Exam 11: Preparing Informative and Influential Business Reports

Differentiate between problem and purpose statements of business reports. The problem statement provides a clear description of the situation behind the creation of a business report. Problem statements are generally written as declarative statements: "Sales are decreasing at Company X." The purpose statement is often written in the form of a question or infinitive phrase. Thus, if the problem is that Company X wants to know why sales are decreasing, the purpose statement may be "To determine the causes of decreasing sales at Company X" or "What are the causes of decreasing sales at Company X?"

The _____ of a business report provides a clear description of the situation that created the need for the report.

When using the past time viewpoint in your report, you:

Which of the following is an appropriate practice for improving your interpretation of findings?

Of the following headings from a report, _____ violates parallelism of construction.

Of the following headings from a report, _____ violates parallelism of construction.

Which of the following is true about talking headings?

The objective quality of a report is its unbiased approach.

An advantage of collaboration is that several minds are available for the critical thinking that is so necessary for identifying the factors of the problem related to a particular business report.

Using ample vertical white space between the topics in your business report will increase the readability of your message.

Define the two tests that will help you make reasonable inferences from the data gathered for your business report. First is the test of experience. In applying this test, the writers use the underlying theme in all scientific methods-reason. They ponder on each interpretation they make, asking themselves, "Does this appear reasonable in light of all we know or have experienced?" Second is the negative test, which is a critique of the writers' own conclusions. Here, they consider what a skeptic or "devil's advocate" might say about their interpretations. By considering the opposing viewpoint, they make their interpretations more reliable.

If the information you have collected has some relation to geographic location, you should typically use a _____ division.

The decimal system uses _____ to show the major sections in a report.

Examine the sentence taken from a report. Which relationship is established by the transitional phrase "for example" with its preceding content? "The Mills Company, for example, has conducted such a program for the past eleven years."

Emotionally charged language increases the objectivity of a business report.