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Organizing Information and Constructing the Outline

Organizing Information and Constructing the Outline. Identify the problem. What must I accomplish with this message? Why is this message important or imperative? Who is the subject of the message? The answer to these questions are combined into the problem statement.

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Organizing Information and Constructing the Outline

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  1. Organizing Information and Constructing the Outline

  2. Identify the problem • What must I accomplish with this message? • Why is this message important or imperative? • Who is the subject of the message? The answer to these questions are combined into the problem statement.

  3. What needs to be investigated? • Identify the factors that need to be considered (scope), and why. • Identify what data need to be gathered for each factor and how to gather it. • Gather the data.

  4. Based on the problem . . . • Classify the data • Such as by time, quantity, factors, or place • Tabulate the data collected • Use statistical tools where appropriate • Organize the outline by: • determining the outline ORDER. • determining the outline’s DIVISIONS. • Determining the outline’s HEADINGS.

  5. ORDER of the Outline Study Notes p. 17 • Indirect order is inductive. Indirect order moves from known to unknown—typically introduction, facts, conclusions & recommendations, closing (summary). • Direct order is deductive. Direct order begins with the most important information—conclusions & recommendations, introduction, facts, summary, closing. • Modified Direct order – The only difference between the direct and modified direct orders is in the placement of the introduction. In modified direct: Introduction, conclusions & recommendations, facts, summary, closing. • Chronological order is in time sequence. Chronological order is an order based on the present to the past or the past to the present.

  6. DIVISION OF INFORMATION • Time periods. When the information has a time basis. E.g., progress on a building’s construction. • Place. When the information is related to a geographic location. E.g., sales reports by city. • Quantity. When the information has a number base. E.g., demographic habits of buying. • Factors. Areas of investigation. E.g., quality-of-life factors of neighborhoods. • Combination and Multiple Divisions. Combinations of the above. E.g., annual report to stockholders.

  7. OUTLINE SYSTEMSSee Study Notes pp. 14 - 16Businesses usually use the format depicted in Nelson, page 16. You will use this format in this class.

  8. Study Notes p. 16

  9. HEADINGS of the Outline • Topic Headings. Topics give only the subject of discussion. E.g., Introduction, Background, Analysis, Limitations, etc. • Talking Headings. Talking headings identify the subject AND tell what is said. E.g., Background of the Production Problem, Investigation of the Production Department, Analysis of the Personnel Records, Need for More Financial Information, etc.

  10. Heading Formats • See Study Notes pp. 18-19 • Short reports normally use Level 3 and Level 4 headings; Levels 1, 3, and 4 if needed. • For more complex reports additional levels may be added. • Level 5 is only used for the largest reports.

  11. Tips to Write Effective Headings • Parallelism • Conciseness of Wording • Variety of Expression

  12. Parallelism of Constructionpp. 152-153 • Captions at a level of division should be grammatically parallel. E.g., if caption II is a noun phrase, so should be captions III, IV, V, etc. Incorrect Correct • Machine output is lagging. [sentence] • Increase in cost of operations [noun phrase] • Unable to deliver necessary steam [decapitated sentence] • Lag in machine output • Increase in cost of operations • Inability to deliver necessary steam

  13. Conciseness of Wording • Make the talking captions concise Incorrect Correct • Personal appearance enhancement is most desirable feature of contact lenses that wearers report. • The drawback of contacts mentioned by most people who don’t wear them is that they are difficult to put on • Personal appearance most desirable feature • Installation difficulty prime criticism

  14. Variety of expression • Repeating words in captions can be monotonous. Incorrect Correct • Chemical production in Texas • Chemical production in California • Chemical production in Louisiana • Texas leads in chemical production • California holds runner-up position • Rapidly gaining Louisiana ranks third

  15. Organizing information exercise Assume you have interviewed a representative group from the student body at Indiana State University on the subject of total out-of-pocket expenditures of students during the academic year. Making any logical assumptions, into what categories could your findings possibly be classified? List them making certain that you employ parallel construction, concise wording, and variety of expression.

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