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Writing Recommendation Reports 19 521

nization from those discussed here. According to interface designer Pia
Honold (1999), German users of high-tech products rely on the table of con-
tents in a manual because they like to understand the scope and organiza-
tion of the manual. Therefore, writers of manuals for German readers should
include comprehensive, detailed tables of contents.
Study samples of writing produced by people from the culture you are ad-
dressing to see how they organize their reports and use front and back matter.

Writing the body of the Report

The elements that make up the body of a report are discussed here in the or-
der in which they usually appear in a report. However, you should draft the
elements in whatever order you prefer. The sample recommendation report
on pages 532–58 includes these elements.

Introduction The introduction helps readers understand the technical dis-
cussion that follows. Start by analyzing who your readers are, then consider
these questions:
• What is the subject of the report? If the report follows a proposal and a
progress report, you can probably copy this information from one of
those documents, modifying it as necessary. Reusing this information is
efficient and ethical.
• What is the purpose of the report? The purpose of the report is not the pur- in this book
pose of the project. The purpose of the report is to present information For more about purpose
and offer recommendations. statements, see Ch. 5, p. 111.
• What is the background of the report? Include this information, even if you
have presented it before; some of your readers might not have read your
previous documents or might have forgotten them.
• What are your sources of information? Briefly describe your primary and
secondary research, to prepare your readers for a more detailed discus-
sion of your sources in subsequent sections of the report.
• What is the scope of the report? Indicate the topics you are including, as
well as those you are not.
• What are the most significant findings? Summarize the most significant
findings of the project.
• What are your recommendations? In a short report containing a few simple
recommendations, include those recommendations in the introduction.
In a lengthy report containing many complex recommendations, briefly
summarize them in the introduction, then refer readers to the more de-
tailed discussion in the recommendations section.
• What is the organization of the report? Indicate your organizational pattern
so that readers can understand where you are going and why.

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