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final_assignment__and_chapter_10pp1.pptxFinal Assignment Long Report
Com 270
What Am I Asking you to do….
It must have all the parts of a long report- letter of transmittal, title page, table of contents, list of illustrations, abstract, introduction, body (discussion), Conclusion, recommendations, and references.
How to write the Report….
Start with either the company you wrote your application to, the company you wrote your short report about, an interesting company within your major, or simply a large company that has existing controversies about it.
Find an issue that is existing within the company, or stems from the company. This could include…
Under Armor and the need for Celebrity Endorsements.
SIG and Positive Corporate Culture
Nike and sweatshops
Stores staying open on Black Friday
Walmart and Bribery
JP Morgan and Nepotism
Native Instruments, and Adaptation to Stay competitive.
What you have just developed is the scope of your project. the scope will be your social, political, or economic issue and how you are investigating it.
A long report is a major study that provides an in-depth view of a key problem or idea. It might be eight to twenty pages long or even much longer, depending on the scope of the subject.
The implications of a long report are wide-ranging for a business or organization—relocating a plant, adding a new network, changing a programming operation, or adapting the workplace for multinational employees.
Long reports examine a major problem in detail while short reports cover just one part of the problem.
Unlike a short report, a long report may discuss not just one or two current events but, rather, the continuing history of a problem or an idea (and the background information necessary to understand it in perspective).
A Master Plan for the Recreation Needs of Dover Plains, New York
The Transportation Problems in Kingford, Oregon, and the Use of Rapid Transit
Promoting More Effective E-Commerce and E-Tailing at TechWorld Inc.
Virtual Reality Attractions in Theme Parks in Jersey City, New Jersey
Expanding Health Care Delivery Systems in Tate County
Internet Medicine in Providing Health Care in Rural Areas: Ways to Serve Southern Montana
The titles of some typical long reports suggest their extensive (and in some cases exhaustive) coverage: Try and think of a good title for your report, possibly before you even start any writing!!!
I would like your title to not be too long, or too short
.Basically, your title page should contain the full title of your report and how you have restricted it in time, space, or method. Avoid titles that are vague, too short, or too long.
| Vague Title: | A Report on the Internet: Some Findings |
| Too Short: | The Internet |
| Too Long: | A Report on the Internet: A Study of Social Media Companies and Their Relationship with Consumer Preferences and Identity Protection Within the Past Five Years |
Now that you have the scope, and the title of your paper, begin with the template of a long report.
The 12 parts of a long report fall into three broad categories:
Front matter consists of everything that precedes the actual text of the report: letter of transmittal, title page, abstract, table of contents, and list of illustrations.
Report text encompasses the main section of the report: introduction, body, conclusion, and recommendations.
Back matter includes all of the supporting data: glossary, references cited, and appendices.
Please download 2 copies of my example
It is a long report on the Wilma theater. We will work through my example. After you see how I have done mine, on one of your copies you can erase the material and fill in your information. It is almost complete. All that needs to be fixed is editing, page numbering, and in-text citations.
We will start with the first page, the letter of transmittal
Letter of Transmittal
This three- or four-paragraph (usually only one-page) letter states the purpose, scope, and major recommendation of the report. It highlights the main points of the report that will most interest your readers.
We have worked on letters before in this class. This introductory letter should be written to me. It works as a cover letter for this final assignment in com 270. As this is a class assignment, in fulfillment of your major requirements, provide a logo at the top left for your school or major.
Cover letters work as a courtesy for the reader. Have the first paragraph be the introduction to the report. Have the second paragraph be the findings of the report, have the third paragraph be the solutions to the report. Have the fourth paragraph be a short closing. Provide a courtesy close, with your name, Class, and Major. For instance. Class of 2010, Cinema and Screen Studies. Actually sign the letter of transmittal and indicate the enclosure.
Cover Page
Please Include Your title, A few spaces under your name. Under that your Major and Year. Under that your university.
A few spaces down indicate it is prepared for me, your com 270 professor, and the date.
Table of contents
Next is your table of contents. Please Record all sections to follow. List of illustrations, abstract, introduction, (with Background, problem, purpose, scope) subsections. Your discussion with allocated subsections. Your conclusion, recommendations, and references. Note the roman numerals on this, the list of illustrations, and abstract. Numbering begins at the introduction.
Illustrations
I would like you to have at least Four illustrations, of either Tables or Figures
Please label them, and record their names above. Below the images, insert a text box of the APA citation.
An abstract summarizes the report, presenting a brief overview of the problem and conclusions. An informative abstract is far more helpful to readers of a report than is a descriptive one, which gives no conclusions or results. Abstracts may be placed at various points in long reports—on the title page, on a separate page preceding or following the table of contents, or as the first page of the report text.
Not every member of your audience will read your entire report, but almost everyone will read the abstract. For example, the president of the corporation or the director of an agency may use the abstract as the basis for approving the report and passing it on for distribution.
Abstract- One block paragraph
The introduction may constitute as much as 10 or 15 percent of your report, but usually it is not any longer. If it were, the introduction would be disproportionate to the rest of your work, especially the body.
The introduction is essential because it tells readers why your report was written and thus helps them to understand and interpret everything that follows. Make sure you do not put your findings, conclusion, or recommendations in your introduction.
Introduction I would like your intro to be roughly 2 pages
Do not regard the introduction as one undivided block of information. It includes the following related parts, which should be labeled with subheadings. Keep in mind, though, that your employer may ask you to list these parts in a different order.
1. Background. To understand why your topic is significant and hence worthy of study, readers need to know about its history. This history may include information on such topics as who was originally involved, when, and where; how someone was affected by the issue; what opinions have been expressed on the issue; and what the implications of your study are. Note how the long report in Figure 9.2 provides useful background information on why multinational employees are a growing and important segment of the U.S. workforce.
2. Problem. Identify the problem or issue that led you to write the report. Your problem needs to be significant enough to warrant a long report. Because the problem or topic you investigated will determine everything you write about in the report, you need to state it clearly and precisely. That statement may be restricted to a few sentences.
3. Purpose statement. The purpose statement, crucial to the success of the report, tells readers why you wrote the report and what you hope to accomplish or prove. It expresses the goal of all your research. In explaining why you gathered information about a particular problem or topic, indicate how such information might be useful to a specific audience, company, or group. Like the problem statement, the purpose statement does not have to be long or complex. A sentence or two will suffice. You might begin simply by saying, “The purpose of this report is… .”
4. Scope. This section informs readers about the specific limits—number and type of issues, time, money, locations, personnel, and so forth—you have placed on your investigation. You inform readers about what they will find in your report or what they won't through your statement about the scope of your work. The long report in Figure 9.2 concentrates on adapting the U.S. workplace to meet the communication and cultural needs of a workforce of multinational employees, not on trends in the international employment market—two completely different topics.
The body of your report should
be carefully organized to reveal a coherent and well-defined plan
separate material into meaningful parts to identify the major issues as well as minor issues in your report
clearly relate the parts to one another
use headings to help your reader identify major sections more quickly
What to Include in the Body of a Report
Your body section should be 3 pages with…
Headings
Your organization is reflected in the different headings and subheadings included in your report. Use them to make your report easy to follow. Organizational headings will also enable someone skimming the report to findspecific information quickly. The headings, of course, will be included in the table of contents.
And
Transitions
In addition to headings, use transitions to reveal the organization of the body of your report. At the beginning of each major section of the body, tell readers what they will find in that section and why. Summary sentences at the end of a section will tell readers where they have been and prepare them for any subsequent discussions. Who has the Body/Discussion, and what does it state?
It should have…
The conclusion should tie everything together for readers by presenting the findings of your report. Findings, of course, will vary depending on the type of research you do.
For a research report based on a study of sources located through various reference searches, the conclusion should summarize the main viewpoints of the authorities whose works you have cited. For a report done for a business, you must spell out the implications for your readers in terms of costs, personnel, products, location, and so forth.
Conclusion- Block paragraph
The recommendation(s) section tells readers what should be done about the findings recorded in the conclusion. Your recommendation(s) tells readers how you want them to solve the problem your report has focused on. Readers will expect you to advise them on a specific course of action—what new technology to purchase, when and where to expand a market, how to improve and safeguard a web presence, or who to recruit, hire, train, and retain multinationals for your company
Recommendations- Bullet Points
Any sources cited in your report—websites, books, articles, television programs, interviews, reviews, blogs, graphics, podcasts, webinars—are usually listed in this section.
MLA or APA Citation Style
References Cited- Please include the picture sources in your reference page. All together I would like you to have at least…5 sources!!
Please cite things within your document as well as in the works cited. Here are some notes on citation…
The Section on Parenthetical Citation
Two frequently used systems of parenthetical documentation are MLA (Modern Language Association) and APA (American Psychological Association):
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed. (New York: Modern Language Association, 2009),www.mla.org/style
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2010), www.apastyle.org
MLA:
“Creating an interactive website was among the top three priorities businesses have had over the last two years” (Morgan 203).
APA:
“Creating an interactive website was among the top three priorities businesses have had over the last two years” (Morgan, 2014, p. 203).
MLA is used primarily in the humanities while APA is used in psychology, nursing, social sciences, and several technological/scientific fields. In business, however, your employer will determine whether you will follow MLA or APA. Because MLA and APA are the most well-known and accessible documentation styles, many businesses prefer to rely on one or the other, or they adapt or modify these methods to suit the company's needs and those of its clients. Both MLA and APA use parenthetical, or in-text documentation. That is, the writer tells readers directly in the text of the report what source is being quoted or referenced.
The MLA citation “(Morgan 203)” or the APA “(Morgan, 2014, p. 203)” informs readers that the writer has borrowed information from a work by Morgan, specifically from page 203. APA also includes the year Morgan's work was published. Such a source (author's last name, year, and page number) obviously does not supply complete documentation. Instead, the parenthetical reference points readers to an alphabetical list of works that appears at the end of the report. The list, called “Works Cited” in MLA or “References” in APA, contains full bibliographic data—titles, dates, web addresses, publishers, page numbers, and so on—about each source cited in your report.
Every work that appears in your report must be listed in your references section. (The only exceptions are personal communications such as emails and texts or well-known works like the Bible; these do not have to appear in an APA-style References section.) To provide accurate parenthetical documentation for your readers, first carefully prepare your Works Cited or References list (discussed Preparing MLA Works Cited and APA References Lists) so that you know which sources you are going to cite in the right form and at the right place in your text.
| MLA: | Moscovi claims that “tourism has increased 21 percent this quarter” (76). |
| APA: | Moscovi (2012) claims that “tourism has increased by 21 percent this quarter” (p. 76). |
Keep your documentation brief and to the point so that you do not interrupt the reader's train of thought. In most cases, all you will need to include is the author's last name, date, and appropriate page number(s) in parentheses, usually at the end of sentences. When you mention the author's name in your sentence, though, MLA and APA both advise that you do not redundantly cite it again parenthetically; for example:
For unsigned articles, use a shortened title in place of an author's name parenthetically.
| MLA: | Shrewd bosses know that “chain-of-command meetings provide the opportunity to pass information up as well as down the administrative ladder” (“Working Smarter” 33). |
| APA: | Shrewd bosses know that “chain-of-command meetings provide the opportunity to pass information up as well as down the administrative ladder” (“Working Smarter,” 2013, p.33). |
Similarly, if you list the title of a reference work in the text of your paper, do not repeat it in your documentation.
| MLA: | According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings was seen by nearly 800,000,000 individuals (3: 458). |
| APA: | According to the Encyclopedia Britannica (2014), Cecil B. DeMille'sKing of Kings was seen by nearly 800,000,000 individuals (3, p. 458). |
The first number in parentheses in both versions refers to the volume number of the Encyclopedia Britannica; the second is the page number in that volume.
Check the Section on Documenting Sources
Documentation is at the heart of all the research you will do on the job. To document means to furnish readers with information about the print and electronic sources you have used for the factual support of your statements, including books, journals, newspapers, surveys, reports, websites, and other resources such as list-servs and email.
Documentation is an essential part of any research you do for at least four reasons:
It demonstrates that you have done your homework by consulting experts on the subject and relying on the most authoritative sources to build your case persuasively.
It shows that you are aware of the latest research in your field, thus lending credibility and authority to your conclusions and recommendations.
It gives proper credit to those sources and avoids plagiarism (see What Does Not Need to Be Cited). Citing works by name and date is not a simple act of courtesy; it is an ethical requirement and, because so much material is protected by copyright, a point of law.
It informs readers about specific books, articles, surveys, blogs, or websites you used so they can locate your source and verify your facts or quotations.
The Ethics of Documentation: Determining What to Cite
As a researcher, you have to be sure about what information you must cite and what information you do not need to cite. Before you start consulting sources, you have to be very clear about the ethical standards involved in documentation. The following sections will give you a useful overview to make the documentation process more understandable and easier to follow.
What Must Be Cited
To ensure that your business report avoids plagiarism and maintains high ethical and professional standards, follow these guidelines:
If you use a source and take something from it, document it. Document any direct quotations, even a single phrase or keyword.
Stay away from patchworking — using bits and pieces of information and passing them off as your own—which is also an act of plagiarism. Always put quotation marks around anything you take verbatim, and document it.
If any opinions, interpretations, and conclusions expressed verbally or in writing are not your own (e.g., you could not have reached them without the help of another source), you must document them.
Even if you do not use an author's exact words but still get an idea, concept, or point of view from a source, document that work in your report.
Never alter any original material to have it suit your argument. Changing any information—names, dates, times, test results—is a serious offense.
If you use statistical data you have not compiled yourself, document them.
Always document any visuals—photographs, graphs, tables, charts, images downloaded from the Internet (and if you construct a visual based on someone else's data, you must acknowledge that source, too).
Never submit the same research paper for one course that you wrote for another course without first obtaining permission from the second instructor.
Do not delete an author's name when you are citing or forwarding an Internet document. You are obligated to give the Internet author full credit.
What Does Not Need to Be Cited
Be careful not to distract readers with unnecessary citations that only demonstrate your lack of understanding of the documentation process and can undercut the professionalism of your report. There is no need to cite the following:
Common-knowledge scientific facts and formulas, such as “The normal human body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit” or “H2O is the chemical formula for water.”
Readily available geographical data, such as elevation of mountains; depths of lakes, rivers, etc.; population; mileage between two places; and so on.
Well-known dates, such as the date of the first moon landing in 1969.
Factual historical information, such as “George W. Bush was the 43rd President of the United States.”
Proverbs from folklore, such as “The hand is quicker than the eye.”
Well-known quotations, such as “We hold these truths to be self-evident …,” although it may be helpful to the reader if you mention the name of the person being quoted.
The Bible, the Koran, or other religious texts, but provide a reference to the text and to the portion of the text quoted in parentheses (for instance, New Jerusalem Bible, Exod. 2.3).
Classic literary works, but again reference the original author and the name of the work parenthetically—for instance, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Chapter 4), or Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (5.3.15). Indicate, though, from which edition you took the quotation.
Preparing MLA Works Cited and APA References Lists
Whether you follow MLA or APA, you will need to list your sources at the end of your report, on a new page, under the title of “Works Cited” or “References” at the top and then arrange the list alphabetically by authors' last names (except when no author is listed). Both MLA and APA advise that you begin each citation flush to the left margin (but indent subsequent lines one-half inch) and that you double-space within and between the entries. But, asTable 9.1 points out, there are major differences between the MLA and APA guidelines on where to place information, punctuation, the use of italics and quotation marks, and capitalization. The following sections provide examples, following both MLA and APA, of some of the references you are most likely to include.
CHAPTER 10
Making Successful Presentations at Work
Philip C. Kolin
University of Southern Mississippi
Presentations can be either informal briefings, or formal presentations. Here are some frequent types of presentations you can expect to make:
Sales appeals to prospective customers.
Evaluations of products or policies.
Progress reports to your boss and clients.
Reports to employers about your job accomplishments.
Justifications of your position or even your department.
Appeals and/or explanations before elected officials.
Presentations at professional conferences.
Explanation of a procedures, decision, or plan.
Business Com isn’t just about writing…..Presentations
Informal briefings are routine and part of any job. Typical informal briefings you may be asked to deliver at work include:
A status report on your current project.
An update or end-of-shift report.
An explanation of a policy to co-workers.
A report on a conference you attended.
A demonstration of a new procedure or piece of equipment/software.
A follow-up session on equipment or procedures.
A summary of a meeting you attended.
Informal Briefings
Follow these guidelines when you have to make an informal briefing:
Make your comments brief and to the point.
Write down a few bulleted items you plan to cover.
Highlight key phrases and terms you need to stress.
Include in your notes only the major points you want to mention.
Arrange your points in chronological order or from cause to effect.
Double-check your facts.
Guidelines for Preparing Informal Briefings
Here are five key questions to ask when analyzing your audience:
How much do they know about your topic?
What unites them as a group?
What is their interest level/stake in your topic?
What do you want them to do after hearing your presentation?
What questions are they likely to raise?
Analyzing Your Audience (continued)
