The document outlines the principles of writing meeting minutes and narrative reports, detailing their definitions, purposes, types, and essential components. It emphasizes the importance of clarity and structure in recording both meeting discussions and event recounting to ensure accurate and effective communication. Additionally, it provides step-by-step guidelines for preparing, writing, and editing each type of written document.

1. WRITING THE
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
AND THE
NARRATIVE REPORT
Michael Bryan Z. Rayos
Course Lecturer, Technical Writing
Camarines Norte State College – Entienza Campus

2. OUTLINE
•Technical Writing in a Nutshell
•Minutes of the Meeting Defined
•Purpose of the Minutes
•Who Prepares the Minutes?
•What are the Requirements?
•Types of Minutes
•Essential Parts of the Minutes
•How to Write the Minutes

3. OUTLINE
•Narrative Report Defined
•Purpose of the Narrative Report
•Types of Narration
•Basic Parts of a Narrative Report
•Structure of a Narrative Report
•Tips/Guidelines in Writing the Narrative Report

4. TECHNICAL WRITING IN A
NUTSHELL

5. TECHNICAL WRITING CREATIVE WRITING
Content factual, straight-forward imaginative, metaphoric or
symbolic
Audience specific general
Purpose inform, instruct,
persuade
entertain, provoke, captivate
Style formal, standard,
academic
informal, artistic, figurative
Tone objective subjective
Vocabulary specialized general, evocative
Organization sequential, systematic arbitrary, artistic

6. WRITING THE
MINUTES OF THE MEETING

7. Minutes of the Meeting
• official record of what happened and what was
discussed at a meeting (Egipto, 2005)
• written record of what took place at a meeting
(Taylor, 2004)
• records not only the decisions but also the flow
of discussions so that the bases for decisions
may be clear in the future (Bouing, 2006)

8. Minutes of the Meeting
also known as “protocols”

9. Purpose of Minutes
•The basic purpose is to provide a historical
account of official business conducted during a
meeting and supporting a group as it carries out
its responsibilities.

10. Who Prepares the Minutes of the
Meeting?
• Normally, a person is formally designated as
secretary or a recorder to prepare the minutes.
• In some groups, a secretary or clerk performs
the task of taking the minutes.
Who Prepares the Minutes?
• Normally, a person is formally designated as
secretary or a recorder to prepare the minutes.
• In some groups, a secretary or clerk performs
the task of taking the minutes.

11. Who Prepares the Minutes of the
Meeting?
• Normally, a person is formally designated as
secretary or a recorder to prepare the minutes.
• In some groups, a secretary or clerk performs
the task of taking the minutes.
What are the requirements?
Focus
Alertness
Comprehension

12. Types Minutes of the Meeting
•Verbatim Minutes
•Summary Minutes
•Action Minutes

13. Verbatim Minutes
• are usually prepared by secretaries of a
government legislature, council, or lawmaking
body
• everything transpired during the meeting shall
exactly form the minutes even if it is time-
consuming and expensive

14. Verbatim Minutes
• minutes of the annual meeting are also
transcribed in verbatim minutes to safeguard
the validity and reliability because it transpired
during a crucial meeting

15. Verbatim Minutes
• record of every single word said at a meeting
• will not always follow the agenda
• are often long and can be difficult

17. Summary Minutes
• provides a record of all information not
necessarily word for word but a summary of the
discussion and action on all agenda items
• usually contains the proceedings of meetings
conducted at shorter intervals of time

18. Summary Minutes
• short and free from the complexities
• most commonly used in the office
• normally written in full sentences rather than
bullet points

20. Action Minutes
• contains identifying information, brief summary
of discussions made and key information
presented
• emphasizes decisions, tasks, and actions to be
done related to the proceeding, thus making
this minutes quickly and easily prepared

21. Action Minutes
• written in the form of a list of steps required,
who should take tem and when
• purpose of this is to provide only a record of
decisions that require an action

23. ESSENTIAL PARTS OF THE
MINUTES

24. • Heading
• Title of the Meeting
• Attendance
• Call to Order
• Approval of the Minute of the Previous Meeting
• Business Arising from the Previous Minutes of the
Meeting
• New Business (Agenda)
• Adjournment
• Signature

25. Heading
contains the complete name and address of
the company; may include contact number
and email address

26. Title of the Meeting
includes the date, day, and starting time of
the meeting; also, the venue or location of
the meeting is included

27. Attendance
the complete list of names of all the
attendees of the meeting

28. Attendance
most of the time, the attendance sheet is
listed on a separate sheet of paper that is
being attached to the meeting

29. Attendance
the attendance of the meeting is divided
into three components:

30. Present
- the complete list of names of all those who are
present at the meeting;
Regrets
- the complete list of names of those who have
contacted the chairman or presiding officer to let them
know that they will be unable to attend the scheduled
meeting;
Absent
- the complete list of those who are absent at the
meeting

31. Note on the Attendance:
Usually the attendance of the meeting is being
checked, monitored, and approved by the secretary.
The general rule in establishing the quorum of
the meeting is half plus one of the total number of
attendees.

32. Call to Order
consists of the exact time of the scheduled
meeting

33. Call to Order
In this part, the complete name and position
of the one who set the meeting is stated;
you may refer to the Notice of Meeting for
the details needed in this part

34. Approval of the Minutes of the
Previous Meeting
contains the motion to approve the minutes
of the previous or last meeting as circulated
to approve the minutes as amended; the
attendees of the meeting may correct or
revise the minutes of the previous meeting

35. Business Arising from the
Previous Minutes of the Meeting
includes some agenda from the previous
meeting that are needed to be reviewed and
needed to take immediate action

36. New Business
refers to the agenda of the meeting;
you may refer to the Notice of the Meeting to
follow the flow of the agenda of the
meeting;

37. New Business
Other agenda that are not listed may be
added in the other matters

38. New Business
the heart of every minutes of the meeting;
this should be carefully written;
every detail should be included and
specified so that nothing will be overlooked

39. Adjournment
is composed of the exact time the meeting
was adjourned or ended by the chairman or
presider

40. Signature
contains the signature over complete name
of the secretary who prepared the minutes
of the meeting

41. HOW TO WRITE MINUTES

42. Before the Meeting

43. 1
• Take note of pertinent details regarding the
meeting:
- type of meeting - agenda
- date and time - attendance
- venue - time started
- presiding officer - time ended

44. 2
• For easy facility, prepare your attendance
sheet.

45. 3
• Prepare an outline based from the agenda.

46. For example:
Agenda:
1. Participants of CNSC Community Week
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________

47. 4
• Study the issues to be discussed and ask
questions ahead of time.

48. 5
• Prepare materials convenient for writing like
bond paper, note pad, laptop, tape recorder,
steno pad, or stenographic machine.

49. During the Meeting

50. 1
• Be able to know the name of each attendee by
making a map or tags for seating arrangement.
• You may also request unfamiliar participants to
identify themselves.
• This will help you to keep track of who said
what.

51. 2
• Concentrate on getting the essential elements
of discussion and take enough notes to be
summarized later.

52. 3
• Ask for clarification if things are not
understood.

53. 4
• Do not fail to take note of the items discussed,
decisions reached, and action decided on.

54. After the Meeting

55. 1
• Immediately transcribe the minutes after the
meeting for you not to forget anything
regarding the meeting.

56. 2
• The minutes should be approved by the
presiding officer before they shall be
distributed to the members.

57. 3
•Use full names not nicknames.

58. WRITING THE
NARRATIVE REPORT

59. What is a Narrative Report?
•It is an informational work made with the
intention of relaying information or recounting
certain events in a presentable manner.

60. What is a Narrative Report?
•It present things or events that has happened in
the past through a logical progression of the
relevant information.

61. What is a Narrative Report?
•Narrative Report is always written in a sequential
manner in order of occurrence.

62. What is a Narrative Report?
•It is most widely used.

63. What is a Narrative Report?
•Narration does not tell about the story, it tells the
story.
•It places the events before our eyes.

64. Purpose of a Narrative Report
•The main purpose of a narrative report is to
present a clear and factual depiction of what has
occurred.

65. Types of Narration
•Objective Narration (narration of fact)
•Subjective Narration (fiction)

66. Basic Parts of a Narrative Report
•Cover Page
•Content Page
- Heading
- Title
- Content
• Appendix / Appendices

67. How to Write the Narrative Report
•Generally, you should account all the details
while maintaining the logical sequence.

68. How to Write the Narrative Report
•A narrative report should have the following:

69. Statement of the thesis or the event
•You should state the context of the focal event of
your report, its time, place, and actors.

70. Any background information related to
this thesis
•Sometimes, you can provide information about
events that preceded the key event, in case they
are relevant.

71. Chronological account of the event or a
series of events
•It should be detailed as possible.
•Don’t forget to mention the exact time and all the
relevant numbers that can be applied.
•If there are accounts from other witnesses or
actors, your should quote them as well.

72. Summary of the event.

73. How Long Should Your Narrative
Report Be?
As long and informative as you can make it.

74. Tips/Guidelines in Writing
the Narrative Report

75. 1
•Be a living witness of the activity.
•You cannot write the narrative report if you are
not present during the activity / event.

76. 2
•Before/during the event, gather all the available
materials relevant to the activity or event such as
the program.
•This can be of great help in writing the report.

77. 3
•Document the proceedings of the activity.
•Take note all the activities that transpired during
the activity/event.
•Take photos and video-record the activity.

78. 4
•After the event, immediately write the first draft
of you report.

79. 5
•During writing, be able to answer all the
information questions:
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

80. 6
•To provide a logical and coherent of narration,
use transitional connectors or transitional
devices.

81. 7
•Because you are to narrate a completed event,
use the past tense of the verb.
conduct - conducted
take - took

82. 8
•Check your grammar and other mechanics.
Subject and verb agreement
Tense of the Verb
Point of View (Third Person Omniscient)

83. 9
•During editing, apply the formal format in
writing: paper size, font style, font size, print
color, margins, line spacing, etc.

84. 10
•Attach all the necessary documents in your
appendix/appendices page.

85. 11
•Check for the content of your paper: facts and
figures.
•Read your document backwards to check for the
spelling.

86. 12
•Make a habit of saving your document while
typing/encoding.

87. 13
•Triple check your work.
•Edit, re-edit, edit, re-edit, final edit, final-final edit

88. 14
•Make the final copy clean.
•It should be free from all smudges.
•Do not submit a crumpled report.

89. 15
•Relax. Don’t get pressured. It might reflect in
your work.