Study Unit

Organizing, Researching,
and Illustrating Your
Material
By
Robert G. Turner Jr., Ph.D.About the Author
Robert G. Turner Jr. holds a B.S. in business and an M.S. and a
Ph.D. in sociology. He has more than 20 years of teaching experience, mainly at the college level, and is currently serving as an
adjunct professor at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg. Dr. Turner is
primarily employed as a professional freelance writer. His literary
credits include two stage plays, two novels, and two nonfiction
works, along with an array of publications in academic and
educational venues.iii
So far you’ve been working with
documents that are relatively
short—just a few pages at most.
Occasionally, however, you may
have to develop a lengthy report
or proposal. In this unit, you’re
going to begin to prepare yourself
for such writing. To that end, you’ll
be studying three topics that are basic to both business
and technical writing:
• Approaches to organizing and outlining your documents
• Researching information for use in reports and proposals
• Using visual aids to illustrate your data
In addition, this study unit includes an appendix that you
should use as a reference while writing any document. It
includes information on the correct use of numbers and
abbreviations. It also provides a good list of rules and examples for proper capitalization and punctuation. Whenever
you’re unsure of how to handle a particular situation, refer
to this section. Use it now as you’re working your way
through this course, and use it later when you’re writing
documents for your occupation.
When you complete this study unit, you’ll be able to
• Describe the purposes of organizing and explain the steps
in the organizing process
• Use techniques that will help you establish the purpose of
a report or proposal
• Describe various patterns you can use in organizing your
material
• Explain the processes involved in effective outlining
• Outline the purposes of research in business and technical
writing
• Differentiate between primary and secondary research and
explain the different approaches to each
• Explain how to convert report data into graphic form
through tables, line graphs, bar graphs, and pie graphs
• Properly document your sources in a report
P r e v i e wv
ORGANIZING YOUR MATERIAL 1
When to Organize 1
Why Organize? 2
How to Organize 2
Patterns of Organization 7
Outline Options 9
Developing an Outline 11
The Formal Outline 15
RESEARCHING YOUR MATERIAL 19
Why Research? 19
Before You Begin 20
Types of Research 20
Documenting Your Research 29
When to Document 29
Methods of Documentation 30
Documenting Web Sites 32
ILLUSTRATING YOUR DATA 34
The Proper Use of Illustrations 34
Tables 35
Graphs and Charts 36
Page Design 41
SELF-CHECK ANSWERS 45
APPENDIX: MECHANICS IN BUSINESS
AND TECHNICAL WRITING 47
Abbreviations 47
Capitalization 49
Numbers 50
Punctuation 53
EXAMINATION 67
C o n t e n t s1
ORGANIZING YOUR MATERIAL
When to Organize
Any time you sit down to write something—an e-mail message, a letter, a report, a proposal—you must organize the
material you’re going to present (Figure 1). Of course, short
documents, such as e-mails and memos, don’t require the
same degree of organization as long reports, but the quality
of any written document improves when you think out what
you want to say and, sometimes, write an outline.
In this study unit, you’re going to focus primarily on what it
takes to organize the material for a report or a proposal.
Organizing, Researching, and
Illustrating Your Material
FIGURE 1—No matter how
short or how long your document will be, always take
time to organize your
material. Sometimes, just
jotting down your thoughts
and ideas is a good beginning for organizing your
topics.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
Why Organize?
Your basic objectives in organizing a business document are
to make it
• Clear
• Logical
• Readable
First, to be clear, you must understand the purpose of your
document. Is it meant to inform? Is it meant to present a
proposal that requires a response? Knowing roughly what
you want to say and why gives purpose to your writing and
helps you to present your material clearly.
Second, you must order your topics in a logical way. Clearly
identify main topics, and gather subtopics under the main
topics in a logical order. Doing so guides your readers through
the material. It’s like giving them a map so they can easily
get from start to finish.
Finally, having done these things, and assuming you’re
prepared to write effective sentences, you’re more likely to
produce a readable document.
On the other hand, if you fail to organize a report or proposal
around a clear purpose, you’ll most likely produce the
following results:
1. Your points will be unclear.
2. Your writing will be muddy and confusing.
3. You’ll use more words than necessary.
4. You’ll burden your reader with irrelevant information.
5. Your document won’t reflect well on you.
How to Organize
How you go about organizing your material for a report, proposal, or other document depends on the material itself and
on your own personal preferences. In this section, you’ll
examine several ways you can go about organizing information. Try them all to see which one works best for you. You
2Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 3
may find that one approach works for one topic and a different
approach for another topic.
In the following paragraphs, you’ll be examining the following
methods for organizing material:
• Reasoning
• Stating your purpose in writing
• Brainstorming
• Writing
Reasoning
Sometimes your material will naturally fall into some type
of pattern if you simply sit down and reason it out (Figure 2).
Let’s say you’ve been asked to write a report on safety conditions in an assembly plant. You think (reason) that you might
begin your report by specifying the location of the plant and
the issues your report is intended to address. You might also
want to say a few things about the background of the situation, including the worker complaints that led to the request
for a report. Next, you might reasonably explain how you
studied the problem, whom you talked to, what you
observed, and so on. Once
you’ve done that, you would
report your findings and, if
you’ve been asked to, draw
conclusions and make
recommendations.
FIGURE 2—Sometimes just
thinking about your subject
will help you put your material in order.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
This reasoning process actually gives you the main headings
or topics for an outline of your report:
I. Location of Plant and Nature of the Problem
II. Investigation of the Problem
III. Findings
IV. Conclusions and Recommendations
Once you’ve developed these main headings, you can expand
them, if necessary. For example, under the second heading,
“Investigation of the Problem,” you might include subheadings like these:
A. Interviews with Employees
B. Conditions Observed
From this simple example, you can see that sometimes simple logic or reason will produce your outline. In other cases,
however, the material may be too complex or you may not be
as familiar with the topic. The information may not fall into
logical steps. In other words, the way to give your reader
clear and accurate information isn’t always obvious. When
this is the case, there are other techniques for preparing a
usable outline.
Stating Your Purpose in Writing
Producers or agents often ask professional screenwriters
to summarize a proposed movie plot in one sentence. One
sentence! The sentence might come out like this:
A Vietnam veteran must choose between rage and
justice when he returns to his hometown and finds
his childhood sweetheart has been murdered.
In a typical business situation, you’re not likely to have to
write such a sentence. However, you’ll be wise to take a
lesson from this practice. In other words, if you truly want
to understand the purpose of your report or proposal, try to
write it in one or two sentences.
The first draft of that sentence should be mainly “bone”—that
is, just the basic idea of the information you’re going to write
about. The sentence may be phrased as a question.
4Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 5
Example: Does our market research indicate that we can
sell enough HomeGyms to 16- to 28-year-old males in
the Southeast to warrant the effort?
A more formal, detailed statement might look like this:
Example: The purpose of this report is to analyze market
research into the consumer behavior of young men,
16 to 28, living in the Southeastern United States,
who indicate an active interest in physical fitness and,
through this analysis, determine potential market share
and the feasibility of our HomeGym line in this region.
Once you’ve written this statement of purpose, you’ll be surprised at how much easier the task of organizing becomes.
With this statement, you have some direction. Maybe you
can then begin to use the first method (reasoning things
out) to develop your outline. Or maybe one of the following
methods will be more to your liking.
Brainstorming
In organizations, brainstorming involves a small group of
people who are looking for new or novel ideas. Imagine four
people sitting around a conference table. The topic is how to
market a line of cosmetics. Here are the rules they following
during their brainstorming session:
• Everyone participates.
• Anyone can toss out an idea, no matter how strange the
idea may sound, since ideas pulled from the air may
generate other ideas.
• No one attacks or criticizes the ideas.
• Someone writes down each idea.
• After the session is over, the ideas are sorted and
discussed.
• The best ideas are developed.
Once you have the purpose of your report clearly in mind,
you can have a brainstorming session of your own. Assemble
a stack of blank note cards and a pencil. In a quiet space
free from distractions, think about your topic. Write downOrganizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
ideas, one per card, as quickly as they come to mind. Don’t
be fussy and critical about them; just write them down. If
you begin to evaluate each idea, you may disrupt your thinking process. Write down everything you think of about your
topic.
When you feel your brain has been drained of all originality,
put the cards aside. To give your subconscious mind time to
work on the problem, get a good night’s sleep and approach
the problem fresh the next day. Yes, “sleeping on it” is a
technique that works—ask any successful creative person.
Later in this section, you’ll learn how to take your ideas from
brainstorming to develop an outline for the material you’re
writing about.
Writing
One famous author devised this rule for any writer: Apply
seat of pants to chair; turn on typewriter. What he meant
was simply that the process of sitting down and writing will
in itself produce some ideas for the content of your document
(Figure 3). You probably won’t believe this until you experience it for yourself. If you work diligently at this course,
you’ll probably discover the truth in it sometime during your
studies. Meanwhile, keep in mind that the process of writing
actually generates ideas. In fact, many of your best insights
and ideas about organizing and producing a report (or any
other presentation) will benefit from the writing process.
6
FIGURE 3—Sometimes, just
sitting down with a paper
and pencil or typing on a
computer will give you
ideas and direction for your
writing.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 7
Patterns of Organization
Sometimes the nature of the information you collect determines how you should organize it. Other times, the decision
may not be so clear. In this section you’re going to examine
the following types of organization:
• Chronological order
• Spatial order
• Classification/division
• Comparison/contrast
• Cause and effect
Chronological Order
Chronological order has to do with time.
A document written in chronological
order presents the material in the order
in which it happened or should happen.
For example, suppose you must write a
report on the steps necessary to perform
a particular production task. You would
start with the first step and proceed in the order in which the
steps should occur. Such information fits naturally into the
chronological order pattern.
Material written in chronological order uses words like first,
second, third, next, then, after, and finally. These terms help
the reader establish the order in which things occur.
Spatial Order
Spatial order involves physical space. A
document written in spatial order presents the material in the order in which it
is physically arranged. For example, suppose you want to describe the arrangement
of furniture in a room. You might begin
with one corner and work your way
around the walls. Or maybe you’ve been given the responsibility to develop the layout of your production area or office
space or the arrangement of products in a showroom. Such
material would lend itself to organization in spatial order.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
Material written in spatial order uses words and phrases like
at the extreme left, next, above, over, under, beneath, to the
right, and at the end.
Classification/Division
To use the classification/division pattern
to develop a document, you begin with a
collection of items of any kind and then
group, or classify, them according to
some similar property or properties. Or
you may begin with one whole item and
divide it into various parts.
Suppose your boss wants a report on all the clients your
department worked with last year and the types of jobs you
did for each one. You start out with a list of all the jobs you
completed last year. Then you could group them according to
client or according to the type of job. This type of information
lends itself well to the classification/division pattern of
organization.
Note: Later in this study unit, you’ll see that the brainstorming exercise about inspecting used cars will develop into a
classification/division pattern.
Comparison/Contrast
When you compare two or more items,
you show how they’re similar; when you
contrast two or more items, you show
how they’re different. When preparing a
document, you may use only comparison
or only contrast, or you may encounter a
subject that should show both.
Suppose the department you work in uses batteries produced
by Company A. Your supervisor has discovered that Company
B produces the same kind of battery but charges approximately 25 percent less. Your supervisor wants you to look
into this issue and write up your findings.
This situation is a perfect one for the comparison/contrast
pattern. Once you gather all the information on both types
of batteries, you can show the similarities and differences
between the two types.
8Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 9
In setting up the material for a comparison/contrast document, you can present all of the information on one item first
followed by all of the information on the other item. Or you
may decide to discuss the similarities and/or differences one
by one, going back and forth from one item to the other.
Cause and Effect
Cause and effect organization involves
examining certain elements (causes) to
determine what will occur (effects). For
example, you may work in a department
that produces parts for automobile
radios. You want to know how production
would be affected if you added one more
machine to your department. The adding of the machine is
the cause, and the change in production is the effect.
Although most reports written in the cause and effect organization begin with the cause and proceed to the effect, you
can also begin with the effect and work backward to the
cause. For example, you may have noticed that the quality
control employees in your department have recently been
discovering a high percent of defective parts, and you want
to know why. In this case, you begin with the effect (a high
number of defective parts) and work toward the cause of this
problem.
Outline Options
Preparing an outline is an important part of any writing. Don’t
be tempted to skip over this task. First of all, with an outline
you can see at a glance what you’re going to include in your
document. An outline can also reveal to you that you’ve left
something out. If so, you can easily add it to your outline. If
you decide to revise or reorganize the information, you can
do it much more easily with material in outline form than
you can with written paragraphs.
The two types of outlines are sentence outlines and topic
outlines.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
Sentence Outline
A sentence outline consists of complete sentences for each
item in the outline. This type of outline has one main
advantage—it provides the topic sentences for your main
paragraphs. Figure 4 presents part of a sentence outline
developed for a market report.
10
Sentence Outline
I. Our appraisal of the retail market for HomeGym in the
Roanoke Valley area of Virginia has reached a satisfactory conclusion.
A. Basic research supplied by the Association of
Sporting Goods Manufacturers (ASGM) has provided
the following information:
1. The Roanoke Valley area of Virginia is an
appropriate market for HomeGym.
2. Competing products should not impinge on a
satisfactory market share.
B. In light of the unserved market for HomeGym in
the Roanoke Valley, our purpose in this report is
to suggest preferred retail outlets in Roanoke and
surrounding communities. The following topics are
considered in this report:
1. A research summary provided by the ASGM
provides factual summaries on 14 qualified
retail outlets in the Roanoke Valley.
2. The report from ASGM also includes a recommended schedule for product insertions into
the qualified outlets.
II. Research provided by the ASGM explores our target
market region through demographic profiles of three
market segments.
FIGURE 4—Partial
Sentence Outline for a
Market ReportOrganizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 11
Topic Outline
A topic outline consists of words or phrases, organized
according to the way in which they’ll be covered in a written
document. Topic outlines are more commonly used than
sentence outlines and are often the result of your brainstorming or initial note taking.
There are three advantages of topic outlines:
1. They’re easier to prepare than sentence outlines.
2. They become the basis of a table of contents for the
document.
3. They supply the internal headings for your document.
Figure 5 illustrates a topic outline of the same information
in Figure 4.
Developing an Outline
Brainstorming is an excellent way to help you develop an
outline for a report—or for anything you write, for that matter. Suppose you have the responsibility to put together a
report on how to evaluate the quality of a used automobile.
To get an idea of what you want to include in your report,
Topic Outline
I. Results of appraisal
A. Research from Association of Sporting Goods
Manufacturers (ASGM)
1. Appropriateness of Roanoke Valley as market
for HomeGym
2. Competing products
B. Preferred retail outlets in Roanoke and surrounding
communities
1. Research summary from ASGM
2. Schedule for product insertions
II. Demographic profiles of three market segments FIGURE 5—Partial
Topic Outline for a
Market Report
When you’re preparing a topic outline,
make sure to write
your words or phrases
in parallel structure,
as discussed earlier
in this program.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
you conduct a brainstorming session. After the session, you
have a pile of index cards. Each card contains an item that a
person should inspect before purchasing a used car.
Next, you study the items on the cards and eliminate those
that you feel are unnecessary or irrelevant. After you’ve done
this, you’re left with a stack of cards that contain topics you
want to cover in your report. Suppose the topics you have
are those listed in Figure 6.
Once you have the topics you want to cover, you can begin
to categorize them. To do this, you must arrange the items
in some logical sequence or order. As you study the list of
topics in Figure 6, you notice that the items fall into three
main categories: exterior inspection items, interior inspection
items, and engine inspection items. You arrange the cards
into three separate piles, grouping them according to these
three categories. Once you’ve done that, you have the start of
a good outline. Here’s what you have now:
12
FIGURE 6—Here are the ideas you generated during your brainstorming session.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 13
I. Exterior inspection items
Body
Headlights
Dents
Turn Signals
Scratches
Brake Lights
Rust
Lights
II. Interior inspection items
Air conditioner
Radio
Speedometer
Gas gauge
Passenger safety devices
Door locks
Seat belts
Instrumentation
Accessories
III. Engine inspection items
Fan belt
Cooling system
Air filter
Oil filter
Water pump
Filters
Radiator
Fuel filter
Now that you have this initial outline, examine the items
in each of the three major topics again. Try to determine if
you can divide these main sections even further.
As you examine your beginning outline, you discover that
each of the sections can be divided into two subdivisions.
Once you make adjustments for these subdivisions, you’re
outline looks like this:Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
I. Exterior inspection items
A. Body
1. Dents
2. Scratches
3. Rust
B. Lights
1. Turn signals
2. Headlights
3. Brake lights
II. Interior inspection items
A. Instrumentation
1. Gas gauge
2. Speedometer
B. Accessories
1. Radio
2. Air conditioner
C. Passenger safety devices
1. Door locks
2. Seat belts
III. Engine inspection items
A. Filters
1. Air filter
2. Oil filter
3. Fuel filter
B. Cooling system
1. Radiator
2. Fan belt
3. Water pump
Now you have something you can work with as you begin
your writing. The outline gives you direction. Notice, too,
that you can use this outline as your table of contents. Then,
as you prepare your report, you can also use these topics as
headings for the body of the document. Including them gives
your readers some direction and focus as they read your
information.
14
This outline represents
the B (body) part of
the ABC technique.
You still need to add
an abstract (introduction) and a conclusion.
Including headings in
a report helps your
readers understand
the order of your
material. Headings
also help readers find
the information they
need.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 15
The Formal Outline
While a formal outline may vary in structure according to
the nature of a report, most outlines have three sections,
which correspond to the three main sections of any written
document:
1. Introduction (A, or abstract)
2. Body (B)
3 Summary (C, or conclusion)
The following paragraphs briefly review these three sections.
Introduction (Abstract)
The introduction establishes the purpose of your report. To
make that purpose clear or to put it in context, you may also
include background information that explains the history of
the problem and the reasons it demands attention. Perhaps
the most important part of the introduction is a list of the
major topics discussed in the body of the report. Needless to
say, the topics should be listed in the order in which they’ll
be covered in the body of the report.
Body
The body of your report should contain the information needed
to fulfill the purpose of your report. It will elaborate on each
of the major topics given in the introduction. Your outline of
the body of your report should be logically ordered in terms
of major headings, secondary headings, and possibly detailed
headings under the secondary headings.
Summary (Conclusion)
The summary of most reports briefly repeats the main topics
and draws conclusions that lead to recommendations. A
purely technical report, however, may simply come to a
conclusion that’s the basis of the report. For example, a
discussion of the utility of a particular kind of circuit board
may simply end with a concluding statement that declares
the thing useful in a certain context.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
A formal outline generally follows a particular pattern, as
shown in Figure 7.
16
The Structure of a Formal Outline
I. Introduction
A. Background
B. Statement of purpose
C. Sources of researched information
D. Explanation of why some data is unavailable
E. Definitions of terms or concepts
F. Sequence of major topics discussed in report:
1. Major topic #1
2. Major topic #2
3. Major topic #3
II. Major topic #1
A. First subtopic
1. Detail of first subtopic
2. Detail of first subtopic
B. Second subtopic
1. Detail of second subtopic
2. Detail of second subtopic
a. Subdetail of second subtopic
b. Subdetail of second subtopic
III. Major topic #2
(This topic follows the same developmental structure as
major topic #1.)
IV. Major topic #3
(This topic follows the same developmental structure as
major topic #1.)
V. Summary
A. Restatement of main theme or concept
B. Conclusion(s)
C. Recommendation(s)
FIGURE 7—A formal outline generally follows
the structure shown
here.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 17
In a formal outline, you may have only two major topics, or
you may have many more. Some major topics will have
subtopics and details of those subtopics; other major topics
may have no subtopics at all.
Finally, if you must divide a topic into subtopics, you must
include at least two subtopics. Never list only one item under
a topic.
Incorrect: Correct:
I. Introduction I. Introduction
A. Topic 1 A. Topic 1
1. Subtopic 1. Subtopic 1
B. Topic 2 2. Subtopic 2
B. Topic 2
In the incorrect example, “Topic 1” has only one subtopic.
This is an incorrect construction. The correct outline lists
two subtopics under “Topic 1.” Think of it this way: You can’t
divide something and end up with only one part. When you
divide a topic, you must list at least two subtopics.
In the next section of this study unit, you’re going to study
how to research a topic you must write about. Before going
on to that material, please complete Self-Check 1.18 Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
Self-Check 1
At the end of each section of Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material, you’ll be
asked to pause and check your understanding of what you have just read by completing
a “Self-Check” exercise. Answering these questions will help you review what you’ve studied so
far. Please complete Self-Check 1 now.
1. What should be your three basic objectives in organizing a business document?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
2. List at least four problems that result when you fail to organize a document around a
clear purpose.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
3. What pattern of organization would be most appropriate for the following subjects?
a. Why production is down in Department A
b. Whether you should purchase your supplies from Company A or Company B
c. The steps in the process of producing your product
d. The physical rearrangement of a manufacturing plant
e. The reason for poor morale
f. Items to be included on a routine safety inspection
4. Explain the advantages of sentence and topic outlines.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
5. Challenge question: Think of a topic you’re interested in. The topic may or may not be
related to your employment. Decide what you might like to write about that topic, and
then develop an outline for the report.
Check your answers with those on page 45.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 19
RESEARCHING YOUR MATERIAL
Research is the thorough investigation of a topic and the
gathering of all available information. It almost always
involves finding information that you don’t have yourself.
Later in this course, you’re going to study how to prepare
reports and proposals. Although most routine memos, letters,
and e-mails don’t require much outlining or research, reports
and proposals require both. In this section, you’ll be studying
techniques to help you find the information you need.
Why Research?
The reasons for conducting research generally fall into two
categories:
1. To confirm or verify information. You may need to
confirm in a report or proposal that what you claim to
be true is indeed so. This doesn’t imply that you lack
credibility. Rather, reinforcement of your views enables
others to make decisions based on a well-documented
position. The most recognized authorities in any field
are usually the most thorough researchers. Researching
other published works that will confirm your own findings is usually essential for long reports and proposals.
2. To clarify and to learn. You may need to find out how
something works or what comprises a specific machine
or instrument. For example, suppose you’re writing a
descriptive report on the physical characteristics of a
specific transistor for use in an amplifier. You may need
to know that this transistor has a beta of 100, something
you would find only through research. Or perhaps you
need to clarify something either for yourself or for your
readers. Proper research may provide you with a detailed
explanation of what you need to know. A draftsperson,
for instance, may be writing an analytical report on a
proposed triangle in drafting. That person needs information to decide the potential usefulness of that triangle.
Without research to back up your claims or clarify your
information, your report or proposal may lack credibility.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
Before You Begin
Any effective business or technical document that requires
research begins from a crucial starting point—its purpose. In
other words, before rambling about on the Internet, browsing
your company’s stock of journals, or wandering through the
stacks of a library, sit down, take a deep breath and write out
the purpose of your document. You’ll hear this again later on
in this course. And why not? The issue of purpose is central
to effective business and technical writing.
Your purpose statement for a proposal might begin with
questions like these:
• Why will adopting a team approach increase productivity
in the ceramic-casting division?
• How has an employee-team approach been used
successfully in other companies?
• What steps need to be taken to accomplish this goal?
• How will the team approach affect morale?
• What costs will be involved in changing to new
procedures?
Of course, these are the types of questions that will help
you formulate your purpose. The beginning of a more formal
statement of purpose, which will end up in your actual
proposal, might look like this:
My research has shown that a team-based approach in
the ceramic-casting division of Alter-Cast, Inc. will increase
productivity, enhance employee morale, reduce absenteeism,
and offer higher levels of profitability for our ceramics products. The purpose of my proposal, therefore, is to demonstrate
the feasibility of replacing our shift approach with a rotating
team approach.
Types of Research
As you become clear about the purpose of your writing, you’ll
also become more focused on how to research and collect the
data you need. You’ll generally need to conduct two types of
research: secondary research and primary research.
20Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 21
Secondary research involves using books, magazines, databases, and other written material to find information. This is
where you’re most likely to begin your research. Don’t try to
reinvent the wheel. In other words, remember that most
technical and business problems have already been considered by someone else. Research their information and use it
to back up your case.
However, because you’ll be dealing with the unique problem
of applying your research to an actual situation involving
your organization and the people in it, you may also want to
conduct primary research, which is the collecting of data on
your own through such tools as surveys and interviews.
Secondary Research
You’ll probably begin your research with secondary sources.
In this section of the study unit, you’ll examine three common secondary sources: print resources, the Internet, and
electronic databases.
Print resources. In spite of personal computers and the
Internet, a library, especially if it’s a large public or university
library, remains a resource
with considerable, even unparalleled depth (Figure 8). Books
contain in-depth information
sometimes not available anywhere else. In a good library,
you also have access to current and back issues of
periodicals and journals.
FIGURE 8—A library is a
good source of secondary
information.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
Most libraries today have their books catalogued on a computer system. Accessing topics and titles is easier than it
was when you had to search through a card catalog. If you
have trouble using a library’s computer system, ask a librarian for help. If you can’t find what you want on the premises
of a library, you can often access it from the library through
computer networks. Good libraries also give you access to
microfilm files through which you can access back issues
of journals, general periodicals, and newspapers.
Your company may have a small library of its own, which
includes current and back issues of periodicals related to your
field. If so, you should probably start your research there.
When you need information you can’t find in your own
library, you may wish to move on to other periodicals. Today,
periodicals range from the general to the specific. It seems
as if there’s no technical or specialized business field that
doesn’t have at least one periodical devoted to it. To access
such information, you can examine the Business Periodicals
Index. This reference book provides information needed to
track competitors, monitor new products, gather data on
industry and financial trends, and more. The database provides indexing of 527 key international English-language
business periodicals including Business Week, Forbes, The
Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Business
Periodicals Index can be accessed on CD-ROM, in print, or
through the Internet.
The Internet. The Internet is a global network that connects
millions of computers. Through the Internet, computers can
exchange information, graphics, sound (music and speech),
and other kinds of data—as long as both computers are connected to the Internet.
The World Wide Web isn’t the same thing as the Internet. The
Web was originally developed so scientists and specialists
could exchange information. Today, the Web claims the most
commanding position in the Internet. It uses a special language, called HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol), to transmit
data. HTTP is only one of the many languages understood by
the Web.
22
Whenever you go to a
library to conduct
research, be sure to
check in with the reference librarian, who
should be able to give
you direction in your
search.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 23
Every Web site has its own address, or URL, which generally
begins with the letters www for World Wide Web. Today,
every new computer comes loaded with some kind of web
browser (such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet
Explorer), which enables the computer to communicate via
the Internet.
When using the Internet for research, you must use a search
engine, like Yahoo.com or Google.com, to help you find your
way around. Once you have access to a search engine, it’s
relatively easy to find your way to a specific Web site for
a periodical, research foundation, government agency, or
company. When you get to the page you’re looking for, you
can then proceed to click on links that will carry you to
additional Web pages or to other related sites.
The Internet is a gateway to an ever-widening expanse of
information (Figure 9). Whether you think of it as an information highway or as a route to chaos, however, depends
in part on how you go about using it. Figure 10 presents
some tips that can help your Internet research go smoothly.
Almost every organization today, large
and small, has a Web
FIGURE 9—Using the Internet
for your research allows you to
access all kinds of information,
current and historic, right from
your own home or office.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
Electronic databases. An electronic database is a collection of information organized in such a way that a computer
can quickly search for and select desired pieces of data.
Think of a database as an electronic filing system. While
electronic databases have been around on CD-ROM for a
while, online databases are becoming increasingly available
through the Internet.
A good example of a Web site that gives you access to
many databases is that of the U.S. Bureau of the Census
(http://www.census.gov). This site provides information
on such things as people, businesses, jobs, and geography.
Another good example is the Web site for the National
Opinion Research Center (http://www.norc.uchicago.edu).
This site provides information on such topics as economics,
education, health, statistics, and the population. If you have
access to the Internet, why not take some time now to browse
around these two sites? Find out what they have to offer just
in case you need such information some day.
24
Internet Research Tips
• Know your search engine. Broad spectrum search engines like Dogpile.com,
Google.com, and Yahoo.com, for example, have basic characteristics. Check out the
way they operate. Look over their options. Take a few minutes to inquire into FAQs
(frequently asked questions) on the engine’s home page to see how to best conduct
searches with that particular search engine.
• Use more than one search engine. Depending on the way in which the engine
searches for information, different engines may produce different results.
• When you locate an Internet site that will be useful to you, save it on your Web
browser through the Bookmark or Favorites feature. Written notes get lost. If you
don’t save the Web address, you may find it difficult to get back to the site.
• In writing out a search request, omit articles (like the, a, and an) and prepositions
(like on, of, and by), which are known as stop words. In other words, they don’t tell
the computer anything it wants to know.
• When giving the search engine information to search for, be as specific as possible.
Otherwise, you’ll access a lot of irrelevant links because your information was too
general. For example, instead of searching for “keeping customers happy,” try using
“customer satisfaction.”
• Be persistent and patient. Try different combinations of words in the search window.
Explore Web sites that may have useful links, even when they’re not directly related
to the focus of your research.
FIGURE 10—Use these tips to make your Internet research easier and more productive.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 25
Your company may already use or have access to useful
databases. If not, most libraries provide such access.
Sometimes, companies may have to pay subscriber fees to
gain access to certain databases. However, if the information
is useful, the fee could be a sound investment.
Primary Research
Secondary research may not give you all you’re hoping for
or need. In such cases, you may need to gather data that’s
distinctive to your organization and the kind of problem you’re
dealing with. In other words, you may need to conduct
primary research.
There are four common approaches to gathering primary
data:
• Surveys
• Interviews
• Observation
• Experiments
Surveys. At one time, surveys involved asking subjects to
fill out written questionnaires. In more recent years, however,
computer-assisted telephone surveys have been replacing
written questionnaires, especially for political, marketing,
and opinion research organizations.
Surveys are intended to sample particular populations to get
information about things like product preferences, purchasing patterns, and so on. The data is then evaluated with
statistical methods that summarize the data and establish
a margin of error for the accuracy of the results.
Although surveys can provide accurate and useful information, be careful in using them. Here are some important
cautions you should be aware of before you begin to use
surveys for gathering information:
• Surveys must reach a representative sample of the
population you’re studying. Otherwise, your data may
be so inaccurate that it’s useless.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
• Because the pace of life in our economy is so fast, people
will frequently discard mailed questionnaires as junk
mail. Therefore, the return rates may be too small for a
useful statistical analysis.
• Surveys conducted by phone may encounter family
squabbles, a conversation with a babysitter, or a reply
from an answering machine.
In spite of these shortcomings, surveys can be useful in some
situations. For example, surveys administered to employees
who have an interest in the information being gathered may
provide a very satisfactory return rate and very useful data
(Figure 11).
Interviews. Interviews tend to be very time-consuming.
They require you to pay attention, take notes, and possibly
transcribe the interview from your tape recorder. On the
other hand, interviews provide in-depth information you may
not get in any other way (Figure 12). Actually talking to fellow employees, managers, or potential customers may give
you insights you hadn’t considered. Interviews with experts
in the field related to the focus of your research can actually
save you a great deal of time and provide crucial information.
26
FIGURE 11—Conducting surveys with interested
employees can provide
informative and helpful data
for a report.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 27
When you decide to conduct an interview to obtain data,
keep these points in mind:
• Prepare for your interview by thinking out and writing
down the questions you want to ask.
• Make sure you have a laptop computer, a tape recorder,
or a notepad handy for recording information from the
interview. If the person you’re interviewing is put off by
a recorder or even by note taking, make sure to make
notes immediately after the interview.
• During the actual interview, be an active listener.
Encourage the people you’re interviewing by making it
clear that you’re interested and alert. Encourage them
further by keeping your comments minimal. Let the
people you interview do the talking.
• Be friendly, courteous, and respectful of whatever time
limits you’ve established for the interview.
• Run a debriefing with yourself after an interview.
Looking over your notes and thinking about what you’ve
learned will help in preparing your report or proposal.
FIGURE 12—Taking
careful notes is an
important part of any
interview. Even though
they can take a lot of
time, interviews often
provide information you
wouldn’t be able to
gather in any other
way.
You can show your
interest during an
interview by leaning
forward, making eye
contact, and asking
questions to encourage elaboration of
answers.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
• Take time to send your interviewees thank-you notes,
especially if you’ve taken time from the schedules of
busy people.
Observation. In the human and management sciences,
observation is often called field research. In many instances,
there’s no substitute for going to where the action is and
seeing what you can see. If you’re interested in employee
attitudes, take time to observe how employees behave during working hours. If you’re
interested in customer behavior in supermarkets, go to a supermarket and watch how
customers shop (Figure 13). If you want to
truly understand what it’s like to work in a
dress factory, visit such a factory and, if possible, participate in whatever tasks various
workers perform.
Make sure to document your observations
carefully. First, make some notes about what
you want to study and how you want to go
about it. Go “into the field” with whatever
you need—a notepad, a tape recorder, or
even a camera. Finally, either on site or off
site, take systematic notes that include all of
the relevant details, such as who, what,
when, where, and why.
Experiments. In research, experiments
are intended to discover what causes what.
In fact, only through experiments can someone assert that X causes Y. In an industrial
situation, a simple experiment may involve
comparing productivity under procedure A
with that under procedure B. In a marketing
situation, researchers might engage in experiments aimed at
determining how people respond to a new hand lotion.
In general, here’s how researchers would approach such a
study. First, they would gather a group of people with similar
characteristics and then divide them into two matched groups.
One group, called the experimental group, would use the hand
lotion being considered. The second group, called the control
group, would use a substitute, which isn’t really a hand
lotion. It might be only a little glycerin and scented water.
28
FIGURE 13—Observation is a firsthand
method of obtaining primary information.
For example, watching people shop in a
grocery store can give you a lot of information about their buying behaviors.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 29
After both groups have used their “products,” each participant would complete a survey, which might ask participants
to compare the softness of their hands before and after using
the product. If the new lotion receives substantially better
results in the experimental group as opposed to the control
group, the researchers could assert that the product was
effective to that extent.
Documenting Your Research
Basically, documentation in written material means giving
credit where credit is due. In other words, when you prepare
a document, you must acknowledge, or recognize, the source
of the primary and secondary material you’ve used. Sources
may include books, periodicals, newspapers, films, Web sites,
interviews, surveys, or any other information you obtain from
sources other than yourself. Giving credit strengthens your
argument, protects you from charges of using other people’s
ideas, and adds a depth of information that can be pursued
by your reader.
To give credit, be careful to
• Cite sources in the text of your document using footnotes or references to endnotes
• Cite sources for any illustrations, graphs, and tables
• Prepare a list of sources (a bibliography, a reference list,
or a works-cited page), especially if you’ve used a large
number of sources
When to Document
You must document your sources in the following situations:
• When directly quoting or paraphrasing a source
• When using someone else’s unique ideas
• When using factual, statistical, or visual material from
some outside source
Never plagiarize. Plagiarism, or literary theft, is the use of
someone’s words or ideas without giving that person credit.
This practice is an illegal act that carries legal consequences.
Paraphrasing is
rephrasing someone
else’s words in your
own words.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
You don’t have to provide documentation for information you
use that’s common knowledge. Simply put, common knowledge is the information most people know without doing any
outside research or reading. The following statements are
examples of common knowledge:
• There are 12 inches in a foot.
• Protractors are used to draw angles.
• The birthday of the United States of America is July 4.
• The formula for water is H2O.
If you’re unsure whether something is common knowledge or
not, be on the safe side and document the source.
Methods of Documentation
There are generally three different ways of citing the sources
you’ve used in preparing a document:
1. Footnotes
2. Endnotes
3. Notes in the body of the text
No matter which method you use, you should always include
a list of sources at the end of the document. The list should
be arranged alphabetically according to the last name of the
author.
Footnotes. Footnotes should appear at the bottom of the
page that includes the material being cited. They should be
numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript. In the
manuscript itself, place a superscript “1” after the copy for
your first documentation. At the bottom of that page should
be a footnote numbered with a superscript “1.”
Footnotes can appear awkward when you must cite a number of sources in one document. They take up space at the
bottom of a page and may be distracting to the reader. It’s
best to use footnotes only if you’re citing just a few sources.
Here’s an example of what a footnote should look like:
1Market resistance is discussed at length in
Marion Frome’s article, “Moving the Market,” in
Market Place, 78.2 (2000): 121–132.
30
A superscript is a
number or symbol
that appears partially above the line
of text. For example, the number at
the end of this sentence is aOrganizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 31
Endnotes. Endnotes are easier to handle than footnotes,
and they make your presentation more readable. To identify
endnotes, put a superscript “1” after the copy for your first
documentation, just as you did for footnotes. This time, however, instead of placing the documentation at the foot of the
page, you should include it in a list at the end of the manuscript. Start a new page for the list of endnotes, and label it
“Notes” or “Endnotes.” List all of the citations in the order in
which they appear in the manuscript, and number them
accordingly. Here’s how a listing for endnote 14 should
appear on the “Notes” page:
14. Clarence Feldman, “Productivity in a Midwestern Assembly Shop,” Midwest Manufacturer 70
(1998): 344.
If you cite the same author and work again later in the
document, your entry on the “Notes” page should be as follows:
27. Feldman, 345.
Notes in the body of the text. Instead of using either footnotes or endnotes, you may elect to document your reference
right within the body of the text. If you use this technique,
you must also include a list of works cited at the end of your
report.
Here’s an example of how to document a source in the body
of your text: “A good exam requires students to assimilate
Hints for Formatting Endnotes or Footnotes
• Single space within footnotes, but double space
between footnotes on a given page.
• There are numerous documentation methods, and
each has its own variations. Certain disciplines prefer
a specific method. For a detailed description of how to
cite different kinds of sources, consult a current style
manual like The Chicago Manual of Style or the stylebook of the Modern Language Association (MLA) or the
American Psychological Association (APA).
• Use your computer’s word-processing program to help
you format your documentation properly.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
and apply the material they’ve learned” (Jones 1998, 72).
Place your documentation outside the quotation marks but
inside the punctuation at the end of the sentence. The reference here refers to page 72 in a 1998 publication by Jones.
In the works cited, you should give complete information on
this source.
Documenting Web Sites
Any current style manual should give you a good sense of how
to document print sources, but the conventions for citing
Web sources are still evolving. The most common usage suggests a citation that includes the author’s name (when
available), along with the document title, Web page title, the
date the site was accessed, and the Web address. For example, a bibliographic entry for a Web source might look like
this:
Alderson, Stephen. “Consumer Flexibility in Bear Markets.”
University of Minnesota Resource Library, Retrieved 11
December, 2001. http://www.umin.edu/library/res/html.
In the next section of this study unit, you’ll examine how
graphs, tables, illustrations, and other visuals can make
your document easier to read and understand. Before beginning that material, please complete Self-Check 2.
32Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 33
Self-Check 2
1. What’s the difference between primary and secondary research? Give three examples
of each one.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
2. True or False? The card catalog at a public or university library is the best way to
locate secondary sources.
3. Yahoo.com and Google.com are examples of _______.
4. What is the main advantage of electronic databases?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
5. Explain the difference between footnotes and endnotes.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Check your answers with those on page 46.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
ILLUSTRATING YOUR DATA
The Proper Use of Illustrations
Visual images are often a vital part of reports and proposals.
At one time, adding such visuals to a report was a complex
and time-consuming project. Today, personal computers allow
you to create professional-looking tables, graphs, charts,
illustrations, and diagrams and to insert them into your text
(Figure 14).
Graphs,
photos, line drawings, and other graphics can add interest to
your report and make it more pleasing to look at. However,
always remember that the main reason for using visual aids
is to clarify your data—not to make your document look
flashy.
Here are some basic guidelines for using visual aids:
• Decide who your readers are and how much information
will be useful to them.
• Make sure any visual aids you use are clear, simple, and
logical.
• Develop your aids so that each one illustrates or clarifies
only one point.
34
FIGURE 14—Computer programs make it relatively
easy to develop tables,
charts, and graphs to
include in reports.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 35
• Label each visual aid clearly. If you’re using a table,
include a table number and title either above or below
the table. If you’re using a figure (graph, map, photograph, diagram), include a figure number and title either
above or below the graphic.
• Place captions beneath the titles of visual aids to highlight and elaborate on their most important aspects.
Tables
The purpose of a table is to present a clear display of quantitative information in columns and rows. Because tables
display a lot of information in a small space, they’re the
visual aid most commonly used in reports and proposals.
Figure 15 illustrates a table that outlines the income for
various product lines of The World Crafts Company. As
you study the table, notice the following points:
• The columns and rows have clear headings.
• The figures are arranged in a logical order (by year).
• The unit of measurement is provided (thousands of
dollars).
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sraeY
seniLtcudorP
tsewhtuoS slatoT
yrettoP
detropmI
scimareC
dliuGnacirfA
serugiF
1 6 999 $ 2 .21 $ 8 .32 $ 6 .6 .24$
2 4 000 1 9 .3 2 4 .0 1 7 .0 .44
2 3 100 1 2 .6 1 7 .8 1 2 .4 .94
2 8 200 1 8 .5 1 9 .4 1 5 .7 .84
2 8 *300 1 5 .2 1 6 .2 2 9 .0 .54
emocnidetcejorP*
ynapmoCstfarCdlroWehtfotnemtrapeDgnitekraM:ecruoS
FIGURE 15—Tables like this one organize a lot of information in
a small amount of space.
If you have no data
to enter into a particular cell in a table,
use the abbreviation
N/A, for not available, or insert a dash
(—) in the empty
space. If you leave
the cell empty, your
readers may think
you forgot to inputOrganizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
Most word-processing programs have the capability for developing rather sophisticated tables. If you have such a program
available to you—either at home, at your place of employment,
or at a library—learn how to use the table function. You’ll be
surprised at the complex tables you’ll be able to create.
If you create a long or complex table with your word-processing software, shading alternate columns makes it easier for
your readers to follow the information in the table. Figure 16
is a shaded version of the table shown in Figure 15.
Graphs and Charts
There are three basic kinds of graphs, or charts:
• Bar graphs
• Line graphs
• Circle, or pie, graphs
Bar Graphs
When you want to use a graph to compare two sets of data,
such as sales totals over a period of years, bar graphs make
such a comparison easy to see. When properly created, bar
36
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)srallodfosdnasuohtni(eniLtcudorPybemocnI
sraeY
seniLtcudorP
tsewhtuoS slatoT
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detropmI
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serugiF
1 6 999 .21$ $ 8 2.32 .6$ 6.24$
2 4 000 .31 2 4 9.0 .01 7.44
2 3 100 .61 1 7 2.8 .41 2.94
2 8 200 .51 1 9 8.4 .71 5.84
2 8 *300 .21 1 6 5.2 .02 9.54
emocnidetcejorP*
ynapmoCstfarCdlroWehtfotnemtrapeDgnitekraM:ecruoS
FIGURE 16—Shading alternate columns makes a complex table
easier to read.
If you have access to
spreadsheet software, like Microsoft
Excel, use it to
develop graphs and
charts for your
reports. Most spreadsheet software allows
you to create such
graphics automati-Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 37
graphs make dramatic presentations of certain data. In addition, they allow readers to immediately understand the
relationships between two sets of figures.
In a bar graph, the vertical axis at the left generally represents
the item you’re comparing—usually something like dollars
generated or products manufactured. The horizontal axis
that runs along the bottom of a bar graph represents data
like individual years, products, or departments.
For example, look at Figure 17. This graph graphically represents the data in the table of Figure 15. The table gives
specific information—Southwest Pottery had $12,600 of
income in 1999. The graph, however, allows a reader to visualize the difference between three different product lines over
the course of five years.
The World Crafts Company

5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003*
Years
Dollars
Southwest Pottery
Imported Ceramics
African Guild Figures
*Projected Income Source: Marketing Department
FIGURE 17—Bar GraphOrganizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
Line Graphs
A line graph is a method generally used to show trends—that
is, how something (for example, price) changes over a period
of time. Like a bar graph, a line graph has two axes. The horizontal axis generally represents the period of time, and the
vertical axis represents the item that’s changing over time.
The main advantages of a line graph are that it clearly
demonstrates trends and it’s easy to understand. On the
other hand, a line graph isn’t as precise as a table. Therefore,
you may decide to include both a table and a line graph
where trends or patterns need to be emphasized from the
tabular data.
Here are the basic guidelines for preparing a line graph:
1. Obtain some graph paper, which already has a grid
printed on it. If you’re unable to find graph paper,
draw a grid of squares on a sheet of paper.
2. Along the horizontal axis at the bottom of the graph,
arrange your time component in even increments.
3. On the vertical axis at the far left of the graph, mark
values of the quantity (money, units produced) per unit
of time.
4. Prepare dots on the graph, taking your best estimate of
the correct position for each intersection of the variables
you’re presenting. For example, suppose you’ve marked
the vertical axis in units of 100, 200, 300, and so on. To
indicate a quantity of 225, place a mark approximately
one fourth of the distance between 200 and 300. The
dots will help you prepare accurate lines for your final
graph.
5. Once you have the dots in place, connect them with a
line.
Figure 18 shows a line graph for just one of the products in
the table of Figure 15.
38Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 39
Line graphs may also represent a trend for more than one
variable. For example, the line graph in Figure 19 compares
the trends in product revenues for both Southwest Pottery
and Imported Ceramics.
Revenues for African Guild Figures—1999 to 2003

5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003*
Years
Dollars
*Projected Income Source: Marketing Department
FIGURE 18—This line graph illustrates the trend in the revenues for the African Guild
Figures between 1999 and 2003.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
Pie Graphs
Pie graphs are excellent graphics for representing proportions
of a whole. In particular, they’re useful for showing percentages
of such quantities as sales, regional distributions of sales, or
relative percentages of sales for different product lines. In pie
graphs, the size of each “slice” of the pie can be immediately
seen in relationship to the other slices (Figure 20).
Remember that a pie graph represents proportions of some
whole thing, such as all sales or all age categories of customers
in a market. To help readers understand the relationship
among the parts of the pie, include the values and percentages on each segment—or out to the side if the slice is too
small to hold the information.
40
Comparison of Product Revenues
Southwest Pottery and Imported Ceramics

5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003*
Years
Dollars
Imported Ceramics
Southwest Pottery
*Projected Income Source: Marketing Department
FIGURE 19—This line graph compares the trends in revenues for Southwest Pottery and
Imported Ceramics for the years 1999 to 2003.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 41
Pie graphs with too many slices become difficult to read.
Keep the number of pie segments fairly small—definitely
fewer than 10. If you find that you have too many slices to
represent meaningfully in a pie graph, see if you can combine some of the smaller slices into one category, called
something like “Other.”
Page Design
Which would you rather read—10 pages of copy with one
paragraph after another or 10 pages of copy with headings,
graphics, indentions, and different kinds of type? Chances
are, you would pick the second one, as would most people.
A page of text that’s full of copy with nothing to break it up
is not appealing to the eye. In addition, it makes the copy
difficult to follow.
2000 Income by Product Line
20,900 (47%)
13,400 (30%)
0,400 (23%)
Southwestern Pottery
Imported Ceramics
African Guild Figures
10,400 (23%)
Source: Marketing Department
13,400 (30%)
20,900 (47%)
FIGURE 20—This pie graph shows the relationship in revenues
for the three product lines of The World Crafts Company.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
When you’re developing your material for a report, think
about what you want your pages to look like. Here are some
good points to keep in mind to make your pages more
appealing to the eye:
• Make sure you have plenty of white space on each page.
Leave a margin of at least one inch at the top, bottom,
and sides. Break up your pages with side headings and
illustrations.
• Check the length of your paragraphs. Lengthy paragraphs
give the reader the idea that the content is complicated
and difficult to understand. Shorter paragraphs give
variety to the page design and allow the reader a brief
break before he or she begins to read again.
• Insert headings according to your outline. Differentiate
between the headings for major topics and minor topics,
and be consistent throughout the report. For example,
if you’re using a computer to prepare your report, you
may decide to make the headings for major topics in a
larger type size or a different font type than the headings
for minor topics. Or you may insert major headings in all
caps and minor headings in capital and lowercased letters. (Examine the headings in this study unit to see this
principle at work.)
• Put a little more space above each heading than below it.
In that way, the reader can connect the heading with the
material that follows it.
• Use italics, boldface, and underlining to provide emphasis and visual appeal.
Your goal is to prepare a report that your readers will read
and understand. To do this, you must have a clear purpose,
you must gather and organize your information, and you
must prepare the report so it visually appeals to your reader.
You’ve just completed the final section of this study unit.
You’re almost ready to begin your examination. Before you
do that, please complete Self-Check 3.
42Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material 43
Self-Check 3
1. What are the main advantages of tables, bar graphs, line graphs, and pie graphs?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
2. Explain the relationship between paragraph length and readability.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Check your answers with those on page 46.Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating Your Material
NOTES
4445
Self-Check 1
1. Your three basic objectives in organizing a business
document are to make the document clear, logical, and
readable.
2. Your answer should include any four of the following:
a. Your points will be unclear.
b. Your writing will be muddy and confusing.
c. You’ll use more words than necessary.
d. You’ll burden your reader with irrelevant information.
e. Your document won’t reflect well on you.
3. a. Cause and effect
b. Comparison/contrast
c. Chronological order
d. Spatial order
e. Cause and effect
f. Classification/division
4. The main advantage of a sentence outline is that it
provides the topic sentences for your main paragraphs.
The main advantages of a topic outline are as follows:
(a) They’re easier to prepare than sentence outlines,
(b) they become the basis of a table of contents for the
document, and (c) they supply the internal headings for
your document.
5. No answer is provided for this exercise. When you complete your outline, examine it carefully yourself. Reread
the material on how to develop a sentence or a topic outline and make sure your outline follows this description.
A n s w e r s46 Self-Check Answers
Self-Check 2
1. Primary research generates data through surveys, interviews, observation, or experiments. It’s necessary when
secondary data doesn’t provide the data needed for a
report or proposal.
Secondary research draws on data that has been gathered by others. Secondary data sources include books,
articles, information from electronic databases, and
information gleaned from surfing the Internet.
2. False
3. search engines
4. Electronic databases allow you to search quickly
through their information for what you need and then
select that information for use.
5. Both footnotes and endnotes are methods for documenting the sources you use in the preparation of a report or
other document. Footnotes appear at the bottom of the
page on which the citation occurs. Endnotes are listed at
the end of a document, in the order in which they
appear in that document.
Self-Check 3
1. Tables provide precise data in a compressed, tabular
format. Bar graphs show dramatic contrasts between
quantities, such as sales figures. Line graphs show
trends over time for one or more variables. Pie graphs
graphically represent proportions of some quantity, such
as amounts for different items in a budget or relative
sales of several product lines offered by a company.
2. Lengthy paragraphs give the idea that the content is
complicated and difficult to understand. Shorter paragraphs give variety to the page and allow the reader a
brief break before he or she begins to read again.47
MECHANICS IN BUSINESS AND
TECHNICAL WRITING
Abbreviations
Abbreviations save writing space and sometimes make written
presentations easier to read. For example, in many fields,
writing AC instead of alternating current can make a document more readable and less formidable. For economists or
people dealing with financial services, writing GNP instead of
gross national product serves the same space-saving and
simplifying purpose.
On the other hand, you can confuse your readers if you
don’t use abbreviations carefully. Don’t abbreviate words
or terms not used frequently in your text. For example,
there’s nothing wrong with spelling out cubic centimeter,
volt, or price-earnings ratio if they appear only a few times.
Avoid abbreviations that might cause confusion. For example, the abbreviation in. (inch) might be misread as the word
in, if it comes at the end of a sentence. With these cautions
in mind, use the following rules.
• Abbreviate units of measurement.
Examples: 5 hp (horsepower), 17 km (kilometers),
55 rpm (revolutions per minute)
10 in. (inches), 32°F (degrees Fahrenheit),
8 gal. (gallons)
bbl. (barrels), 20 doz. (dozen), 7 yr. (years)
• Never make an abbreviation plural, except for the abbreviations for figures, volumes, numbers, and pages.
Examples: 5 hr., not 5 hrs.; 14 amp., not 14 amps.
but
3 figs., 4 vols., 5 nos., and 7 pp.
• Use periods after any abbreviation that may cause
confusion, even if the practice in the technical field
is to omit the periods.
A p p e n d i x48 Appendix
• Always use a period after the abbreviations ibid., vol.,
and p.
• If you use a term often, but are uncertain of your
reader’s familiarity with it, write the term out in full the
first time you use it. Then place the abbreviated form
immediately after it in parentheses. From then on, you
can use the abbreviation alone.
Example: The quality factor (Q) of a tuned circuit is the
ability to be selective at a particular frequency. The
higher the Q, the more selective a particular circuit
will be to a band of frequencies.
• With few exceptions, use signs and symbols in illustrations, but not in the text. Exceptions are dollar signs ($),
percent signs (%), degree signs (°), and any symbols
frequently used in your field. For example, the field of
electronics would use symbols for ohm (Ω) and micro (μ).
You can write 780°F., 360°lat., $25.56, or 55Ω, but
avoid 25′ × 45′. Instead, write 25 ft. by 45 ft. Write 6 ft.
6 in., but avoid 6′ 6″.
• Abbreviate the title of an individual if the title appears
before the name of the person.
Examples: Dr. Preston Smyth is a renowned surgeon.
but
The doctor is a renowned surgeon.
I had Prof. Thomas Wilkes for biology.
but
Thomas Wilkes was my biology professor.
Our new administrator is Col. John Hancock.
but
Our new administrator is a colonel.
• Don’t capitalize abbreviations unless the spelled-out
word is capitalized.
Examples: B.A. (Bachelor of Arts)
Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)
C.P.A. (Certified Public Accountant)
rpm (revolutions per minute)
cc. (cubic centimeters)
amp. (ampere)Appendix 49
• Don’t abbreviate the days of the week and the months of
the year unless you’re listing them in a bibliography or
footnote. Make sure the style manual you’re using
allows such abbreviations. Some require that days and
months be spelled in full.
• Use abbreviations only when you have a sound reason
for doing so or when they’re standard usage in your field.
For all other instances, follow this well-known rule:
When in doubt, spell it out.
Capitalization
• Capitalize the first word of a sentence.
• Capitalize the pronoun I.
• Capitalize proper nouns (the names of particular persons,
places, or things).
Examples: Turkey (the country), but turkey (the fowl)
March (the month), but march (a type of music)
• Capitalize the names of days, months, and holidays, but
don’t capitalize seasons.
Example: We left Chicago the first Wednesday in
September and did not return until late in the fall,
just before Thanksgiving.
• Capitalize words derived from proper names.
Examples: The Spanish-speaking welder uses a unique
method.
In high school I had nightmares about Euclidean
geometry.
Martha and I frequently dine at Italian restaurants.
• In titles of books, magazines, articles, films, and
newspapers, capitalize the first and last words and
all important words. Don’t capitalize prepositions, no
matter how long they are.50 Appendix
Examples: Ms. Brown suggested I read The Last of the
Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.
The latest article on fad diets is called “Waisting Away
to Nothing.”
The book for next semester is called Music through the
Ages.
• Capitalize titles that precede names.
Examples: She recommended that Dr. Norris perform
the operation.
but
She recommended that I go to a doctor for help.
The project was terminated by Vice President Gurney.
but
The project’s future was debated by the company vice
presidents.
• Capitalize nouns such as republican, park, or university
when they name a specific entity.
Examples: It was a democratic election that brought
the Republican Party to power.
Among national parks, Arcadia National Park is my
favorite.
My new college made Keystone College seem provincial and dull.
Numbers
The rules on how to use numbers correctly vary from one
organization to another and from one occupation to another.
In your own reports, you may find yourself using one style
for one report and another style for another. For example, if
you’re writing a report of a general nature, you may decide to
spell out any number up to ninety-nine and use numerals
for numbers over ninety-nine. However, if you’re writing a
very technical report that contains a lot of numerical data,
you may choose to use numerals for all numbers over nine.
Above all, be consistent in your usage within a single report.Appendix 51
Despite the fact that rules about numbers vary, here are
some guidelines for you to use in your writing.
• Spell out all whole numbers between one and ninetynine. (Note: If your material is highly technical, you may
spell out only the numbers one to nine.)
Example: We sold more than eighty-five vacuum cleaners during the one-day sale.
• For numbers over ninety-nine, use numerals. (Note: If
your material is highly technical, you may use numerals
for numbers 10 and higher.)
Example: The nursery stocks more than 150 kinds of
perennials.
All 25 pins of the DB-25 connector are not used and,
in fact, 9 pins are enough to do the job.
• If several numbers occur in one paragraph, don’t use
figures for some and spell out others. Be consistent
throughout the paragraph. If the largest number has
three or more digits, use figures for all the related
numbers.
Example: There are 25 people in the production
department, 117 in the marketing department, 7 in
the accounting department, and 56 in the development
department, for a total of 205 people in the company.
• Use numerals, not words, for numbers that precede a
unit of measurement.
Examples: Precipitation totaled 4 inches.
The mechanic worked on the car for 3 hours.
• Always use figures for monetary values and use the
dollar sign with any amount expressed in figures.
Examples: The newspaper costs $.75.
The carpenters were paid $18.00 per hour.
• Spell out numbers used for approximate totals or
amounts, unless they’re unusually long.52 Appendix
Examples: We have enough workers to produce about
thirty units.
Approximately fifty-five men are in the field.
About 1,450 men and women are on the plant’s
payroll.
• When two numbers are part of the same phrase, express
one number numerically and spell out the other one,
usually the smaller number of the two.
Examples: The project required 12 two-man teams.
The machine required two 13-inch blades.
The work was completed in four 8-hour intervals.
• Never begin a sentence with numerals.
Incorrect: 140 people attended the conference.
Correct: One hundred forty people attended the
conference.
Incorrect: 1999 was a record year for sales.
Correct: The year 1999 was a record year for sales.
• Use numerals to express certain measurements (including degrees of temperature, times of day, and dates),
regardless of the size of the number.
Examples: The temperature last Friday reached 70
degrees Celsius.
She began her employment as a professor on
August 22, 2002.
The meeting will begin at 8:15 A.M.
• Express very large numbers in numerals, followed by the
words hundred, thousand, million, billion, and so on.
Examples: The population of the country has grown to
35 million.
Last year, the company produced a record 3 billion
CDs.Appendix 53
• Use decimals instead of fractions for greater accuracy,
unless it’s customary to use fractions. Place a zero
before the decimal point if the value expressed is less
than 1.00. Use a percent sign after a figure if it’s called
for.
Example: The cost of living rose 0.75% during the
month of May.
Some technical writing conventions are particular to a given
field. For example, engineers may need to use specialized or
mathematical forms, researchers may need to present large
or small numbers through the use of exponents (6.4  .106),
and technicians may use special figures related to circuits
and electrical currents. But, for practical purposes, this
review of the use of numerals versus words should cover
most concerns you’ll encounter in business and technical
writing.
Punctuation
The purpose of punctuation is to show the reader how
thoughts are related to each other. In general, English
contains end and internal punctuation.
End Punctuation
End punctuation includes the period (.), question mark (?),
and exclamation point (!).
• Use a period at the end of a statement of fact, condition,
or probability. Put another way, a period should tell the
reader that a complete thought or idea concludes here,
even if that thought or idea has more than one part.
Example: The president of the company voted against
the reorganization.
• Use a question mark at the end of any sentence that
poses a direct question.
Example: Is that all you have to say?54 Appendix
• Use an exclamation point at the end of sentences that
show a surprised reaction, a strong emotion, an urgent
request, or a curse. While the exclamation point may
have its place in an informal letter, memo, or e-mail, it
should rarely appear in a formal report or proposal. The
exclamation point is meant to add strong emphasis and
to indicate emotion. Good business and technical writing
should be primarily about facts and figures, not about
strong emotions.
Example: How tired I was after my workout!
Internal Punctuation
Internal punctuation is used inside sentences. The most
common internal punctuation marks are the apostrophe (‘),
colon (:), comma (,), dash (—), hyphen (-), quotation marks
(“ “), and semicolon (;). These marks are treated here in alphabetical order to make your use of this section a bit easier.
Apostrophe
An apostrophe is used to express possession, omission, or
occasionally plurality.
• When a word is shortened by the omission of one or
more characters, use an apostrophe where those missing
figures or letters would be.
Examples: are not aren’t
has not hasn’t
2000 ‘00
The possessive form of a noun shows a special relationship,
or ownership, to another noun that follows it.
• To form the possessive of a singular noun, add ‘s regardless of its ending.
Examples: John John’s
lawyer lawyer’s
child child’s
Ed Jones Ed Jones’s
radius radius’sAppendix 55
• To form the possessive of a regular plural noun ending
in s, add only an apostrophe.
Examples: the Johnsons the Johnsons’
lawyers lawyers’
employees employees’
ladies ladies’
• To form the possessive of an irregular plural noun not
ending in s, add ‘s.
Examples: women women’s
children children’s
radii radii’s
geese geese’s
mice mice’s
• When two or more people possess the same thing, use
an apostrophe with the last name only.
Example: Linda and Mary’s brother is attending
graduate school. (Only one brother is involved.)
• When each individual possesses a separate object, use
an apostrophe with each name.
Example: Linda’s and Mary’s living rooms are always
neat and tidy. (Two rooms are involved.)
• Don’t use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns
(yours, ours, its, his, hers, theirs). They show possession without an apostrophe. Remember, the word its is
the possessive form of it; the word it’s is the contraction
for it is.
• In most cases, when forming the plural of a numeral or
a letter, add only an s.
Examples: Please send me four #5s and two #26s.
We ordered three new PCs for the refurbished office.
During the 1990s, production increased dramatically.
• For abbreviations with periods, single letters used as
nouns, or in any other instance in which the meaning
is unclear, use an ‘s.56 Appendix
Examples: They were hoping to hire three Ph.D.’s for
the research department.
The g’s and q’s on her computer monitor were hard to
distinguish.
Colon
The colon is a signal to the reader that the information that
follows the colon will answer some expectation raised in the
previous material.
Example: Our goals are simple: increased production
and profitability.
• Don’t place a colon directly after a verb, including any
form of the verb to be.
Incorrect: We want to achieve: increased production
and profitability.
Correct: We want to achieve increased production and
profitability.
• Don’t place a colon after a preposition.
Incorrect: We have been assigned field trips to: Boston
and Portland.
Correct: We have been assigned field trips to Boston
and Portland.
• If you wish, use a colon to link two independent ideas
(sentences) when one idea develops, explains, or illustrates the other. In general, if you can substitute the
words that is in place of the colon, then the colon is
acceptable. But don’t use a colon and that is together.
Example: Many writers avoid using colons for a couple
of reasons: They really don’t understand how to use
the colons, and the colon is a strong form of punctuation with limited uses.
• In business and technical writing, use colons to introduce
lists or long formal quotations.Appendix 57
Example: Our research revealed the following weaknesses: poor workmanship, inadequate management,
and low employee morale.
• Use a colon to separate the hour from the minutes when
indicating a time of day.
Example: The meeting began at 9:30 A.M.
• Use a colon to indicate a ratio.
Example: 8:4 = 16:x
• Put a colon after the salutation in a business letter.
Example: Dear Ms. Jones:
• In a memo, put a colon after Date, To, From, and
Subject.
Comma
A comma tells your reader to take a slight pause. Of all
punctuation marks, the comma has the greatest number
of uses. It can link, separate, enclose, or show omission.
• When a coordinating conjunction like and, but, for, or,
so, nor, or yet joins two complete sentences, insert a
comma before the conjunction. Note: If the sentences
are short and very closely related, you may omit the
comma.
Examples: Computers can perform hundreds of jobs in
a few minutes, but a human must tell the computer
what to do.
Janice played the piano and Carolyn danced.
• Use a comma to separate introductory modifiers of more
than three or four words. This includes prepositional
phrases, participial phrases, and phrases beginning
with subordinate conjunctions.
Examples: On Independence Day, we always have a
family picnic.
Standing near the front door, I could see the rain
growing heavier.
After we complete our preliminary research, we will
be better prepared to make a decision.58 Appendix
• If a prepositional phrase, a participial phrase, or a
phrase beginning with a subordinate conjunction comes
at the end or in the middle of a sentence, you usually
don’t have to separate them from the main idea. Use a
comma only if the sentence would be confusing without
it or if the modifier is only loosely related to the main
idea.
Examples: The fishing will improve when the tide
comes in.
We will be better prepared to make a decision after we
complete our preliminary research.
The supervisor decided to grant the employee’s
request, although he knew it might cause problems
with other workers.
• Use a comma to separate items in a series.
Example: The new contract called for salary increases,
longer lunch hours, and two additional holidays.
• Use a comma between two adjectives that modify the
same noun, if you can insert the word and between the
adjectives without changing the meaning.
Example: The plant thrives in a hot, dry climate. (The
plant thrives in a hot and dry climate.)
• Never separate an adjective from the noun it modifies.
Incorrect: We recommend the Acme component for its
strong, durable, qualities.
Correct: We recommend the Acme component for its
strong, durable qualities.
• Put a comma after names used in a direct address.
Example: Mr. Tarbul, will you please introduce the
speaker?
• Put a comma after introductory words like indeed, yes,
no, moreover, consequently, and furthermore.
Examples: Yes, I will be glad to send you a brochure.
Furthermore, we cannot continue to pay workers for
unscheduled breaks.Appendix 59
• Use commas to enclose material that interrupts the
flow of thought within a sentence. Most material of this
type is extra. It doesn’t affect the basic meaning of the
sentence, but only defines, explains, or clarifies it.
Examples: The Q-40 model, on the other hand, will
meet all our needs.
My partner thinks, and I disagree with this, that the
Gibson project isn’t feasible.
Marlena Anderson, my partner, thinks we should
purchase the Apperson Drive property.
• Use commas around phrases beginning with who,
whom, which, or that, only when the sentence can stand
alone without the phrase. In other words, if the phrase
is necessary to the meaning of the sentence, don’t use
commas; if it’s extra information, set it off with commas.
Examples: The president, who is a graduate of Yale
University, was honored for his years of service. (The
commas are needed because the phrase isn’t necessary to the meaning of the sentence. It simply adds
information.)
A resistor, which opposes all frequencies, causes a
voltage drop. (Leaving out the phrase wouldn’t affect
the meaning of the sentence.)
A component that opposes all frequencies causes a
voltage drop. (Leaving out the phrase that opposes all
frequencies would make the sentence unclear.)
• Use a comma to show that a repeated word or words
have been left out of a sentence.
Example: This month productivity increased 3%; last
month, 2%. (The comma in the second sentence indicates that the words productivity increased have been
left out of the sentence.)60 Appendix
Dash
You may use dashes in many of the same ways that you
would use commas or colons. However, you should use them
mainly to mark a strong emphasis or to show a shift in your
message.
• Use a dash to emphasize a pause, shift, or repetition.
Examples: We will implement all—or should I say
most—of the suggested improvements. (This pair of
dashes indicates a longer, more emphatic pause than
a set of commas would indicate.)
The proposal—we had worked nights to finish it—was
rejected. (These dashes indicate a shift in thought.)
The lack of safety precautions—poor lighting, faulty
machines, and limited safety apparel—presents a
hazard our company cannot afford. (These dashes
indicate a list of the safety precautions.)
• Use dashes to enclose material when you want to
achieve a strong effect.
Example: My partner thinks—and I disagree with
this—that the Gibson project is not feasible.
• When commas appear within material that interrupts
the flow of the sentence, use dashes to set off the interrupting words.
Example: The three department heads—Arnold Baxter,
Pat Dennis, and I—expect to come to an agreement
this week.
Hyphen
When do you hyphenate a compound word? When do you
decide whether a compound should be spelled as one word,
two separate words, or as a hyphenated word?
Consider the following correctly written compound nouns:
highway guideline breakthrough
labor union high school pressure cooker
step-down wrap-up drive-in
To type a dash, hit
the hyphen key twice
(—). Some wordprocessing programs
automatically turn a
double hyphen into a
smooth dash (—).
To type a dash on
your computer, you
can press the Num
Lock key. Then, as
you hold the Alt key,
type 0150. Release
the Alt key and a
dash will appear.Appendix 61
The best way to determine if a term should be one word, two
words, or a hyphenated word is to look in the dictionary.
When you look for a word in the dictionary, be sure that you
look for the correct part of speech for your situation. For
example, suppose you look up the term drop-in (or drop in).
The dictionary shows a hyphenated word (drop-in) when the
word is used as a noun and two words (drop in) when it’s
used as a verb.
As you can see, a primary determinant of whether a compound word is hyphenated or not is usage. The use of
hyphenation usually changes depending on whether the
compound is used as a noun, a verb, or an adjective:
Examples: Decision making is difficult. (noun)
The decision-making process is difficult. (adjective)
After his initial report, he published a follow-up.
(noun)
He will follow up his presentation with a discussion
session. (verb)
Here are some guidelines for hyphenating compounds
according to the most commonly accepted usage.
• In technical writing, hyphenate any compound number
from twenty-one to ninety-nine when it begins a sentence. Remember to use numerals for these same
numbers within sentences.
Examples: Forty-five engineers were hired last Friday.
Management hired 45 engineers last Friday.
• Use hyphens with fractions when they modify something
else in the sentence. When fractions are not used as a
modifier, omit the hyphen.
Examples: A two-thirds majority is needed to pass the
amendment.
For the amendment to pass, two thirds of the
representatives must approve it.
• Use hyphens when two or more words are used as one
word or as one unit of meaning when describing something. However, use the hyphen only when the words
appear before the term they describe.62 Appendix
Examples: The step-by-step process made the job
easier.
The process was step by step.
The sales figures showed much-improved growth
during the past year.
According to sales figures, growth was much improved
over the past year.
• Do not hyphenate descriptive compound words when the
first one ends in –ly.
Examples: The vaguely worded instructions offered us
little assistance.
Highly regarded office workers make few enemies.
• Use a hyphen in compound words that begin with self,
half, and all.
Examples: self-examination, self-study
half-hearted, half-baked
all-inclusive, all-purpose
• Use a hyphen between a prefix and a base word if the
term could be mistaken for its homonym. For example, if
you use the term re-cover in instructing someone to
place a cover back on a baking pan, you wouldn’t want
to write, “Next, recover the pan.” Here are some other
examples of potential homonyms.
Examples: re-create (versus recreate), pre-judicial
(versus prejudicial), and re-collect (versus recollect)
• Use a hyphen when a prefix precedes a word that starts
with a capital letter:
Examples: pro-American, pre-Civil War, non-Catholics,
anti-Semitic
• When the last letter of a prefix and the first letter of the
word are the same (or when both are vowels) consult a
dictionary or style manual for proper hyphenation.
• Use a hyphen to eliminate ambiguity.
Unclear: The police officer stopped the fast moving van.
(What is being described—a van that’s moving fast or
a moving van that’s fast?)Appendix 63
Clearer: The police officer stopped the fast-moving van.
Unclear: There were 300 odd people at the conference.
(Really? That many in one place?)
Clearer: There were 300-odd people at the conference.
• Avoid using compound terms, hyphenated or not, that
are long and awkward. Rewrite such terms to make
them more readable.
Awkward: The breakdown occurred in the 21/4-inchdiameter-transformer tube.
Improved: The breakdown occurred in the transformer
tube that’s 21/4 inches in diameter.
Unfortunately, the standards for hyphenation are always
changing. When in doubt, make sure that you use hyphens
to make your meaning clear.
Quotation Marks
• Use quotation marks around any words you take directly
from someone else’s speech or writing. Don’t use quotation marks around indirect quotations or paraphrases of
someone else’s words.
Examples: Maxwell said, “Our marketing plan will
work if our market tests hold up.” (direct quote)
Maxwell said that our marketing plan will work if our
market tests hold up. (indirect quote)
• Use single quotation marks (‘ ‘) around any quoted
material that falls within another quote.
Examples: Our instructor told us, “Please try to avoid
the use of ‘access’ as a verb.”
Harold Brandt said, “You must refer to Hawkin’s
article ‘Consumer Patterns in the Global Economy’ if
your report is to be complete.”
• Use quotation marks to set off words taken out of context to achieve a special purpose or words that define
something.64 Appendix
Examples: I have little faith in so-called “gentlemen’s
agreements”; I believe in a signature on a dotted line.
The word “family” comes from the Latin familus,
meaning “servant.”
• Always put commas and periods inside closing quotation
marks.
Example: “Advertising,” Jim said, “will continue to
claim a substantial share of corporate budgets into
the foreseeable future.”
• Place semicolons and colons outside closing quotations.
Example: In Latin, “verb” means “word”; “noun” means
“name.”
• Put other forms of punctuation either inside or outside
closing quotation marks, depending on the meaning of
the sentence. If the punctuation is part of the quoted
material, put it inside the quotation mark. If the punctuation is not part of the quoted material, put it outside
the quotation mark.
Examples: “You must be joking!” she said. (Only the
quotation is an exclamation.)
Did he say, “Everyone can go home early”? (The
entire sentence is a question. The quote itself is a
statement.)
• When a sentence ends with a quotation mark, use only
one form of end punctuation.
Incorrect: Did you say, “Take the day off.”?
Correct: Did you say, “Take the day off”?
Semicolon
• Use a semicolon to separate two closely related sentences
that are equal in structure and importance. If the relationship between the two sentences isn’t evident, punctuate
them as two sentences.Appendix 65
Examples: We had to delay the roofing job for a week;
it rained most of the time.
We had to delay the roofing job for a week. We
worked inside instead.
• Use a semicolon before words like consequently, furthermore, however, indeed, in fact, moreover, therefore—when
the words connect independent ideas. Use a comma
after any of these words.
Example: Our study shows that Plant #3 needs
substantial repairs; in fact, it may be more cost
effective to rebuild.
• Use a semicolon to separate a series of related thoughts
when these parts have internal punctuation, usually
commas.
Examples: You must bring red, white, and blue thread;
10 yards of white ribbon; and scissors, pins, and
other sewing aids.
The only sensible ends of literature are first, the
pleasurable toil of writing; second, the gratification of
one’s family and friends; and, lastly, the solid cash.
(Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer)
• Don’t use a semicolon as a substitute for a colon; the
two punctuation marks aren’t interchangeable.
Incorrect: Two things are asked of us; accuracy and
efficiency.
Correct: Two things are asked of us: accuracy and
efficiency.
Other Punctuation Marks
Parentheses. Beyond the punctuation marks discussed so
far, parentheses are the ones you are most likely to use.
Material within parentheses can define, explain, or add supplementary information for your reader. Information within
parentheses should always be placed directly after the word
or phrase to which it applies. Put punctuation outside the
closing parenthesis unless the material within the parentheses
is an independent idea.66 Appendix
Examples: As required by the Occupational Safety and
Health Act (OSHA), the premises will be inspected
periodically.
Most shops post NO SMOKING signs as a safety
precaution. (Such signs are of little value, however, if
some employees ignore them.)
Use parentheses sparingly. Very often, material you would
include in parentheses can be enclosed with commas. In
other cases, restructuring the sentence may eliminate the
need for parentheses. In short, an excessive use of parentheses may suggest writing that suffers from poor planning,
poor organization, or careless revision.
Brackets. Brackets may be used to set off material inside a
quote or, more rarely, to set off material within parentheses.
Examples: The interviewee responded, “I haven’t had
many problems with the car since I bought it [1997],
but I haven’t used it much, either.”
We can, possibly, attribute the plant’s decline in
production to a decline in worker retention (assuming
we ignore the fall in demand [since 1998] for vacation
apparel).
Asterisk. The asterisk (*) may be used to designate a note
at the bottom of a page or to refer to an elaboration in a
table, such as the source of the data. It might also be used
as a bullet to set off items in a list:
Example: Our findings confirm
* A decline in worker morale
* High absenteeism
* A decline in supplier efficiency67
Organizing, Researching, and Illustrating
Your Material
General Instructions
Purpose
This examination will give you practical experience in writing
a business letter and doing prewriting for an informal report.
Preparation
Review the instruction on business letters in Writing Effective
Communications, particularly the content for an informationgathering letter (“Neutral letter”). Also carefully review
pages 1–17 in this study unit. You’ll be building on the
prewriting you prepared for the exam in Writing Effective
Communications, so make sure you’ve completed that exam.
Review your work for that exam, as well as the scenario
information provided below.
Background
Phoenix Advertising, with its main headquarters in Charlotte,
North Carolina, serves clients that include banks, insurance
companies, and retail chains.
You’re the vice president of human resources management at
Phoenix. You report directly to Gregory S. Forest, the company president. Mr. Forest advises you that in the last month,
four clients have complained about the advertising work
produced by the Roanoke, Virginia branch of the agency. He
reminds you that the clients served from the Roanoke branch
are vital to the overall success of Phoenix Advertising.
Mr. Forest also explains the little he has been able to learn
about the situation at the branch: In the last three months,
two of the top management people—an art director and an
EXAMINATION NUMBER:
05002200
Examination68 Examination
account executive—have left the agency. Three of the graphic
designers and four of the copywriters are threatening to quit
because they feel their creative efforts are being rejected or
revised without consultation. They want to be part of a collaborative team, not to simply produce work that the art directors
and account executives can alter arbitrarily.
In an attempt to increase revenues, the branch is accepting
new clients without evaluating the effects of the new accounts
on the current project workload. As a result, without notice
or compensation for the additional hours, all salaried employees
are required to work long hours several days each week.
Employee morale and productivity are declining day by day.
Mr. Forest directs you to conduct a field investigation at the
branch itself to explore the nature of the problems that have
arisen there. Your investigative goals are to
• Identify and describe specifically the causes (root issues)
underlying each problem
• Show the impact of each problem on the business and on
employee morale
• Provide specific recommendations for resolving the
problems in order to restore the Roanoke branch to
full productivity
Process
Step 1: Prewriting
Prepare yourself for your visit by creating personnel information
for the employees at the Roanoke branch. Brainstorm and
freewrite about the number of people working in each department and the names and experience of each key executive
(including the two who left). Also review the information
provided by the staff person and the executive team members
regarding agency and branch policies. Use the following
questions to jumpstart your prewriting, but expand on them
with your own questions and ideas.
• Why wouldn’t employees be paid or compensated for
extensive overtime? Is the branch following employee
contractual agreements and agency/branch policies?
Is the Roanoke branch operating under different salary
scales/schedules than others Phoenix offices?Examination 69
• Is the business experiencing financial problems?
• Who at Roanoke oversees the account review process?
What are the procedures for accepting a new client
account and for closing completed accounts? Are
these procedures being followed?
• Why are some, but not all, of the graphic designers and
writers complaining? Are their complaints legitimate?
Have they always complained or is this a recent development? If recent, what has changed to cause the
complaints? What have the art directors already tried to
do to handle their concerns? How does their negative
attitude affect productivity?
• Why did one of the top executives leave recently?
In what ways has the absence affected the branch
productivity and employees?
• Has the loss of some management people caused the
regular procedure of collaborative review to be overlooked or are the complainers not doing their jobs
appropriately?
• What’s the nature of the complaints filed by the four
clients with Mr. Forest? What does each request to
resolve the situation?
Once you’ve created answers to these and other questions
you’ve asked yourself, determine how you’ll approach the
investigation to accomplish your goals and find the facts
underlying each situation. These methods might include
one-to-one interviews with employees, observation of the
work environment, surveys of the clients, and a review of
various business reports, policies, and procedures. Use a
variety of methods—don’t rely on only one, such as employee
interviews, because what people feel or say may not represent the reality of the situation.
Create further details as necessary to craft a clear picture of
• The branch, the employees, and the clients (both
satisfied and dissatisfied)
• Particular cause or source of each problem (usually
more than one cause)
• The impact of each cause on business and morale70 Examination
Assignment: Methods
In a Word document, type the heading “Step 1: Methods.”
Below it type a list of your methods and summarize what you
want to accomplish with each. For example, if your method
is to interview each department as a group, what kind of
information related to the problems should you be able to
uncover through that method?
Step 2: Gathering Information
Set aside your prewriting for a few days until you can
revisit it with fresh eyes. Reread the scenario information
and add ideas to your prewriting as you review it.
Suppose you decide to create two questionnaires, one for all
the employees at Roanoke and one for all the clients Roanoke
has serviced in the last 12 months. Your purpose is to determine when the problems began, how they’re defined by those
involved, what caused them, and how the employees think
they could be solved. Write several possible questions and
jot down any facts you hope to establish with each question.
Assignment A: Employee and Client Surveys
Continue with the Word document begun for Step 1. Type
the heading “Step 2A: Surveys.” Below it type “Employees”
and list in correct sentence form the top three employee
questions from your brainstorming. Choose words and phrases
appropriate for the intended purpose and audience. Under each
question, write one or two sentences describing the information
you hope to establish through the use of that question.
Type “Clients” and list the top three client questions from your
brainstorming. Under each one, write one or two sentences
describing the information you hope to establish through the
use of that question. Use language appropriate for the
intended purpose and audience.
Assignment B: Letter to CEO of Roanoke Branch
Continue from Step 2A in the same Word document, but
begin a new page. Write a full-block style, neutral letter to the
CEO of the Roanoke branch in which you explain the reason
you’re coming and the preparations he or she must complete
before your visit. Use the ABC approach to developing
each paragraph. Use correct sentence structure and word
choice appropriate for the intended purpose and audience.Examination 71
Based on your prewriting, detail what reports and client
accounts you’ll review during that visit, the meetings and
interviews you want to conduct, any branch policies on
which you need further information, employee performance
reviews, procedural manuals, and so on. Be sure to end in a
positive tone showing appreciation for the CEO’s assistance.
Include a representation of your signature above your typed
name (such as typing it in italics or script font).
Step 3: Organizing
Now imagine that you’ve visited Roanoke, met with the people,
conducted the interviews, and reviewed the surveys and
other information. You’ve returned to Charlotte and are
sorting the information gathered from your investigation
according to the primary problem.
Review all your prewriting and freewrite on any problem not
yet clearly defined in terms of causes, the impact on employee
morale and/or productivity, and possible solutions.
Assignment: Problems and Illustration
Start a new page in the same Word document after the Step 2B
assignment for this section. For the “Problems” portion, you
may use words and phrases in bulleted or numbered form to
represent your thoughts instead of complete sentences. For
the “Illustrations” portion, you must use complete sentences.
Begin with the following labels for the Problems section.
Problems:
Facts and Causes:
Impact and Effects:
Solutions:
Under “Problems,” list four or five of the primary problems
you discovered in your investigation. Although President
Forest categorized the problems into three areas, you will
have found that one or two need to be broken down further, and/or you will have discovered other problems
unknown to Forest.
Choose one of the problems you listed. Under “Facts and
Causes,” list those you identified—not only what people
said or felt, but also the proof or facts you’ve uncovered that
identify the causes and underlying issues of the problem.
Remember, a major problem is the result of several factors
working together.72 Examination
For the chosen problem, describe under “Impact and Effects”
the impact on the business and on the employees for each of
the underlying issues you identified in “Facts and Causes.”
In your discussion, include numbers such as percentages to
show changes in productivity, employee work time, and so on.
For issues involving employee morale, be sure to explain the
impact on the business as well.
Finally, under “Solutions,” list ideas for each cause that will
end the negative impact as well as improve the situation,
making sure the solutions actually address the issue. For
example, suggesting an award for employee of the month may
be a morale booster in some situations, but probably not at
Roanoke, since the low morale is the result of serious problems.
If you create a solution you want to use but haven’t laid the
foundation for it in the causes and impact sections, then
return to those sections and create the necessary information
to support your solution.
After providing the above information, type “Illustration” and
below it identify a specific type of illustration (table, bar graph,
pie chart, etc.) you might use to represent numbers related
to causes or impacts. Then write two or three sentences
explaining why your choice is the best way to convey the
information to the executive team of Phoenix Advertising.
Revising
Referring to the above instructions and the evaluation criteria
for the exam, revise your work carefully. For the survey
questions and letter (Step 2A and B), revise for directness,
emphasis, sentence variety, coherence, and appropriate
word choice for the audience and purpose. Carefully edit
grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Read through your
work backwards, first word by word, then sentence by
sentence, and then paragraph by paragraph.
Word by word. In this way you can locate spelling errors. Be
alert—you may see the word here in your essay, a correctly
spelled word. But also check the words on either side. Did
you mean here in terms of location or did you mean the
sense of hearing?
Sentence by sentence. By looking at each group of words
separately from the context, you can more easily locate run-onExamination 73
sentences or fragments. Compare the length and structure of
each sentence for variety. Also check the connections
between sentences—are they coherent?
Paragraph by paragraph. Locate the controlling idea of each
paragraph and compare them with your primary focus for the
memo and e-mail. Does the paragraph help to develop that
focus in some specific way? Compare it with the controlling
ideas of the paragraphs before and after it. Do they follow
in logical order?
Evaluation Criteria
Your instructor will use the following criteria to evaluate
your exam:
• Methods (10 points)
How varied were your methods? How applicable and
clear was your analysis of each?
• Surveys (10 points)
Did you provide three different questions for employees and three for clients, each obtaining desired info
related to specific part of scenario?
• Letter (15 points)
Did you clearly and logically specify your purpose and
detail your expectations for your purpose using ABC?
Did you format it with appropriate, complete addresses,
salutation, and closing-signature?
• Problems (5 points)
Did you identify four specific problems related to the
scenario?
• Cause and impact (15 points)
Did you give specific facts showing underlying causes
of one problem and describe the impact and effects of
those issues on the company and morale?
• Solutions (10 points)
Did you identify specific actions the branch should
take to solve the underlying issues identified in Cause
and Impact or address only the symptoms?74 Examination
• Illustration (5 points)
How appropriate was your choice of illustration
related to analysis and scenario?
• Audience, tone, and word choice (10 points)
Did you maintain a professional tone as part of a company team and develop information logically?
• Grammar, sentence structure, and mechanics (10 points)
How well did you edit and proofread your document to
ensure correct application of standard written conventions for American English?
• General Format (10 points)
Did you use correct labels for sections, font, justification, and header info?
Submitting Your Exam
Include the following information at the top of each page of
your document. The best way to ensure the information is on
each page is to enter everything using the Header option
(usually located on the View or Insert menu).
Name and Student Number Exam number Page X of Y
Your Mailing Address
Your E-mail Address
If you don’t include the above information at the top of each
page of your document, we can’t guarantee that your exam
will be processed for grading. If your exam is processed without the information, you’ll lose at least 10 points from your
overall exam grade for neglecting to include this information.
Note: Keep a copy of your work, since you’ll need it for
your work in the next study unit.
You may submit this exam for evaluation by the school in
one of two ways:
By mail: Make sure your typed final draft is on 8½ x 11-inch
white paper. Send your work in the envelope provided or use
your own envelope and mail it to
Writing Instructor
Penn Foster Schools
925 Oak Street
Scranton, PA 18515Examination 75
Be sure to include in the upper-left corner of the envelope
your name, mailing address, student number, and exam
number.
Online: You may submit your exam online.Please save
your document in Rich Text Format (.rtf).
To submit exams online, use the online “Take an Exam”
feature. When you enter the full exam number, an e-mail
format will appear and allow you to attach your text document to submit the essay online (both memo and e-mail at
the same time in one word document). You’ll receive an autoreply confirmation e-mail within 24 hours that your exam has
entered the school system. Be sure to set your e-mail
browser to accept auto-replies.
Allow 7 to 10 business days for your exam to be evaluated.
In the meantime, begin your next study unit.76 Examination