Start with a demonstration of the need for the recommendation by showing a problem, overlooked opportunity, current limitations, and bad consequences being suffered by your audience

SHORT REPORT ASSIGNMENT

In the form of a long memo (with internal headings) to your target audience, write a short report (approximately 1000 words) that recommends a new process, method, procedure, program, device, mechanism, system, technique, or whatever, and explain its operation and components.  Ideally, the body of this report can be revised into the discussion section of your final report, but initially it should be an independent report with its own rhetorical context, in aIDition to describing the parts, steps, and features involved.

a.    start with a demonstration of the need for the recommendation by showing a problem, overlooked opportunity, current limitations, and bad consequences being suffered by your audience

b.    state your recommendation and provide essential definitions, background, and evidence of feasibility

c.    insert a transitional paragraph, overview, or list of the main steps/parts that your report will explain

d.    write three to five body sections, each describing a major stage, section, or feature

e.    organize the discussion chronologically (step-by-step) or spatially (position-by-position) or emphatically (order of importance, 2-3-1)

•    for a process explanation, use sequential transitions (e.g., first, second, third) between the main stages and use temporal transitions (e.g., to begin, next, then, after, now, during, later, finally) within the paragraphs between the steps in the separate stages

•    for a parts description, use locational transitions (e.g., at the top, on the side, in the miIDle) and relational transitions (e.g., to the left, farther up, behind) between the sections and parts

•    for an arrangement in order of importance, use emphatic transitions (e.g., one very, another, more, even more, furthermore, most)

f.    keep in mind that you are explaining the process and/or describing the components, not instructing someone how to do it, so avoid the overuse of imperative verbs (commands that delete the implied “you”)

g.    include documents evidence and information (use parenthetical references and a Works Cited page)

h.    integrate at least one visual

i.    conclude with a call for action or a challenge, and evidence of the benefits and future good consequences of your recommendation being put into action