research report

Business Communications – Report Assignment

Report Style: APA (see Library Website under “Guides and Tutorials”) for official APA guides) www.apastyle.org Also see External Links on BlackBoard for assistance.

Length of Report: The Report Text should be a minimum of 4 pages and a maximum of 5 pages. Be thorough with your topic! It is best to exceed than barely cover it. This does NOT include the title or reference page.

Margins: 1” margins for top, bottom, left, and right – Using MS Word.

Formatting the Report:

· Report Text to be double-spaced with .5 inch (1/2 inch) paragraph indentation

· Times New Roman 12-point font in the report

· Title Page: Title in 12-point centered

· Headings: should be used to make the report easier to read (For examples, see textbook)

· NO Running Header is required for this report!

Conduct a literary review of the topic. This primary research should include both Internet searches and electronic library source (databases) with an emphasis on library sources. References cited in the report should indicate substantial research on the topic. You should have a mixture of resources not all from one publication but they can be all from the Internet.

Primary research may be conducted as part of the report process. Primary research could be an interview with a business person with whom you are NOT acquainted. Other primary research ideas include telephone surveys, campus surveys, surveys in business classes only, or observational research.

Documenting Your Research: Documentation should include in-text parenthetical citations (in APA style) with a Reference Page at the end of the report. Be sure the http addresses are links to the Web Site.

Submitting Your Report: Your report will be submitted to TURN IT IN via blackboard. You can submit it early to see your authenticity report and make adjustments as needed.

Video Presentation of Your Report: You will be using the information in this report for recording an oral presentation to the class. Presentations are scheduled on the assignment calendar. You will have a time limit of 5-7 minutes. Your presentation will be a separate grade from the report.

You will create your presentation with Tegrity. Professional Dress will be required. Instructions on how to create a video will be posted to BlackBoard. You are required to complete a Practice Video to make sure your equipment and video are working correctly. The Practice Video should just be a short into and maybe a couple of slides. Remember I will need to be able to see YOU and your PowerPoint at the same time for your presentation and Practice Video. If I only see you and not PPT there will be a major deduction. If I only see your PPT and hear your voice, there will be a major deduction. I need to see you from waist up, your power point presentation progress through a couple slides and I need to hear you clearly.

Meeting the Report Requirement: The report is to be your own work with no assistance in researching, writing or editing the report. It is appropriate to have someone assist you in proofreading your work. The report should be saved to your hard drive, “U” drive, or jump drive using MS Word. Post your report on BlackBoard under Content/Assignments with the hyperlinks in the references so that I can review the Internet sites simply by clicking on the http addresses on your reference page. Keep the hyperlink on the reference page for this report. Typically in formal reports, the hyperlinks would be removed.

Evaluating the Report: See the grading rubric.

Additional Details Concerning Report

Use as many references as needed to cover your subject. (You must have at least 10.)

References on the reference page should be keyed single spaced with a hanging indent and a double space between each item. Refer to example for APA style in Appendix of textbook. Below is an example of side headings and paragraph headings with a parenthetical citation.

Side Headings

Side headings should begin at the left margin with left-aligned, boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings. The heading above this paragraph is an example of a side heading or level two heading (Bean, 2009).

Paragraph headings. Paragraph headings are to be indented, boldface, lowercase heading with a period. This paragraph is an example of a paragraph heading or a third level headings.

The report is to be written in Third person – you are not to write your opinion unless you are making recommendations or drawing a conclusion which would be at the end of your report and do not fit in the style of this type of report. You should have a summary area but you will not be drawing any conclusions.

Title of report should not be in bold but should be in reverse pyramid in shape instead of the width of the page if your title is so long that it spans from the left margin to the right margin.

The Title page should include the following centered vertically on the page. The title page will be counted but not numbered. Other page numbers should be at the top right with the same font size and style as the report text. The title page does not count toward your 4-5 pages.

See attachment Title Page example you are to use for your report.  Remember to create a section break at the end of that page so you can center the Title Page vertically without doing so to the rest of your report.  Working alone, use the one name title page. When you submit your report, remember to have your name in the filename. 

The example of the APA style for a Book in your textbook is correct. The title of a book is written so the first word is the only thing capitalized unless there is a Proper Noun or a colon (:). Any word after a colon is capitalized. The book title is also in Italics.

See the Rubric for grading details.