out and get help if it’s needed! CustomPapers.com can assist you.

Solution

The poor, suspicion-inducing prose aside, the anonymous writer of the passage from the

website of a paper mill is making a sophisticated unethical argument. The logic goes like this:

[return to top]

Activities Solutions

11.1 Problem, Purpose, and Scope Statements

Solution

a. Problem question: How can Foot Locker collect information on its core customers

regarding their shoe choices and how to connect with them?

Purpose: To be better able to serve and expand its market in a digital world

Scope: The research will focus on data collected in its own stores and from online

purchases from its websites. It would not involve focus groups or competitive marketing

studies.

c. Problem question: Which social media platforms bring the most revenue from targeted

ads?

Purpose: To compare the revenue from targeted ads in selected social media platforms

to determine the best income-producing locations

Scope: The report will examine the results of targeted ads in Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest.

11.2 Problem and Purpose Statements

Solution

Sample problem: Our business is losing customers because we are one of the few

neighborhood coffee bars that fail to offer free Wi-Fi service to our patrons. If the expense

11.3 Data Categories and Research Questions

Solution

a. Data categories: Expert opinion; background information; statistical data

Questions: Who are the experts? What background information is available from the

construction industry? Are statistics available? How current are they?

b. Data categories: Background or historical data; statistical, individual or group opinion

Questions: Are the data current, relevant, and/or credible? Will I need to add to the

11.4 Preparing a Work Plan

Solution

If your students are writing a long report, they should complete this exercise as part of their

long report assignment.

11.5 Conducting Primary Research by Exploring Campus Food Delivery Options

Solution

SurveyMonkey is user-friendly and will hone students’ primary research skills. The goal is to

11.6 Secondary Research: Where Are Teens Heading After Facebook?

Solution

The assignment can be a short informational report sent by e–mail or, if additional sources

are added, an analytical report. The analytical report should suggest ways advertisers could

connect with teens, the target population. For instance, a study by Pew Research discusses

11.7 Experimenting With Secondary Sources

Solution

This exercise gives students an opportunity to practice using different techniques to record

and manage information they find when conducting research online. More important, they

11.8 Report Functions, Strategies, and Formats

Solution

a. Function: analytical; strategy: direct; format: manuscript and/or slide deck

b. Function: analytical; strategy: indirect; format: manuscript with cover letter, most likely e-

mailed or submitted online as a PDF document

11.9 The New World of Colorful Annual Reports

Solution

Free, full-text corporate annual reports in PDF format are easy to find on the Web and in

research databases. However, most are the 10K versions of financial statements complying

11.10 Plagiarism, Paraphrasing, and Citing Sources

Solution

a. Weaknesses: This paraphrase follows the original structure too closely. It plugs in

synonyms in an obvious attempt to avoid detection as plagiarism. It also fails to capture

the intended meaning.

11.11 Who Gets Hurt? Examining Infamous Plagiarism Scandals

Solution

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.

In terms of who gets hurt, it can be argued that, in the medical field, the stakes for cheating

are particularly high because human lives are at stake. This doesn’t mean that academic or

journalistic plagiarism is somehow less serious. The cost to the reputation of the writer, the

publisher, or the periodical is high. In some cases, financial losses result. Alex Haley, author

of Roots, paid a $650,000 settlement after he was sued for having copied substantial

amounts from the novel The African. Rising star and Harvard student Kaavya Viswanathan

lost her film deal, and print copies of her book were recalled after it was discovered that her

first novel had been largely plagiarized.

Jayson Blair, a former New York Times reporter, rocked the journalism world when he

admitted that he had plagiarized and fabricated many stories. Blair resigned but his

shocking misdeeds brought shame to the publication and caused his editors to lose their

positions as well. Why did he fabricate quotations and stories? He attributed it to an

11.12 Selecting Graphics

Solution

a. Flowchart

b. Table for exact absolute numbers; line chart for trends

c. Bar chart, possibly pie chart

d. Map

11.13 Creating a Bar Chart and Writing a Title

Solution

11.14 Creating a Line Chart

Solution

11.15 Searching for Data Visualization and Infographics in Annual Reports

Solution

This can be a very informative exercise, especially for students who are not going to write

long reports. This exercise is particularly beneficial for accounting and finance majors.

Answers will vary.

11.16 Seeking Business Infographics

Solution

The selections will vary. Many business-related infographics can be found online or in

magazines. Conduct a Google Images search or try out any one of several visual search