Description of Assignment

Your next assignment is to write the report discussing an issue that you think needs to be improved in either you school or your community. This memo will give you some additional guidelines for preparing the report.

Think about the following:

• intended audience--who will be the audience who will read the recommendation report; who has the power to make changes 
• purpose of your report--your report must be persuasive; that is, you must convince your audience that this is a problem and that you have good solutions;
• what topics your report will include--see below for sections which must be part of your report;
• how it will be organized--see below;
• research you will need to conduct
  • primary research--you will conduct an interview or questionnaire as primary research
  • secondary research--three articles, 2 from the databases and 1 from the internet.

 Format of the Report

(see example of Formal report)

Unless you have good reasons to do otherwise (and if so, you need to check with me first), you should plan to write a two-level formal report (not a memo or letter). We will go over these format requirements in class, but note that a two-level report contains the following:

—An opening segment consisting of a Foreword and Summary. This section is written for people interested primarily in your conclusions and recommendations (usually executives and decision-makers).

The Foreword  (also referred to as Abstract) should identify the problem you’re addressing in its organizational context. It should also specify the technical problem and the technical tasks you performed to solve this problem. Finally, it should state the rhetorical purpose of the report.

The Summary (sometimes called the Executive Summary) should provide a condensed version of the report, identifying its objectives, methodology, results, conclusions, and recommendations. The summary provides an overview of the whole report—as it is of interest to decision-makers.

—A Discussion segment consisting of an Introduction, Sections discussing your research (organized as appropriate to audience, purpose, and topic), Conclusions and Recommendations.

The Introduction should

• place the problem addressed into context and
• identify the technical questions arising from this problem,
• should identify the rhetorical purpose of the report, and
• may preview the report’s organization. 

The body of the report should

• employ a hierarchical structure, using substantive headings.

The Conclusion and Recommendations should

• summarize the main points,
• state the conclusions drawn from the research, and
• offer specific recommendations as  appropriate.

Because the report is addressed to a complex audience, the two levels should be self-contained (that is, don’t assume readers of one level will have read the other level). Thus, as you can see, there is some built-in redundancy in this report (that is, information will be repeated in various sections). More information and examples of the two-level report will be given in class.

The report should also contain a letter of transmittal, title page, table of contents, lists of tables and/or figures (if necessary), references, and appendices (if necessary). More details about the format will be given in class.

The length of the report will be governed by the audience and purpose; that is, the report should be as long as it needs to be and no longer. Given the apparatus of the report, however, it’s unlikely that you can achieve your purpose in less than ten pages.

You will use Buzzword to submit all parts of this document.

Evaluation Criteria

1. Does the report contain all the appropriate components, and in the correct format?

2. Does the Foreword help the intended audience identify the organizational problem, technical problem and tasks, and rhetorical purpose of the report?

3. Does the Summary offer a clear condensation of the report, as it would be of interest to decision-makers?

4. Is the introduction effective in establishing the context, purpose, and organization of the proposal?

5. Does the information presented in the report meet the proposal’s objectives? Are the conclusions and recommendations clear? Is the source of the information clearly indicated?

6. Are the main sections organized hierarchically? Is that organization reflected visually and verbally (i.e., headings, subheadings, preview and summary statements, etc.)?

7. Are the graphics rhetorically effective and easy to use?

8. Is the style concise, active, and coherent? Are there adequate transitions? Is the word choice appropriate?

9. Is the report’s documentation adequate and correct?

10. Is the report free from disconcerting mechanical errors, such as spelling and grammatical mistakes?