Reports and Other Long Documents (Harty)

-Reports can vary in formality, but the writer should always have a clear plan and purpose from the beginning so that they stick to the intended purpose. Analyzing the audience is essential. Audiences can include: laypersons, executives, experts, technicians, operators, etc.

Audience Analysis: The Problem and a Solution (J.C. Mathes and Dwight W. Stevenson)
-Every form of communicationm contains three components: the writer, the message, and the audience. However, the audience is often not conscidered. Sometimes this is because the writer writes to the person addressed and doesn't think about the bigger audience that could read the report. However, a report's worth is measured only by how much it helps the audience/organization, so they require significant conscideration in the writing process.

-False Assumptions
1. The person addressed is the audience. (Students learn this in college as they write to only one professor at a time, and then they carry it over into the workplace, only writing for supervisors.)
2. The audience is a group of specialists in the field.
3. The reports has a finite period of use.
4. The author and hte audience always will be available for reference.
5. The audience is familiar with the assignment.
6. The audience has been involved in daily disucsisions of the material.
7. the audience awaits the report.
8. The audienc has time to read the report.

Three types of audiences: vertical, horizontal, and external. Writers must clearly know which one they are writing to because they each have different backgrounds, expectations, etc. However, this is hard to define because the writer's position is always relative to where they are in relation to the audience. A three step approach was formulated:
1. Prepare an Egocentric Organization Chart (diagram pg. 177)
2. Characterize the Individual Report Readers- analyze orperational, objective, and personal characteristics.
3. Classify Audiences in Terms of How They Will Use Your Report: primary (make decisions based on your report), secondary (are affected by decisions made), immediate (transit the infromation)

What to Report (Richard W. Dodge)
The three things that managers look for first and foremost in a report are:
1. What the report is about
2. The significance and implications of the work
3. The action called for

The summary is read more than any other part of the report; then introduction, conclusion, body, and appendix. It is ironic that the shortest part of the report is often read the most. What does this tell the writer about the importance of writing clear concise and purposeful summaries?

The Writing of Abstracts (Christian K. Arnold)
-The abstract is the most important part of a report and yet it usually receives the least amount of attention.

-Two purposes of the abstract:
1. descriptive- provides the specialist in the field with enough information about the report to decide if he could read it with profit
2. informative- provides the administrator or ecutive with enough knowledge about what has been doesn in the study with what results to satify most of his administractive needs.

Ten Report Writing Pitfalls: How to Avoid Them (Vincent Vinci) pg. 203
1. Ignoring Your Audience
2. Writing to Impress
3. Having More than One Aim
4. Being Inconsistent
5. Overqualifying
6. Not Defining
7. Misintroducing
8. Dazzling with data
9. Not Highlighting
10. Not Rewriting