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By M.E. Guffey
Business Communication
Chap 10

Informal reports, Guidelines for writing informal reports

 Collect and report and organize information
 Records routine activities
 Do not analyze information

 They present information
 They offer analysis in addition to data
 Evaluates options and offer recommendations
 solicited

 Attempts to solve problems
 Unsolicited
 Observes a problem, analyzes alternatives, and
describes a potential solution

 Monitors the headway of unusual or
nonroutine activities.
 A. Is the project on schedule?
 B. Are corrective measures needed?
 C. What Activities are next?

 A record of proceedings of a meeting
 For clubs or committees

 Condense the primary ideas, conclusions, and
recommendations of a longer report or
publication.

 Prepared to document an idea or action
 Provides a written record of
conversations, directives, and decisions

 1. Letter format
 2. memo format
 3. Report format
 4. Prepared forms

 ask yourself, “Am I writing this report to
INFORM, to ANALYZE, to SOLVE A
PROBLEM, or to PERSUADE?
 Include a statement of purpose
 Analyze who will read the report.

 Company records
 Observations
 Surveys, Questionnaires, and Inventories
 Interviews
 Electronic and other Research

 Reports may be organized INDUCTIVELY or
DEDUCTIVELY

 That means placement of the main ideas is
delayed.
 It mirrors our method of thinking:
problem, facts, analysis, and recommendation.
 It is useful when persuasion is necessary
 Commonly used in business reports

 It is more direct.
 Recommendations and conclusions are
presented first so that the readers have a frame
of reference for the following discussion and
analysis

 Serves as outline of the text
 Highlights major ideas and categories
 Act as guides for locating facts
 Provides resting points for the mind and
eyes, breaking up large chunks of text into
manageable and inviting segments.
 You may use either functional or talking heads.

 Uses Introduction, Discussion of Findings , and
Summary
 Helps the writer outline a report

 Such as Students Perplexed by Shortage of
Parking or Short-term Parking
 provide more information to the reader
 You can make headings both functional and
descriptive.

 Use appropriate heading levels.
 Strive for parallel construction.
 For short reports use first- and second- level
headings
 Capitalize and underline carefully
 Keep headings short but clear.
 Don’t enclose headings in quotation marks.
 Don’t use headings as antecedents for
pronouns.

 Reports are convincing only when the facts are
believable and the writer is credible.

 Present both sides of an issue
 Separate fact from opinion
 Be sensitive and moderate in your choice of
language.
 Cite sources.

 Analyze your audience
 Choose an appropriate type size
 Use a consistent type font.
 Generally, don’t justify right margins.
 Separate paragraphs and sentences
appropriately

 Design readable headlines
 Strive for an attractive page layout.
 Use graphics and clip art with restraint.
 Avoid amateurish results.
 Develop expertise.

 Prepared by:
 Professor Rodelito L. Sazon
 University of Mindanao
 Matina Gravahan, Davao City , Philippines

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Informal reports, Guidelines for writing informal reports

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Informal reports, Guidelines for writing informal reports