CRITIQUE

areful analysis, smooth writing, and effective document design work together to make

effective reports, whether you’re writing a 2½ page memo report or a 250-page formal

report complete with all the report components.

Chapter 15 covered the first two steps in writing a report:

1. Define the problem.

2. Gather the necessary data and information.

This chapter covers the last three steps:

3. Analyze the data and information.

4. Organize the information.

5. Write the report.

Using Your Time Efficiently LO 18-1

To use your time efficiently when writing a report, think about the parts before you begin

writing. Much of the introduction can come from your proposal (see Chapter 17 ), with only

minor revisions. You can probably write some sections even before you’ve finished your

research: Purpose, Scope, Assumptions, Limitations, Methods, Criteria, and Definitions. Mock

up visuals and data displays early using the guidelines in Chapter 16 .

The background reading from your proposal can form the first draft of your list of references.

Save a copy of your questionnaire or interview questions to use as an appendix. You can print

appendixes before the final report is ready if you number their pages separately. Appendix A

pages would be A-1, A-2, and so forth; Appendix B pages would be B-1, B-2, and so forth.

You can write the title page and the transmittal as soon as you know what your

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After studying this chapter, you will know how to

LO 18-1 Use your time efficiently when writing reports.

LO 18-2 Analyze data, information, and logic.

LO 18-3 Choose information for reports.

LO 18-4 Organize reports.

LO 18-5 Present information effectively in reports.

LO 18-6 Prepare the different components of formal reports.

When you write a long report, list all the sections (headings) that your report will have. Mark

those that are most important to your reader and your logic, and spend most of your time on

them. Write the important sections early. That way, you won’t spend all your time on

“Background” or “History of the Problem.” Instead, you’ll get to the heart of your report.

Technology can also help you manage your time more efficiently. For example, Google Drive,

the home of Google Docs, will allow you and your teammates to work on different sections of

the report simultaneously instead of e-mailing drafts back and forth. As an added bonus, a

revision history is always saved so you can go back to an earlier version of your work if needed.

Other features allow your team to have real-time instant message chats if your schedules don’t

permit you to all meet in the same physical location to work on the report.

Analyzing Data and Information for Reports LO 18-2

Good reports begin with good data. Analyzing the data you have gathered is essential to produce

the tight logic needed for a good report. Analyze your data with healthy skepticism. Check to see

that they correspond with expectations or other existing data. If they don’t, check for well-

supported explanations of the difference.

Be suspicious of all data, even from reputable sources. Ask yourself “How do they know?” or

“What could prevent that data from being right?”

If you read in the paper that 300,000 people attended a demonstration at the National Mall in

Washington, D.C., ask yourself how they know. Unless they were able to get a photo, they are

estimating, and such estimates have been known to vary by 100,000 or more, depending on whether

the estimator wants a larger or smaller crowd.

Want to know how many centenarians live in the United States? Surely the Census Bureau knows?

Well, not exactly. An accurate count is obscured by lack of birth records, low literacy levels,

cognitive disabilities, and the human desire to hit a milestone number.

Did you read in a job-hunt article that U.S. workers average seven career changes during their

working years? That number is a myth. It has been attributed to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

so many times that the bureau now posts a disclaimer on its website. The bureau does not estimate

lifetime career changes for a simple reason: no consensus exists for the definition of a career

change. Is a promotion a career change? Is a layoff, a temporary subsistence job, and a return to

work 0, 1, or 2 career changes?

Have you heard that Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year? Actually, no day in

November has made the top 35 busiest airline days for years, according to the U.S. Department of

Transportation (busiest days occur in the summer, when school is out). Even for those traveling by

car, July 4, Labor Day, and Christmas are busier holidays. 1

Sometimes the discrepancies are not fun facts. Some states are meeting No Child Left Behind

federal mandates for continued funding by lowering gradelevel proficiency standards. 2

Amazing Spreadsheet Errors

PRINTED BY: SHERIFAT EGBERONGBE . Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher's prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted. Fannie Mae, the financer of home mortgages, once discovered a $1.136 billion error in total shareholder equity,

again from a spreadsheet mistake.

JPMorgan Chase’s $6.2 billion trading loss was blamed in part on a model with spreadsheet errors.

Adapted from Thomas Wailgum, “Eight of the Worst Spreadsheet Blunders,” CIO , August 17, 2007,

http://www.cio.com/article/131500/Eight_of_the_Worst_Spreadsheet_ Blunders ; and Stephen Gandel, “Damn Excel! How the ‘Most

Important Software Application of All Time” is ruining the World,” CNN Money, April 17, 2013,

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/04/17/rogoff-reinhart-excel-errors/ .

Spreadsheets can be particularly troublesome (see “Amazing Spreadsheet Errors,” the sidebar

on this page). Cell results derived by formulas can be subtly, or grossly, wrong by incorrectly

defining ranges, for example. It is easy to generate results that are impossible, such as sums that

exceed known totals. Always have an estimate of the result of a calculation. Using spreadsheets,

you can easily be wrong by a factor of 10, 100, or even 1,000. Studies have found up to 80% of

spreadsheets have errors, such as misplaced decimal points, transposed digits, and wrong signs.

PRINTED BY: SHERIFAT EGBERONGBE . Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher's prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted.