Chapter 12
Preparing To Write Business Reports

What Are Business Reports?

Business reports are systematic attempts to answer questions and solve problems. They include the following activities:  Planning, Research, Organizing, and Presentation

 

 

Ten Truths About Business Reports

•             Everyone writes reports.

•             Most reports flow upward.

•             Most reports are informal.

•             Three report formats (memo, letter, and manuscript) are most common.

•             Reports differ from memos and letters.

•             Today’s reports are written on computers.

•             Some reports are collaborative efforts.

•             Ethical report writers interpret facts fairly.

•             Organization is imposed on data.

•             The writer is the reader’s servant.

 

 

Report Functions

•      Informational reports

•      Analytical reports

Report Formats

•      Letter format

•      Memo format

•      Manuscript format

•      Printed forms

Writing Style

•      Formal

•      Informal

 

Audience Analysis and Report Organization

If readers are informed, supportive, or eager to have results first – use the Direct Pattern.

If readers need to be educated, persuaded, may be hostile, or disappointed – use the Indirect Pattern.

 

Applying the Writing Process
to Reports

Step 1  Analyze the problem and purpose.

Step 2  Anticipate the audience and issues.

Step 3  Prepare a work plan.

Step 4  Research the data.

Step 5  Organize, analyze, interpret, illustrate the data.

Step 6  Compose the first draft.

Step 7  Revise, proofread, and evaluate.

 

Work Plan for a Formal Report

•      Statement of problem

•      Statement of purpose

•      Sources and methods of data collection

•      Tentative outline

•      Work schedule

 

Researching Report Data

•Locating secondary print data

•Books – card catalog, online catalog

•Periodicals – print indexes, CD-ROM indexes

•Locating secondary electronic data

•Electronic databases

•The Internet

•World Wide Web search tools

            Google                 AltaVista

            HotBot                 Yahoo!

•Evaluating Web sources

                        How current is the information?

                        How credible is the author or source?

                        What is the purpose of the site?

                        Do the facts seem reliable?

 

•Tips for searching the Web

•Use two or three search tools.

•Understand case sensitivity.

•Prefer uncommon words.

•Omit articles and prepositions.

•Use wild cards.

•Know your search tool.

•Learn basic Boolean search strategies.

•Bookmark the best pages.

•Be persistent.

•Repeat your search a week later.

 

 

•Researching primary data

•Surveys

•Interviews

•Observation

•Experimentation

 

 

 

Illustrating Report Data

•Functions of graphics

•To clarify data

•To condense and simplify data

•To emphasize data

 

•Forms and objectives of graphics

•Table

To show exact figures and values

 

•Bar chart

To compare one item with others

 

•Line chart

To demonstrate changes in quantitative data over time

•Pie chart

To visualize a whole unit and the proportion of its components

•Flow chart

To display a process or procedure

•Organization chart

To define a hierarchy of elements

•Photograph, map, illustration

To create authenticity, to spotlight a location, and to show an item in use

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pie Chart

•Use pie charts to show a whole and the proportion of its components.

•Generally begin at the 12 o’clock position, drawing the largest wedge first. Computer software programs, however, may vary in placement of wedges.

•Include, if possible, the actual percentage or absolute value for each wedge.

•Use four to eight segments for best results; if necessary, group small portions into one wedge called “Other.”

•Distinguish wedges with color, shading, or crosshatching.

•Keep all labels horizontal.

 

 

 

Bar Charts

•      Bar charts make visual comparisons. They can compare related items, illustrate changes in data over time, and show segments as parts of wholes.

•      Bar charts may be vertical, horizontal, grouped, or segmented. Avoid showing too much information, thus producing clutter and confusion.

•      The length of each bar and segment should be proportional.

•      Dollar or percentage amounts should start at zero.

Documenting Data

•Reasons for crediting sources

•Strengthens your argument

•Gives you protection

•Instructs readers

•Learning what to document

•Another person's ideas, opinions, examples, or theory

•Any facts, statistics, graphs, and drawings that are not common knowledge

•Quotations of another person's actual spoken or written words

•Paraphrases of another person's spoken or written words 

•Manual notetaking suggestions

•Record all major ideas from various sources on separate note cards.

•Include all publication data along with precise quotations.

•Consider using one card color for direct quotes and a different color for your paraphrases and summaries. 

•Electronic notetaking suggestions

•Begin your research by setting up a folder on your hard-drive that will contain your data.

•Create separate subfolders for major topics, such as Introduction, Body, and Closing.

•When on the Web or in electronic databases you find information you may be able to use, highlight (i.e., drag with your mouse) the passages you want to save, copy them (using control-c), paste them (using control-v) into documents that you will save in appropriate subfolders.

•Be sure to include all publication data.

•Consider archiving on a Zip disk the Web pages or articles used in your research in case the data must later be verified.

•Learn to paraphrase

•Read the original material carefully so that you can comprehend its full meaning.

•Write your own version without looking at the original.

•Do not repeat the grammatical structure of the original, and do not merely replace words of the original with synonyms.

•Reread the original to be sure you covered the main points but did not borrow specific language.

 

•Two Documentation Formats

•Modern Language Association

               

Author’s name and page (Smith 100) placed in text; complete references in “Works Cited.”

•American Psychological Association

               

Author’s name, date of publication, and page number placed near text reference (Jones, 2000, p. 99). Complete references listed at end of report.