By now we have gone through many of the typical steps involved in successfully producing long-term professional research projects.  You should have most of your observations and interviews finished by this point, and you also should have collected the writing samples you might report on, and revisited the theoretical pieces that we have read (and those that you have found on your own). The final major step is to complete a formal, polished, analytical report of your findings and conclusions. The deadline for publishing the rough draft of the final report is noon on December 2nd.

general requirements

• the final report must be between 2500 and 3000 words
• you must cite at least three sources that we have not discussed in class (and that add intellectual substance to your writing), and at least two of the four theoretical sources that we discussed in class; only one of the outside sources can be an interview
• you must use APA Style for citations and a "References" section (as described in The Blair Handbook, Chapter 57); since this is an online report, link any online sources listed in the References section directly to those sources whenever possible; you may also include links where appropriate in the report itself
• the final report must include at the top a title, your name, and the name and location of this course (English 3001: Writing in the Wild, Eastern Illinois University)
• it must also include a table of contents, with each section in it linked to that section of the report (more soon on how to do "internal links")

content

Include concise, well-written description and analysis of your research materials.  Include an appropriate Introduction and a Conclusion—other sections and subsections, and what to call them, are up to you.  Introduce your writer, the research setting, the work that your writer does, and the relations with others that influence this writing; then devote most of the report to insightful, substantive analysis of whichever aspects of your materials have arisen as most interesting and worthy of attention.  Include whatever supporting materials will help--appropriate quotations, summaries of relevant points or concepts from outside sources, and any charts, tables, or other visual aids that would clarify any of your analysis.
 

format

In most professional settings, acceptable formats for formal reports tend to differ from the standard structure for traditional college essays. First of all, while reports do tend to focus clearly and consistently on a particular topic, they don’t necessarily have a unified focus throughout all parts of the report on particular findings about that topic.  In other words, reports, and the results they report, can often seem somewhat scattered in comparison to a unified college-level essay.  Also, those who read a report might not read the entire report—another difference from a college-level essay.  Accordingly, professional reports typically contain concise, well-labeled sections (and, where appropriate, sub-sections), and these sections are clearly labeled in a table of contents.

For your final report, make a table of contents, and label your first section (which might have subsections) “Introduction.”  Note that sections and subsections (and even sub-sub-sections!) should be clearly differentiated from each other by different font styles and sizes. Include all sections and subsections in a table of contents, and link each section and subsection in the table of contents to its section in the report (we'll discuss how to make "internal links" in class).
 

writing style

The polished writing that you produce in your careers is likely to follow McKeown's criteria for professional writing than those he lists for literary writing--follow the general rules he gives for professional writing, and also the tips we will discuss near the end of the semester on "Plain English." The writing in this report should be the best, most polished writing you've done in this class so far, and it should reflect the work you've done this semester to improve your own writing style.  Give yourself plenty of time to edit and proofread your work, and consider asking trusted others to look for specific problem areas you still know about in your writing. How well your report is written will constitute a significant part of its grade.

Otherwise, what you do with your report is up to you; be creative, original, and amazingly insightful.  And see me if you have questions.