Unified Scientists and Engineers

Unified Scientists and Engineers

UNIFIED SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS

INTEROFFICE COMMUNICATION

DATE:

TO:

FROM:

SUBJECT: Checklist for SHORT REPORT

(Adapted from: Strategies for Technical Communication, Nancy Roundy with David Mair, Boston: Little, Brown, 1985)

Read the entire document, and then check for the following. If you answer “no” to any of the questions, be specific about how the document should be changed. If you answer “yes,” but think the document could be better if done differently, be sure to mention that as well.

  1. Look over the progress report and gauge its overall professional, aesthetic, and informative qualities.
  1. Discuss how the writer has worked to place statements of the rhetorical purpose, corporate problem, technical task, and perhaps other background information early in the document.
  1. What kind of arrangement is used in the text? Is it topical, chronological, or some other form? Comment on its appropriateness. Is there a forecast of this arrangement (like a partitioning statement)?
  1. Comment on how the report focuses on the work and the amount of detail in each section. Keep in mind the importance of emphasizing material depending on how far along the project is at the time this progress report was written. Is there any mention of the proposed time line? Any noticeable gaps in time that are unaccounted for?
  1. Is there a visual representation of the time line of the project? Comment on the placement, informative value, clarity, labeling, and reference to any graphics in the text.
  1. If the author has included preliminary findings or conclusions, discuss the wording and placement of those findings or conclusions.
  1. If the project or its schedule has changed from what was proposed, discuss how and where the reader is informed of this. What is its likely effect on the reader? Have the changes been adequately and persuasively explained? If no problems have occurred, does the author make any sort of reference to agreement in the original proposal
  1. Edit and Proofread.
  1. Below, provide a detailed written summary assessing the overall quality of the document.
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