Formal Report - Career

Formal Report
For our next project, you will write a formal report. This report will be 7-10 pages in length. This report will include a bibliography written in MLA, Chicago/Turabian, or APA format, as we will discuss in class.
To summarize, the report will include
➢ Title Page,
➢ Executive Summary,
➢ Table of Contents,
➢ Report (with headings, etc.);
➢ Illustrations,
➢ Printed Results from interest tests taken through the Career Center, and;
➢ Documentation Written in MLA. Chicago/Turabian, or APA Format, as found between pages 65-98 in BWC.
Your Job
Your job is to build a personal “Hedgehog Concept,” based on the work of Jim Collins—in other words, research a career you might be interested in that combines the following three elements:
a) For which career/vocation/employment field to have a passion?
b) Which career/vocation/employment is built into your DNA?
c) Which career/vocation/employment drives your economic engine—where can you have success on a long term basis?
You are to use the principles and standards discussed in class to write this presentation.
The objective is to research a career field and companies/agencies for that grabs your interest, and to which you can match your personal Hedgehog Concept. The report is to include prospects for this field, as found through the U. S. Government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics website’s Occupational Outlook Handbook, found at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/.
You must also include relevant historical information about the firm or agency you are researching, including stock performance, top personalities/management/products related to that organization.
In addition, you must visit the Career Center Website http://www.towson.edu/careercenter/ And use the Traitify resource to “search” for a “Hedgehog Concept” (Collins, Good to Great, 2001) career.
The results of this survey must be included within your formal report.
Remember, this is an Upper-Division course, and most of you are upper-class persons, so I expect the utmost effort for this assignment. In short, be creative and follow the guidelines discussed in class, or as shown on The Owl @ Purdue, and you should do well.
Timeline
February 28, 2017—Draft of cover sheet, table of contents, main body, and citations due to Discussion Board for instructor critique/peer feedback
March 14, 2017—Formal reports due as paper copies or delivered to the Discussion Board forum Formal Report Final Copy.
Elements of the Report
Title Page--The title page will include the title of the report, course title, my name, month and year. Here is a sample
Ideas and Ideologies: Framing A Meaningful First Year Writing Class
Bruce Friedlander
English 317 Dr. Smith
March 2016
You do not have to follow this format, it is just a sample.
Executive Summary (written last)
Part 1--Purpose
This part explains the purpose of the report. In other words, this is a way for the boss to know the gist of the report.
The first paragraph will explain the questions and problems at hand--why such a study and report is needed. This is the hook--how you show the reader that the report is worthwhile reading.
The second paragraph will list the major questions the report will answer; the objectives of the report. After a sentence or two introducing the topic of the report, you will list 3-5 of the major objectives of the report.
Part 2--Results in Brief
For each major objective listed in the purpose section, you will include a one paragraph explanation in the Results in Brief section. This will be a summary of the information provided in the report and corresponding section. The R. I. B. should have the same number of paragraphs as the major questions you list in the purpose.
Part 3--Background
This is a one-two paragraph summary that explains contextual information you think the reader will need in order to understand the overall report. In this short section, include information such as how one arrives at a passion for a particular occupation, job outlook, alternative scenarios, etc.
Part 4--Recommendations
This section should contain suggestions to the problems that correspond with the R. I. B. section. Think of the cause of the problem, and suggest a recommendation to solve the problem.
Executive Summary will be due for editing/suggestions for the online class session next week.
Table of Contents
List every heading and subheading in the report. Provide the page number where that heading can be found.
This highly-detailed section will guide your reader to information in the report.
Table of Illustrations
This report will contain illustrations such as photos, charts, and graphs.
Any illustration that provides information should be included in this index.
You must include at least 5 illustrations, included in proper format, in the report.
Report Body
The report body should make valid claims about the quality and adequacy of your academic program (this is what my old professor would call the “telling them” section). It should provide evidence to persuade the reader about the validity of your claims. You must provide hard evidence to support your claim.
Use a format that makes your report the most readable. Remember to include headings to clue your reader to the topic of each paragraph. While it is suggested you use the deductive style we have practiced all semester, you are free to construct this report in the way you think is most readable.
Back Matter
This should include your Works Cited page--as well as any extra information that might be included in an appendix.
Use proper documentation format, as discussed in class.