How to Write Reports and Proposals: Create Attention-Grabbing Documents That Achieve Your Goals

✍ Scribed by Patrick Forsyth

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2019
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 156
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Gain essential skills for career development with checklists, exercises and real-life examples that will help you perfect your skills at writing winning reports and persuasive proposals.

✦ Table of Contents

Creating Success Online Courses
Creating Success Series
Title Page
Copyright
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
01 What makes good business writing?
The hazards of communication
Pitfalls: serious, and very serious
Why have a report?
Readers’ expectations
Readers’ perspective
Powerful habits
Earning a reading
Inappropriate standard documents
Clear intention
Achieving absolute clarity
The rewards of excellence
A significant opportunity
02 Creating a good report
Defining the report
Setting clear objectives
A sound structure
First, the beginning
The middle
The end
After the end
03 Preparing to write
Why this report?
Research prior to preparation
A systematic approach
Shaking off old habits
04 The power of language
Cultivating an appropriate writing style
Readers’ expectations
Readers’ dislikes
The writer’s approach
Use of language
Making language work for you
Careful selection of language
Mistakes to avoid
Following the rules
Style
Technological dilution
05 Making numbers clear
The nature of numbers and number ‘blindness’
Actions to avoid number blindness
Methods of presenting numbers clearly
The contribution of language
06 Making proposals persuasive
A cumulative process
A key stage
Persuasive technique
The don’ts
The dos
Quotations versus proposals
Choice of format
Timing
Proposal content
Checklist
Covering letters
The presentation of proposals
Earn attention
07 The contribution of layout and presentation
How the pages look
Graphic emphasis
The exhibits
Other options for inclusion
Overall packaging
Afterword