Informal Reports and Email Strategies

Informal Reports and E-Mail
Chapter 10
Technical Report Writing Today (Tenth Edition)
Daniel Riordan
Emeritus Professor of English
University of Wisconsin-Stout
Copyright © 2014 Wadsworth. All Rights Reserved. 10-1

Chapter Contents
Chapter 10 In a Nutshell
 Basic Strategies for Informal Reports
 Types of Informal Reports
 E-Mail
Ethics and E-Mail

Basic Strategies of
Informal Reports
The basic strategies of informal reports are to
 create an effective introduction;
 develop a consistent visual presentation;
 follow the expected “thought path,” if there is
one.

Basic Strategies of
Informal Reports: Cont.
 Introduction
Introductions orient readers to the content of the document.
To create an introduction, you can do one of the following:
 provide the objective;
 provide the context;
 provide an expanded context.

Basic Strategies of
Provide the objectives- the basic informal introduction is a one-
sentence statement of the purpose of the main point of the
project or report, sometimes of both.
Provide the context- explain the situation that caused you to
write the report:
include four pieces of information:
 cause,
 credibility,
 purpose,
 Preview.
Copyright © 2014 Wadsworth. All Rights Reserved.
10-5

Basic Strategies of
follow the following guidelines:
 tell what cause you to write;
 explain why you are credible;
 state the reports purpose;
 preview the contents.
Special case: alert the reader to the problem- sometimes the easiest way to
provide context is to set up a problem statement;
contrast a general truth (positive) with the
problem (negative);
contrast he problem (negative) with the truth
(positive).

Basic Strategies of
 Develop a consistent Visual Presentation
Being consistent is the most important strategy in writing an informal
report:
pay attention to three items in particular
 headings,
 page numbers
 identifying visual aids.
Headings- informal reports almost always contain heads.

Basic Strategies of
Headings- informal reports almost always contain heads;
follow these guidelines:
use a word or phrase that indicates the contents
immediately following;
at times use a question for an effective head;
place head at the left margin, double-spaced above
and single-spaced below – use boldface or all caps
– or choose a “heading style” from your word
processor’s Styles menu.
do not punctuate after heads (unless you ask a question).
(See Figure 10.1 Heading Example.)
10-8

Basic Strategies of
Page numbers- if the document is one page do not use a page number; if the
document is two pages or more, add them;
follow these guidelines:
if you use just page numbers, place them in
the upper right corner or in the bottom corner;
if your use “Insert page numbers” the processor will put the
number in the “Header“ the area at the top of the page
– in some situations it is helpful if you add
“header information” such as report title and date
-- generally, the page number goes to the far right
and other information (report title and/or date
appears to the left.
10-9

Basic Strategies of
Consistently identify visual aids- handle all these aspects in the same
fashion:
choose your caption word (for instance, Figure, Chart,
Graph)
-- while these words are important in formal reports,
they are not as important in informal reports;
place your visuals in the same relative location, at the left-
hand margin or in the center.
develop a “caption style” and use it consistently.

Types of
 E-Mail
Email is a major method of communicating:
to create effective e-mails
 consider your audience;
 use the elements of e-mail effectively.
Consider your audience- make sure your e-mail can be
answered easily:
 arrange your e-mail so that he audience can
quickly grasp what your want form them;
 personalize the e-mail with a quick personal
comment;
 personalize the appropriate level of formality.

Types of
Use the elements of e-mail effectively- pay close attention to how you
handle e-mail elements:
 subject line;
 address;
 attachments;
 paragraphs.
Write a clear subject line- if the subject line does not engage the
reader he or she will often simply delete the message unread:
 start with an information-bearing word;
 keep the subject line short;
 people often open messages with RE in the subject line;
 make the subject line a short summary of your message.
.

Types of
Use the To and CC lines effectively-
To line should contain only the names of persons who you
are asking to do something;
CC line, lists people who should know about the
message, or who are getting the e-mail simply for
information purposes (“ITS”).
Check addresses- many e-mail addresses are remarkably similar; it is
quite easy to use the wrong address.
Consider whether to send an attachment- attachments take more time
to download and often become separated from the original e-mail.

Types of
Keep messages short and to the point- although content could be
important, the length causes recipients to delay reading them.
Establish the context- in the body, repeat questions or key phrases.
Remember to use paragraphs- an e-mail is text, so chunk into
manageable paragraphs.
Signal the end- e-mail exists in scrolling screen form; there is no
obvious cue to the end.
Avoid mind dumps- the point of an e-mail is to satisfy the reader's
needs as concisely as possible.

Types of
Don’t type in all caps- the lack of variation in letter size makes the
message much harder to grasp an gives the impression that you are
shouting.
Get permission to publish- e-mail is the intellectual property of its
creator (do not publish an e-mail message unless the creator give s
you permission).
Be prudent- a e-mail can be forwarded accidently or deliberately.
Use e-mail as a cover letter for attachments- when you send a
document as an attachment to an e-mail, briefly reference the
document in the e-mail (see Figure 10.10).

Types of
Ethics and E-mail
Being aware of the ethical guidelines for conduct when sending
communications over the Internet is important in remaining professional and
courteous. The most important thing to remember is “If it is unethical in real
life, it’s unethical in e-mail” (Brenner)..
It is unethical to delete wording in an e-mail that you have received,
so when you send it on, it has been changed (Brenner, Lynmar).
It is unethical to send on emails to people who are not intended
recipients unless you obtain permission from the original sender.
It is unethical to send inappropriately emotional e-mails. E-mails
should retain a professional, courteous tone.

Types of
Ethics and E-mail: Cont.
While it is not an ethical concern, you should be aware that emails don’t go
away. They are stored somewhere, especially if you ruse a company e-mail. Many
companies have policies that state that the e-mail is the property of the
company. In other words, confidential information cannot be guaranteed o
remain confidential.
From: “Ethics and E-Mail” (page 202).

Informal Reports and Email Strategies

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