The Formal Report

1. The Formal Report

2. What is research? • Why learn about research in a ‘work communication’ unit? • Research  gathering information • Without accurate and complete information, you can’t make good decisions at a job • This information may be in people’s minds, in a computer, or in books/periodicals/other documents • Some jobs: gather info, write progress reports, incident reports, trip reports, meeting reports • At work, we do research to solve problems and support new ideas.

3. Define your purpose • the reason for communicating • Categories: • to express ideas • to inform • to explain • to explore a topic • to persuade • TO DO: CIRCLE the categories that apply to your project

4. Define your audience • ASK: • What do you know about age, gender, geographical location, education, professional position, and so forth? • What does the audience already know about the issue? • What is the audience’s current point of view on the issue? • What background does the audience need on the issue? • What will the audience want to know about the issue? • What information will interest the audience? • What personal information about the audience might influence their position or feelings on the issue? • TO DO: Write the information about audience on the right side of this slide

5. Formulate a question • TO DO: To help you define your purpose, make a guiding question about your topic: • -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. Primary and Secondary Research • A primary source is an original object or document -- the raw material or first-hand information. • Primary sources include historical and legal documents, eyewitness accounts, results of experiments, statistical data, pieces of creative writing, empirical studies, and art objects. • A secondary source is something written about a primary source. Secondary sources include comments on, interpretations of, or discussions about the original material. You can think of secondary sources as second-hand information. If I tell you something, I am the primary source. If you tell someone else what I told you, you are the secondary source. • Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers or popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or articles found in scholarly journals that discuss or evaluate someone else's original research.

7. Primary and Secondary: Examples

8. TO DO: • ONE primary source – list to the right • Show questions to Ms K before using your primary source • ONE secondary source from Ebsco Host – list title to the right

9. Recording Information from Sources • Options (choose 1 or more): • Quotations • Paraphrases • Highlighted notes • Mind maps • Summaries • I will ask for exit slips detailing who took notes on what part. • Keep list of sources used for future reference list!!!

10. Presenting the Report • You choose the genre/format • E.g., • Powerpoint • Video • Demonstration • TO DO: List your format of presentation here: ___________________________