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Overview

Once you have formed teams of 2-4 people, you will need to decide which kind of report your team wants to work on for unit 2. This choice will depend on the topics you are most interested in. You can use your competitive analyses from the first unit to inform and shape your unit 2 report; however, you will probably only pick one team member's idea. You are also allowed to combine ideas or come up with something totally new.

Choose one of the report types below, and adhere to the requirements for the assignment. If you want to combine report types or have a different kind of report in mind, talk to me ASAP to determine specific requirements.

Assignment Options and Requirements

Choose an assignment everyone on your team is interested in. Better yet, when forming teams, ask each other which reports each person is interested in before agreeing to band together. Each assignment has similar requirements, but the topic and focus are different. I encourage you to use templates from our readings or that you find online. Remember to include all required sections.

Note: There are some requirements that apply to all options. See the first section below for those requirements.

Requirements for All Reports

Whichever report type you select, you need to make sure you adhere to the following requirements:

• Include formal front matter, which consists of the following:

  • Include a cover page that includes all of your context-setting information. At a minimum, you should include who prepared the document (team name and individual team member names), the date, and a descriptive title stating what this document is. Feel free to use subtitles and to design the cover page however you like.

  • The title of the document should not be the name of the assignment (e.g., "Market Shift Report" or "Business Plan"). It needs to tell us what the document is about (e.g., "Market Opportunity in the Cosmetics Industry" or "DataLink Inc. Business Expansion Plan: A 2-Year Outlook").

  • Include a table of contents with page numbers and/or links to all pages in the document. You do not have to include a table of figures or images unless you want to.

    <aside> 💡 Most reports in the working world will not require cover pages or tables of contents, but because this is a school project, it is helpful to learn how to do the maximum amount of context setting so that you can do it if asked.

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  • Include an executive summary that is less than one page in length. This should probably be the last thing you write. It summarizes the entirety of the report and gives busy readers action items they can do or use to make decisions. It is not an introduction; it tells the reader all the main issues, solutions, findings, and recommendations very concisely and professionally. The executive summary is action oriented and useful.

• Include page numbers on all pages except the cover page and table of contents. Page number on the executive summary is optional, depending on where you put the page in the order of the report.
• The report itself (not including the front matter or references) should be approximately 4-6 pages single spaced (11-12 pt font) with additional space between all paragraphs and sections. (If you indent your paragraphs, you do not necessarily have to include extra space between your paragraphs.) Depending on content, you may go over the count. Just be sure you check with me to make sure you are not doing too much or too little.

<aside> 💡 Graphs and charts can be included in the page count if not used excessively. References are not included in the page count. If you include supplemental attachments (e.g., spreadsheets or other supporting documents), they may be part of the word count, depending on the amount of writing and design included in those supporting documents. Use reasonable judgment, and ask me if you are not sure.

</aside>

• Use headings in the body of your document, and those headings should be formatted differently from the rest of the other text in some way (e.g., bold, italics, font, color, size).
• You should use a professional-looking, easy-to-read font for the main/body text of the document in a a typical 11-12 pt size (exceptions can be made for fonts that are very strangely sized). Headings and other design elements can be a different size or style of font. Do your best to keep the font consistent throughout, even down through the references.
• You may include images, tables, charts, or an attached spreadsheet as long as you properly caption them and refer to them in the written text, but you do not have to use any visuals or additional spreadsheets if they are not required for your specific report type. I know that tables or charts impact page count, so just be reasonable and know that I will ask you to revise if you use images for 3 out of 4 total pages in the report. I need to see solid written analysis that thoroughly describes your subjects and fully explains any visuals.
• You must use at least three external sources. Sources can be from the internet, from journals, in newspapers or TV, or interviews with experts in your topic.
• It should be very clear where you got all of your information from. You do this by using either formal citations (e.g., APA, MLA, IEEE, Chicago) or informal citations (e.g., footnotes, links). You need to indicate somehow in the text when you are sharing information that came from a source. This could happen at the beginning or end of a section or at the end of a sentence like this APA style (Smith, 2020). You can also use phrases like "according to ___," or you can use visible hyperlinks to your sources. You can also use footnotes or endnotes. Just be consistent.
• In all citation styles except for footnotes, you will also need a References section at the end of the document, listing all your sources in a consistent format. Your citations do not have to be perfect as long as the attempt at citation is made AND you use a consistent format each time. Readers like having a list of resources so they can do more digging if they are interested in your argument. The References section is not included as part of the page count.
• You may only use two direct quotes from your sources, and each quotes can only take up less than two lines of text. By a direct quote, I mean quoting like this: Adam Bryant wrote, "This type of business is the greatest" (2021). You can only include a direct quote two times. All other source use should be summary or paraphrasing. You still have to cite summary and paraphrase using the style of citation you've chosen. We will talk in class about why direct quotes are not frequently used in business writing.