Call to Write, Third edition

Chapter Eight, Reports: Informing and Explaining

Overview

Looks at the genre of reports—documents designed to inform and explain

Reports range from simple to complex, and take many different formats

Gives strategies to select, organize, and deliver information

The genre of report writing Reports inform and explain They range in purpose and audience,

depending on the context Reports take an objective, factual tone

Why do reports take an objective tone?

The focus of a report is not on the writer, but on the content.

The tone is then objective, factual, formal.

Examples of reports

News reports Research articles in professional journals Organizational fact sheets Brochures Informational Web sites

Research and reports

Reports are often written to answer a question.

They involve gathering information and doing research.

Readings

Two articles on the Mentally Ill

1. A short piece from the Associated Press that ran in many local papers

2. A longer article from the New York Times World Bank/IMF Fact Sheet Saipan Campaign

More Readings Barbara Kruger, “I Shop, Therefore I Am” Milton Glaser, “Dylan” Daniel Pauly and Reg Watson, “Counting the

Last Fish” Visual Design: The Triangle Factory Fire (an

informational Web site)http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/

Writing assignment Your assignment is to write a report. There is a list

of six options on pages 289-290. The list includes: news report, fact sheet,

explanatory essay, article, brochure, and Web site. Your instructor will let you know whether your class

will be doing this particular assignment, and provide you with additional guidelines.

Web sites for news

New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/

Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/

CNN, http://edition.cnn.com/

Time, http://www.time.com/time/

The writing process

The last part of the chapter takes you through the writing process; notice the use of questions to prepare you for doing research.

There are suggestions to help you organize and present the information you find, as well as suggestions to guide peer review and revision.

Student sample

See the essay by Michael E. Crouch (“Lost in a Smog,” pages 296-302).

Note the comment that he is following the typical layout of an article in Scientific American; he uses a headline, photos, sidebars, and information boxes.

See the list of questions, page 295.

Student Companion Website Go to the student side of the Web site for

exercises, chapter overviews, and links to writing resources for this chapter:

http://www.ablongman.com/trimbur Click on the textbook cover, and then

select Student Resources.