Technical and Professional Writing
Engl 402 Spring 2018
R&D Project—Report
Due: 3 p.m. Friday, April 6, to Blackboard.
All documents, including supplemental materials, such as drafts and process work, should be in a format which can be accessed by others. Those of you who are web-savvy are welcome to create your own website with links to the appropriate documents.
Overview
Your report informs readers of your research and your graphic, and should make final recommendations about both. It should be 8-11 pages long, and must include visuals in the body to support your information and claims. Please note the title page, table of contents, list of illustrations, references/works cited page, and appendixes do not count toward the minimum number of pages.
Your report must have (see Chapter 18 for details on specific sections):
- Letter of Transmittal (see pages 479, and 488-489) addressed and written for Mr. Coleman as director of this project
- Title Page
- Abstract
- Table of Contents (TOC requires that all pages of the report are sequentially numbered)
- List of Illustrations (but not the actual illustrations)
- Executive Summary—a one-paragraph or longer summary of the written report
- The body of the report (each section should have a heading):
Introduction—identify the subject, the purpose, background/context, a summary of key sources, project scope, and summarize key findings and recommendations.
Methods—this section should discuss two subjects:
- Research: the methods your team used to conduct your research. Be specific!
- Graphic: the methods your team used to create your graphic. This subsection should include discussion of usability testing, and should reference specific principles from the readings, to help readers understand how you created your graphic. It would be useful to identify the audience you chose for this graphic, and why.
Results—whereas the Methods section informs readers about what your team did, this section informs readers about what you found and what you created.
- Research: an objective report on your key findings. Do not talk about everything (that is what the appendixes are for) but be specific!
Conclusion—analysis of your results. As Markel notes, "Conclusions answer the question, 'What does it mean?'" (478).
- Research: discussion and analysis of what you discovered and learned.
- Graphic: discussion and analysis of what you created.
Recommendations—what does your team recommend your audience do with your research and your graphic?
References/Works Cited—You are required to use either MLA or APA to document your sources, and must have appropriate in-text citations as well as a references or works cited page. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism.
Appendixes—you are required to provide a copy of or access to your graphic in this section, a copy of your peer reviewed draft, and any data from your research that is too large to be easily accessed in the body of the report (such as survey data or usability tests). You are welcome to include any additional information or documents you feel is relevant to the project.
The rubric for this report is the level of clarity and specificity for each of the sections above; missing parts will result in a grade drop of approximately a third of a letter grade (i.e. from a B to a B-). The body of the report constitutes 80% of the total grade for this report, with the remaining 20% on the other parts.
Works Cited
Markel, Mike. Technical Communication, Eleventh Edition. Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2015.