Progress Report Homework 2
Progress Report
1. Complete the prewriting for the progress report:
- Prewriting prepares you to write and helps you organize your ideas.
- You may print the lesson and jot notes for yourself on the paper, or you may write notes on your own.
- You do not have to submit prewriting for any points, but don’t skip this important step!
2. Complete a draft of the progress report:
- Remember to use the memo format style in typing this progress report.
- This report should be two or more pages when you are completed.
- The draft will be much shorter than your final report.
- Follow a logical structure: introduction, what is finished, what is underway, what is left to do, and a conclusion.
- Use specifics such as dates, proper names, numbers, costs, etc.
- Include one or more visuals may such as pictures, graphs, charts, tables, etc.
Tips for Completing the Progress Report
Follow these guidelines below for writing the draft of your Progress Report.
1. You will be writing about one of your own current projects from school, work, home, or community. Your topic must be something that you are able to show progress on, such as working on your college career, job, building a house, applying for a loan, starting a soup kitchen for the homeless, volunteering in your community, etc. These are just a few of the topics students in the past have written about. You may use one of these, or create your own based on one of your current projects.
2. Your report must have at least three headings. More are fine.
3. Your report may be written for an internal audience (in memo format) or an external audience (which requires a letterhead). You may use your own information in the letterhead such as: your name, address, email address and phone number.
4. The report will be several paragraphs with 3-5 sentences in each paragraph. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence.
5. In your report, show how you have overcome some obstacles; explain how far you have come (or, how much has been completed), and how far you have left to go before completion. Do not just make up a list of courses you have completed and count this as a paragraph.
6. Use visuals that relate to your subject: pictures, charts, graphics, etc.
7. End with a positive paragraph that focuses on the future.
8. Be specific! Details about dates, costs, names, measurements, etc. are key.
9. Proofread for errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.
10. Show your audience why you chose this topic and its importance to you.
Progress Report Assignment and Criteria:
1. Your report must cover a project your are currently working on from school, work, home, or community.
2. Three or more headings required: Work Completed, Work Underway, Work Not Started, Conclusion. These will vary depending on your progress.
3. Use memo format for this progress report and address it to either your instructor or the most logical person.
4. The report will be several paragraphs with 3-5 sentences in each paragraph. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence. This report should be about two pages or more.
5. Show how you have overcome some obstacles; explain how far you have come (or, how much has been completed), and how far you have left to go before completion. Do not just make up a list of courses you have completed and count this as a paragraph.
6. Use one or more visuals. Don’t make them too large and place them where they go with the text.
7. End with a positive paragraph that focuses on the future.
8. Be specific! Use numbers, costs, dates, proper names, measurements, etc.
9. Proofread for errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.
10. Show your audience why you chose this topic and its importance to you.
March 27, 2013
To: Chris Smith
From: Tom Eagle
Subject: Progress on Document Retention and Destruction Project
I have been currently working towards identifying and cleaning out our document storage area. The task is to reduce the amount of documents by at least 25%. Along with destroying our document inventory all remaining documents marked for retention need to be brought up to government compliance.
Logistics prior to starting task
Our document inventory has around 1500 documents, of those 1500 documents about 40% of the documents are out of compliance with government regulations. To accurately identify documents out of compliance I first need to identify which documents are able to be destroyed. To do this, help from program managers and other parties from the technical staff will need to be involved.
Once documents have been reviewed and approved for being destroyed I will bring in an outside contractor such as Data Destruction. This will save the company time and expense with me personally not destroying the documents. The costs will be discussed in the next section. While documents being reviewed are marked for destruction, the documents needing to be retained will be managed and logged into our company database by me.
What has been Completed
With the amount of documents being stored there were numerous programs involved. I have worked with technical staff and program managers and have completed the review of about 90% of the documents. Out of that percentage about 30% have been marked for destruction and have been destroyed.
Bringing in the contractor has been a tremendous help to the organization. The first day she was on site she destroyed over 150 documents and worked six hours to support this project. Bringing her in has saved the company over a $100 and 6 hours of time it would have tied my schedule up.
There have been 200 documents that were marked for retention for future projects and all have been uploaded into our company database. Along with uploading the documents into the database I have brought each of the 200 documents into government compliance.
What still need to be Completed
There are still documents that have not been reviewed and staff has not determined whether some documents can be destroyed or retained. I am continuing to push on this to be completed. One program manager is too busy with current projects of his own and has not had free time to complete his review. Another group of documents that we are in need of a resolution are on hold because of communications between our contracts department and the government.
Conclusion
The next government audit is not until the fall and I am pretty positive that this task will be completed by then. It is important to me that we stay compliant and I have a personal goal of completing this project before June 2013. The initial task of reducing the inventory by 25% has been surpassed and I am now attempting to reduce the inventory by 50%.
Sixth Edition
Kitty O. Locker Stephen Kyo Kaczmarek
ISBN 978-0-07-340326-7 MHID 0-07-340326-1
E A N
We listened to the increasing demand for more fexibility with teaching materials. This modular format was created to cater to the way in which instructors teach, and students learn.
Through the author’s modular approach, instructors have the freedom to customize their text and assignments piece-by-piece. By breaking chapters into more manageable, topic-focused sections, instructors have the fexibility to cover and assign the content they want, in the or- der they want to better suit their individual teaching styles.
Instead of losing students in chapters that are long, unspecifc, or out of order, with this book students move toward an understanding of the foundations and piece together the critical skills needed to become suc- cessful communicators in the Business Communication feld.
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Why 30 ModuLar Chapters?
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Module 1 Sentence Fragments 18
Module 2 Comma Splices 36
Module 3 Using Idioms 58
Module 4 Using Spell and Grammar Checkers 72
Module 5 Active and Passive Voice 86
Module 6 It’s/Its 100
Module 7 Singular and Plural Possessives 111
Module 8 Plurals and Possessives 122
Module 9 Making Subjects and Verbs Agree 141
Module 10 Dangling Modifers 163
Module 11 Parallel Structure 186
Module 12 Expressing Personality 215
Module 13 Making Nouns and Pronouns Agree 235
Module 14 Matters on Which Experts Disagree 255
Module 15 Run-On Sentences 269
Module 16 Commas in Lists 285
Module 17 Combining Sentences 295
Module 18 Delivering Criticism 311
Module 19 Hyphens and Dashes 323
Module 20 Choosing Levels of Formality 339
Module 21 Mixing Verb Tenses 357
Module 22 Using MLA Style 375
Module 23 Being Concise 390
Module 24 Improving Paragraphs 414
Module 25 Writing Subject Lines and Headings 435
Module 26 Using Details 448
Module 27 Proofreading 472
Module 28 Using You and I 489
Module 29 Using a Dictionary 506
Module 30 Who/Whom and I/Me 513
Why 30 ModuLar Chapters?
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Module 1 Sentence Fragments 18
Module 2 Comma Splices 36
Module 3 Using Idioms 58
Module 4 Using Spell and Grammar Checkers 72
Module 5 Active and Passive Voice 86
Module 6 It’s/Its 100
Module 7 Singular and Plural Possessives 111
Module 8 Plurals and Possessives 122
Module 9 Making Subjects and Verbs Agree 141
Module 10 Dangling Modifers 163
Module 11 Parallel Structure 186
Module 12 Expressing Personality 215
Module 13 Making Nouns and Pronouns Agree 235
Module 14 Matters on Which Experts Disagree 255
Module 15 Run-On Sentences 269
Module 16 Commas in Lists 285
Module 17 Combining Sentences 295
Module 18 Delivering Criticism 311
Module 19 Hyphens and Dashes 323
Module 20 Choosing Levels of Formality 339
Module 21 Mixing Verb Tenses 357
Module 22 Using MLA Style 375
Module 23 Being Concise 390
Module 24 Improving Paragraphs 414
Module 25 Writing Subject Lines and Headings 435
Module 26 Using Details 448
Module 27 Proofreading 472
Module 28 Using You and I 489
Module 29 Using a Dictionary 506
Module 30 Who/Whom and I/Me 513
Why 30 ModuLar Chapters?
FreedoM • FLex ib iL ity • FoCused CLassrooM
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Business Communication BUILD ING CR IT ICAL SK ILLS
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Sixth Edition
Kitty O. Locker The Ohio State University
Stephen Kyo Kaczmarek Columbus State Community College
Business Communication BUILD ING CR IT ICAL SK ILLS
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BUSINESS COMMUNICATION: BUILDING CRITICAL SKILLS, SIXTH EDITION Published by McGraw-Hill/Irwin, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, 10020. Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Previous editions © 2011, 2009, and 2007. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.
Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
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ISBN 978-0-07-340326-7 MHID 0-07-340326-1
Senior Vice President, Products & Markets: Kurt L. Strand Vice President, Content Production & Technology Services: Kimberly Meriwether David Managing Director: Paul Ducham Senior Brand Manager: Anke Braun Weekes Executive Director of Development: Ann Torbert Development Editor II: Kelly I. Pekelder Executive Marketing Manager: Michael Gedatus Content Project Manager: Pat Frederickson Senior Buyer: Michael R. McCormick Lead Designer: Matthew Baldwin Interior Design: Matthew Baldwin Cover Design: Laurie Entringer Cover Images: ©Stockbyte/Getty Images/Design Pics/Blend Images/Ingram Publishing/AGE Fotostock Lead Content Licensing Specialist: Keri Johnson Photo Researcher: Teri Stratford/Six Cats Research Media Project Manager: Joyce J. Chappetto Typeface: 10/12 Times Roman Compositor: Laserwords Private Limited Printer: R. R. Donnelley
All credits appearing on page or at the end of the book are considered to be an extension of the copyright page.
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The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion of a website does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw-Hill, and McGraw-Hill does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these sites.
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As revision to the third edition of BCS neared completion, Dr. Kitty O. Locker passed away. She was a mentor for many years, and I will cherish all that she taught me. Kitty’s contributions to teaching and to business communication are far too extensive for proper recognition here. So, it is simply on behalf of the students and colleagues whose lives she touched that I make this special dedication to my friend.
Kitty, you are missed.
Stephen Kyo Kaczmarek
To my husband, Bob Mills, with love. —Kitty O. Locker
For my father, who always believed in me. —Stephen Kyo Kaczmarek
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vi
Kitty O. Locker was an Associate Professor of English at The Ohio State University, where she taught courses in workplace discourse and research methods. She had taught as Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University and the University of Illinois at Urbana.
She received her BA from DePauw University and her MA and Ph.D. from the Univer- sity of Illinois at Urbana.
She had also written Business and Administrative Communication (7th ed., McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2005) and The Irwin Business Communication Handbook: Writing and Speaking in Business Classes (1993), and co-edited Conducting Research in Business Communication (1988).
Her consulting clients included URS Greiner, Abbott Laboratories, the Ohio Civil Ser- vice Employees Association, AT&T, and the American Medical Association. She devel- oped a complete writing improvement program for Joseph T. Ryerson, the nation’s largest steel materials service center.
In 1994–95, she served as President of the Association for Business Communication (ABC). From 1997 to 2000, she edited ABC’s Journal of Business Communication. She received ABC’s Outstanding Researcher Award in 1992 and ABC’s Meada Gibbs Out- standing Teacher Award in 1998.
Stephen Kyo Kaczmarek is a Professor of English at Columbus State Community College and a consultant to business and industry. He teaches courses in business communication, composition, creative writing, freshman experience, film and literature, globalization and culture, and public relations, and he co-advises the Phi Theta Kappa chapter at Columbus State. Steve has also taught at The Ohio State University and Ohio Dominican University. He received an MA in English and BAs in journalism and English from Ohio State.
Steve has presented papers at conferences of the Association for Business Communica- tion (ABC), the College English Association of Ohio (CEAO), the Conference on College Composition and Communication, and the Northeast Modern Language Association. He has served on ABC’s Two-Year College Committee and its Diversity Committee, as well as on the CEAO Executive Council. His freelance articles have appeared in a variety of print and web publications, and he is a book reviewer for The Ohioana Quarterly and The Columbus Dispatch.
Steve’s consulting clients include Nationwide Insurance, The Ohio Historical Society, The Ohio Association of Historical Societies and Museums, The Ohio Museums Asso- ciation, Red Capital Mortgage Group, United Energy Systems, The Thomas Moyer for Chief Justice of Ohio Campaign, and Van Meter and Associates. He also advises individual clients on job search and interviewing techniques and is a reader for the College Board’s Advanced Placement Examination in English Language.
Prior to joining Columbus State, Steve managed staff development and information for the Franklin County, Ohio, Commissioners. He has received an Award of Excellence from the National Association of County Information Officers, as well as awards for his writing projects.
About the Authors
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About the Authors vii
August 20, 2012
Dear Student:
Business Communication: Building Critical Skills helps you build the writing, speaking, and listening skills that are crucial for success in the 21st-century workplace.
As you read,
• Look for the answers to each module’s questions. Check your memory with the Instant Replays and your understanding with the Summary of Learning Objectives at the end of the chapter.
• Note the terms in bold type and their definitions. Use the rewind and fast forward icons to go to discussions of terms. • Read the Building a Critical Skill boxes carefully. Practice the skills both in assignments and on your own. These skills will serve you well for the rest of your work life.
• Use items in the lists when you prepare your assignments or review for tests.
• Use the examples, especially the paired examples of effective and ineffective communication, as models to help you draft and revise. Comments in red ink signal problems in an example; comments in blue ink note things done well.
• Read the Site to See and FYI boxes in the margins to give you more resources on the Internet and interesting facts about business communication.
When you prepare an assignment,
• Review the PAIBOC questions in Module 1. Some assignments have “Hints” to help probe the problem. Some of the longer assignments have preliminary assignments analyzing the audience or developing reader benefits or subject lines. Use these to practice portions of longer documents. • If you’re writing a letter or memo, read the sample problems in Modules 10, 11, and 12 with a detailed analysis, strong and weak solutions, and a discussion of the solutions to see how to apply the principles in this book to your own writing.
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viii About the Authors
• Use the Polishing Your Prose exercises to make your writing its best.
• Remember that most problems are open-ended, requiring original, critical thinking. Many of the problems are deliberately written in negative, ineffective language. You’ll need to reword sentences, reorganize information, and think through the situation to produce the best possible solution to the business problem.
• Learn as much as you can about what‘s happening in business. The knowledge will not only help you develop reader benefits and provide examples but also make you an even more impressive candidate in job interviews.
• Visit the Online Learning Center (http://www.mhhe.com/bcs6e) to see how the resources presented there can help you. You will find updated articles, resume and letter templates, links to job hunting websites, and much more.
Communication skills are critical to success in both the new economy and the old. Business Communication: Building Critical Skills can help you identify and practice the skills you need. Have a good term—and a good career!
Cordially,
Stephen Kyo Kaczmarek BusCommBCS@gmail.com
August 20, 2012 Page 2
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About the Authors ix
August 20, 2012
Dear Professor:
Business Communication: Building Critical Skills (BCS) is here to help make your job teaching business communication a little bit easier.
Its modular design makes adapting BCS to 5–, 8–, 10–, or 15–week courses simpler. And, with videos, new media tools, and supplements, it is easy to adapt to Internet courses. The features teachers and students find so useful are also here: anecdotes and examples, easy-to-follow lists, integrated coverage of international business communication, analyses of sample problems, and a wealth of in-class exercises and out-of-class assignments.
But BCS takes these features a step further. In each module you’ll also find
• Polishing Your Prose boxes, featuring straightforward instructions to help students correct common writing errors, as well as exercises to test what they know. • Building a Critical Skill boxes, showing students how to apply what they know in the business world. • Site to See boxes that invite students to use the Internet to get timely information available in cyberspace. • Instant Replays to reinforce concepts students are reading. • Fast Forward/Rewind indicators to help students make connections between concepts in different modules. • FYI boxes that provide some lighthearted information about business communication.
This sixth edition is thoroughly updated based on the latest research in business communication. You’ll find many new problems and examples, new Polishing Your Prose exercises, and new Sites to See. Your students will benefit from timelines that identify the steps in planning, writing, and revising everything from seven-minute e-mail messages to memos taking six hours to reports taking 30 business days. Cases for Communicators at the end of each unit provide individual and group activities.
BCS also includes a comprehensive package of supplements to help you and your students.
• An Instructor’s Resource Manual with sample syllabi, an overview of each module, suggested lecture topics, in-class exercises, examples, discussion and quiz questions, and solutions to problems. • A Test Bank featuring hundreds of questions for use in quizzes, midterms, and final examinations—with answers. The Test Bank is in a computerized format (Mac or Windows) that allows you to create and edit your own tests.
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x About the Authors
• Videos showing real managers reacting to situations dealing with cultural differences, active listening, working in teams, and the virtual workplace. • An Online Learning Center (http://www.mhhe.com/bcs6e) with self-quizzes for students, a bulletin board to communicate with other professors, current articles and research in business communication, downloadable supplements, links to professional resources, and more.
You can get more information about teaching business communication from the meetings and publications of The Association for Business Communication (ABC). Contact Dr. Betty S. Johnson Executive Director Association for Business Communication PO Box 6143 Nacogdoches, Texas 75962-6143 Telephone: 936-468-6280 Fax: 936-468-6281 E-mail: abcjohnson@sfasu.edu Web: www.businesscommunication.org
We’ve done our best to provide you with the most comprehensive but easy-to-use teaching tools we can. Tell us about your own success stories using BCS. We look forward to hearing from you!
Cordially,
Stephen Kyo Kaczmarek BusCommBCS@gmail.com
August 20, 2012 Page 2
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About the Authors xi
We’ve listened to your feedback on what you like and what you want improved in BCS, keeping as much of the text intact as possible while also making sure BCS6e accurately reflects changes in the workplace and in the field of business communication. In particu- lar, Module 13 has been renamed “E-Mail Messages, Web Writing, and Technology” and updated to include more discussion on using social networking tools, and Modules 27 and 28 integrate social media into job application documents. Throughout the book, you’ll find hundreds of elements revised or all new, including FYIs, Sites to See, BCS boxes, Prob- lems and Exercises, Polishing Your Prose exercises, and Cases for Communicators.
Module 1: This critical foundation module underscores the importance of excellent com- munication skills in the workplace. For this edition, it includes a new opener reflecting on the tough economic realities of today’s workplace and how the ability to read and write well gives professionals an edge on the competition. There are also new FYIs on Carnegie Speech’s language training for a global market; vital 21st-century job skills that include oral and written communication; the slow gains in reading skills among elementary and middle school students (the next wave of college students and young professionals); degrees of study and workplace success that correlate in surprising ways; a typo that may have caused stock market chaos; and the most literate cities in the United States. A new Site to See invites students to test their interpersonal skills, and the BCS box has been updated to include information on start-up companies and a new Apple photo. A new end- of-module problem and new Polishing Your Prose exercises round out the updates.
Module 2: Revisions to the module opener reinforce the importance of audience analysis, and some elements have been moved to improve the flow of the module. New FYIs include discussions on an offensive ad by Nivea that failed to properly analyze its audience; errors by FEMA and subsequent messages that made problems worse for disaster victims; the travails of test takers and a talking pineapple; a politician’s lack of awareness of how audi- ences might view his multimillion-dollar income; public criticism by P. J. Crowley that cost him his job; and the value of role-playing to achieve buy-in from audiences. The BCS box has been updated to note that Zappos was named by CNN/Money as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. A new end-of-module problem and all new Polishing Your Prose exercises round out the updates.
Module 3: In an ever-shrinking world, this module’s overview of the elements of diversity and culture that help shape the workplace becomes even more critical for 21st-century professionals. New FYIs in Module 3 focus on the rise of interracial marriages in the United States; the value of touch to staying healthy; self-definition by Millennials in the workplace; Nike’s sexist Olympic T-shirt design; women now scoring higher than men on IQ tests; ads that present women and minorities offensively; Baby Boomers being targeted by con artists; and the lack of diversity in U.S. television and what is being done about it. A new Site to See offers reviews and links to apps that can make travel easier. New end-of- module problems and new Polishing Your Prose exercises round out the updates.
Module 4: This module’s revised opener notes that while the increased pace of the work- place has brought increased pressure to compose faster and faster, writers must still take care to compose effectively. New FYIs discuss how what constitutes revisions changes according to audience; Mortgage Resolution Partners’ plan to keep more people in their homes; errant e-mails that terrified hundreds of employees into thinking they were fired; and tips from experts on overcoming procrastination. Site to See addresses have been updated, and a new Site to See invites visitors to take beginning and advanced Microsoft Word tutorials. New Polishing Your Prose exercises round out the updates.
New and Improved Coverage in BCS6e!
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