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Business Communication: Building Critical Skills
Kitty O. Locker, Ohio State University
Steven Kyo Kaczmarek, Columbus State Community College
Kathryn Braun, Sheridan College
Proposals and Progress Reports

E-Learning Session

  1. What is a "report"? Many different kinds of documents are called reports.
    1. In some organizations, a report is a long document that contains numerical data.
    2. In others, one- and two-page memos are called reports.
    3. Reports can be informal or formal.
      • Informal reports can be letters or memos.
      • Formal reports can have specific formats, using a title page, letter of transmittal, table of contents, and other features.
    4. Reports can be of many types. TRANSPARENCY MASTER
      • CONCEPT CHECK True or False: Expect to encounter only one or two kinds of reports on the job. CONCEPT CHECK
  2. How do I identify a problem to study? Pick something real, important, and specific.
    1. Good report problems grow out of real problems. TRANSPARENCY MASTER
      • Disjunctions between reality and the ideal.
      • Choices that must be made.
    2. The organization may define the report topic for you; other times, you may have to define the problem.
    3. A good report purpose statement meets several criteria. TRANSPARENCY MASTER
      • CONCEPT CHECK True or False: This report will discuss things we could do next quarter to improve profits. is not a good problem statement for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it is vague. CONCEPT CHECK
  3. What should go in a proposal? What you're going to do, how and when you'll do it, and evidence that you'll do it well.
    1. To write a good proposal, you need to have a clear view of the problem you hope to solve and the kind of research or other actions needed to solve it.
    2. Good proposals answer specific questions. TRANSPARENCY MASTER
    3. A proposal for a student report usually contains the following sections:
      • Problem
      • Feasibility
      • Audience
      • Topics to Investigate
      • Methods/Procedure
      • Qualifications/Facilities/Resources
      • Work Schedule
      • Call to Action
  4. What should go in a progress report? What you've done, why it's important, and what the next steps are.
    1. When you're assigned to a single project that will take a month or more, you'll probably be asked to file one or more progress reports.
    2. You can use progress reports to:
      • Enhance your image.
      • Float trial balloons.
      • Minimize potential problems.
      • There are several types of progress reports. POWERPOINT SLIDE
        1. CONCEPT CHECK True or False: Progress reports only report what you've done; you should avoid using them for anything else. CONCEPT CHECK
  5. Go to the Self-Quizzes section if you would like to test your understanding of this module.




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