Lectures23Planning,Organizing,andWritingBusinessReportand.ppt

Lecture 4: Writing Short Business Reports Writing Short Business Reports ?Part One: Steps in Preparing Proposals and Reports ?I. Defining the problem A. Limiting the scope of the study B. Outlining issues for investigation ?II. Outlining issues for analysis ? A. Informational assignments ? B. Analytical assignments III. Preparing the work plan A. Statement of problem B. Statement of purpose and scope of investigation C. Discussion of tasks, methods, and constraints D. Description of end products E. Review of assignments, schedules, resource requirements Writing Short Business Reports Part Two: Conducting the Field Research IV. Conducting the research A. Reviewing secondary sources B. Collecting primary data 1. Documents 2. Observations 3. Surveys a. Interviews b. Questionnaires 4. Experiments Writing Short Business Reports V. Analyzing data A. Analyzing data: Quantitative analysis by Calculating statistics 1. Averages 2. Trends 3. Correlation ? B. Qualitative analysis by using SWOT framework ? 1. Strengths ? 2. Weaknesses ? 3. Opportunities ? 4. Threats  Writing Short Business Reports VI. Drawing conclusions and developing recommendations A. Drawing conclusions 1. Definition 2. Example 3. What constitute a sound conclusion ? B.? Developing recommendations ? 1.? Definition ? 2.? Example ? 3.? What are useful recommendations Writing Short Business Reports Part Three: Writing Proposals and Reports ?VII. Writing reports and proposals ? A. Choosing proper degree of formality ? 1. Formal tone ? 2. Informal tone B. Organizing reports: Components of a formal report ? 1. Preliminaries (prefatory parts) ? 2. Body (text of the report) ? 3. Supplements Writing Short Business Reports C. Developing structure clues 1. Opening 2. Headings and lists 3. Transitions 4. Previews and reviews 5. Ending ? D. Letter of Transmittal (included for reference only) E. Exe