Chapter 56. PROFESSIONAL REPORT Activities Using Professional Business, Project, or Status Report Writing See also "Activities & Groups." --- SPECIAL ACTIVITIES REPORT OF A PROJECT: As a group or individual, develop a final project report (or a report on the current status of an ongoing project), real or imaginary.  (1) Start by stating the name of your company or professional service (real or imaginary), and a one-sentence summary of what you make or do and who your clients are.  (2) Then describe your project in a few sentences.  Finally, assume the project is finished.  Make a final report on it.  (3) Break your project report into several parts, such as the different steps, activities, locations, or results. In each part of your report, describe who was involved, what was done, what money and materials were involved, what went well, and what was problematic and how the problems were solved.  (You may do this, instead, as a status report on a current--ongoing and unfinished--project.) REPORT OF A PROBLEM OR NEED: Imagine that your company of professional service has a problem or need, something lacking, or a change to make.  Do not try to solve the problem or need.  Rather, simply report on it factually and in detail.  Simply follow steps "1"-"3" above: for "2," briefly summarize what is causing the problem or need, and for "3," describe the problem or need itself by dividing it into several parts and detailing the people, activities, money, materials, etc. involved in each part.   Report of a Date: In groups or alone, develop a report on a date that you were on, either a real one or an imaginary one.  Use fake names.  Break the date into three or four parts: by steps, activities, or locations.  In each part, describe who was involved, what the goals were, what was actually accomplished, and what problems you encountered and solutions you used to resolve them. ---     OTHER ACTIVITIES THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CHAPTER: As an individual or a group, read the chapter and take notes about it using one or more of the methods in "General Study Questions." ROUGH DRAFT: As an individual or a group, write a paper as described in this chapter.  Use the subtitles shown in the "Introduction" or the "Basics" section as subtitles of your rough draft, and write at least 50+ words in each body section.  If you are working as a group, you may, if your instructor allows, develop a fictional and fanciful background and subject for your rough draft. GROUP MAPPING & PLANNING: Divide into small groups of 3-4 people randomly.  In each group, one person each should volunteer to be       (i) the facilitator (the person helping everyone to do the work), (ii) the writer/recorder (who does the writing for the group), (iii) the reader/announcer (who reports the group's works to the class), and (iv) if there is a fourth, the timekeeper, the observer taking notes about the group's way of working, and/or the "social encourager"--someone who finds questions to encourage quieter members of the group.         The group should then follow these steps using a timetable given by the instructor, either in a small, close circle with the writer using pen or laptop, or at a segment of the whiteboard with the writer using a marker:      (A) What is the key or essence of this type of paper?  Brainstorm an interesting, fun idea (serious or silly) to write about.     (B) Then look at the "map" or blocks of how to build this type of paper, from introduction through the body sections to the conclusion.  The instructor can either project it on a screen or draw it on the board.  Then fill in the parts with 50-100 words for each main body section, and 20-50 for the intro and conclusion (depending on the instructor's directions).    (C) If your instructor suggests this, add a good made up illustration, graphic, or quotation or two to each section from an "expert" and give credit to your made-up expert.  (Note: Never add made-up detail or experts to a real paper.)    (D) Have your reader/announcer read your result to the entire class.    (E) After all groups have gone, then the "observer" in each group--or the facilitator--should answer three brief comments on how the group process happened: "What worked well," "What didn't," and "How could it be changed?"       GROUP CRITIQUE OF A LATER DRAFT: If your class has a paper all of you are preparing for grading, gather in a group to critique each other's developed drafts:       (A) Simply pass the papers to each other; your paper preferably should be checked by three other people.   (Some instructors prefer that you make several copies, distribute them to your group members, take the copies home that you receive, and comment on them there.)      (B) Write comments for each other.  To do so, use a a set of grading guidelines (or "rubric"): for example, "How are the contents," "How is the organization of parts," "Do paragraphs work well," and "How well have editing errors been corrected?"  Preferably, you can use the guidelines your instructor applies when grading.         (C) For each question or requirement in your guidelines, write one or more comments.  Your comments should be substantial and specific (more like a complete sentence, and more specific than just "Nice!" or "Needs work").  Your comments also should be positive or helpfully constructive: when positive, they should offer specific praise of a particular part, detail, or method; when constructive, they should offer specific advice about what to add or do to make the paper better.         (D) Add a final positive or constructive comment about how you think the average reader of this paper might respond to it, and/or how the paper could be changed or fixed for a stronger or more positive response from its audience.   (E) After receiving your comments from others, take them home.  Review what they have written.  Remember that your readers are not commenting on you as a person, but rather on how easily (or poorly) they have been able to read your paper as its audience members.  Pay attention in particular to comments that may have been repeated by more than one of your readers. For a wide variety of other activities and exercises, go to "Activities & Groups." --- Return to top.

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