To: Nancy Myers

From: Spencer Mullaley

Date: May 11, 2022
Subject: APLED 121-Chapter 17 Summary

CHAPTER 17
SHORT, INFORMAL REPORTS

Report Definition- Reports come in different lengths and levels of formality, serve different and often
overlapping purposes, and can be conveyed to an audience using different communication channels.
Your reports will satisfy one or all of the following needs:
o Supply a record of work accomplished
o Record and clarify complex information for future reference
o Present information to a large number of people with different skill levels
o Record problems encountered
o Document schedules, timetables, and milestones
o Recommend future actions
o Document current status
o Record procedures
Online Reports- Online report writing provides numerous benefits to both the organization and the
individual: speed and convenience from a laptop or smartphone; financial savings (no postage or paper);
decreased need for filing system storage space; immediate confirmation on a report’s submittal;
predetermined fields to organize a report; online help systems for instructions to help writers complete
their reports.
Types of Reports- Many reports fall into the following categories:
o Incident reports
o Investigative reports
o Trip reports
o Progress or status reports
o Lab or test reports
o Feasibility/recommendation reports
o Research reports
o Proposals
Criteria for Writing Reports
 Organization- Every short report should contain five basic units:
o Identification lines
o Headings and talking headings
o Introduction
o Discussion
o Conclusion/recommendations
 Development- First, answer the reporters questions:
  Who
 When
 Why
 Where
 What
Second, when providing information, quantify.
 Audience- Your audience can be high-tech, low-tech, lay, or include multiple readers. Before you
write your report, determine who will read your text. This will help you decide if terminology
needs to be defined and what tone you should use.
 Style- Style includes conciseness and highlighting techniques. Achieve conciseness by
eliminating wordy phrases.
Incident Reports
 Purpose and Examples- If a problem occurs within your work environment that requires analysis
(fact-finding, review, study, etc.) and suggested solutions, you might be asked to prepare and
incident report. Example:
o Hospitality management. An oven in your restaurant caught fire. It not only injured one
of your cooks but also damaged the oven, requiring that it be replaced with more fire-
resistant equipment.
 Criteria- To write an incident report, include the following components:
 Introduction
o Purpose
o Personnel
 Discussion (body, findings, agenda, work accomplished)
 Conclusion
o Conclusion
o Recommendations
Investigative Reports
 Purpose and Examples- This report does not just document the incident. It focuses more on why
the event occurred. You might be asked to investigate causes leading up to a problem in the
following instances:
o Security
o Engineering
o Computer technology
 Criteria- Following is an overview of what you might include in an effective investigative report:
o Introduction
o Discussion
o Conclusion/recommendations
Trip Reports
 Purpose and Examples- When you leave your work site and travel for job-related purposes, your
supervisors not only require that you document your travel expenses (food mileage, hotel) and
time while off-site, but also they want to be kept up to date on your work activities.
 Criteria- Following is an overview of what you will include in an effective trip report:
o Introduction
o Discussion
 o Conclusion/recommendations
Progress Reports
 Purpose and Examples- Supervisors want to know what progress you are making on a project,
whether you are on schedule, what difficulties you might have encountered, and what your
plans are for the next reporting period.
 Criteria- Following is an overview of what you will include in an effective progress report:
o Introduction
o Discussion
o Conclusion/recommendations
Lab Reports (also referred to as test reports)
 Purpose and Examples- The knowledge acquired from a laboratory activity must be
communicated to colleagues and supervisors so they can benefit from your discoveries. You
write a lab report after you have performed the lab activity to share your findings.
 Criteria- The following are components of a successful lab report:
o Introduction
o Discussion
o Conclusion/recommendations
Feasibility/Recommendation Reports
 Purpose and Examples- One way a company determines the viability of a project is to perform a
feasibility study to document the findings and then to recommend the next course of action.
 Criteria- One way a company determines the viability of a project is to perform a feasibility
study and then write a feasibility report documenting the findings. The following are
components of an effective feasibility report:
o Introduction
o Discussion
o Conclusion/recommendations
The Writing Process at Work
 Prewriting- Gather data using brainstorming/listing and then provide a list.
 Writing- Draft a technical description. Focus on overall organizational, highlighting, detail, and a
hand-drawn graphic. Then have your colleagues read and suggest revisions.
 Rewriting- Incorporate suggestions and prepare the finished copy.