Nature of Organizing Information and Content in Report Writing
REPORT WRITING: ORGANIZING AND OUTLINING LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Week 4
To appreciate the complex nature of organizing information and content in report writing To understand further the critical role of PPQ in report writing
I
NTRODUCTION In the planning stage, you have been introduced to the concept of PPQ – Problem, Purpose and Questions – as the main driving force of your report writing. If your PPQ is not formulated well, chances are your report will not make sense. This is because a well‐articulated PPQ controls the direction of your work. Your PPQ will tell you if you are moving in the right direction, or if you are already off‐topic. The next stage is now to make use of the PPQ to organize the information and data you need. The point again is: start the report writing process with your PPQ. In this stage, there are two main steps: 1. Gather and evaluate your material 2. Outline the content of your report For Step 1, you are not yet concerned directly about the content of your actual report. Much needs to be done before you decide on what content gets into your report. For Step 2, you are now concerned with how to shape the content of your report. Usually, this is what people refer to as the organizing stage of report writing. However, before you can even organize the content of your report, much work has to be done to justify why you are using some particular content and not another, and why you are presenting it in the manner you want it to be. So, organizing the content of your writing demands much work from you. This does not only mean much work in the physical sense, but also much work in the mental and cognitive sense. You will see later that each main step requires different thinking and analytical skills. You will realize that report writing is not just a writing task. Ultimately, report writing is a critical thinking exercise.
9 | P a g e Centre for English Language
Week 4
To appreciate the complex nature of organizing information and content in report writing To understand further the critical role of PPQ in report writing
I
NTRODUCTION In the planning stage, you have been introduced to the concept of PPQ – Problem, Purpose and Questions – as the main driving force of your report writing. If your PPQ is not formulated well, chances are your report will not make sense. This is because a well‐articulated PPQ controls the direction of your work. Your PPQ will tell you if you are moving in the right direction, or if you are already off‐topic. The next stage is now to make use of the PPQ to organize the information and data you need. The point again is: start the report writing process with your PPQ. In this stage, there are two main steps: 1. Gather and evaluate your material 2. Outline the content of your report For Step 1, you are not yet concerned directly about the content of your actual report. Much needs to be done before you decide on what content gets into your report. For Step 2, you are now concerned with how to shape the content of your report. Usually, this is what people refer to as the organizing stage of report writing. However, before you can even organize the content of your report, much work has to be done to justify why you are using some particular content and not another, and why you are presenting it in the manner you want it to be. So, organizing the content of your writing demands much work from you. This does not only mean much work in the physical sense, but also much work in the mental and cognitive sense. You will see later that each main step requires different thinking and analytical skills. You will realize that report writing is not just a writing task. Ultimately, report writing is a critical thinking exercise.
9 | P a g e Centre for English Language