Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Business Reports
Business Reports
Business Reports
Types
Preparation
Organization presentation
Prefatory Parts:
Cover; title fly; title page; letters of authorization; acceptance; approval; transmittal; acknowledgements; (abstract, synopsis, executive summary); table of contents; table of tables.
Report Body:
Introduction, Text or body, Terminal section.
Supplemental Parts:
Appendix, bibliography or endnotes, glossary, index.
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Function: informational or analytical. Subject matter: accounting, advertising, finance, marketingetc. Formality: formal or informal, the formal is long and the informal is short report. Formal reports always include some of or all these prefatory and supplemental parts: prefatory parts: cover; title fly; title page; letters of authorization; acceptance; approval; transmittal; acknowledgements; (abstract, synopsis, or executive summary); table of contents; table of tables.
Supplemental parts: appendix, bibliography or endnotes, glossary, index. some informal reports may include ,in addition to the body, a title page, transmittal, endnotes, and appendix.
Type or Appearance: influenced by length and formality. informal and short reports: memorandum, letter, a printed form
I.
Introduction: Authorization, Plan of presentation (layout)*, Problem*, Purpose*, Scope*, Methodology*, Sources*, Background or (history of the situation being investigated)*, Definition of Terms, (introduction, a glossary at the end, or text) Limitations, Brief Statement of the Results or Recommendation.
I. Text or body: The longest portion of any report body, Its title may be Discussion, Findings or Data.
I. Terminal section: It is based on the text discussion no new material included. The terminal section for the informational report is called Summary. For analytical report is called Conclusions or Recommendations.
or combination.
1. Inductive Arrangement indirect. The three sections are arranged as the following: Introduction Text (discussion & explanation) Terminal section
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By criteria or topics: This is the most common way. The main headings could be the standards, factors, solutions, benefitsetc. By order of occurrence. Progress reports, By order of location or space. By procedure or process. By order of importance or by alphabetization. By order of familiarity or simplicity. By sources. By problem solution.
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For example, organizing report text section by criteria. The problem is to replace the old PCs by new PCs. DISCUSSION Reliability Service Warranty Period
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Methods of Outlining
Methods of Outlining
It is becoming your table content. Before writing the report, the outline helps you to see the relationship between topics, compare proportions and headings, check for loopholes in logical order, and eliminate overlapping. you need to consider Types of Heading, Formats of Outline, and Parallelism in Heading. Type of Heading: For wording heading, you can choose from four type of heading: Topic: single words (nouns), a few words, or short phrases. Globalization Complete sentence heading: Globalization is a Syndrome of Process and Activities
Imperative sentence heading: Keep Driving Record Clear Variant heading: Improving Employees Productivity
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A good Heading should indicate the Subject Matter. It is better not to use more than eight words. If your topic is one word, make sure that the word not to be too Broad.
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Formats of Outline:
After choosing your organizational plan and the wording of your main headings, you next choose a way to show levels degrees) for various items in your outline. For long report, three ways to number heading degrees. Numeral-Letter Combination: it is used in business. Decimal System: it is used in scientific and technical reports. Letter- Numeral Combination: it is used by those who prefer letters before main heading and they do not need the additional degree that is possible with Roman numerals.
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Degree of Heading
Numeral-Letter Combination:
1st Introduction 2d 2d 2d
1st 2d 3d 3d 2d 3d 3d 4th 4th 5th 5th
I.
A. B. C. II. A. 1. 2. B. 1. 2.
a.
Text/ Discussion
b.
(1)
(2)
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Text/ Discussion
1st 2d 3d 3d 2d 3d 3d
III. A. 1. 2. B. 1. 2.
IV.
A.
1.
2. B. 1. 2.
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1. 2. 3.
Place the most important ideas (Criteria) in the highest degrees of heading, considering report length, subject matter, and reader. Try to balance the sections as well as possible. For example, if section II.A, had 12 subheading and section II.B had no subheading, the proportion would be lopsided. Then try to narrow the scope of heading II.A (by rewarding it and by rearranging facts) and broaden II.B. Have at least two subheading if you divide any topic; for example, A.1 and A.2 never ever only A.1. The number of section headings neither too many nor too few. Usually three to seven main sections are desirable. Do not consider the report title as a section heading, and do not begin the first sentence with exactly the same words as the heading.
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Parallelism in Heading:
For parallel, consistent, and construction all headings of the same degree within any part of an outline should be parallel to each other. They should have the same grammatical form- all nouns, all phrases, or all sentences. For example, the following headings should be parallel to each other: I, II, III, IV, V. A, B, C under I. 1, 2, 3 under II.A 1 and 2 under II.B a and b under II.B.2etc. However, subheadings 1, 2, 3 under II.A need not be parallel with subheadings 1 and 2 under II. B, and other third-degree subheadings in other sections.
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Visual Aids
To improve both readability and appearance of a report, you should use heading and when desirable also graphic materials. Heading and Subheading as Directional Signs: The headings you have selected for your final outline will be directional signs for the reader of the finished report. Headings help direct the reader through the entire presentation.
System of styling the headings: FIRST-DEGREE HEADINGS (Centred and in all capitals-caps) Second- Degree Headings ( Centred, caps and lowercase, underlined) Third-Degree Headings (left margin, caps and lowercase, underlined)
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Fourth-degree headings. -- (Indented, underlined, lowercase; paragraph begins on same line). Fifth-degree headings (Indented, underlined; sentence begins with the heading).
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Who: the company What: the subject matter When: the year Where: the country Why: the objective
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