Report Writing Class Lesson 6

(RW-L6) 1 Report Writing Class Lesson 6 Here is what this lesson will cover: I. Evaluating and Revising Your First Draft: II. Editing and Preparing a Final Copy: III. Preparing Your Final Presentation: a. Cover page b. Title page c. Outline d. Final Copy of Your Report e. Pictures, illustrations, maps, etc. f. Works Referenced page I. Evaluating and Revising Your First Draft: Now that you are finished with the first draft of your report, you will begin to look over your report to see how it can be improved. This is the revising step and it will be the time when you look at the content of your report to see if you need to add, delete, replace, or reorganize information in your report. Most of this has been done throughout the last 5 weeks; however, it never hurts to go back through your report to make sure it looks perfect. Evaluating your report: To evaluate your report, you will need a paper copy of your report and a pencil for jotting down notes. Start by reading your report from beginning to end. Mark any places in your report that you think may need revising. The list below will give you some areas to pay attention to when reading over your report. Information in your opening paragraph is not misleading: Read over your opening paragraph to make sure you have clearly introduced your topic/subject, that you have introduced the main topics that will be discussed in your report, and that your thesis statement does state the main idea of your report. Topic sentence: Make sure each supporting paragraph has a topic sentence that states the main idea of that paragraph. Detail/Supporting sentences: For each supporting paragraph, make sure that the detail sentences support the main idea of that paragraph. 1 of 10

(RW-L6) 2 Closing sentence: Make sure each supporting paragraph has a closing sentence that restates the main idea of that paragraph. Ideas follow a logical order: Make sure that the ideas that are shared in each paragraph follow a logical order. Report flows nicely: Read your report out loud and listen to see that it has a nice flow to it. Revising Your Report: After you have evaluated your report, you will review the areas that you marked in pencil and decide if they really need revising. If they do, use the problem/solution list below to get you started on revising the areas that need improvement. Problem: The information in my opening paragraph is misleading to my readers. Solution: The opening paragraph is important because it tells your reader what to expect in your report. Make sure the main topics that make up the body of your report are stated in your opening paragraph. Remember, these are simply a restatement of each topic sentence for each supporting paragraph. If your thesis statement doesn t accurately share the main idea of your report, then you need to read over your report and find a way to rewrite your thesis statement so it does express the main idea of your report. What are you trying to say about the topic of your report? What message are you trying to convey to your reader about your topic? The answers to these questions will be your thesis statement. Problem: Topic sentence does not state the main idea of the paragraph. Solution: It is easier to fix the topic sentence than it is to rewrite the whole paragraph. Therefore, you should read over your detail sentences and rewrite your topic sentence to fit the main idea of your paragraph. A topic sentence can be easily fixed by writing it in a way that shares a broader view of what is included in the detail sentences of your paragraph. Problem: Some of the detail sentences do not support the main idea stated in the topic sentence. Solution: If it is just one or two sentences, you can either replace the information that does not fit with details that do, or you can completely cut the information out of the supporting paragraph and add a whole new sentence that does support the main idea. If the majority of the detail sentences do not support the main idea 2 of 10

(RW-L6) 3 stated in the topic sentence, then you might want to rewrite your topic sentence so that the main idea shared is broad enough to cover all the details you are sharing in your supporting sentences. Problem: The closing sentence does not restate the main idea of the paragraph. Solution: Since the closing sentence is written similarly to the topic sentence, you can read over the topic sentence and come up with a different way of saying the same thing. Problem: My ideas do not follow a logical order. Solution: Move your sentences to another part of the paragraph or report so that they follow a more logical order. Also, look to see that you have used transitional words or phrases to help you connect the ideas (Lesson 3, page 7). Problem: My report doesn t flow nicely or it sounds choppy. Solution: Look to see that you have used a variety of sentence structures and that you have begun your sentences in a variety of ways. Your report can sound a lot better by simply rearranging the words in a sentence. II. Editing Your Report and Making a Final Copy: Your report is really coming along now. All that is left to do is to edit your report and then make a final copy to use in your final presentation. Editing: Use the list below to help you find errors in your report. Spelling: Check to see that all of your words are spelled correctly. If you are unsure, use a dictionary. Capitalization and punctuation: Does every sentence begin with a capital letter and end with the appropriate punctuation? Make sure proper nouns are capitalized and that commas and other punctuation are used properly in your sentences. Grammar: Do your sentences make sense? Read each paragraph backwards. Start with the last sentence, then the second to last, and so on. Make sure that each sentence is complete and makes sense. 3 of 10

(RW-L6) 4 Subject/verb agreement: Both must be singular or both must be plural. Correct: The box is open The box [singular] is [singular] open. Both the subject box and the verb is are singular. Incorrect: The box are open The box [singular] are [plural] open. This is written incorrectly and doesn t make sense when you read it. Consistent verb tense: Make sure your sentence stays in one tense (present, past, or future.) All the verbs must be in the same tense. Correct: The horse galloped past the girl who was standing against the fence. The verbs galloped and was standing are past tense (it has already happened). Incorrect: The horse gallops past the girl who stood against the fence. The verb gallops is present tense (it is currently happening) and the verb stood is past tense (it already happened). Word usage: Use a thesaurus to help you find new words to use in your writing. Use vivid verbs, lively adverbs, and descriptive adjectives in your report to make your writing expressive and colorful. Quoting an Author: If you have used information word for word from a source in your report, you will need to make sure you have placed quotes around the author s exact words. You will also need to check to see that you have made a parenthetical note directly after the quoted material. Information on how to do this can be found in Lesson 5. Making a final copy: Now that you have evaluated, revised, and edited your report, you are ready to make a final copy for your final presentation. To do this you will need to make sure your paragraph is in MLA paper format. Use the checklist below to assist you in making sure your report is in MLA format. If you have forgotten how to format any of this in Word, you may need to refer to the MLA document I sent you with your pre-class assignment. Type all documents double-spaced. Margins of 1 inch on all sides. Create a HEADER that lists your last name and the page number. Provide a double-spaced entry, called the HEADING in the top left corner of the first page only that lists your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. 4 of 10

(RW-L6) 5 Center your title on the line below the date heading. Begin your paragraph below the title. Indent the first line of your paragraph by using the tab key located on your keyboard. III. Preparing Your Final Presentation: Now that you have completed your research report and have made a final copy, you will begin preparing the other parts of your report project to use in your final presentation. As mentioned in lesson 1, your final presentation will consist of the following parts (in this order): A cover page with a picture or illustration. A title page. Your final outline. The final copy of your report. Any desired illustrations, pictures, charts, maps, etc. A complete Works Referenced page. Cover Page: The first page in your final presentation will be the cover page. The cover page will include the title of your report, your name, and an illustration. How you design the cover page for your final presentation will be completely up to you. You can use a combination of Word Art, pictures, and clip art, or, if you have a scanner, you can even hand draw your own cover page. Cover Page China by: Juli Greenhalge 5 of 10

(RW-L6) 6 Title Page: The second page in your final presentation will be the title page. The title page will be a blank piece of paper (no illustrations or pictures) that shares the title of your report, your name, the date, the course, and your teacher s name. The information will be centered on your paper and double spaced. Title Page China by: Student s Name August 20, 2005 Elementary Report Writing Mrs. Juli Greenhalge Final Outline: The third page in your final presentation will be a copy of your final outline. Final Outline 6 of 10

(RW-L6) 7 Final Copy of Your Report: The final copy of your report will follow your outline. Your report must be in MLA format. Refer to section II (Making a Final Copy), if needed. Illustrations, pictures, maps, charts, etc.: The two pages that follow your report are reserved for any illustrations, pictures, maps, charts, etc. that you want to include in your final presentation. Have fun and be creative when designing these pages. Works Referenced Page: The last page in your final presentation is the Works Referenced page. A Works Referenced page is an alphabetical list of all the sources that you used to write your research report. The sources are alphabetized by author s last name. You may have used information from a source that either did not have an author listed or the author s name could not be found. In this case, you will alphabetize the source by its title. Constructing your Works Referenced page: The Works Referenced will be typed on the first blank page following the last page of your report. You will need to get out your source cards so that you can transfer the information from the card onto your Works Referenced page. Use the following steps to guide you in constructing your Works Referenced page. Step 1: Start by setting up the page format for your Works Referenced page. Set your margins to 1 all around. Set the font and font size to Times New Roman 12. Set-up your page to double-space automatically. Step 2: After you have set up the page formatting, give your Works Referenced page a title. In the center of the page, type the words Works Referenced. Step 3: Go through your source cards and begin placing them in alphabetical order. Step 4: Just below the title, on the left margin, begin typing your first source entry. The Works Referenced format list is on the next page. It will show you what kind of information you need to include for each type of source. The information for each type of source should follow the same order as in the examples. If an entry takes more than one line, indent all other lines 5 spaces from the left margin. 7 of 10

(RW-L6) 8 Works Referenced Formats: Books: Author s name (last name, first name). Book title (underlined). City and state of publisher: Name of publisher, and the date published. Henry, Marguerite. All About Horses. New York, NY: Random House, Inc. 1962 Articles: Author s name (last name, first name). Title of article (in quotes). Title of periodical (underlined). Volume and issue number (may not have this). Date of issue: Page numbers of the article. Moffett, Mark W. Big Bite. National Geographic. July 2004: 95-100 Encyclopedia: Subject in encyclopedia (in quotes). Name of encyclopedia (underlined) and year published. Cowbird. Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia 1965 Web site: Author s name (last name, first name). Title of article (underlined). Date of publication or posting. Name of organization affiliated with the site. Date you accessed the site. <URL: electronic address>. Ma, Shiquing and Jikun Huang. China. 3/7/2005. ARVDC. 7/19/05 <http://www.avrdc.org/pdf/dynamics/china.pdf.> Video/DVD: Author s name (last name, first name). Title of video (underlined). Name of the producing company and the date of production. National Wildlife Federation. Bears. Primesco Communications 2001 Personal Interview: Name of person you interviewed (last name, first name). State that it was a personal interview. Date of interview. Bender, James. Personal Interview. 7/23/2005 Field Trip: Name of the place you visited. State that it was a field trip. Date of field trip. Wolf Haven. Field Trip. 6/2/2005 8 of 10

(RW-L6) 9 Report Writing: Lesson 6 Assignments When typing your assignments in Word, please make sure to use MLA format. Also, when you e-mail me your assignments, please make sure that the subject line on your e-mail includes YOUR NAME, the class name (Report Writing) and the assignment number or numbers. Subject: Susan Report Writing-6A Or (if sending more than one): Subject: Susan Report Writing -6B and 6C (and so on...) 6A. Stump the Teacher: This week you will be giving me a vocabulary assignment. Use your thesaurus or dictionary to find one vocabulary word that you find interesting. You should then learn its meaning so that you can try to stump me with it in the last class. I won t be able to use my dictionary or thesaurus, so try to choose a word that you think I won t know the meaning of. 6B. Works Referenced: This assignment will require that you review the Works Referenced section in this lesson (pages 7 & 8). Your assignment is to construct a Works Referenced page that lists all of your sources in alphabetical order. Please name your assignment RepW-6B.doc. Don t forget MLA format. E-mail this assignment to me as an attachment. 6C. Final Presentation: You will need to complete 6B before you begin on this assignment. This assignment will require that you review Preparing Your Final Presentation. Your assignment is to prepare a final presentation by adding the following pages to the final copy of your report: a cover page, a title page, your final outline, and any pages that share pictures, illustrations, maps, charts, etc., and a Works Referenced page. You will need to add these pages to your completed RepW-5B5C document. I have included instructions on how to add blank pages to your document on the following page. Once you have finished adding all the pages to make your final presentation, save your document as: RepW-6C. E-mail me this assignment as an attachment. Instructions on how to add blank pages to your Word document: 1. Open up the document that you would like to add blank pages to. 2. If you want to add a page before your first page, then place your cursor at the top of the first page before the text. If you would like to add a page following another page, then place your cursor at the very bottom of the page after the text. 3. From the menu at the top of your screen, click on Insert. 9 of 10

(RW-L6) 10 4. From the Insert menu, click on Break. 5. A window will open up and you will click on Next Page. 6. This will insert a blank page into your document. 10 of 10