What You Will Learn and Practice

• How to analyze your audience and purpose so that you can choose how to present information clearly and effectively. [CLO 1]
• How to find and evaluate original, ethical evidence that supports your position through primary and secondary research. [CLO 2 & 3]
• How to write documents you may encounter in the workplace (specifically front matter for a report). [CLO 4]
• How to use colors, layout, and formatting that make your documents understandable and easy to read. [CLO6]
• How to take advantage of design principles, including contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity, to communicate your ideas effectively. [CLO 7]

What I Want You to Do

Apply a series of tips to your draft of the Recommendation Report, revising or adding information as you go.

Why I Want You to Do It

These tips address the most frequent errors that I see in report drafts. You can improve your repot by working through your draft and applying each of these tips.

Where You Can Find Help

• From Markel & Selber, Chapter 18, “Writing Recommendation Reports”
• LinkedIn Learning course, “Technical Writing: Reports”

When to Do It

• Suggested Due Date: Before you turn in your Best Draft Submission.
• Last Chance Date:The grace period for your recommendation report ends at 11:59 PM on Friday, April 29, 2022.

How You Do It

1. Complete a draft of your report before beginning this self-check, since these tips relate to the full report.
2. Check your report for each of the following characteristics. Revise your draft if you cannot answer “yes” to the question:
   1. Have you included all of the required sections listed on the Recommendation Report Criteria page? Remember not to combine or omit any of the required sections.
   2. Are the sections are in the required order listed on the Recommendation Report Criteria page?
   3. Is your letter of transmittal addressed to the decisionmaker (a specific person, committee, or group) who can put your recommendation into action? Do not address the letter to me (Traci).
   4. Does the report have a specific title? If your title is so general that it would work on anyone’s report, you need to revise it. Use the Effective Report Titles for more help. Consider these examples:
      • Too General: Recommendation Report
      • Specific Examples:
        
        • Revising The Way Our Organization Writes Project Proposals: A Recomendation Report
        • Building a Clear, Concise Software Project Proposal
   5. Does the report include a detailed and specific Table of Contents? The key here is “detailed and specific.” Your table of contents should show the full headings and sub-headings from the report. Check out the Table of Contents in the Sample Recommendation Report in the textbook for help.
   6. Have you used specific headings and sub-headings in your report? Again, check the Table of Contents in the Sample Recommendation Report in the textbook to see appropriate headings. See Professional Design for Reports and the section on “Titles and Headings” in Chapter 11 of Markel and Selber’s Technical Communication (page 275–277).
   7. Have you Included both your primary and secondary research? Both are required.
      
   8. Did you place all quotations in quotation marks, and credit your sources in the body of your report? See the Documentation and Citation page for help.
   9. Are all of your sources are listed in your References section? See the Documentation and Citation page for help.
   10. Did you mention your Instructions Project in your report and include it in your Appendix?
   11. Did you spell check your work, and double check that you have all names spelled correctly?
   12. If mentioned, did you use the correct name of our university? For more information, see https://career.vt.edu/job-search/presenting_yourself/resumes/common-resume-mistakes.html
3. Repeat this activity as many times as you need to until you can answer “yes” to the question.

How to Assess & Track Your Work

You track and grade your own work in this course. Be sure to complete the following tasks:

• Track your work in your Weekly Work Log.
• I will give you feedback when you turn in your Best Draft Submission. Since this is a revision task for your Recommendation Report, you do not turn it in separately.