Business Communication, Third Edition

SQ3 How should you structure longer, formal reports for print and online distribution?

When you report on a major project or substantial research, you will most likely need to create a formal report. Formal reports may be primarily informative, organizing the results of a project or information from research. However, long business reports are often analytical—­for example, recommendation reports that analyze options and recommend a course of action, or evaluation reports that assess the success of a project or a decision. A formal ­report may be as short as 8 to 10 pages or as long as several hundred pages. As outlined in 
Figure 10.4 on pages 335, a formal report includes a number of elements that organize the complex material and help the reader ...