The Writing of Business Chapter 13: Formal Reports

• Remember that identifying the essential problem to be solved is the key to defining your writing task, including deciding if you should even be writing a report and, if so, what sort of report it should be.
  
  
  
• In a progress report, you explicitly look back on what's been done and forward to what needs to be done.
  
  
  
• Since the progress report documents project work, it's like the second chapter of a proposal:
  • You define the situation you began with.

  • You tell what's happened since you started the project.

  • You announce what you plan to do to complete the project.

  
  
• In a progress report, you need to provide a convincing account of what you've done even if the situation is routine.
  
  
  
• If something unexpected has occurred, you need to make appropriate arguments concerning changes you propose in view of what's happened.
  
  
  
• In a final project report, you make sure readers understand the project's context and requirements and demonstrate that you've completed the project as you said you would.
  
  
  
• In a researched position paper, your likely goal is to change the minds of a wide, heterogeneous group of readers.
  
  
  
• To prepare for writing a position paper, determine who has a stake in the problem, need, or opportunity. Then figure out how their needs and resources complement your own and how they might help you achieve your goals.
  
  
  
• Remember that organizations and problems are dynamic; look closely at your goals in relation to the historical, organizational, and human context of the problems they address.
  
  
  
• Also keep in mind that reports are likely to have multiple readers with different levels of understanding, perspectives, and commitment, as well as different purposes for reading the report.
  
  
  
• Generally, assume that there will be three levels of readers for your report:
  • Level 1, those the report is addressed to (perhaps executives authorized to make decisions based on report content)

  • Level 2, those who will read critically and carefully and study your analysis and argument thoroughly

  • Level 3, those who will use the report as a blueprint for action

  
  
• Provide the Level 1/decision-making reader with a summary of the problem, major details and alternatives, and a rationale for your recommendation.
  
  
  
• Because reports are written when arguments are too long and complex to be made in letters and memos, your arguments will likely be multilayered and need extensive supporting data and analysis.
  
  
  
• You should base your arguments on
  • what you want to happen as a result of the report

  • what values and assumptions your readers hold

  • the significant opposing arguments inherent in the situation

  • conflicting and converging interests among those with a stake in the problem

  
  
• Consider all the available arguments and their likely risks and benefits.
  
  
  
• Remember that one of the strongest report conventions is thorough documentation with specific data; readers expect to see facts supporting your claims.
  
  
  
• Include your documentation--data, principles of interpretation, sources of data, methods of analysis, and justification and rationale for methods--in the report somewhere.
  
  
  
• Pay attention to procedural conventions for report writing in your organization: customary timelines for planning, drafting, and reviewing projects.
  
  
  
• Pay attention to conventional ways of
  • framing the problem and solutions

  • laying out the arguments

  • organizing your evidence

  • expressing your own and the organization's character

  
  
• Make appropriate decisions about the following conventional elements of reports based on your situation and your goals:
  • the cover and paper

  • ink, type size, and font

  • cover letter and executive summary

  • table of contents

  • overall organization

  • appendix and graphics

  
  
• Decide what character or ethos you want to express as well as what style of argument will be consistent with this expression.

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