Reports and Other Long Documents (Harty) pg. 207-275

Designing and Integrating Visuals with Text

Two Questions to Consider:
*Why include your visual? Explain specifically in the text the purpose of putting in the visual, not just simply explaining what it is.
*Is your visual focused? If not, eliminate anthing (arrows, boxes, lines) that does not contribute or deters from your purpose.

Important: In order to use images or tables from printed materials or the Web, you must obtain written permission from the copyright holder. Simply copy and pasting is unethical and plagarism. If there is no copyright, written permission is not required, but citing is essential.

Tables and graphs both present numerical data in visual form but graphs are usually easier to read in order to see the big picture or trend. Typically both are presented together so that you can reference the table for specific values not shown in the graph.

Important: Distorting visuals, graphs, etc. in order to persuade the reader decreases your credibility as a writer and in some cases may bring about lawsuits.

Line graph: show relationship between two or more set of data.
Bar graph: show relationship between:
1. differen types of infromation during different periods of time
2. quantities of the same kind of information at different periods
3. quantiites of different information during a fixed period of time
4. quantities of the diffreent parts that make up a whole
Pie chart: show relationship between parts of a whole
Picture graphs (pictograms): bar graphs that use pictures instead of bars
Dimensional Column Graphs: bar graphs that are three-dimensional; can be misleading
Drawings: optimal when you want to be specific and eliminate or add things that would be in a photograph
Flowcharts: use to show a series of steps in a process
Organizational charts: shows how the various components of something are related
Map: show geographic features of a location or relationship among things in an area
Photographs: only show the surface of the subject and should not be used to show internal explanations

Strategies of Persuasion (David W. Ewing)
Rules Every Persuader Should Know
1. Consider whether your view will make problems for readers.
2. Don't offer new ideas, directives, or recommendations for chage until your readers are prepared for them.
3. Your credibility with readers affects your strategy. Given vs. acquired. How can you acquire credibility? Through citing already credible sources.
4. If your audience disagrees with your ideas or is uncertain about htem, persent both sides of the argument.
5. Win repsect by making your opiion or recommendation clear.
6. Put your strongest points last if the audience is very interested in the arguement, first if it is not so interested.
7. Don't count on changing attitudes by offering information alone.
8. "Testimonials" are most likely to be persuasive if drawn from people with whom readers associate.
9. Be wary of using extreme or "sensational" claims and facts.
10. Tailor your presentation to the reasons for the Readers' attitudes, if you know them.
11. Never mention other people without considering their possible effect on the reader.

It is important to "size up your readers." Think about how interested they are in your report and how much they already know about the subject or your report. Also think about what their preceeding opinions are before they read your report. All of these things will help you write according to the audience.

Proposals (Philip C. Kolin)
1. Approach writing a proposal as a problem-solving strategy.
2. Regard yoru audience as skeptical readers.
3. Research your proposal carefully.
4. Prove that your proposal is workable.
5. Be sure that your proposal is financially realistic.
6. Package your proposal attractively.

Internal Proposals are within an organization and offer solutions to make the work of the organization more efficient, more cost-effective, etc. They are often more informal and vary in length of one or two pages. However, although informal, you still must be very careful in sizing up your audience because you do not want your solution to sound like an attack or an act of superiority over your superiors.

Sales proposals are external proposals intended to sell a product to an outside audience. This includes a section devoted to the description of the proposed product. In this section you want to describe the product in detail and explain how it benefits the audience specifically.

Writing Proposals with Style (Richard Johnson-Sheehan)
Cicero and Augustine defined three styles:
1. Plain style instucts in simple terms.
2. Middle style if for persuasion.
3. Grand style is for motivating people to do something they already know they should do but may be reluctant to do. Not used as often because it seems extreme.

Plain Style
-Generally used in Situation, Plan, and Qualifications sections.
-Use active voice, put subject early in sentence, eliminate excess words, eliminate redundancy, make sentences short.

When is it appropriate to use passive voice?
-the readers do not need to know who or what is doing something in the sentence
-the subject of hte sentence is what the sentence is about