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BUSINESS ENGLISH
LECTURE 20
Synopsis
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Types of reports
 Proposals
 White paper
 Marketing plan
 Usability reports
Workshop : Formal report
 Check list
 Language expansion activity & listening exercise
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Proposals
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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.
White Papers
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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.
Marketing Plan
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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.
Usability Reports
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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.
Parts of a Usability Report
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An Informal Usability Report
If the usability study is informal (e.g., observation of three or four firstyear 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 FORMAT
WORKSHOP
A Formal Report
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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.]
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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
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Executive Summary
Full Product Description
Test Objectives
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Method
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Participants
Context of Product Use in the Test
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Tasks
Test Facility
Participant's Computing Environment
Test Administrator Tools
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Design of the Test
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Experimental Design
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Procedure
Participant General Instructions
Participant Task Instructions
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Usability Metrics
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Effectiveness Metrics
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o
Efficiency Metrics
o
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Completion Rate
Errors
Assists
TaskTime
Completion Rate/Mean Time-On-Task
Acceptance
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Results
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Data Scoring
Data Reduction
DataAnalysis
Performance Results
Graphic Formats Used
References
Progress Reports
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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.ht
m
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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.
Format
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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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Use the following framework for your reports:
Title slide with author(s) name(s),
Introduction slides (3-4),
Materials and Methods slides (1-3),
Results slides (3-6),
Discussion and Conclusions including Error
Analysis and Future Studies Slides (3-6),
Reference Cited (if any - only include if you cited a
specific paper or book in the presentation)
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1.
2.
3.
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.
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.
Choose a single background for the entire
presentation that is not too busy and distracting but
visually engaging.
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1.
2.
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.
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.
Style & Content
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Avoid footnotes
Write in the past tense
Use a heading for each slide
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
Avoid long, complex statements - break these down into several
subcomponents, each with a separate bulleted entry
Check for excessive use of commas and conjunctions (“and”, “but”,
“or”) - you can often split these points into several
Avoid excessive use of nouns as adjectives
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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Avoid non-informative abbreviations such as “etc.”,
or “and so on”
Reduce jargon to a minimum
Avoid repeating facts and thoughts
Be concise and succinct - don’t pad out your report
with irrelevant data or discussion or images
Above all, produce accurate, clear, and concise
writing
Introduction
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3.
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In this section state the nature of the problem, the aims and
objectives of the study, and brief background information
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?
Include the justification and relevance of the study
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?
Clearly state the question that you sought to answer
Materials and Methods
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State the hypotheses you tested
Include a description of the procedure you used that
would enable a reader to duplicate the study to ensure
repeatability
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
Minimize descriptions of well known procedures and
use references where appropriate
Use figures to explain experimental set-up where
appropriate
Results
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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
Summarize the data generated with tables, figures and
descriptive text
Do not include raw data
Describe your data and the patterns, trends, and
relationships observed
Proceed from most general features of the data to more
specific results
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Use graphics to display data in preference to tables
whenever feasible
Use clear, concise, descriptive titles and
explanatory legends for tables and figures
Ensure all axes of graphs are labeled and that units
are identified in all tables and figures
The results section should be free of interpretation
of data
Discussion and Conclusions
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This section should include an interpretation and
evaluation of the results
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
Refer back to the original hypotheses you were
testing
Draw positive conclusions wherever possible
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Identify sources of error and any inadequacies of
your techniques
Speculate on the broader meanings of the
conclusions drawn
Address any future study that your research
suggests
References Cited
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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
Cite references in text by author(s) and date
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...”)
All references should be listed in full, alphabetically by
first author in the Reference Cited section
Be consistent with format
Only use references pertinent to your study and your
data
General Comments
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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
Justify all tables and figures by discussing their content and
labeling them clearly
Be creative in your presentation of data, your analysis, and
your interpretation of data - play around with different
variations before completing your report
Do not force conclusions from your data or fudge data by
omitting that which does not support pre-conceived
conclusions
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2.
3.
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Make sure all calculations and analyses are relevant to the
hypotheses you are testing and the overall objectives of the
study
Justify your ideas and conclusions with data, facts, and
background literature and with sound reasoning
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
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
Listening Activity 00:12 – 22:00
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Listening 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?
Answers
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1.Need for integration
2.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
Review
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Types of reports
 Proposals
 White paper
 Marketing plan
 Usability reports
Workshop : Formal report
 Check list
 Language expansion activity & listening exercise
