A Formal Report . Each document that you prepare in this course has a different required format. What is common across all of them is the applicability of the three-step process to the planning, composing, and delivery of your message.

You are also required to develop an Oral Presentation (accompanying audio-narrated PowerPoint) for the Formal Report. Instructions can be found later in this document.

Options for the Formal Report:

Choice is a good thing, right? There are four options for the Formal Report:

Option 1: Imagine you work for a national employment/placement agency. Your clients range from the first-time job seeker to the executive level. You specialize in working with adults who have some work experience and who have just completed a BA or BS degree from your alma mater, Saint Leo University.

The FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work for List comes out each year in mid January. Your supervisor thinks it might be useful and has asked you to prepare a report.

Specifically, she wants to know:

• Can establishing a working relationship with any or some or all of the companies on the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For list help you do your job better?

• Are any, some, all of these companies potential employers for the Saint Leo's graduates you help find jobs?

• Are there specific companies that the agency should target to establish an exclusive relationship with? Which ones and why?

Option 2: The Federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education reform law (which was signed into law January 8, 2002) ties federal aid for the schools to the school system meeting academic standards and adhering to policies set by the federal government.

Prepare a report for your Congressperson in the U.S. House of Representatives in which you

• discuss the impact of this legislation on your local school system,

• present your recommendation for what should or needs to be done, AND

• detail a direct request for some specified action.

Use information available at:

• US Department of Education NCLB

• Education Commission of the States (a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization with the mission to facilitate the sharing of education information among the states) (search NCLB),

• The American Federation of Teachers (the teachers' union)(search NCLB)

• The National Education Association (a volunteer-based organization, heavily involved with lobbying at both the state and federal level)

• or other information to substantiate your analysis.

Option 3: Your immediate supervisor has stumbled across a site run by a self-described hacker who is interested in network security and providing free online information. Your supervisor wants to know how legitimate this guy is and has asked you to provide her with:

• an over-view of the important issues in network security,

• your opinion on Insecure.org., and

• if possible, the applicability (if any) of the information from the site to your specific organization.

Keep in mind as you prepare your report that your supervisor knows enough about information systems to be able to follow your reasoning as long as you do not slip into "High Geek Speak."

Option 4: Let's say, Options 1, 2, and 3 make you yawn. But, you do need to prepare an analysis or some other type of formal report for your job, and you would like to use it for  this assignment. If you are interested in pursuing this option, email the course instructorthrough the course email as soon as possible to discuss how best to move forward.

Format for the Formal Report:

Remember your audience as you plan, write, and complete your report. Your audience is under no obligation to read your report: It is up to you understand your audience well enough to craft a document that they will want to read.

The Formal Report assignment is a formal business report and should follow the conventions as presented in Chapter 12: Writing Reports and Proposals and Chapter 13: Completing Reports and Proposals. In other words, use these chapters of the text as your style guide! Other valuable resources located in your text are Appendix A: Format and Layout of Business Documents, and Appendix B: Documentation of Report Sources.

Use graphics (tables, charts, pictures, etc.) to assist you in illustrating your findings. Remember, there is some real validity in the phrase, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Make certain to refer back to the section in Chapter 12 on Producing and Integrating Visuals as you prepare your report. Your report will be graded for: content, format, style, writing mechanics, and spelling.

For this report you will want to include:

PREFATORY PARTS

• Title page

• Letter or memo of transmittal. (Depending on which option you pick, you will need a letter or a memo. Letters go to individuals external to your organization, and memos are for internal correspondence.)

• Table of contents and list of illustrations

• Executive summary or synopsis (In academic writing, this is called an abstract.)

BODY/TEXT

• Introduction (must include problem/purpose, scope, background, limitations, organization)

• Body (this is where you present your findings, discuss them, and interpret them, and what do you recommend).

• Close (what where the key points? This is your call to action, what you want done.)