Recommendation Report: Progress Report

  • Due Mar 8, 2019 by 11:59pm
  • Points 25
  • Submitting a text entry box, a website url, or a file upload
  • Available Mar 4, 2019 at 12am - Mar 18, 2019 at 11:59pm
This assignment was locked Mar 18, 2019 at 11:59pm.

Overview

  • This is an activity related to the Recommendation Report: Assignment.
  • The activity is worth up to 125 points:
    • Earn 125 points if you submit your complete progress report by the due date, 11:59PM, Friday, March 8.
    • Earn 100 points if you submit your complete progress report by the end of the grace period, 11:59PM, Monday, March 18.

Why the extra points?
 To encourage you to turn in your progress report BEFORE you leave for spring break. If you do so, you will remember exactly where you are in your work on the Recommendation Report when you return after break. 

Goals

  • Analyze the rhetorical situation and determine the appropriate audience or users of written communication, considering the needs of global audiences and people with disabilities. [CLO 1]
  • Use conventions of various workplace genres, such as proposals, instructions, correspondence, reports, and slide decks, with understanding of how the genre conventions can be used as heuristics and as principles of arrangement. [CLO 4]
  • Apply principles of effective visual design for print and electronic presentation, including hierarchical, chronological, and spatial arrangements. [CLO 6]
  • Identify and apply the principles of effective style in the composing of usable, reader-centered written communications. [CLO 7]

The Task

Review the work you have done to date on your Recommendation Report and write a Progress Report that explains what you have done, what you still need to do, and how you will complete the remaining work. 

Getting Started

  1. Review the information on Progress Reports in Chapter 17, “Writing Informational Reports” (beginning on page 454) of Markel and Selber’s Technical Communication. Be sure to review the following sections of the chapter:
    • Ethics Note: Reporting Your Progress Honestly (on page 455)
    • Guidelines: Projecting an Appropriate Tone in a Progress Report (on page 456)
    • Sample Progress Report (on pages 457–464)—Note that this sample is significantly LONGER than what you are asked to create in this activity.
  2. Review additional examples of Progress Reports:

Writing Your Progress Report

Write a progress report in your word processor that outlines the following:

  • what you have completed
  • what work you still have to do
  • how you plan to complete the remaining work for the project.

Include any questions or concerns you have that may affect your progress. You can include images, screenshots, graphs, tables, and other visual elements to explain your work (examples and tips Links to an external site.).

Write your report in memo format (with the standard headings of To:, From:, Date:, and Subject:).  Aim for one to two single-spaced pages.

Checking for Specific Details
Your Progress Report should use concrete, specific details to describe your work on your Recommendation Report. Tell your readers precisely that you have done and how you will complete the remaining work. The examples below demonstrate how to make sure you use details. Revise your Progress Report as necessary.

Rather than general information like this Use specific language like this
We are making good progress on the project. In the two weeks since inception, our four-member team has achieved three of the six objectives we
identified for project completion; we are on track to complete the project in another three to four
weeks. (Taken from p. 49 of Business Communication for Success Links to an external site. by McLean)
We have assigned the remaining tasks to team members. We have assigned the remaining project tasks to the following team members:
  • Geordi is in charge of organizing and writing intro/front matter.
  • Data will focus on the majority of the body for the report, including introduction, methods, results and conclusions.
  • Wesley will write and formally make the recommendations (with visuals and diagrams, if necessary).
We agreed on how to organize the pages on the website. We created a basic wireframe with sections for the information that we need to include on each page of the website (site title, site menus, page title, content, and footer with copyright information and address).

Requirements

  1. Create a Progress Report in a word processor. 
  2. Limit your document to one to two pages in length, including any timelines or graphics.
  3. Use details to explain what you have done, what you still need to do, and how you will complete the remaining work. 
  4. Check your document for use of business-appropriate language, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.

Grading Process

I will award the points for this activity after I check your draft and ensure that it meets the basic requirements listed above. Note that your draft needs to be complete to earn the points for this activity. 

If I have a question or concern about your draft, I will add a comment to the draft and ask you to revise. Check the help link in the #TuesdayTutorial: Resources on How to Use Canvas DIscussion for information on how to read comments on your work.

1552107599 03/08/2019 11:59pm