Long Report (400 points)
Long Report (400 points)
DUE DATES
Rough draft of text and
bibliography―Thursday,
4/17
Final draft of full report―Thursday,
4/24
INTRODUCTION
This report
assignment requires you to write a recommendation report on a topic of your
choice. Chapter 4 defines a recommendation report as follows: “A recommendation
report assesses a troublesome or unsatisfactory situation, identifies a solution
to the problem, and persuades decision makers to pursue a particular course of
action that will improve matters” (128).
TOPIC
SELECTION
Your topic may come from your work,
personal life, community, college experience, or wherever else you can identify
a “troublesome or unsatisfactory situation.”
Preferably, pick a topic that you’re really interested in,
that has something to do with your career field, and/or that you feel strongly
about. In addition, pick a topic on which you’re confident you can find
information—both in printed or electronic sources and through interviews or
surveys. You should select your topic carefully because this project
is worth a substantial number of points. In addition, you’ll be expending a
great deal of time and energy on the project. The more satisfied you are with
your topic, the more satisfied you’re likely to be with your report.
AUDIENCE
You will write your report to a real
decision maker, an executive reader who has the means to act on your
recommendations. As you prepare your report, you should do so with this reader
in mind. In other words, write the report as if that person will be the reader.
You aren't required to submit the report to that reader, just to me. However,
when I grade your report, I’ll be doing my best to assess how convincing it
would be for that reader.
REPORT FORMAT
Your report must follow the long
report format discussed in Chapter 10. Consistent with that format, it must
contain the following components:
1) Front Matter (Each element below on a separate page)
- Transmittal Document
- Title Page
- Abstract
- Table of Contents
- List of Illustrations (optional)
- Glossary (optional)
2) Text (4 single-spaced pages, including headings, not including visuals)
- Introduction
- Body (with appropriate textual divisions)
- Conclusion
3) Back Matter
- Appendixes (optional)
- Bibliography
For a report that contains these components and that
illustrates correct report format, see the example in Workplace
Communications, pp. 263, 265-69, and 285-96.
RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION
You must include information from at least three
sources in your report. These sources may be primary and/or secondary.
Secondary sources are sources already compiled by someone else (books, magazine articles, newspaper articles, websites, reports, product brochures, manuals, etc.). Primary sources are sources that contain information you gather yourself (interviews, surveys, experiments, etc.).
Workplace Communications discusses both MLA format
for documentation and APA format. You may use either format to provide the
bibliography and parenthetical citations for information you include from your
sources.
GRADING CRITERIA
Your long report grade will be based on content,
organization, format, tone, use/documentation of sources, and correctness
(grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling).