Major Assignment 3

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Transmittal letter

A letter of transmittal conveys the report to the person requesting it, or the primary audience for the report. It provides a context for reading the report.

A letter of transmittal may use “I”. Also, it provides a space for pointing out any unusual features of the report, such as unexpected findings, and for discussing the circumstances surrounding the preparation of the report, such as any difficulties or unexpected events in its preparation. A letter of transmittal will typically conclude with thanks to the person requesting the report.

Example format

Your address

City, State, Zip (you can make this up)

Today’s Date

Receiver’s Name, Job Title Address City, State, Zip Dear Dr Smith: Begin the first paragraph with a phrase such as "Enclosed please find the report . . . . " 

Paragraphs should be short. Save discussion for the report. The second (and last) paragraph of the transmittal letter expresses appreciation ("Thank you for the opportunity to . . . ") and offers to be available to answer questions, to meet, and so on. Sincerely yours, (standard complimentary closing) (space for signature; you can use a script font that mimics handwriting) Your name Contact information

Title of Your Paper: Subtitle Comment by Walwema, Josephine: Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. Keep it short and descriptive.

Your Name Comment by Walwema, Josephine: To remove all comments from this template, go to the Review tab and click on Delete -> Delete All Comments in Document

University of Washington

Course Name and Number Comment by Walwema, Josephine: You may design your title page however you wish. This is just a suggestion

Assignment

Date

Abstract

The abstract should be a brief summary of the report allowing readers to quickly review the main points and purpose of the report. A good general rule is to keep it concise, one to two paragraphs or one page maximum.

The abstract should always be on its own page and stand alone. There should be no references to figures or tables that are in the text and all acronyms should be defined.

Table of Contents

Instructions here:

Title of Your Report (again)

This template uses Microsoft’s built in formatting tools. In the Home tab, you can use the Headings 1-3 to format your paper. Main headings should be one point size bigger than the main text, left justified, and with initial capitals. This template uses APA format.

Introduction

The introductory section of your report is the first section following the abstract. Here all the background information pertaining to the topic of interest should be presented so that the reader can understand the objective and methodology. Long introduction sections should be broken into subheadings so that it is easier to follow.

The Introduction tells the reader what the report is about. It sets the project in its wider context, and provides the background information the reader needs to understand the report.

Length: ½ to ¾ of a page is sufficient for most undergraduate reports.

In a short report, the technical background necessary to understand the problem may be included in the Introduction. In longer reports this may be summarized in the Introduction and presented in detail in a separate section.

Purpose of your report

At the end of the introduction section, a short paragraph describing the objective of the report should be included.

Sites of Analysis

Let’s suppose that you are analyzing jobsites, Indeed.com and Monster.com (I am using these as examples)

Indeed: Company Profile

Company description – location, size, nature of business, target users, mission, etc. Look in the “about Us” section of the website for factual information related to the company.

Subheadings should be the same point size as the main text, usually 12. Use initial capitals, bold facing, and the heading should be flush left.

Secondary Subheading. Second subheadings should be the same point size as the main text and flow into the paragraph. Also use initial capitals and italicize the text.

Monster: Company Profile

Do the same for Indeed

Conclude this section by delineating the focus of your analysis. You could say, for this study, I am going focus on three elements: Content value, accessibility, and inclusivity

Methodology

Readers need to know how the data was obtained because the method you choose affects the results and, by extension, how you likely interpreted those results.

Describe here how you went about doing this landscape analysis. You can discuss your use of the Content Audit Template to compare the primary date (i.e., the sites of comparison) and how you developed criteria of analysis from the secondary readings in class, etc. Say if you focused on the homepage or other and why – i.e., what you hoped to learn

Analysis

Let’s suppose you are focusing on content value, accessibility, and inclusivity (as indicated above). Start this section with a subheading:

Content Value

Answer the question: What is content value? Discuss the concept. What and who have we read on content value. What does it matter for content strategy and technical communication. Now you are ready to analyze how content value does or does not work for the sites you are comparing. What is considered good criteria for content value. Maybe Halverson and Rach’s Content strategy for the Web. What three things stand out to you. You can, for example, observe, that McGrane (2010) and Akpem (2020) who both write about content value have come to the consensus that good content does …. Is consistent, is interactive, is clear and concise, and enables users to complete a task (I am making this up).

What three criteria for content value do you want to focus on?

Indeed.com Content Value

Discuss, show and tell how Indeed is doing on content value. How does it meet the criteria you have articulated above? visuals are our friends. Spacing is also a good friend of technical reports.

Monster.com Content Value

Do the same as above. Discuss, show and tell how Monster is doing on content value. How does it meet the criteria you have articulated above?

Conclude this section with some takeaway

Accessibility

What is accessibility? What do we know about creating accessible content? Who did we read who wrote about accessibility? What did they say? Why does accessibility matter? What Three key strategies can one use to measure accessible content?

Indeed.com accessibility

Show and tell

Monster.com accessibility

Conclude this section with some takeaway

Inclusivity

Again, like above, star with a discussion on Inclusivity. Define inclusivity. What articles have we read on inclusivity and what have we learned. Why does it matter in content strategy and technical communication? Now, what three key criteria / indicators of inclusivity – do you deduce.

Now use those three key indicators to analyze

Indeed.com: Inclusivity

Show and tell

Monster.com: inclusivity

Show and tell

Conclude this section with a general decree – who is doing better

Conclusions

The Conclusions section sums up the key points of your discussion, the essential findings of your analysis, or the significant outcomes of your investigation. As its function is to round off the story of your project, it should:

· be written to relate directly to the aims of the project as stated in the Introduction

· indicate the extent to which the aims have been achieved

· summarize the key findings, outcomes or information in your report

· acknowledge limitations and make recommendations for future work (where applicable)

· highlight the significance or usefulness of your work.

· The conclusions should relate to the aims of the work:

You can follow the same comparative format – discussing first one site and then the other.

What should your company learn from the competitor?

cite, cite, cite.

Incorporating figures and tables

One of the purposes of technical reports is to convey information as clearly and simply as possible. For this reason, figures and tables are commonly used. Anything other than a table (e.g. maps, charts, schematic diagrams, circuit diagrams, drawings, graphs, images) is called a figure.

Each figure and table must have a number and a descriptive title.

Each figure and table must be referred to in the text of the report.

Figures and tables should be placed just after they are first referred to in the text.

Example

Figures. Shown in Figure 1 is a common format that serves reports well. Always introduce the figure or table in the text before the figure appears. There is no need to point to the figure, such as see below, this is unnecessary since the location of the figure is assumed to follow the text.

Figure 1. Title of Figure. Feel free to add a sentence or two to point out important features

Figure references should be two points smaller than the main text, bolded, can be centered or flush left, and should be located beneath the figure. A period should separate the figure reference and the title. The title of the figure should use initial capitals and not be bolded.

Example Tables

Tables. Refer to Table 1 for a common format that serves reports well. Again, always introduce the table before it appears in the text.

Table 1. Title of Table

Participants	Age (years)	Gender	Home State
1	33	F	Virginia
2	24	M	California
3	29	F	Montana

Table references should be two points smaller than the main text, bolded, can be centered or flush left, and should be located above the table. A period should separate the table reference and the title. The title of the table should use initial capitals and not be bolded. The cell formatting in Table 1 is an example of what is commonly used in APA but a full grid format can be used as well.

References Comment by Walwema, Josephine: The bibliography should be found on a separate page after the conclusions and before the appendices.

Anderson K. and Murphy, M. (2010). Understanding how to write an APA paper. Journal of Comment by Walwema, Josephine: Remember to always alphabetize the reference list and follow up to date APA formatting guidelines.

Report Templates, 11,16. 45-67.

Zanton A., Opus, R., and Parker, B. (2008). Engineering for Dummies (3rd ed.) New York: My Publishing Company.

Appendix A: Title of Appendix Comment by Tawny Hoyt: If appendices are used, each one should have a separate title page formatted the same as the major headings of the paper.