Womack Report

March 13, 2008

Business Writing, March 13 2008

Filed under: Notes,School — Phillip Womack @ 8:35 pm

Starting up in the writing class again.  Handing in two assignments today.  Did them earlier.  Still have one outstanding paper, due after Spring Break.
For the informational report due March 27, we need to synthesize several sources.  3-4 sources, including the basic SWOT analysis.  Informational paper does not need any conclusions or further analysis.

Today’s actual lecture now.

Analytical Reports

Analytical reports are more challenging to write than informational reports.  Higher levels of reasoning and persuasion are involved.

Analytical reports provide data, analysis, and conclusions.

Some analytical reports will be organized according to the direct approach.  This is generally desirable when:

  • The reader prefers the direct approach or does not specifically prefer indirect approaches
  • The reader will be receptive to the conclusions of the report
  • The reader is willing to accept the recommendation without much evidence.

The indirect approach is preferred in cases where:

  • The reader specifically prefers indirect approaches
  • The conclusions of the report are negative for the reader
  • The reader will need lots of evidence to accept the recommendation

General Organizational Approach

  1. Introduction
    1. Description of the process or proposal
    2. Scope of the report
    3. Sources and research methods
  2. Facts and Findings (Data Section)
  3. Detailed conclusions and recommendations

Conclusions in an analytical report are interpretations of data.  They say what the data means.  Recommendations are action items; the offer concrete suggestions for solving a problem or implementing a proposal.

The conclusion and recommendations sections of analytical reports are the most commonly read sections.  People will skip the introduction and the actual data.

  • Avoid generalizations when writing your conclusions.
  • Do not introduce new data in the conclusions section.
  • Begin recommendation statements with a verb
  • Number recommendation statements so they can be referred to easily.
  • Don’t hedge recommendation statements.  Be decisive.

Common types of analytical reports:

  • Justification or Recommendation — Recommend a particular course of action and support it with data.
  • Feasibility Report — Address whether a proposed solution will solve a problem
  • Yardstick Reports — compare solutions to a problem to decide between them

Analytical reports may be formal or informal, short or long, and may be written in a variety of formats.  Authorial purpose and report content determine whether a report is informational or analytical.

Effective Writing for Reports:

  • Use an objective, less conversational tone.
  • Use first- and second-person  pronoun
  • Use preview, summary, and transitional sections to maintain coherence.

For next week (after Spring Break), I need to bring an example of a table and some kind of chart, with the surrounding text.

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

Powered by WordPress