FORMAL REPORT PROPOSALS

							FORMAL REPORT
  PROPOSALS
Seeking permission to begin a project
                 Background
• Purpose: to suggest a solution to a problem.
  You’re writing to your supervisor (in some cases,
  me) to request that you be the person to do a
  formal report on a specific topic. Your aim is to
  get your audience to agree that you should work
  on your chosen topic.
• Format: use memo format for this document
  since this is an in-house assignment.

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               Background 2
• Provide a full explanation of the topic for your
  report, the audience/purpose, literature review,
  and the scope (what you will and will not cover
  in the report), the same information that will
  appear in the report’s introduction.
• Give your audience enough information so that
  he/she can decide to allow you to go ahead with
  the project.

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                   Report Types
• Explain what type of formal report you wish to write.
• Feasibility study: you investigate a specific solution to a
  problem or an opportunity and relate whether it is
  worth doing
• Process report: you explain how to do a specific task
  or sets of tasks.
• Proposal report: you persuade your audience to okay a
  specific project.
• Information report: you provide your audience with
  information that they need.

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            Examples of Formal Reports
• Here are links to excerpts from the different
  types of formal reports on the Course Materials
  page.
• Feasibility study on use of synthetic oil
• Information report on tornadoes for new home
  buyers in Tornado Alley
• Proposal on adding catering to a restaurant
• Process manual on floor maintenance
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                      Memo Format
• Mandatory elements:
      –     TO
      –     FROM
      –     DATE
      –     SUBJECT
• Basic organization of the contents:
  introduction, body, and conclusion
• Headings required for all major sections

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                Introduction
• Use this section to provide a frame of reference
  for your audience.
• Explain what the topic will be for your formal
  report and what kind of report you will write.
• Include the audience/purpose, literature review,
  scope, development.



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                      Body
• Discuss your topic in some detail. Remember
  that your audience needs to know enough about
  it to decide if you’re the person to compose the
  report. For instance, if you’re doing a
  problem/solution formal report, explain in detail
  what the problem is.
• Include the benefits that the report will bring to
  the company: it will save money; it will make
  the work environment safe, etc.

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                 Conclusion
• Give your audience an idea of the results that
  you hope will come from the report and a sense
  of what you will recommend to your audience.
• Include a bibliography of your primary and
  secondary source material.




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