To: Nancy Myers

From: Christopher Tyler

Date: February 17, 2022
Re: APLED 121-Chapter 17 Summary

CHAPTER 17
SHORT, INFORMAL REPORTS

• Report Definition
➢ Reports come in many different lengths and formalities. Reports will satisfy one of
the following needs at minimum.
▪ Document schedules, timetables, and milestone
▪ Recommend future actins
▪ Document current status
▪ Record procedures
▪ Record problems encountered
▪ Supply a record of work accomplished
▪ Record and clarify complex information for future reference

• Online Reports
➢ In this new day and age of technology many organizations have created the
opportunity online report writing. This offers many benefits such as:
▪ Speed and Convenience
▪ Financial savings (no postage or paper)
▪ Decreased need for filing system space
▪ Immediate confirmations on reports

• Types of Reports
➢ Many reports fall under the following categories:
▪ Incident Reports
▪ Investigative Reports
▪ Trip Reports
▪ Progress or Status Reports
▪ Lab or Test Reports
▪ Feasibility/Recommendation Reports
▪ Research Reports
▪ Proposals

• Criteria for Writing Reports

o Organization
▪ Identification lines- should contain dates and names of who the report was
sent to as well as the focus and topic of report.
 ▪ Headings and Talking Headings- improves page layout and makes content
more accessible.
▪ Introduction- supplies an overview of the report by stating the purpose,
personnel, and dates in order to satisfy current and future readers.
▪ Discussion- largest section of the report requiring detailed development.
▪ Conclusion/Recommendations – Allows you to sum up for findings or
state decisions that you have obtained and sometimes will have future
recommendations.
o Development
▪ Answer the reporter’s questions, quantify information and be as specific as
possible.
▪ Questions to answer:
-Who
-What
-When
-Where
-Why
o Audience
▪ Before you write your report, keep in mind who will read your report. You
can then determine the proper tone and terminology to use for your
audience.
o Style
▪ Style consists of conciseness and highlighting techniques.
▪ Headings, and graphics can be used to help communicate content.
• Incident Reports
o Purpose and Examples
▪ When a problem occurs in the workplace that requires analysis and
suggested solutions an incident report (or accident report) may need to be
prepared.
▪ EXAMPLE: A retail location has experienced a burglary. As a site
manager, you believe that with improved security parameters, this
situation, could have been avoided. You document the event and suggest
future solutions.
o Criteria
▪ Have a purpose which explains why and where the incident occurred
including who was involved. Be sure to include any equipment involved,
extent of damaged and police/hospital departments contacted.
• Investigative Reports
o Purpose and Examples
▪ Focuses on why an event occurred. Investigates events leading up to a
problem.
▪ EXAMPLE: You work in a bank’s security department. A customer loses
her purse only to later have checks in her name being used illegally. Your
job is to investigate the incident and report your findings.
o Criteria
 ▪ Include a purpose with incident dates and what you hope to achieve with
this investigation. Include personnel of who was involved in the incident
as well as who authorized or suggested the investigation. Discuss your
findings and agenda and conclude with what you accomplished. Follow up
with recommendations on how the problem can be fixed or avoided.
• Trip Reports
o Purpose and Examples
▪ Allows you to report on job-related travel. This can be documenting travel
expenses and time while off site as well as being kept up to date on your
work activities.
▪ EXAMPLE: You go to a out of state conference for your company to
learn about the latest hardware and software technologies. When you
return to the workplace you would write a trip report documenting your
activities.
o Criteria
▪ Document the dates and the destination of where you traveled as well as
with whom you traveled with. Who authorized you to leave for job-related
travel? Include a review of your observations and conclude with what you
accomplished while on the trip.
• Progress Reports
o Purpose and Examples
▪ Progress reports let you document the status of an activity and allows you
to explain what work has been accomplished and what work remains to be
finished.
▪ EXAMPLE: You work in hospitality management and have been given
the job of deciding which catering company is best suited for your city’s
convention center. You keep in mind food choices, prices and any
additional services each company offers. A report would be put together
with your findings so management can determine the next step.
o Criteria
▪ Include objectives such as: why are you working on this project, what
problems motivated the project.
▪ Include personnel of who assisted you with this work.
▪ Discuss work accomplished, problems encountered and remaining work.
▪ Sum up what you achieved during this report and include target
completion date.
• Lab Reports (also referred to as test reports)
o Purpose and Examples
▪ Lab reports allow us to document findings from a laboratory experiment,
procedure, or study.
▪ EXAMPLE: Customers are calling your customer service frequently
complaining about your product. To solve the issue, you must study the
units to find the problem. You will write a test report to document your
findings.
o Criteria
 ▪ Give a purpose to what rationale, objectives and authorization your report
will include. Discuss the methodology and procedures you used to come to
your conclusion. Present your findings and how you interpret them, as
well as suggestions for a solution.
• Feasibility/Recommendation Reports
o Purpose and Examples
▪ Feasibility/recommendation reports accomplish two goals.
1. Studies the practicality of a proposed plan.
2. Recommends action.
▪ EXAMPLE: Your company wants to create an online webstore to market
its wears globally. The CEO wants the online checkout to be easy, is cost
efficient and the products are depicted in a visually appealing way. How
do you make this website stand out from competition? Your feasibility
report will present these options and recommendations.
o Criteria
▪ What is the purpose of this report and what motivated the study? Include
personnel and the criteria up which you recommendation will be made.
Follow up with analysis and conclusion of your findings and suggest
recommendations.
• The Writing Process at Work
o Prewriting
▪ Use a simple topic outline to gather data and determine your objectives for
your report.
o Writing
▪ using your objectives and purpose of your report create your rough draft
and submit it to a colleague for evaluation.
o Rewriting
▪ After reviewing suggestions from your colleague create a final draft of
your report including all key components. Finally, submit your report.