Formal Reports and Proposals

Online Activities
1.
Paraphrasing a Source
owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_paraphr.html
Visit this Purdue University site and read the article on paraphrasing material. Then follow
the link to the exercise on paraphrasing. Compare your answers to those on the Web site
and be prepared to discuss any differences between them.
2. Avoiding Plagiarism
www.ecf.toronto.edu/~writing/docum5.htm
Visit this University of Toronto Engineering Writing Centre site and complete the “Plagiarism
self-tester.”
3. Evaluating a Report
www.temple.edu/MLC/ENG104/bwreport.html
This Temple University, PA, site contains links to three business reports that earned A
grades for the students who wrote them. Read one of the reports and then refer to Figure 9-
4 in this chapter of Impact: “Structure of a Formal Report.” Make brief notes showing how
the sample report does or does not use the structure outlined in Figure 9-4. On the basis of
your analysis, indicate whether or not you would give the report an A grade and write an
evaluation of the report for the student who wrote it.
Weblinks
owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/pw/p_abstract.html
From Purdue University, some guidelines on writing report abstracts.
These next three sites are from the University of Toronto Engineering Writing Centre.
www.ecf.toronto.edu/~writing/outline.htm
This site contains a discussion of writing and using outlines. 
www.ecf.toronto.edu/~writing/progress.htm
This site has detailed instructions on writing a progress report.

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Impact: A Guide to Business Communication
www.ecf.toronto.edu/~writing/proposals.htm
This site illustrates the elements of a business proposal.
owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/index2.html#research
This Purdue University site has a number of links to relevant topics such as using statistics,
conducting Web searches, documenting electronic sources, using APA and MLA formats,
and avoiding plagiarism.