Formal Report
Beginning in Week 2 with the launch of your Informal Proposal, you will work through the research stages and writing process towards the creation of a comprehensive and professionally formatted word-processed, 18-paged, double-spaced Formal Report. You have the freedom to select your own topic for this project. However, it must be related to a technology — in whole or in part — or a business practice or process. As well, you must articulate and defend a point of view about the adoption, implementation, or future of your chosen technology or business issue. This persuasive report must culminate in two pages of Conclusions, as well as two pages of Recommendations, that convincingly present your suggested direction for the future of the technology or business issue. The audience for this report is an industry decision-maker, such as your supervisor or CEO, or a public policymaker, such as a politician or bureaucrat, who could act upon your Recommendations. You will identify this decision-maker in the transmittal (cover) document that you will create for your report. For your Formal Report, you may want to consider focusing on a community service organization or professional association in your field. It would require that you spend some time at the organization to get a first-hand understanding of its mission and operations. You would be required to analyze the multi-level impact that technology has on this organization′s tactical and strategic objectives. Community service projects can be fulfilling to those served as well as to those who serve. In fact, employers often look for graduates who have participated in community service. An Original Technical Illustration Your report must feature at least one technical illustration that you have created to support your explanations or points of view in the document. Your illustration, such as a chart, graph, diagram, or schematic, should help convey a major idea in your report. You can use a software application of your choice, such as Microsoft Excel or Visio. Or, you could create an image or photograph using a digital camera or some graphics package. Then, import your illustration into your document. And, make sure you label it correctly with a title and caption. You don′t have to provide an in-text citation since you have created it yourself. Sources for Your Formal Report You are expected to consult a variety of electronic (websites, databases, media) and traditional sources (books, journals, magazines), in addition to two Subject-Matter Experts (SMEs) that you must interview. A minimum of 6 sources of information is required. And, your sources must come from three categories: Two sources must be ″traditional″, i.e. books, newspapers, magazines, journals. Articles found in proprietary databases, such as those offered to you free of charge through online access to Champlain’s library, can count in this category as they are also available in printed form. Two sources must be electronic, e.g. Websites, databases, movies, TV shows. Two sources must be interviews with Subject-Matter Experts (SMEs), defined as people who can offer you some information about your research area. These people can be professors, colleagues, supervisors, authors of website articles, salespeople, basically anyone affected by the technology or business topic. All sources must be cited using the Modern Languages Association (MLA) or American Psychological Association (APA) documentation system. You may find value in Purdue OWL′s APA Links to an external site. & MLA Links to an external site. guides, as well as Champlain′s citation help page. Appendices for Your Formal Report For your Formal Report, you must create at least three appendices, as follows: Appendix A: Transсrіpts/Notes/Emails from your interviews with your two SMEs Appendix B: Relevant screenshots from your electronic sources, such as websites and database articles Appendix C: Excerpted articles and/or book covers from your traditional sources If there is additional information, such as data and ancillary reports that you would like your reader to see, then you can create additional appendices. The Final Deliverables A Transmittal document in the form of a business letter or memorandum, depending on your selected audience, is required to accompany or ″cover″ your Formal Report. (This document is not the same as your Informal Proposal.) Then, only pages featuring complete sentences will count towards the required 18 pages of your report. Therefore, your document should look like this: Title page Summary – 1 page Table of Contents Introduction – 1 page Discussion – 12 pages Conclusions – 2 pages Recommendations – 2 pages List of Sources Appendices Make sure all major sections start on their own pages and that you number all pages. The Summary and Table of Contents can take lower-case Roman numerals as page numbers. Both in-text and end-of-text citations are required, in keeping with APA and MLA documentation systems, to avoid plagiarism.

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