Transcript File - Eva Olivas

GROUP E
Chapter 22
Ruben Beltrandelrio, Michael Durling, Lisa
Hairston, Sara McKinley and Eva Olivas
MICHAEL DURLING
Basic Features of Activity Reports
BASIC FEATURES OF ACTIVITY REPORTS
Common Components:
 Introduction
 Summary of activities
 Results of activities or research
 Future activities or research
 Incurred or future expenses
 Graphics
 Conclusion
 Format not concrete; can/should be modified to
suit needs of report

PRIMARY GOAL OF ACTIVITY
REPORTS

To inform intended audience about:
 What happened
 What is currently occurring
 What will occur in the future
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ACTIVITY REPORTS
Progress Reports
 Briefings and White
Papers
 Incident Reports
 Laboratory Reports

PROGRESS REPORTS
Also called status reports
 Purpose: to inform superiors or peers about
progress or status of a project
 Frequency: at regular intervals, ideally weekly,
biweekly, or monthly
 Common components:
 Summary of finished activities
 Discussion of current activities


Forecast of future activities
PROGRESS REPORT
TEMPLATE
Visual Example
BRIEFINGS AND WHITE PAPERS

Purpose: to inform
management or
clients about an
important issue
 Briefings: provided
verbally
 White Papers:
provided in print

Both include:
 Summary of the
facts
 Discussion of the
importance of the
facts
 Forecast about the
future
•Should be straightforward and objective
•Do not select a side or course of action
INCIDENT REPORTS
Description of event, usually an accident or
unfortunate occurrence
 Present facts objectively
 Answers the following questions:
 What occurred?
 Why did it occur?
 How was the situation handled?
 How will problem be avoided in the future?
 Example

LABORATORY REPORTS
Purpose: to describe experiments, tests, or
inspections
 Should include:
 Summary of experiment (methods)
 Presentation of results
 Discussion of results

SARA MCKINLEY
Determining the Rhetorical Situation of an
Activity Report
PLANNING AND RESEARCHING
ACTIVITY REPORTS
Minimal planning and research
 Keep activity journal/work log
 Lotus Notes, Microsoft
Outlook, or PDAs
 Keeps you on task
 Saves time

ANALYZING THE RHETORICAL
SITUATION
 Begin






by asking:
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How?
ANALYZING THE RHETORICAL
SITUATION

Think about the rhetorical situation
to outline the activity report
 Subject
 Recent activities
 Need-to-know information
 Purpose
 What happened and what will
happen
 State purpose directly in the
introduction
 Use action verbs
ANALYZING THE RHETORICAL
SITUATION

Think about the rhetorical situation to outline
the activity report
 Readers
 Supervisors, clients, testimony
 Compose report to suit every readers needs
 Context of Use
 Statements should reflect actions and results
 Needs to be accurate
RUBEN BELTRANDELRIO
Organizing and Drafting Activity Reports
ORGANIZING AND DRAFTING
ACTIVITY REPORTS
Activity reports should be
brief, i.e., should not be
longer than one page
 If you are spending more
than one hour developing an
activity report, you are
spending too much time

WRITING THE INTRODUCTION
Stick to the facts Jack
 A brief framework
explaining the facts
should be provided to
the reader, i.e.,
concisely define your
SUBJECT, PURPOSE,
and MAIN POINT

WRITING THE BODY
Should include a “Summary of Activities”
 Summarize in chronological order the projects
two to five major events since the last report
 Be sure to highlight any advances or setbacks
since the last activity report

WHAT ARE YOUR RESULTS?
List two to five
significant results or
outcomes of the
project since the last
report
 Future activities or
research
 Tell the reader what
you plan to do during
the next work cycle

EXPENSES

You should be able to state the costs incurred
over the previous week or month and if these
costs are deviating from the projects budget
WRITING THE CONCLUSION
Again, be as brief as
possible
 Restate the main
point
 Restate the purpose
 Restate your outlook
for the project’s future

EVA OLIVAS
Designing and Formatting Activity Reports
WHAT ARE ACTIVITY
REPORTS?
“Activity reports are used to objectively present
ideas or information within a company”.
EXAMPLE OF AN ACTIVITY REPORT
DIFFERENT KINDS OF ACTIVITY
REPORTS
Progress Reports:
 Informs
management about
the progress or
status of a project
 Briefings and White
Papers
 Informs
management or
clients about an
important issue

Incident Reports
 Describe an event,
or accident, and
identify what
corrective actions
have been taken
 Laboratory Reports
 Describe
experiments, tests,
or inspections

HOW MIGHT THEY BE USED
Electrical Engineer
 Scientist
 Chemist
 Technician

USING STYLE ACTIVITY REPORTS
Sentences:
 Subject should be the “doer” of most sentences
 Verb should express the action in most
sentences
 Paragraphs:
 Topic sentence
 Tone:
 No sarcasm or humor
 Professional tone
 Negative information stated candidly with no
apologies

REMEMBER, ACTIVITY
REPORTS ARE MOSTLY
INFORMATIVE, NOT OVERLY
PERSUASIVE
So try to keep them straightforward
USING DESIGN AND GRAPHICS
Also straightforward
 Governed by a standard format
 Company will specify format for activity reports
 Visuals should be centered and placed after being
mentioned
 Label graphic and refer by number in the text
 Oral presentation
 Photos help audience visualize
 Graphs show trends in the data

LISA HAIRSTON
The Importance of Editing and Proofreading
Activity Reports.
PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER
Basic features
 Determining the
rhetoric
 Organized and draft
 Strategy for style
 Designing and
formatting

WHY PROOF?
Informal
 Disposable
 Discarded
 Buried

ETHOS AND ERRORS
Reputation
Quality of Work
 Professionalism
 Dedication
 Considerate

Reciprocity

Respect
Management
 Co-Workers

Team Work
 Promotions

REVISING AND PROOFREADING
Revising
Subject
 Purpose
 Readers
 Content

Proofreading
Carefully
 Spell Check
 Print Out
 Send

Electronically
 Physical

QUESTIONS?
2 minutes per answer.