CH. 11 summary - Writing Strategies for Reports & Proposals

Let us say your boss has given you the task of completing a report or proposal in one week. How and where would you start? The first thing you would consider before putting a report together is your audience. The content of your report or proposal should be based on the audience you are trying to reach. A direct strategy is best used when you are simply delivering information and you do not need a response from your audience. On the other hand, if your report or proposal needs a response, or you’re asking for money, or asking the audience to take action, then an indirect strategy is best to use. Sometimes a combination of the two strategies maybe needed, you may have to inform the audience and at the same time persuade them. This type of strategy is referred to as an analytical strategy. Regardless of which strategy you use, there are three important rules you should always follow when writing a document. One: write clearly, two: be concise and thorough, and three: organize and format your information. Bullets and headings are great to incorporate when you want to organize your facts and information. Task plans are important to incorporate in proposals and reports because they allow the reader to see what tasks have to be performed, the amount of personnel, equipment, resources, and time needed to complete a project. The task plan section will likely contain a lot of information; because of this it is a wise idea to break up the information into separate categories to ease the reading for your audience. When creating goals for a proposal make sure your reader will understand the primary and secondary goals of the proposal. Don’t assume they will know what the goals are just because you described the project in the introduction or executive summary of the proposal. State the goals clearly, your primary goal first followed by your secondary goals. An executive summary is a concise overview of a report. In an executive summary you: identify yourself, your company, the issue which you are addressing, your objectives, your proposed activities, analysis, and/or conclusion to your reader. Your executive summary has to be written after the entire report has been completed. Your introduction of your report or proposal sets the tone for the rest of your document. Based on your purpose and the audience you can decide to use a formal, informal, or conversational tone during your introduction. Your introduction should also hook your reader and be engaging and clear. In a direct strategy application you present your context, basic topic, suggested solutions, and responses right away. In an indirect strategy application you present your context, and basic topic, but you do not specifically indicate your suggestions or responses. The background of your report or proposal can be organized in a chronological approach, situational approach, or a statistical approach. The problem statement of the report or proposal must be clearly defined. The problem or purpose statement in your introduction only provides only the general concept for the reader, but the purpose statement you write after completing the background should include more detail and clarity. Your goals and objectives should be delivered with a direct strategy approach, they should be specific and direct. During the solutions and recommendations section you should also use a direct strategy approach and also touch on major points from the background and analytical sections. Finally and most importantly always end your report on a positive note. I personally have never written a report, but when the time comes for me to write one I think the author broke it down just right to help me the reader understand how reports and proposals are created. This chapter had a lot of valuable information.