This website provides helpful information and examples as you design and construct your W231 Team Recommendation Report website.
Meet the four students who researched, compiled and composed the report. This page includes suggestions for introducing your team.
Meet the four students who researched, compiled and composed the report. This page includes suggestions for introducing your team.
INFORMATION FROM WEBSITE--Work in progress
Your Recommendation Report: Home Page
Do's and don't's of an informative and professional home page
The HOME PAGE of your Recommendation Report website will provide your audience with context and purpose. It works like the cover page of a print-form Recommendation Report. Typically, HOME will include a: Title [which includes genre & scope], brief description of the project, prepared for, prepared by, W231 context, and date.
Be sure to include a TABLE OF CONTENTS with hyperlinks to key sections of the report.
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The cover will prominently feature the title of the report. The report title will comment specifically on the scope of the project as well as commenting on the genre.
Three examples of titles other team’s considered:
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Ways Wisdom Tooth Can Attract Millennial Audiences: A Recommendation Report
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Recommendation Report: Attracting Millennial Audiences to Wisdom Tooth Theatre
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Wisdom Tooth Theatre Project: Recommendations For Cultivating A Millennial Audience Base
A quick note about titles in college writing
Every TITLE should be clear, detailed, and specific to your project. Typically, this will include genre and description. The genre might be an argument, study, analysis, or lab report. In addition the genre, college project titles will often contain the name of an expert, major figure, or title of an article you're analyzing, like "Analysis of Jeffrey Sachs The End of Poverty".
Yes: that means college paper titles are usually long--much like the titles you see in academic databases like EBSCO Host or ProQuest.
BUSINESS WRITING IS SIMILAR: Have Specific Titles. If it isn't unique to what you're writing, change it. The title should not be the sort of thing that could go on top of another student's report.
For your team report in W231, "Recommendation Report" is a poorly developed title. It does verify genre, but it does not comment on what is in the recommendation report, the scope, or who it is for. An example of a stronger title is: "Attracting Millennials to Wisdom Tooth Theatre: A Recommendation Report."
In addition to a clear, detailed title the HOME PAGE should state who the report is PREPARED FOR. This might be your client, or it might be for the Board of Directors your client works for. Clarify who you wrote the report for on the HOME PAGE.
IGNORE--Same information as above
Your Recommendation Report: Home Page
Do's and don't's of an informative and professional home page
Choosing a Title
Recommendation Report:
Project Title
The HOME PAGE of your Recommendation Report website will provide your audience with context and purpose. It works like the cover page of a print-form Recommendation Report. Typically, HOME will include a: Title [which includes genre & scope], brief description of the project, prepared for, prepared by, W231 context, and date.
Be sure to include a TABLE OF CONTENTS with hyperlinks to key sections of the report.
The cover will prominently feature the title of the report. The report title will comment specifically on the scope of the project as well as commenting on the genre.
Three examples of titles other team’s considered:
-
Ways Wisdom Tooth Can Attract Millennial Audiences: A Recommendation Report
-
Recommendation Report: Attracting Millennial Audiences to Wisdom Tooth Theatre
-
Wisdom Tooth Theatre Project: Recommendations For Cultivating A Millennial Audience Base
Titles in College Writing
A quick note about titles in college writing
Every TITLE should be clear, detailed, and specific to your project. Typically, this will include genre and description. The genre might be an argument, study, analysis, or lab report. In addition the genre, college project titles will often contain the name of an expert, major figure, or title of an article you're analyzing, like "Analysis of Jeffrey Sachs The End of Poverty".
Yes: that means college paper titles are usually long--much like the titles you see in academic databases like EBSCO Host or ProQuest.
BUSINESS WRITING IS SIMILAR: Have Specific Titles. If it isn't unique to what you're writing, change it. The title should not be the sort of thing that could go on top of another student's report.
For your team report in W231, "Recommendation Report" is a poorly developed title. It does verify genre, but it does not comment on what is in the recommendation report, the scope, or who it is for. An example of a stronger title is: "Attracting Millennials to Wisdom Tooth Theatre: A Recommendation Report."
In addition to a clear, detailed title the HOME PAGE should state who the report is PREPARED FOR. This might be your client, or it might be for the Board of Directors your client works for. Clarify who you wrote the report for on the HOME PAGE.
Adjusting Tone
Meet Audience Needs
Your audience choice will influence word choices and ways you comment on your client within the report. If you are writing to the client specifically and you want to mention the team-client interview, you might write: "When we met you at the Wisdom Tooth Box Office on September 23, you mentioned that attracting millennials is your number one concern." If you are writing for your client's boss or the board, you would be more formal when commenting on the interview: "When we met with Callie Burk, Marketing Director at Wisdom Tooth, she clarified that the theatre wanted to explore innovative ways to attract millennial audiences."
Be sure that you also include PREPARED BY, affiliation and the DATE.
Prepared by should include your team members' in alphabetical order by last name; this area can also clarify your affiliation--Fall 2019 IUPUI Business and Professional Writing Skills [W231] Student Writing Consultants or some variation of that.
Make sure PREPARED BY hyperlinks to your TEAM BIO page.
Navigating Your Report
Home Page Musts
Some HOME pages might also include a TABLE OF CONTENTS. If your audience is not familiar with the parts of a recommendation report, you should include a table of contents with brief descriptions of the information provided under each section. Then, INCLUDE HYPERLINKS to your website pages to provide quick access to every page of the website.
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Specific Title with Recommendation Report in the Title
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Prepared for
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Prepared by
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Date
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Summary/overview
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Context [IUPUI W231 Professional Writing Skill Team Project]
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TABLE OF CONTENTS with hyperlinks to major sections
Your team is welcome to include other relevant information in the home page.​
Designing Your Report
Web Design Ideas
The HOME PAGE should be visually appealing and will often incorporate your client's corporate colors and logo. You can also use photos from your client's website to help create a uniform look. The IU Theatre example does a nice job including photos and colors from the client's web pages.
Just like other borrowed images, your team should CITE the borrowed information in your References and using APA format in the document. A hyperlink from the borrowed visuals to the client pages is an additional way to pay attribution to the original source of the materials.
If you used special software or a design program, like Dolphin, you should also include a line on the webpage saying how the report was created: Designed using Dolphin. If you're using WIX or Google Sites, they put their name on every page, so you don't need to duplicate that information.
Supporting Documents
Team Formation & Helpful Readings
The website is designed as a support tool for your W231 experience. In addition to this ePortfolio of materials related to the Recommendation Report project, Gail Bennett composed an Applied Research Project (ARP) Booklet to help support students as they tackle the team report project.
Materials shared on this WIX website are:
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In part, composed and designed by D.J. Oesch-Minor
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In other instances, the materials are identified as adapted from W231 Canvas materials written by Julie Freeman
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Other information is adapted from the W231 Applied Research Project Booklet Chapters 1-3 and Chapters 4-6
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PLEASE READ the ARP Booklet provided on Canvas or accessible through the links provided here
Team Formation
As part of team formation, read Bruce W. Tuckman suggestions for "Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing." Tuckman's work provides a useful framework for looking at your own team. You can link to commentary on his work through MIT's human resources link:
https://hr.mit.edu/learning-topics/teams/articles/stages-development
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After reading Tuckman, use materials shared under Canvas Modules to map out team tasks toward compiling the Team Formation Memo which will contain your team's topic proposal as well as the team's agreement related to policies and procedures to help keep your recommendation report on schedule.
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A TEAM MEMO EXAMPLE
You can access a sample team memo by clicking on the hyperlink HERE or copying/pasting the URL into your browser
https://oeschminor.wixsite.com/w231reporttemplate/your-team-memo