reports prep steps

BUSINESS / TECHNICAL REPORTSChapters 15,16,17,20,22,23,26

VIDEO MODULES 9,10,11,12

CONTENTS (MODULE 9)

9.1 Introduction9.2 Importance9.3 Characteristics9.4 Types

Give examples with special reference to “Reports” (9.1)

• Careful investigation• Sound thinking• Logical organization• Clear writing

IMPORTANCE (9.2)

• Why do reports play an important role in organizations?

Tangible, making decisions, solving problems, evaluating, information dissemination

• How are they important for you?Project, survey, lab• What skills does report writing develop in you?Judging, discriminating, organizing, communicating

CHARACTERISTICS (9.3)

• What are the contents of a report?Information, Analysis, Conclusions,

Recommendations• Name the characteristics of a report.Precise, factual, relevant, reader oriented,

objective, unambiguous, clear, specific format and structure, illustrations, homogeneous, documented

TYPES ( 9.4)

• What are the differences between oral and written reports?

• Give two examples: informational, interpretive and routine reports

PREPARATORY STEPS TO WRITING REPORTSModules 10.1 to 10.5

• What are the 7 steps discussed in these modules?

• What do we mean by ToR?• What are the possible sources available for

you to collect data?• What methods would you use to gather data?

04/18/2023 BITS-Pilani, K.K.Birla Goa Campus

Define Purpose & Scope

Determine the audience

Collect & select data

Organize the materialMake an outline

Interpret the data

Prepare the first Draft

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PREPARATORY STEPSFOR

WRITING REPORTS


Purpose and Scope

Terms of reference –what is to be done

(To identify the strengths and weaknesses of the existing examination system

To analyze the grading procedure

To suggest changes and implementation procedures

Objective(s)

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Audience

Experience, background, knowledge, etc.

Look from the reader’s perspective

10


Data Collection

Methods

Personal observation

Telephone Interview

Personal Interview

Mail Questionnaire

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Sources

Library

Internal Records


Personal observation

Seeing with a purpo

se

Chief source of 1st hand inf.

Recognizing

& Recording inf.

Forming Mental Impression • Controlle

d / Uncontrolled

• (create an environment) (view things as they are)

Memory,

sensory percepti

on

Expensive,

slow, can’t be used for

all

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Telephone Interview

• Information is of routine nature • Only brief answer is required • Small no. of people to be contacted • Saves time on traveling • Some feed back possible (not effective)• Inf. may not be representative • Expensive (Long distance)• Misinformation hard to detect

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Personal Interview Conversation

with a purpose

To obtain qualitative data

To supplement the inf.

collected through other

methods

To get exact details

To have a feel of the answers so

as to draw better

inferences

Large no. of people can’t be contacted

Time consuming

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Personal Interview Preparation

• Get an appointment • Be clear with purpose • Pen, tape etc.• Visualize opening

• Dress appropriately • Reach on time

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Get prior permission for recording

Be ready with a strategy Prepare a list of questions

(open end) Last question


• Briefly explain the purpose • Be alert Listen • Be accurate in recording • Don’t enter into an argument • Assume a subordinate position • Avoid too many interruptions • Avoid embarrassing ques.

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Guide lines for conducting

Be tactful Be flexible Don’t get unnerved Finish in time Assure confidentiality Thank Keep the lines of

commn. open

1.The President of the students' council of your college has received several complaints regarding the event management at the annual sports festival of your college. He has asked you the student coordinator for event management to send a brief report on how the events are managed and suggest some measures to improve the same in future.

Q.Now, you are conducting personal interviews with the outstation participants to collect data for this report.

2. Personal interviews with the volunteers and the Heads of Nirmaan, a forum for social initiatives of your college to understand their forum in details in order to prepare a report on the outreach activities of your college.

3. Personal interviews with the faculty members and their spouses to prepare a report on "Life on BITS Pilani Goa campus" including certain suggestions to improve upon the facilities.

4. Personal interviews with the faculty members who have joined from universities abroad in order to prepare a report on the "research and teaching experience in an Indian university"


QuestionnaireWhat is

the Purpose?

Who is your

AudienceWhat

information do you need?

Is all this information necessary?

Can it be secured

elsewhere?

Do any of these

questions ask for

sensitive information or difficult to answer?

Is there any logical order

to the questions?Does the

questionnaire need a cover letter?

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Questionnaire

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• Question types: open , closed, multiple choice, ranking , short answer

• Preparation: clear instructions, short and easy to answer, easy to analyse, avoid leading questions, avoid questions on personal habits, only one aspect at a time, go for a pilot run

Instructions• Please choose the best option by putting a

tick mark.• Please rank the following items according to

the order of your preference ( 1 is the most preferred and 5 is the least preferred)

• Please answer questions 1 to 5 by choosing the best option.

• Select any TWO as per your preference.


Open-end questions

What’s your view on the existing grading system at BITS Pilani?

Why do you prefer absolute grading to relative grading?

What are the other aspects (not covered in this questionnaire) do you like to comment upon?

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Close-end questions

Should the present grading system continue? Yes / No

According to you, the present grading system is : Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory

The existing grading system should continue: Agree/ Disagree

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Multiple Choice Questions

Which of the following patterns of grades would you recommend as a replacement?

(i) A+,A,A-;B+,B.B-;C+,C,C

(ii) A+,A; B+,B; C+,C; D+,D

(iii) A,A-; B,B-; C,C-,D,D-

(iv) A++,A+,A; B++,B+,B; C++,C+,C,D++,D+,D

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Ranking Question• Rank the following patterns of grades in the order of

your preferences, from 1 to 4 (the most preferred will be 1)

(i) A,B,C,D,E (ii) A+,A; B+,B; C+,C; D+,D(iii) A+,A,A-;B+,B,B-;C+,C,C-,D+,D,D-(iv) A,A-;B,B-; C,C-; D,D-

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Short-answer questions

Why do you want a change in the grading system?

How many of your batch mates may agree with your suggestion?

Mention any two disadvantages of the present grading system.

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Leading questions

• Do you read non fiction works regularly?• Don’t you like Ritik Roshan more than Ranbir

Kapoor?• Weren’t you at the Shopping Complex at 7

pm?• Do you have any problems with your boss?• How much will the prices go up next year?

Double-barreled questions

• Do you think students should have more classes in Technical Report Writing and Biology?

• Would you like to go for a menu which is spicy and colourful?

• Do you prefer a grading system that is more liberal and with more division of grades?

• Do you feel this shop has variety and quality in its selling products?


Questionnaire

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• Sequencing : logical, psychological• Sampling: random , stratified, proportionate Size : Generally 15% If 1000 people --- you need to get

responses from 150 people at least

04/18/2023 BITS-Pilani, K.K.Birla Goa Campus 30

Random Sampling


Proportionate Sampling


• Q. BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus has been organizing the all India cultural festival Waves every year on its campus attracting a large number of participants across various colleges in India. The Council for Student Affairs (CSA) is planning to find out the popularity of this festival through a questionnaire survey. As a representative of CSA, prepare a mail questionnaire containing 10 specific questions to be administered on the participants from various colleges in India.

• You need to prepare 2 questions (one close-end question and one multiple choice question) for each of the following issues:

• Publicity, Event Management, Prizes, Hospitality, Security Arrangements.


Publicity (Sample Questions)

• 1.How were you made aware of Waves? (Tick all applicable)

• Newspaper• Social Media• Television• College Notices• 2. On a scale of 1-10 how well was Waves

publicized? (With 1 being the lowest)______


• Q.2 The Director of College Education, Patna, Bihar has

been concerned about the poor academic standards and mismanagement of the affairs of various colleges in Patna. You as Deputy Director of Education have been asked to enquire into the matter and submit a report to the Director. Now prepare a mail questionnaire containing 10 specific questions to be sent to the faculty members of the respective colleges in order to collect data for the report.

• You need to prepare 2 questions (one close-end question and one multiple choice question) for each of the following issues:

• Pedagogy, Evaluation, Academic Infrastructure, Co-curricular Infrastructure, Administration.


Q.3The administration has observed that the reading habit of students on campus needs to improve. You have been asked to look into the matter send a report suggesting some measures to improve upon the same.

Q.4 Bharat Airlines has been constantly incurring losses because of a sharp decrease in the number of passengers travelling by these Airlines. The Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India is concerned about this problem and wants to know the actual causes behind this phenomenon. As the Chief Commercial Officer of Bharat Airlines, you have been asked to conduct a survey in order to arrive at some remedial measures.

Think about any three major issues and prepare two questions ( once close end and one multiple choice with four options) on each of the issues.

• Since the introduction of BITSAT online test in 2005, the number of girls admitted to BITS Pilani campuses has come down from 40% to 18%. Concerned about this decline, BITS Pilani has asked University Vista, a company that is known for conducting surveys to identify the major reasons and also suggest some measures to increase the % of girl population in BITS Pilani campuses.

As a representative of University Vista , prepare a mail questionnaire consisting of 10 questions ( 5 open end and 5 multiple choice) on various issues pertaining to the topic.


OUTLINEOrdering

Coordinating

Subordinating

Phrasing

Numbering

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Ordering / Organizational Patterns

Chronological Spatial / Directional Logical Comparative Cause – Effect Problem – Solution Categorical / Topical Psychological

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Coordination Topics / Sub-topics of equal rank to find same level in

outline e.g. 2. Sources of energy 2.1. Oil 2.2. Electricity 2.3. Coal 3. Applications 3.1. Industry 3.2. House-hold


Subordination

Subtopics to be appropriate to the Main topicse.g. 2. Methods of data collection 2.1 Personal observation 2.2 Telephone Interview 2.3 Personal Interview 2.4 Mail questionnaire


Illogical Coordination

2. Computers – Beginning of a new era3. Applications4. Education5. Industries6. Advantages7. Disadvantages

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Illogical Subordination

2. Computers – Beginning of a new Era3. Applications

3.1. Education3.2. Industries3.3. Advantages

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Phrasing & Numbering

Use Parallel grammatical Construction Use decimal numbering

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Faulty Phrasing

IntroductionComputers mark

the beginning of a new era

What are the applications ?

Are they advantageous ? Disadvantages

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Outline ( Sample ) Incidents of Diseases in Khurshidabad1. Introduction2. Diseases in Khurshidabad- An Overview3. Major Diseases

3.1. AIDS3.2. Cardiovascular3.3. Tuberculosis

4. Minor Diseases4.1. Gastritis4.2. Infective diseases4.3. Others

5. Conclusions6. Recommendations

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Rewrite the following outline

(i) Introduction (ii) Causes of Food Problem (a) Defective Distribution System (b) Lack of Proper storage Facilities (c) Hoarding (d) Natural calamities (e) Floods (f) Drought (g) Wars (iii) Social and Cultural factors (a) Population Growth (b) Reverence towards Animal Life (iv) Illiteracy (v) Conclusions and Recommendations

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Outline ( Solution )1. Introduction2. Causes of Food Problem 2.1 Defective Distribution System 2.1.1. Lack of Proper Storage Facilities 2.1.2. Hoarding 2.2 Natural Calamities 2.2.1. Floods 2.2.2. Drought 2.3. Wars 2.4. Socio cultural factors 2.4.1. Population Growth

2.4.1. Illiteracy 2.4.2. Reverence towards animal life

3. Conclusions and Recommendations


1.Introduction2.Fire fighting and Communication

facilities(i) Telephone(ii) Fax(iii) Films(iv) Games3. Education and Entertainment

facilities4. How is the market A. External B. Local

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5. Labor from Local and other plants

5.0. Raw Materials 5.1. Cost 6. Transport Facilities 6.1.Rail, Road, Air 6.2.Raw materials (a) Building (b) Infrastructural 7. Recommendations 8. Conclusions

Establishment of a New Factory


Establishing a New Factory in Margaon, Goa

1. Introduction2. Raw materials 2.1 Building 2.2 Infrastructure3. Labour 3.1 Local 3.2 Other plants4. Market 4.1 Potential 4.2 General

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5. Transport 5.1 Rail 5.2 Road 5.3 Air6. Other Facilities 6.1 Fire-fighting facilities 6.2 Communication : Telephone and Fax 6.3 Education 6.4 Entertainment : films and games7. Conclusions and recommendations

Assume that as the Dean of Students of BITS Pilani- Goa campus you are planning to send a report to the Secretary , Board of Environment, Goa on “ Building a clean and Green Campus” on the eve of World Environment Day. Now prepare an outline containing at least 4 topics with two subtopics under each.

• Fantasy Garments Corporation has set up a new branch showroom in Goa with garments ranging from formals to casuals catering to all the age groups. You, as the Branch Manager of the company has to prepare a report on the set-up of this new showroom.

Prepare an outline containing at least 5 topics including Introduction and Conclusion. The Main Body of the report should include 3 topics with 3 subtopics under each.


• Q. The District Collector, Nagpur is concerned about the rapid increase in the number of road accidents in Nagpur during 2007-2009. The Chairman, Municipal Corporation, Nagpur has been asked to submit a report investigating the causes and suggesting measures to improve the situation.

Prepare an outline for this report.

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reports prep steps

Documents

birla goa campus16guide

brief report

written reports

recording dont

event management

information disseminationhow

saves time

personal interviews