​Summary of Chapter 10

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Reports allow managers and co-workers to stay informed, review opinions, plan, and make decisions. The key to successful reports is clarity and Skim ability. In terms of content and format, there are few categories of reports: Informal, formal and short. Informal reports are 1-10 pages long, follow a letter or memo format and use personal pronouns and contractions; they are a routine and internal. Formal reports are 10-100 pages, do not use personal pronouns or contractions, include title page. cover letter and table of contents, they are based on deep research or study and are distributed to external or internal superiors. Short reports purpose is to inform. Short reports could be: Periodic, Investigative, Compliance and Situational.

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When writing reports, one can use either a direct approach, which is for informational and analytical reports or indirect approach which has the purpose to persuade or educate the reader and is likely to face resistance from the reader. Furthermore, reports generally follow a writing process which is consisted of: Writing a Plan, Research, Compose and revise where the writer should start with an outline and have it proofread at the end. Finally, when writing reports one should always consider visual aids and graphics which should be clarify the data and make numerical information easier to understand, thus they need to be pertinent to the subject at hand.