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BUSINESS ENGLISHLECTURE 20

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Synopsis

Types of reports Proposals White paper Marketing plan Usability reportsWorkshop : Formal report Check list Language expansion activity & listening

exercise

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Proposals

Proposals include forms, letters, memos, and more formal reports. In some companies and contexts (such as in the construction industry), a "proposal" refers to a work contract with a customer.

In this sense, a proposal (which is often called a "bid") is a promise that specific work will be executed by a certain time for a certain cost (and such a promise is sometimes structured as a memo of understanding).

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"Proposal" could also refer to a grant proposal, which also needs to meets strict informational criteria (and may involve precise formatting—such as answering questions in specific boxes).

Grant proposals, however, do allow the writer to convey and explain his or her vision. In other contexts, the term "proposal" is used in the same sense as a recommendation report and thereby "proposes" a course of action.

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Grant proposals sent to foundations are often two-page letters that pitch an idea and attach some financial information.

These proposals are informal but require the writer to match the group's mission statement in the opening, present the problem that needs to be addressed immediately in concrete terms, and convince the foundation that the group is qualified to successfully address the problem.

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Proposals can also take the form of the "long proposal," a formal document that proposes to complete a future project and that requests organizational support.

Often such proposals are in response to an RFP (Request for Proposal): Companies or organizations have jobs that need to be done and issue calls to interested bidders.

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White Papers

White papers provide background for decisions. These reports can be internal and are often profoundly influenced by the particular discipline of their context. They can present investigations of new methods or technologies or report on new sales solutions.

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To offer an example of the internal white paper, novice engineers are often asked to write a white paper for their division about some aspect of new methods/technologies that they have been taught but the company does not currently use

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. White papers can also meet the needs of external audiences in responding to the frequently asked questions of customers. Used regularly in information technology, these reports examine a technology problem, investigate potential solutions, and highlight the solutions offered by the company. 

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White papers differ from recommendation reports and feasibility reports as they do not reach a decision about what action a group should (or should not) take.

Instead, they offer backgrounds upon which decisions can be made, thus functioning somewhat like term papers.

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Marketing Plan

Companies use marketing plans to affirm and to revise their current approaches to marketing products and services.

These marketing plans review the current strategy (or marketing principles) used to market one or more of the company's products/services.

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Tactics used to enact that marketing strategy are discussed in light of current market conditions. The plan is used not only for budgeting reasons, but also as a key document in planning the company's future.

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The marketing analysis performed in preparation for the plan examines the changes in the market from the perspective of the customer.

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It identifies potential customers and their purchase decisions. It asks the following questions:

what are the buying patterns? are new technologies available to our customers? have there been changes in public perceptions?

are the target customers still the same? what are this year's demographics?

should we adjust the target market?

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The marketing analysis also looks at the selling situation for the product, evaluating past plans and achievements and examining how changes in the selling climate may affect future marketing tactics.

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Usability Reports

Usability reports present timely information to development teams, marketing, and others about how well target audiences can use the product under development or under review.

Before a new product is developed, companies often assess the usability of competitors' products as a guide for development.

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While a product is being developed, usability information is often collected weekly in an informal basis, but as the product nears beta testing, a more formal usability study is usually run.

We cover the types of usability tests in a more detailed and systematic way in the Principles section.

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Parts of a Usability Report

An Informal Usability Report If the usability study is informal (e.g., observation of three or four first-

year engineering students learning to use a new piece of lab equipment), the report is usually a memo that is set up in relation to the questions and answers.

• Opening Information for a Memo• Overview• Recommendations• Approach• Findings for Question 1• Findings for Question 2• Findings for Question N• Appendixes• Description of the product version being tested• Script for the usability session• Any questionnaires used

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Key assumptions in the informal reporting of usability are (1) that it is done as a component of development or as a trial before more formal product evaluation is undertaken and

(2) that the report will be passed around in different areas of the company in order to build support for change.

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Therefore, you want to present your overview and recommendations first, and provide a picture or representation of the product you were using (they change rapidly during development). If the report is staying within the group, you can make it shorter, but you always should include the appendices so that your group can compare across studies.

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FORMAL REPORT FORMATWORKSHOP

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A Formal Report

If the usability study is formal, you may want to follow the Common Industry Format Guidelines (CIF Guidelines).

Developed by the National Institute of Standards and Testing (NIST), it provides a standardized approach to reporting across several disciplines that contribute to the development and usability of products.

While the CIF highlights the data from the perspective of quantifying, it still works from a values observation.

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• Title Page [Note: Only the specific guidelines from the title page are listed here. For specific guidelines for the other sections, see the CIF Guidelines on the web.]• Identify as Common Industry Format Report.• Name product and version tested.• Say who led the test and who prepared the

report.• Provide dates of test and of report.• Provide contact information.

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• Introduction• Executive Summary• Full Product Description• Test Objectives

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• Method• Participants• Context of Product Use in the Test

• Tasks• Test Facility• Participant's Computing Environment• Test Administrator Tools

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• Design of the Test• Experimental Design

• Procedure• Participant General Instructions• Participant Task Instructions

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• Usability Metrics• Effectiveness Metrics

• Completion Rate• Errors• Assists

o Efficiency Metricso TaskTimeo Completion Rate/Mean Time-On-Task

o Acceptance

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• Results• Data Scoring• Data Reduction• DataAnalysis• Performance Results• Graphic Formats Used

• References

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Progress Reports

A progress report informs readers of the status of a project-in-progress. Its primary informational mission is expressed in two ways:

• Informing the reader of the status of the project—is it proceeding as planned? is it on schedule? have there been any significant changes in the scope or organization of the project?

• Presenting preliminary findings— what initial data do you have to report? what tentative conclusions can you offer?

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A good progress report provides actual results.

It doesn't merely state "I've made lots of progress on this project." Instead, it reports preliminary key findings.

short, a progress report previews the final report to follow.

Conventionally, a progress report discusses two major topics: Work Completed (or Results to Date) and Work Remaining.

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REPORT CHECKLIST

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http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/iusr/documents/Annex_B.htm

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REPORT PRESENTATION GUIDE

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The primary goal of an orally presented scientific report is to present a record of research work and to communicate ecological ideas inherent in that work in a short period of time.

Usually oral presentations are created using PowerPoint and are around 15 minutes in length, so brevity and directness is essential.

Try to only have about a slide for every 45 seconds or minute that you have to present. As a consequence, if you are presenting for 15 minutes, you should have between 15 and 20 slides.

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The author should describe the procedures followed, the results obtained, and then place these results in perspective by relating them to existing knowledge and by interpreting their significance for future study.

The following discussion is a set of instructions to help you produce well-structured, well-written PowerPoint reports (and hence, good grades!), and to help train you in the process of scientific writing that will be orally presented.

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Format

1. One of the most challenging components of writing a PPT presentation is the need to think modularly. Knowing what information goes where is essential.

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1. Use the following framework for your reports: 

2. Title slide with author(s) name(s),

3. Introduction slides (3-4),

4. Materials and Methods slides (1-3),

5. Results slides (3-6),

6. Discussion and Conclusions including Error

7. Analysis and Future Studies Slides (3-6),

8. Reference Cited (if any - only include if you cited a specific paper or book in the presentation)

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1. Do not overload each slide with too much information. Write in bulleted format. If you have complete sentences on the slide, you are not writing correctly.

2. Include no more than 3 or 4 bullets on a single slide and try to make all the points on a single slide relevant to a single specific point.

3. Choose a single background for the entire presentation that is not too busy and distracting but visually engaging.

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1. PowerPoint is a fun program with many bells and whistles (animations, backgrounds, ability to layer text and images, etc.). Be creative, but do not include so many of these that it distracts your audience from your content.

2. Use large enough font so that the projected presentation could be easily visible in the back of a large room. Usually this requires something greater than 32 point font. Also, don't use a font that is too ornate and therefore distracting. Simplicity in presentation, while still being visually engaging is key.

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When you write the slides, be certain that one logically leads into the next. Don't include the slides as self-contained, disconnected bits of information and images. Make certain that you know what your story is and tell it clearly.

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Style & Content

1. Avoid footnotes

2. Write in the past tense

3. Use a heading for each slide

4. Underscore Latin genus and species names. Be certain to put the Genus name in upper case and the species name in lower case. For example: Homo sapiens

5. Avoid long, complex statements - break these down into several subcomponents, each with a separate bulleted entry

6. Check for excessive use of commas and conjunctions (“and”, “but”, “or”) - you can often split these points into several

7. Avoid excessive use of nouns as adjectives

8. Use positive statements and avoid non-committal statements (e.g. use “the data indicate...” rather than “the data could possibly suggest...”)

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1. Avoid non-informative abbreviations such as “etc.”, or “and so on”

2. Reduce jargon to a minimum

3. Avoid repeating facts and thoughts

4. Be concise and succinct - don’t pad out your report with irrelevant data or discussion or images

5. Above all, produce accurate, clear, and concise writing

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Introduction

1. In this section state the nature of the problem, the aims and objectives of the study, and brief background information

2. Provide the context for the study you will be presenting - why is what you are doing relevant to other scientific work? How does it relate to this other work?

3. Include the justification and relevance of the study

4. Try to answer the following questions:  why do the study?  what is the existing state of knowledge of this topic? (restrict background information to that which is pertinent to the research problem) what are the specific objectives?

5. Clearly state the question that you sought to answer

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Materials and Methods

1. State the hypotheses you tested

2. Include a description of the procedure you used that would enable a reader to duplicate the study to ensure repeatability

3. This will include data collection techniques, the equipment used, the experimental design, characterization of the location of the study, and the methods used to record, summarize, and analyze data

4. Minimize descriptions of well known procedures and use references where appropriate

5. Use figures to explain experimental set-up where appropriate

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Results

1. Start your results section with a text slide summarizing what it is that you found - in subsequent slides, you will present graphs with the data to back up the points that you make on this slide

2. Summarize the data generated with tables, figures and descriptive text

3. Do not include raw data

4. Describe your data and the patterns, trends, and relationships observed

5. Proceed from most general features of the data to more specific results

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1. Use graphics to display data in preference to tables whenever feasible

2. Use clear, concise, descriptive titles and explanatory legends for tables and figures

3. Ensure all axes of graphs are labeled and that units are identified in all tables and figures

4. The results section should be free of interpretation of data

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Discussion and Conclusions

1. This section should include an interpretation and evaluation of the results

2. Compare with other studies and draw conclusions based on your findings - refer back to the review material you presented in your introduction in this section as well

3. Refer back to the original hypotheses you were testing

4. Draw positive conclusions wherever possible

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1. Identify sources of error and any inadequacies of your techniques

2. Speculate on the broader meanings of the conclusions drawn

3. Address any future study that your research suggests

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References Cited

1. List all the references cited in the text and only the references you cited in your text - if you did not cite any references, you don't need a references slide

2. Cite references in text by author(s) and date

3. If there are three or more authors of a reference abbreviate by first author surname followed by “et al.”  (e.g. “Smith et al. (1995) state that...”)

4. All references should be listed in full, alphabetically by first author in the Reference Cited section

5. Be consistent with format

6. Only use references pertinent to your study and your data

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General Comments

1. Use and evaluate all the data you report and do not be discouraged if your results differ from published studies or from what you expected - YOUR DATA DO NOT LIE, they may be inaccurate because of experimental design problems, but they do not lie

2. Justify all tables and figures by discussing their content and labeling them clearly

3. Be creative in your presentation of data, your analysis, and your interpretation of data - play around with different variations before completing your report

4. Do not force conclusions from your data or fudge data by omitting that which does not support pre-conceived conclusions

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1. Make sure all calculations and analyses are relevant to the hypotheses you are testing and the overall objectives of the study

2. Justify your ideas and conclusions with data, facts, and background literature and with sound reasoning

3. Keep the different sections of the report discrete, i.e. methods in the methods section, results in the results section, and leave discussion and interpretation of those results for the discussion section

4. Plan your writing:  organize your thoughts and data, and sketch the report before actually writing.  This will help maximize your time efficiency and lead to a concise, well structured report

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LANGUAGE EXPANSION AND LISTENING EXERCISE

Project presentation – part 2

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Listening Activity 00:12 – 22:00Listening Questions 1. What does Tony say customers have

asked for?2. Tony mentions a few benefits of the recent product changes. What are they?3. What does Jenny think that some people might be concerned about?

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Answers

1.Need for integration2.Benefits: No more manual moving of data Link it directly Easier data access More reports Better tracking 3.We are not ready/ not in need – opt out

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Review

Types of reports Proposals White paper Marketing plan Usability reportsWorkshop : Formal report Check list Language expansion activity & listening

exercise