1. Reporting Information/Profiles
ENG 111
Unit Three

2. Reporting Information
• There are a lot of types of writing that
report information, such as newspapers,
textbooks, websites, institutions, and
people.
• When you write a report information, you
are the expert, and it is up to you to give
information on a certain topic.
Page 59

3. Key Features/Reports
• Tightly focused topic: the goal is to
information readers about something without
digressing or bringing in the writer’s own
opinion.
• Accurate, well-researched information:
reports require some type of research. That
research will depend on the topic. Scholarly
sources will be required for some topics,
while others may need field research
(interviews, observations, etc.)
Page 71

4. Key Features/Reports Cont.
• Various writing strategies: presenting
information will require several different
types of patterns, such as defining,
comparing, classifying, explaining process,
analyzing cause and effect, contrast, etc.
• Clear definitions: provide clear definitions
of any key terms that the audience may
not know.
Page 72

5. Key Features/Reports Cont.
• Appropriate design: reports may often
combine paragraphs with information
presented in lists, tables, diagrams, and
other illustrations; however, the
information must be presented correctly
and referenced correctly.
Page 72-73

6. A Guide to Writing Reports
• Choosing a Topic: Try to approach a topic
from an angle that interests you.
• If you get to choose: What interests you?
What do you wish you knew more about?
Topics are limitless.
– Intriguing technology * common objects
– Sports * important environ. issue
--the arts *An important event
– A historical period
Page 73

7. A Guide to Writing Reports
Cont.
List a few possibilities and then choose one
you’d like to write on or know more about.
• If your topic is assigned: try focusing on
a more limited topic within the larger topic.
Page 74

8. Considering the Rhetorical
Situation
• Purpose: Why are you presenting this
information? To teach readers about
subject? Demonstrate about research?
• Audience: Who will read this report? What
do they already know about the topic?
What background info do they need? Will
you need to define terms? What do they
want or need to know about it? Why
should they care? How can you attract
their interest?
Page 74

9. Considering the Rhetorical
Situation Cont.
• Stance: What is your own attitude toward
the subject? What interests you most
about it? What about it seems important?
• Media/design: What medium are you
using? What is the best way to present the
information? Will it all be in paragraph
form, or is there information that is best
presented as a chart or table? Do you
need headings? Diagrams? Photographs?
Page 74-75

10. Considering the Rhetorical
Situation Cont.
• Generating Ideas and Text: good reports share
certain features. Remember the goal is to
present information clearly and accurately.
– Start with exploring what you already
know about your topic. Write what you know
through freewriting, listing, or clustering.
– Narrow your topic: Narrow the focus and
what you need to know a fair amount about
your topic. Start with sources to find issues
the topic may include.
Page 75

11. Generating Ideas and Text
Cont.
– Come up with a tentative thesis: write out a
statement that explains what you plan to
report or explain. A good thesis is potentially
interesting and limits your topic enough to
make it manageable. (A declarative sentence
with three areas to cover in the paper.)
– Do any necessary research and revise
your thesis. Outline the aspects of your topic
you expect to discuss and develop a research
plan.
Page 76

12. Ways of Organizing a Report
• Reports on topics
– Begin with an anecdote, quote, or other
means of interesting to readers.
– Provide background and state your thesis.
– Describe your topic, defining any key terms.
– Explain by comparing, classifying, analyzing
causes or effects, explaining processes, etc.
– Conclude by restating your thesis or referring
to your beginning.
Page 76

13. Ways of Organizing a Report
Cont.
• Reports on an event
– Introduce the topic; provide any necessary
background info; state your thesis.
– Narrate the first event or procedure
– Narrate the second event or procedure
– Narrate the third event or procedure
– Repeat as necessary
– Conclude by telling what happened, stating
the implications, or some other means.
Page 77

14. Ways of Organizing a Report
Cont.
• Reports that compares and contrasts
– Introduce the topic; provide any necessary
background information; state your thesis.
– Describe the item
– Describe the other items, using the same
structure used to describe the first
– Conclude by restating your thesis
Page 77

15. Writing Out a Draft
• Drafting: try to write a complete draft in one sitting;
concentrating on getting the report on paper or screen
and on putting in as much detail as you can.
– Explain the process, analyzes of the cause, compare
it with something more familiar.
• Draft a beginning
– Simply state your thesis
– Start with something that will provoke readers’
interest
– Begin with an illustrative example
Page 77-78

16. Writing Out a Draft Cont.
• Draft an ending: an effective ending
leaves the reader thinking about the topic.
– Summarize the main points
– Point out the implications of your report
– Frame your report to its introduction
– Tell what happened
• Come up with a title: tells readers
something about your subject—makes
them want to read more.

17. Considering Matters of Design
• What is the appropriate typeface? (Times
Roman, Courier, etc.
• Are headings needed? (For short essay,
no they are not)
• Any information that would be easier in a
list?
• Any information summarized in a table?
• Data presented in graphs?
• Illustrations needed?
Page 79-80

18. Getting Response and Revising
• Getting responses from others is good.
– Does the title and opening sentences get the reader’s
attention?
– What information does this text provide and for what
purpose?
– Does the intro explain why this information is being
presented? Larger context?
– All key terms defined?
– Any questions?
– Visual information?
– Quoted, paraphrased, and summarized information
cited correctly?
– End satisfying?
Page 80

19. Editing and Proofreading
• Editing paper
– Check key terms
– Check transitions
– Check headings if included
– Make sure photos and illustrations have
captions
– Documentation?
– Proofread and spell-check

20. Taking Stock of your Work
• How well did you convey the information?
• What strategies did you rely on and how did they
help you achieve your purpose?
• How well did you organize the report?
• How did you go about researching the
information?
• How did you go about drafting the piece?
• What did you do well?
• What could you improve?
Page 81-82

21. Profiles
• Are written portraits of people, places,
events, or other things.
• A profile presents a subject in an
entertaining way that conveys its
significance, showing us something or
someone that we may not have known
existed or that we see every day but don’t
know much about.
Page 161

22. Key Features/Profiles
• An interesting subject: something
unusual or may be something ordinary
shown in an intriguing way, like an
interesting person, a place, or an event.
• Any necessary background: includes
just enough information to let readers
know something about the subject’s larger
context.

23. Key Features/Profiles Cont.
• An interesting angle: captures its subject from
a particular angle.
• A firsthand account: spend time observing and
interacting with your subject.
• Engaging details: include details that bring your
subject to life by using specific information,
sensory images, figurative language, dialogue,
anecdotes. Leave dominate impression.
Page 166

24. A Brief Guide to Writing Profiles
• Choosing a suitable subject: make a list
of five to ten topics that interest you. Make
sure you can do firsthand research.
Interviewees must be willing to be
interviewed.

25. A Brief Guide to Writing Profiles
Cont.
• Considering the Rhetorical Situation
– Purpose: Why are you writing the profile?
What angle will best achieve your purpose?
How will you engage and inform the readers?
– Audience: Who is your audience? How
familiar are they with the topic? What
expectations might they have? What
background information do you need to
include?

26. Considering the Rhetorical
Situation Cont.
– Stance: what view of your subject do you
expect to present? Sympathetic? Critical?
Sarcastic? Is perspective balanced?
– Media/design: Will your profile be a print
document? Published on the web? Oral? Etc.
Page 167

27. Generating Ideas and Text
• Visit your subject and do observations and interviews.
• Explore what you already know about your subject. What
is interesting? What do you know already? What do you
expect to find out?
• If you’re planning to interview someone, prepare
questions.
• Do additional research.
• Analyze your findings—look for patterns & use reading
strategies
• Come up with an angle—most memorable part?
• Note details that support your angle—use describing
subject, comparing, and dialogue that captures subj.
Page 168-169

28. Ways of Organizing a Profile
• As a narrative
– Introduce your subject and your angle on it;
provide any necessary background.
– Tell about various incidents or characteristics,
one by one, that bring your subject to life.
– Conclude by stating your overall impression
with an anecdote, a quote, a summary
comment, or some other ending.

29. Ways to Organize a Profile
Cont.
• As a description:
– Introduce your subject and your angle on it,
providing any necessary background.
– Present details that create some dominant
impression of your subject: sensory details,
examples, dialogue, anecdotes, etc.
– State your overall impression, offering a final
anecdote or quote or finishing a description
begun earlier.
Page 170