Individual work assignment applies the "Report and Proposal Contents" (text parts only) to a draft business "Report" or "Proposal." The text parts for either a report or a proposal are:
Introduction
Body
Close
Please complete the following:
From your own work experiences, select a topic and using the text parts (Introduction, Body, and a Close) only, draft either a brief (1-2 pages) report or proposal.
Apply the "Report and Proposal Contents" (Table 11.1, p.281) to your brief report or proposal.
Additional guidance can be used from "Drafting Report Content" (p.278) or "Drafting Proposal Content" (p.282).
Your working outline for your brief report or proposal will be: Introduction, Body, and a Close.
Information you will need for this assignment is listed below:
TABLE 11.1 Content Elements to Consider for Reports and Proposals Reports Proposals Introduction: Establish the context, identify the subject, preview main ideas (if using the direct approach), establish tone and reader relationship. ¦ Authorization. Reiterate who authorized the report, if applicable. ¦ Problem/purpose. Explain the reason for the report's existence and what the report will achieve. ¦ Scope. Describe what will and won't be covered in the report. ¦ Background. Review historical conditions or factors that led up to the report. ¦ Sources and methods. Discuss the primary and secondary sources consulted and methods used. ¦ Definitions. List terms and their definitions, including any terms that might be misinterpreted. Terms may also be defined in the body, explanatory notes, or glossary. ¦ Limitations. Discuss factors beyond your control that affect report quality (but do not use this as an excuse for poor research or a poorly written report). ¦ Report organization. Identify the topics to be covered and in what order. Introduction: Identify the problem you intend to solve or the opportunity you want to pursue. ¦ Background or statement of the problem. Briefly review the situation at hand, establish a need for action, and explain how things could be better. In unsolicited proposals, convince readers that a problem or an opportunity exists. ¦ Solution. Briefly describe the change you propose, highlighting your key selling points and their benefits to show how your proposal will solve the reader's problem. ¦ Scope. State the boundaries of the proposal-what you will and will not do. ¦ Report organization. Orient the reader to the remainder of the proposal and call attention to the major divisions of thought. Body: Present relevant information and support your recommendations or conclusions. ¦ Explanations. Give complete details of the problem, project, or idea. ¦ Facts, statistical evidence, and trends. Lay out the results of studies or investigations. ¦ Analysis of action. Discuss potential courses of action. ¦ Pros and cons. Explain advantages, disadvantages, costs, and benefits of a particular course of action. ¦ Procedures. Outline steps for a process. ¦ Methods and approaches. Discuss how you've studied a problem (or gathered evidence) and arrived at your solution (or collected your data). ¦ Criteria. Describe the benchmarks for evaluating options and alternatives. ¦ Conclusions and recommendations. Discuss what you believe the evidence reveals and what you propose should be done about it. ¦ Support. Give the reasons behind your conclusions or recommendations. Body: Give complete details on the proposed solution and describe anticipated results. ¦ Facts and evidence to support your conclusions. Give complete details of the proposed solution and anticipated results. ¦ Proposed approach. Describe your concept, product, or service. Stress reader benefits and emphasize any advantages you have over your competitors. ¦ Work plan. Describe how you'll accomplish what must be done (unless you're providing a standard, off-the-shelf item). Explain the steps you'll take, their timing, the methods or resources you'll use, and the person(s) responsible. State when work will begin, how it will be divided into stages, when you'll finish, and whether follow-up will be needed. ¦ Statement of qualifications. Describe your organization's experience, personnel, and facilities-relating it all to readers' needs, Include a list of client references. ¦ Costs. Prove that your costs are realistic-break them down so that readers can see the costs of labor, materials, transportation, travel, training, and other categories. Close: Summarize key points, emphasize benefits of any recommendations, list action items; label as "Summary" or "Conclusions and Recommendations." ¦ For direct approach. Summarize key points (except in short reports), listing them in the order in which they appear in the body. Briefly restate your conclusions or recommendations, if appropriate. ¦ For indirect approach. If you haven't done so at the end of the body, present your conclusions or recommendations. ¦ For motivating action. Spell out exactly what should happen next and provide a schedule with specific task assignments. Close: Summarize key points, emphasize the benefits and advantages of your proposed solution, ask for a decision from the reader. ¦ Review of argument. Briefly summarize the key points. ¦ Review of reader benefits. Briefly summarize how your proposal will help the reader. ¦ Review of the merits of your approach. Briefly summarize why your approach will be more effective than alternatives. ¦ Restatement of qualifications. For external proposals, briefly reemphasize why you and your firm should do the work. ¦ Request. Ask for a decision from the reader.
Drafting Report Content
You can simplify report writing by breaking the job into three main sections: an introduction (or opening), a body, and a close. Table 11.1 on page 281 summarizes the goals of each section and lists elements to consider including in each as well. You can use this table as a handy reference whenever you need to write a report in school or on the job. At a minimum, an effectiveintroduction accomplishes these four tasks:
The introduction needs to put the report in context for the reader, introduce the subject, preview main ideas, and establish the tone of the document.
¦ It helps the reader understand the context of the report by tying it to a problem or an assignment.
¦ It introduces the subject matter and indicates why it is important.
¦ It previews the main idea (if you're using the direct approach).
¦ It establishes the tone and the writer's relationship with the audience.
The body presents, analyzes, and interprets the information gathered during your investigation and supports your recommendations or conclusions. The length and content of the body can vary widely based on the subject matter.
The body of your report presents, analyzes, and interprets the information you gathered during your investigation.
The close has three important functions:
¦ It summarizes your key points.
¦ It emphasizes the benefits to the reader if the document suggests a change or some other course of action.
¦ It brings all the action items together in one place.
Your close is often the last opportunity to get your message across, so make it clear and compelling.
To serve the needs of your readers and build your reputation as a careful and insightful professional, make sure your content in every section is accurate, complete, balanced, clear, and logical. As always, be sure to properly document all your sources (see Appendix B).
Help your readers find what they want and stay on track with headings or links, transitions, previews, and reviews.
In addition, help today's time-pressed readers find what they're looking for and stay on track as they navigate through your documents. First, write clear headings and subheadings that let readers follow the structure of your document and help them pick up the key points of your message. Second, use plenty of transitions to tie together ideas and show how one thought is related to another. Third, include preview sections to help readers get ready for new information and review sections after a body of material to summarize key points.
Drafting Proposal Content
All of the guidelines for writing reports apply to proposals as well, but these persuasive messages also have some unique considerations. As Chapter 10 notes, the most important factor is whether the proposal is solicited or unsolicited, because this can affect your organization, content, and tone.
In an unsolicited proposal, your introduction needs to convince readers that a problem or an opportunity exists.
The general purpose of any proposal is to persuade readers to do something, so your writing approach should be similar to that used for persuasive messages, perhaps including the use of the AIDA model to gain attention, build interest, create desire, and motivate action. Here are some additional strategies to strengthen your argument:2
Readers understand that a proposal is a persuasive message, so they're willing to accommodate a degree of promotional emphasis in your writing-as long as it is professional and focused on their needs.
¦ Demonstrate your knowledge.
¦ Provide concrete information and examples.
¦ Research the competition so you know what other proposals your audience is likely to read.
¦ Demonstrate that your proposal is appropriate and feasible for your audience.
¦ Relate your product, service, or personnel to the reader's unique needs.
Moreover, make sure your proposal is error-free, visually inviting, and easy to read. Readers will prejudge the quality of your products, services, or capabilities by the quality of your proposal. Errors, omissions, and inconsistencies will work against you-and might even cost you important career and business opportunities.
In addition to the productivity tools listed on page 117, consider using proposal-writing software if you and your company need to submit proposals as a routine part of doing business. These programs can automatically personalize proposals, ensure proper structure (making sure you don't forget any sections, for instance), organize storage of all your boilerplate text, integrate contact information from sales databases, scan RFPs to identify questions (and even assign them to content experts), and fill in preliminary answers to common questions from a centralized knowledge base.3
See Table 11.1 for a summary of the content to include in reports and proposals.
Writing for Websites and Wikis
In addition to standalone reports and proposals, you may be asked to write in-depth content for websites or to collaborate on a wiki. The basic principles of report writing apply to both formats, but each has some unique considerations as well.
2 LEARNING OBJECTIVE
Identify six guidelines for drafting effective website content, and offer guidelines for becoming a valuable wiki contributor.
Drafting Website Content
Major sections on websites, particularly those that are fairly static (unlike, say, a blog) function in much the same way as reports. The skills you've developed for report writing adapt easily to this environment, as long as you keep a few points in mind:
Readers don't approach websites and online reports in the same way they approach printed documents, so your approach as a writer needs to change as well.
¦ Because readers can be skeptical of online content, take special care to build trust with your intended audiences. Make sure your content is accurate, current, complete, and authoritative.
¦ As much as possible, adapt your content for a global audience. Translating content is expensive, so some companies compromise by localizing the homepage while keeping the deeper, more detailed content in its original language.
¦ In an environment that presents many reading challenges, compelling, reader-oriented content is a key to success.4 Wherever you can, use the inverted pyramid style, in which you cover the most important information briefly at first and then gradually reveal successive layers of detail-letting readers choose to see those additional layers if they want to.
¦ Present your information in a concise, skimmable format (see Figure 11.2). Effective websites use a variety of means to help readers skim pages quickly, including lists, use of color and boldface, informative headings, and helpful summaries that give readers the option of learning more if they choose to do so.