ENG 3302: Communicating Persuasively, Coherent Documents, Effective Sentences, Design, Graphics, and Recommendation Reports

Persuasion, Coherence, Sentences,
Design, Graphics, and
Recommendation Reports

ENG 3302 Business and Technical
Report Writing

© 2012 by Bedford/St. Martin's

Table of Contents
Topic Slide Number/s
Communicating Persuasively 3 to 15
Writing Coherent Documents 16 to 30
Writing Effective Sentences 31 to 46
Designing Documents 47 to 84
Creating Graphics 85 to 121
Recommendation Reports 122 to 139


Communicating Persuasively

Chapter 8. Communicating Persuasively © 2012 by
Bedford/St. Martin's

Consider your audience’s
four broader goals:

• security
• recognition
• professional growth
• connectedness

Chapter 8. Communicating Persuasively © 2012 by Bedford/St. Martin's 4

Work within eight constraints:

• ethical
• legal
• political
• informational
• personnel
• financial
• time
• format and tone

Follow six steps to
craft a persuasive argument:
• Identify the elements of a persuasive
argument.
• Use the right kinds of evidence.
• Consider opposing viewpoints.
• Appeal to emotions responsibly.
• Decide where to present the claim.
• Understand the role of culture in persuasion.


Understand the three elements
of a persuasive argument:

• The claim—the idea you are communicating.
• The evidence—the facts and judgments that
support your claim.
• The reasoning—the logic that you use to
derive the claim from the evidence.


Use the right kinds of evidence:

• “commonsense” arguments
• numerical data
• examples
• expert testimony


Consider three ways of meeting possible
objections to your argument:

• Show that the opposing argument is based on
illogical reasoning or on inaccurate or
incomplete facts.
• Show that the opposing argument is valid but
less powerful than your own.
• Show how the two arguments can be
reconciled.


Understand the role of culture in persuasion:

• Know what each culture regards as a
persuasive argument.
• Know how each culture structures a
persuasive argument.


Avoid ten common logical fallacies:

• ad hominem argument, or argument against
the speaker
• argument from ignorance
• appeal to pity
• argument from authority
• circular argument, or begging the question


Avoid ten common logical fallacies (cont.):

• either-or argument
• ad populum argument, or bandwagon
argument
• hasty generalization, or inadequate sampling
• post hoc reasoning
• oversimplifying


Demonstrate four characteristics
when creating a professional persona:

• cooperativeness
• moderation
• fair-mindedness
• modesty


An example of using words and images
to create a persuasive argument

Caption: “A young boy works 12-hour days packing mud bricks in Liberia.”
Source: U.S. Department of State, 2009 <www.state.gov/documents/organization/123360.pdf>.


An example of using an image
to convey technical evidence

Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 2008 <www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id5867>.


Writing Coherent Documents


Consider seven questions when
revising your document for coherence:

• Have you left out anything in turning your
outline into a draft?
• Have you included all the elements your
readers expect to see?
• Have you organized the document logically?
• Is the document persuasive?

Chapter 9. Writing Coherent Documents © 2012 by Bedford/St. Martin's 17

Consider seven questions when revising
your document for coherence (cont.):

• Do you come across as reliable, honest, and
helpful?
• Have you presented all the elements
consistently?
• Is the emphasis appropriate throughout the
document?


Follow four guidelines
when revising headings:

• Avoid long noun strings.
• Be informative.
• Use a grammatical form appropriate to your
audience.
• Avoid back-to-back headings.


Turning paragraphs into lists
presents four advantages:

• It forces you to look at the big picture.
• It forces you to examine the sequence.
• It forces you to create a helpful lead-in.
• It forces you to tighten and clarify your prose.


Study documents from other
cultures to answer four questions:

• How does the writer make the information
accessible?
• How does the writer show the relationship
among types of information?
• How does the writer communicate the
organization of the document as a whole?
• How does the writer make transitions from one
subject to another?


There are two kinds of paragraphs:

• A body paragraph is a group of sentences (or
sometimes a single sentence) that is
complete and self-sufficient and that
contributes to a larger discussion.
• A transitional paragraph helps readers move
from one major point to another.


Most paragraphs contain two elements:

• The topic sentence summarizes or forecasts
the main point of the paragraph.
• The supporting information makes the topic
sentence clear and convincing.


Avoid burying bad news in paragraphs:

• The most emphatic location is the topic
sentence.
• The second most emphatic location is the end of
the paragraph.
• The least emphatic location is the middle of the
paragraph.


Supporting information
usually fulfills one of five roles:

• It defines a key term or idea included in the topic
sentence.
• It provides examples or illustrations of the
situation described in the topic sentence.
• It identifies causes: factors that led to the
situation.
• It defines effects: implications of the situation.
• It supports the claim made in the topic sentence.

Follow three guidelines
when dividing long paragraphs:

• Break the discussion at a logical place.
• Make the topic sentence a separate
paragraph and break up the supporting
information.
• Use a list.


Use three techniques
to emphasize coherence:

• Add transitional words and phrases.
• Repeat key words.
• Use demonstrative pronouns followed by
nouns.


Use transitional words and phrases:


Use two techniques
to create a coherent design:

• Use headers and footers to enhance
coherence.
• Use typefaces to enhance coherence.


Headers and footers are
coherence devices.

Source: U.S. Department of State, 2007
<www.usaid.gov/policy/coordination/strat
plan_fy07-12.pdf>.


Writing Effective Sentences


Use these seven techniques
for structuring effective sentences:

• Use lists.
• Emphasize new and important information.
• Choose an appropriate sentence length.
• Focus on the “real” subject.
• Focus on the “real” verb.
• Use parallel structure.
• Use modifiers effectively.

Chapter 10. Writing Effective Sentences © 2012 by Bedford/St. Martin's 32

Use these five guidelines
for creating effective lists:

• Set off each listed item with a number, a
letter, or a symbol (usually a bullet).
• Break up long lists.
• Present the items in a parallel structure.
• Structure and punctuate the lead-in correctly.
• Punctuate the list correctly.


Use parallel structure:

• Use the same grammatical form for coordinate
elements in a sentence.
– all clauses either active or passive
– all verbs either indicative or imperative
– all nouns preceded by the same article
• Parallel structure creates a recognizable pattern
and makes a sentence easier to follow.


Use modifiers effectively:

• Distinguish between restrictive and
nonrestrictive modifiers.
• Avoid misplaced modifiers.
• Avoid dangling modifiers.


Choose the right words and phrases:

• Select an appropriate level of formality.
• Be clear and specific.
• Be concise.
• Use inoffensive language.


Select an appropriate level of formality:

There are three levels of formality:
• informal
• moderately formal
• highly formal

Use a level and tone appropriate for your
• audience
• subject
• purpose


Informal writing can cause two problems:

• It tends to be imprecise.
• It can be embarrassing.


for writing clearly and specifically:

• Use the active and passive voice appropriately.
• Be specific.
• Avoid unnecessary jargon.
• Use positive constructions.
• Avoid long noun strings.
• Avoid clichés.
• Avoid euphemisms.


Use the active and
passive voice appropriately:

Use the active voice unless
• the agent is clear from the context
• the agent is unknown
• the agent is less important than the action
• a reference to the agent is embarrassing,
dangerous, or in some other way
inappropriate

Use these three techniques
for writing specifically:

• Use precise words.
• Provide adequate detail.
• Avoid ambiguity.


Avoid unnecessary jargon for four reasons:

• It can be imprecise.
• It can be confusing.
• It is often seen as condescending.
• It is often intimidating.


Be concise:

• Avoid obvious statements.
• Avoid filler.
• Avoid unnecessary prepositional phrases.
• Avoid wordy phrases.
• Avoid fancy words.


Follow these six guidelines
for avoiding sexist language:

• Replace the male-gender words with non-gender-
specific words.
• Switch to a different form of the verb.
• Switch to the plural.
• Switch to he or she, he/she, s/he, or his or her.
• Address the reader directly.
• Alternate he and she.


Follow these five guidelines
for using the people-first approach:

• Refer to the person first, the disability second.
• Don’t confuse handicap with disability.
• Don’t refer to victimization.
• Don’t refer to a person as “wheelchair bound” or
“confined to a wheelchair.”
• Don’t refer to people with disabilities as abnormal.


in preparing text for translation:
• Use short sentences.
• Use the active voice.
• Use simple words.
• Include a glossary.
• Use words that have only one meaning.
• Use pronouns carefully.
• Avoid jokes, puns, and culture-bound
references.


Designing Documents


Document and Web design has five goals:

• to make a good impression on readers
• to help readers understand the structure and
hierarchy of the information
• to help readers find the information they need
• to help readers understand the information
• to help readers remember the information

Chapter 11. Designing Documents and Web Sites © 2012 by Bedford/St. Martin's 48

There are four principles of design:

• proximity
• alignment
• repetition
• contrast


Proximity organizes this image:

Source: U.S. Department of State, 2011
<http://future.state.gov>.


Alignment organizes this image:

Source: Carnegie Science Center, n.d.


Repetition organizes this image:

Source: Myers, 2007, p. 362.


Contrast clarifies this image:

Source: Lambert Coffin, 2010 <www.lambertcoffin.com/index.php?sid=2>.


To plan a design, take these two steps:

• Analyze your audience and purpose.
• Determine your resources.


For multicultural readers,
consider four cultural preferences:

• paper size
• typeface preferences
• color preferences
• text direction


Determine your resources:

• Time. What is your schedule?
• Money. Can you afford professional
designers, print shops, and Web developers?
• Equipment. Do you have graphics software,
desktop-publishing programs, and a printer?


Consider these four elements
when designing documents:

• size (page size and page count)
• paper
• bindings
• accessing aids


Select one of four
common types of binding:

• loose-leaf binders
• ring or spiral binders
• saddle binding
• perfect binding


Consider using six typical accessing aids:

• icons
• color
• dividers and tabs
• cross-reference tables
• headers and footers
• page numbering


Understand how learning
theory relates to page design:

• chunking
• queuing
• filtering


Use two elements
to create your page layout:

• page grids
• white space


Margins have four purposes:

• to limit the amount of information on the page,
making the document easier to read and use
• to provide space for binding and allow readers
to hold the page without covering up the text
• to provide a neat frame around the type
• to provide space for marginal glosses


A document bound like a book
has these margins:


A multicolumn design
offers three advantages:

• Text is easier to read because the lines are
shorter.
• Columns allow you to fit more information on
the page.
• Columns let you use the principle of repetition
to create a visual pattern.


Typography includes seven topics:

• typefaces
• type families
• case
• type size
• line length
• line spacing
• justification


Different typefaces
make different impressions:
This paragraph is typed in Monotype Corsiva typeface. You are unlikely
to see this style of font in a technical document because it is too ornate
and too hard to read.

This paragraph is Times Roman, an effective typeface for text
in the body of technical documents.

This paragraph is Tahoma, which has a modern, high-
tech look. It is best suited for headings and titles in
technical documents.


Two main categories of typefaces
are serif and sans serif:

N N
serif sans serif


A type family includes many variations:
Some of the members of the Helvetica family:
Helvetica
Helvetica Bold
Helvetica Bold Italic
Helvetica Narrow
Helvetica Narrow Bold
Helvetica Narrow Bold Italic


Case affects readability:
Lowercase letters are easier to read:

Individual variations are greater in lowercase words
THAN THEY ARE IN UPPERCASE WORDS.


Different functions
call for different type sizes:

footnotes 8- or 9-point type
body text 10-, 11-, or 12-point type
headings 2 to 4 points larger than body text
indexes 2 points smaller than body text
titles 18 or 24 points
slides 24- to 36-point type


Use line spacing carefully
when designing headings:
Summary

In this example, the writer has skipped a line between
the heading and the text that follows it.

Summary
In this example, the writer has not skipped a line. The
heading stands out, but not as emphatically.

Summary. This run-in style makes the heading stand
out the least.


Use other design features
for clarity and emphasis:

• rules
• boxes
• screens
• marginal glosses
• pull quotes


These six principles will help you
design effective Web sites and pages:

• Create informative headers and footers.
• Help readers navigate the site.
• Include extra features readers might need.
• Help readers connect with others.
• Design for readers with disabilities.
• Design for multicultural readers.


Follow these five guidelines for
making your site easy to navigate:
• Include a site map or index.
• Use a table of contents at the top of long
pages.
• Help readers get back to the top of long
pages.
• Include a link to the home page on every
page.
• Include textual navigational links at the bottom
of the page.

This is a typical site map:

Source: National Institutes of Health, 2010 <www.genome.gov/sitemap.cfm>.


This is a typical table of contents:

Source: U.S. Copyright Office, 2010 <www.copyright.gov/help/faq>.


Include extra features
your readers might need:

• an FAQ
• a search page or engine
• resource links
• a printable version of your site
• a text-only version of your site


Consider these three types of disabilities:

• vision impairment
• hearing impairment
• mobility impairment


Follow these three suggestions
when designing for multicultural audiences:

• Use common words and short sentences and
paragraphs.
• Avoid idioms, both verbal and visual, that
might be confusing.
• If a large percentage of your readers speak a
language other than English, consider creating
a version of your site in that language.


Follow these four guidelines
for designing a simple site:

• Use simple backgrounds.
• Use conservative color combinations to
increase text legibility.
• Avoid decorative graphics.
• Use thumbnail graphics.


to make text easy to read:

• Keep the text short.
• Chunk information.
• Make the text as simple as possible.


to write clear, informative links:

• Structure your sentences as if there were no
links in your text.
• Indicate what information the linked page
contains.
• Use standard colors for text links.


This is an effective page design:

Source: Gorzalka, 2011 <http://clearideaz.com>.


This is an effective page design:

Source: Tumblr, 2011 <www.tumblr.com/about>.


Creating Graphics

Chapter 8. Communicating Persuasively © 2012 by
Bedford/St. Martin's

Graphics serve five functions:
• They can catch readers’ attention and interest.
• They can help writers communicate information that is
difficult to communicate with words.
• They can help writers clarify and emphasize
information.
• They can help nonnative speakers of English
understand information.
• They can help writers communicate information to
multiple audiences with different interests, aptitudes,
and reading habits.

Chapter 12. Creating Graphics © 2012 by Bedford/St. Martin's 86

Graphics offer benefits
that words alone cannot:
• Graphics are indispensable in demonstrating logical
and numerical relationships.
• Graphics can communicate spatial information more
effectively than words alone.
• Graphics can communicate steps in a process more
effectively than words alone.
• Graphics can save space.
• Graphics can reduce the cost of documents intended
for international readers.


An effective graphic has five characteristics:

• It serves a purpose.
• It is simple and uncluttered.
• It presents a manageable amount of
information.
• It meets readers’ format expectations.
• It is clearly labeled.


Follow these six suggestions
to create honest graphics:
• Cite your source and obtain permission.
• Include all relevant data.
• Begin the axes in your graphs at zero—or mark
them clearly.
• Do not use a table to hide a data point that
would be obvious in a graph.
• Show items as they really are.
• Do not use color or shading to misrepresent an
item’s importance.

for integrating graphics and text:

• Place the graphic in an appropriate location.
• Introduce the graphic in the text.
• Explain the graphic in the text.
• Make the graphic clearly visible.
• Make the graphic accessible.


The process of creating
graphics includes four steps:

• planning
• producing
• revising
• citing


As you plan graphics,
consider the following:

• audience
• purpose of the graphic and the document
• kind of information you want to communicate
• physical conditions in which readers will use the
document
• time
• money
• equipment
• expertise

When producing graphics, choose
one of the following four approaches:

• use existing graphics
• modify existing graphics
• create graphics on a computer
• have someone else create the graphics


Use color effectively:
• Don’t overdo it.
• Use color to emphasize particular items.
• Use color to create patterns.
• Use contrast effectively.
• Take advantage of any symbolic meanings
colors may already have.
• Be aware that color can obscure or
swallow up text.


Use color to establish patterns:

Source: Myers, 2010, p. 72.


Use color to create effective contrast:

The text is hard to read because of insufficient
contrast.

Effective contrast makes the text easier to read.


Choose the category of technical
information you want to communicate:

• numerical information
• logical relationships
• process descriptions and instructions
• visual and spatial characteristics


Five kinds of graphics help
illustrate numerical information:

• tables
• bar graphs
• pictographs
• line graphs
• pie charts


Two kinds of graphics help
illustrate logical relationships:

• diagrams
• organization charts


Three kinds of graphics help illustrate
process descriptions and instructions:

• checklists
• flowcharts
• logic trees


Four kinds of graphics help illustrate visual
and spatial characteristics:

• photographs
• screen shots
• line drawings
• maps


A typical table has these parts:
Table number
Table title

Column head
Column subheads
Stub

Row

Data cell

Source
statement

Footnotes


Follow these nine guidelines
for creating effective tables:
• Indicate the units of measure.
• In the stub (the left-hand column), list the
items being compared.
• In the columns, arrange the data clearly and
logically.
• Do the math.
• Use dot leaders if a column contains a “blank”
spot: a place where there are no appropriate
data.

Follow these nine guidelines
for creating effective tables (cont.):

• Don’t make the table wider than it needs to be.
• Minimize the use of rules.
• Provide footnotes where necessary.
• If you did not generate the information
yourself, indicate your source.


Horizontal and vertical
bar graphs look like this:


Follow these six guidelines
for creating effective bar graphs:
• Make the proportions fair.
• If possible, begin the quantity scale at zero.
• Use tick marks (marks along the axis) to
signal the amounts.
• Arrange the bars in a logical sequence.
• Place the title below the figure.
• Indicate the source of your information if you
did not generate it yourself.


This is an effective bar graph:


The basic bar graph has five variations:

• grouped bar graph
• subdivided bar graph
• 100-percent bar graph
• deviation bar graph
• stratum graph


This is an effective pictograph:


This pictograph is misleading:


Follow these three guidelines
for creating effective line graphs:

• If possible, begin the quantity scale at zero.
• Use reasonable proportions for the vertical
and horizontal axes.
• Use grid lines—horizontal, vertical, or both—
rather than tick marks when your readers
need to read the quantities precisely.


This is an effective line graph:


Follow these eight guidelines
for creating effective pie charts:

• Restrict the number of slices to six or seven.
• Begin with the largest slice at the top and work
clockwise in order of decreasing size.
• Include a miscellaneous slice for very small
quantities.
• Label the slices (horizontally, not radially)
inside the slice.


Follow these eight guidelines
for creating effective pie charts (cont.):

• To emphasize one slice, use a bright,
contrasting color or separate the slice from the
pie.
• Check to see that your software follows the
appropriate guidelines for pie charts.
• Don’t overdo fill patterns.
• Check that your percentages add up to 100.


How effective is this graphic?

Source: Defense Intelligence Agency,
2003 <www.dia.mil/thisisdia/
DIA_Workforce_of_the_Future.pdf>.


Use these four techniques to show motion:


for presenting photographs effectively:
• Eliminate extraneous background clutter that
can distract readers.
• Do not electronically manipulate the
photograph.
• Help readers understand the perspective.
• If appropriate, include a common object to
give readers a sense of scale.
• If appropriate, label components or important
features.

Line drawings offer three
advantages over photographs:

• Line drawings can focus readers’ attention on
desired information better than a photograph
can.
• Line drawings can highlight information that
might be obscured by bad lighting or a bad
angle in a photograph
• Line drawings are sometimes easier for
readers to understand than photographs are.


Line drawings offer a unique
advantage over other graphics:


The basic line drawing has three variations:


Follow these six guidelines for creating
effective graphics for multicultural readers:
• Be aware that reading patterns differ.
• Be aware of varying cultural attitudes toward
giving instruction.
• Deemphasize trivial details.
• Avoid culture-specific language, symbols, and
references.
• Portray people very carefully.
• Be particularly careful in portraying hand
gestures.

Writing Recommendation Reports


Recommendation reports
address four kinds of questions:

• What should we do about Problem X?
• Should we do Function X?
• Should we use Technology A or Technology B
to do Function X?
• We currently use Method A to do Function X.
Should we be using Method B?

Chapter 19. Writing Recommendation Reports © 2012 by Bedford/St. Martin's 123

Feasibility reports
answer three kinds of questions:

• questions of possibility
• questions of economic wisdom
• questions of perception


Use a problem-solving method
when preparing a recommendation report:

• Identify the problem or opportunity.
• Establish criteria for responding to the problem or
opportunity.
• Determine the options.
• Study each option according to the criteria.
• Draw conclusions about each option.
• Formulate recommendations based on the
conclusions.


Use logic boxes to plot a series of options:


Use a matrix to
compare and contrast options:
Criteria and Weight Options

Ricoh Xerox Sharp

Criterion Weight Rating Score(1) Rating Score(1) Rating Score(1)

Pages/min. 1 9 9 6 6 3 3

Duplex 3 1 3 3 9 10 30

Color 4 10 40 1 4 10 40

Total Score 52 19 73

(1)
Score = Weight x Rating


Explain your decision matrix:

• Explain why you chose each criterion—or didn’t
choose a criterion readers might have expected.
• Explain why you assigned a particular weight to
each criterion.
• Explain why you assigned a particular rating to
each option.


You can present your
conclusions in one of three ways:

• Rank all the options.
• Classify all the options in two categories:
acceptable and unacceptable.
• Present a compound conclusion.


Most recommendation reports
have three major sections:

• the body of the report
• the front matter
• the back matter


A typical recommendation report
has five body elements:

• introduction
• methods
• results
• conclusions
• recommendations


An introduction typically
answers nine questions:

• What is the subject of the report?
• What is the purpose of the report?
• What is the background of the report?
• What are your sources of information?
• What is the scope of the report?


An introduction typically
answers nine questions (cont.):

• What are the most significant findings?
• What are your recommendations?
• What is the organization of the report?
• What key terms are you using in the
report?


Address the following four questions
when writing the body of your report:

• Methods. What did you do?
• Results. What did you see?
• Conclusions. What does it mean?
• Recommendations. What should we do?


Consider these four factors
when writing your recommendations:

• content
• tone
• form
• location


contains seven elements in the front matter:

• letter of transmittal
• cover
• title page
• abstract
• table of contents
• list of illustrations
• executive summary


Understand the difference between
a descriptive and an informative abstract:

• A descriptive abstract describes the kinds of
information contained in the report.
• An informative abstract presents the major
findings.


when writing an executive summary:

• Use specific evidence in describing the
background.
• Be specific in describing the research.
• Describe the methods briefly.
• Describe the findings according to your
readers’ needs.
• Ask an outside reader to review your draft.


includes three elements in the back matter:

• glossary and list of symbols
• references
• appendixes


ENG 3302: Communicating Persuasively, Coherent Documents, Effective Sentences, Design, Graphics, and Recommendation Reports

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