Chapter 9: Proposals and Formal Reports Flashcards
are short, and often formatted as memos or letters
informal proposal
are more complex reports ranging from 5-200 pages
formal proposal
may resemble justification or recommendation reports (may be addressed to a boss)
internal proposal
are addressed to clients, customers, or stakeholders
external proposal
often in the form of requests for proposals
solicited proposal
often sent by companies looking for work
unsolicited proposal
6 components of informal reports
- introduction
- background
- plan
- staffing
- budget
- authorization
states the reason for the proposal, highlights writer’s qualifications, and contains a “hook”
introduction to proposal
identifies the problem and discusses the goals/purpose of the project
background of proposal
discusses your methods for solving the problem
plan
describes the credentials and expertise of the project’s leaders and company as a whole
staffing
provides a list of project costs, and is considered the most important part of a informal proposal
budget
requests permission and reminds reader of benefits and motives for action
authorization
a research-based, written solution to a business issue/problem
formal business report
3 overall characteristics of a formal business report
formal tone, traditional structure, and considerable length
provides management with the vital data/info analysis, and recommendations for decision making
formal business report
3 steps to the business writing process
- Rewriting
- Writing/Drafting
- Revising
what is the purpose or goal of this report? is called a
purpose statement
who is your client?
what is their business context?
what is the question/need/problem that motivated this research?
why are the findings so important to your client’s business?
prewriting stage
what do formal reports begin with
purpose statement
what areas will be included in the research
- key competitors
- social media preferences of company’s target market
- detailed financial analysis of the options
- a comprehensive analysis of the industry
- analysis of more than 3 social media options
will not be included in a formal business report
firsthand collection of data through surveys, interviews, observations, experiments
primary data
data collection that has been completed by others and published in the form of articles, books, web sites, statistics
secondary data
research projects almost always begin with an exploration of
secondary data
formal report writers conduct most of their research using
secondary data
criteria for assessing credibility when searching the internet
currency, authority, content, and accuracy
data collected from groups of people
surveys
gathers data economically and efficiently
surveys
gets info from experts or veterans in their field
interviews
produce rich data, but can be subjective
observations
produces data suggesting cause and effect
experimentation
3 internet search tips/techniques
- use quotation marks
- omit articles and prepositions
- proofread your search words
the act of showing where your info comes from
documentation
taking phrases someone else has written without acknowledgement
plagiarism
why document your data properly
- to strengthen your argument
- to protect yourself
- to instruct the reader/audience
give credit when you use
- another person’s ideas
- any facts, graphs, drawings
- quotations
- paraphrases
to restate an original passage in your own words and style
paraphrasing
4 steps/process to paraphrasing
- read the og material to understand the meaning
- write your own version without looking at the og
- avoid repeating grammatical structure and replacing words with synonyms
- re-read the og to be sure you covered main points
conclusion/recommendation followed by data/analysis
direct
what order or where should you place the conclusion/recommendations in an indirect proposal
data, analysis, conclusion, recommendation
ways to organize findings
chronology, geography, topic or criteria
steps in the report process
organize, analyze, and conclusion
these clarify the reports message and can draw attention and add interest
graphics/visual elements
pay attention to these 6 elements when editing a formal business report
format consistency graphics heading levels accuracy mechanics
how to clearly identify the contents of a visual aid
with meaningful titles and numbers
where to locate the visual aid
close to its reference in the text
what type of placement should you want for visual aids
vertical placement
creating effective graphics can
- clarify data
- make numerical data meaningful
- create visual interest
simplify complex ideas and make concepts easier to remember
effective graphics
present quantitative info in systematic order of columns and rows
tables
used to make emphatic visual comparison, illustrate changes in data, and show segments as parts of a whole
bar charts
show changes over time, indicate trends, and don’t give precise data but an overview of it
line charts
helps reader visualize a whole and the proportion of its components, useful in showing percentages
pie charts
useful for clarifying procedures
flow charts
in flow charts, what do they designate the beginning and end of a process with
ovals
in flow charts, how do they denote the decision process
diamonds
in flow charts how do you represent major activities or steps
rectangles
shows a chain of command
organizational chart
formal business reports are organized into 3 major parts
front matter, body, back matter
