BLHW 3403 ~ ENGLISH FOR PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION

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RECOMMENDATION REPORT
A recommendation report compares two or more options (products,
properties, plans, process, etc), draws conclusions and makes a
recommendation.

Whenever an organization has to make an important decision, it may
seek carefully studied recommendations, e.g. office equipment:
computers, printers, copiers, FAX machines, and so on.

A recommendation report almost always has readers who have
different aspects of knowledge, which means its members know a lot
about one aspect of the topic.

Therefore a recommendation report writer must write reports that
allow readers to find what they need.

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DATA COLLECTION


Before you start with your research, there are a few things that you
need to do to ensure that you will produce a good report.

Efficient reading allocate sufficient information to the research

Effective note taking avoid plagiarism, paraphrase instead

Efficient research


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PRIMARY VS SECONDARY DATA
Data is one of the most important and vital aspects of any
research studies.

Data sources are broadly classified into primary and secondary
data.

1. Primary data = first-hand-experience, has not been published
yet e.g. interviews, surveys, lab work, etc.

2. Secondary data = has already been published, readily available
such as from books, journals, periodicals and internet.



SOURCES OF DATA


Experiment
e.g. Laboratory experiments

Questionnaires
e.g. Responses from a specific
audience

Interviews
e.g. Recordings of structured or
open-ended discussions on
certain predetermined topics
Field observations
e.g. Observation based on
people/activities in their
natural environments using
simple equipments

Archival collections
e.g. Public and/or private archival
and online data bases

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TYPES OF RESOURCES
While writing a report, students need to consult several types of
resources to gather all the necessary data but credit should be
given for all the materials used from these sources.

Using information from a secondary source without citing the
source and giving credit to the author is an act of plagiarism.

It leads the reader to believe that the words are your own, so it
is unprofessional and unethical.

To avoid plagiarism is to provide proper documentation.

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WRITING AN APA REFERENCE LIST
Books
Beer, D., & McMurray, D. (2005). A guide to writing as an engineer. USA:
John Wiley & Sons.
Article in a Newspaper
Hendry, W. A. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in todays schools. The
Country Today, pp. 135, 28-31.
An entry in an encyclopedia
Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The New Encyclopedia
Britannica (Vol. 26, pp. 501-508). Chicago: Encyclopedia
Britannica.
Article online
Bernstein, M. (2002). 10 tips on writing the living Web. A List Apart.
Retrieved May 2, 2006 from
http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html

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THE PROCESS OF WRITING A
RECOMMENDATION REPORT
This is the list of typical phases of writing a report.
1. Build a team
2. Find a topic related to your field or UTeM e.g. A Recommendation
Report on the Purchase of the Safest Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) for
UTeM Development Office
3. Define an audience and purpose
4. Describe the objectives
5. Describe the problem and the background
6. Plan the review of literature
7. Describe the method/s - materials, equipment, facilities and procedures
8. Determine the criteria of comparison for both options e.g. safety,
driving experience, price, etc.
9. Present the results, findings, and data
10. Write the discussion, conclusions and recommendation
11. Format the list of information sources reference list
12. Plan the appendixes
13. Plan the format
15. Review and revise your rough draft

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CHOOSING THE BEST TITLE
An effective title is informative but should be reasonably
short.
Ornamental or misleading titles may annoy readers.

Study Use Hardcopy Or Soft Copy

Comparison Between 2 Type Of Mp3 Player

Comparison Type Of Streamyx Package, Comparison Celcom
Broadband Package

Affordable Car For Student

The Differences Between External Hard Disk - Samsung
(500gb) Vs Buffalo ( 500gb)
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FORMAT OF A RECOMMENDATION REPORT


1) Cover Page
Name of the University
Title of the report
Students names, metric number
Course code, semester
Name of the lecturer and
Date of submission

3) Body
Introduction
Background (cite from at least 2 sources)
Objectives


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contd

Discussion
Method of research (qualitative / quantitative)
Recommendations (based on at least 3 criteria; explanation,
figures or tables)

Conclusion
Summary of the report / implication

4) End Matter
References (at least 2 references)
Appendixes (articles, pictures, etc.)

INTRODUCTION SECTION
An introduction is the most important element in a project report
as it helps to mentally prepare the readers to read the later part of the
report.

A good introduction should have sufficient amount of details to
direct readers quickly into the major text of the report.

The length of your introduction depends on how much they know
about the subject - if your audience is not very well versed on the
topic, then you need to cater to their needs by writing the introduction
in a semi-technical language.

The introduction section explains two aspects:
background of problem - (what is the research all about?)
objectives - (what is the aim of your research?)



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Contd - background
Here are some ideas on information which could be used in presenting
the background section:
Provide a definition - The definition of electronic book (e-book)
Name the causes and effects - The effects of playing too much
online games among students
List the methods - Various ways of studying for final examination
Provide a historical background - The development of Twitter
Describe the problem The problems of designs Honda Accord
Compare ideas or methods - The different methods of assessing
the effectiveness of online classes
State advantages / disadvantages - The outstanding skills of
Christiano Ronaldo as a footballer



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Contd - objectives
The objective informs the reader the purpose of the research and why
the report is written.

Explain why you are writing
What do you want to find out?
What is the goal of your research?
Is your objective clear, concise and straight to the point?
The objectives of this study are/were to;
i. compare differences between the roles, opportunities and
achievements of women; then and now
ii. suggest the better life led by women; then or now?


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DISCUSSION SECTION
This section presents, discusses, explains, analyses, compares,
evaluates, interprets and infers the recommendations for the topic
based on the research objectives raised at the beginning of the
study.

The is presented in the forms of figures and written text.

Graphical illustrations, tables and diagrams present the complete
findings in numerical terms.

The accompanying text helps the reader to focus on the most
important aspects of the recommendation and to interpret them.


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Contd - methodology
It starts with a brief discussion on the methodology used in the
research;

method/s qualitative or quantitative
materials/equipment/facilities
procedures

Method used could come from either surveys, questionnaires,
tests, experiments (primary data)

It could also rely on printed materials such as books, journals,
newspapers, magazines, or even internet (secondary data)

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Contd - discussion
This section is specially to discuss your recommendations and
suggested solution/winner

This is where you interpret, explain, and support every
recommendation

It starts with a paragraph of introduction to the section,
followed by the discussion on the recommendations and finally
the chosen solution.

Your discussion should move from general to specific.


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Contd - Organising the
Discussion Section



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Type A Type B

Recommendations
Criterion 1
(option A and B )

Criterion2
(option A and B )

Criterion3
(option A and B )

Recommendations for Option A
Criterion 1
Criterion 2
Criterion3

Recommendations for Option B
Criterion1
Criterion 2
Criterion 3
Contd - Reporting the Recommendation
Section
Element 1: Introducing the Recommendation Section

Element 2: Presenting the Criteria

Element 3: Commenting on the Criteria

Element 4: Concluding the Recommendation


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Contd -Element 1: Introducing the
Recommendation Section
Use a simple explanation to introduce the recommendation
section of the report by writing a topic sentence that states
the main idea of the section.
Example:
inform the reader the overall content of the section
highlight graphical illustrations used in presenting the results
explain the procedure or method of the experiment/
investigation. Examples:
A survey was conducted among 20 future engineers
This part will present
The aim of this experiment is
This recommendation section will present the criteria chosen and
results obtained based on a survey to find out which communication
method is most preferable by people nowadays; calling or texting, thus
three criteria will be discussed at length; process, delivery and cost.
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Contd - Element 2: Presenting the Criteria
The most common way of presenting the result of each
criterion of a study is through tables, graphs, charts, diagrams,
photographs, etc.

However, the illustrations are not able to provide explanations
so the writer needs to integrate the illustrations with the written
discussion of the results.

Initially, the finding of each criterion of the study followed by
interpretation or comment.

Starts with the LEAST important results.


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Contd
Examples:

According to the statistics, the popularity of Internet Explorer
had an 20% increase as compared to Mozilla Firefox from
2005 2010.
Figure 2 shows the percentage of
The pie chart reveals that .
The results from the analysis are presented in Table 2.
The graph in Figure 5 shows that
Table 1 above describes the .

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contd - element 3: Commenting on the results
for each criterion
The comments on results and discussion section may serve a
variety of functions:
to explain possible reasons for the results
to compare the results of the research with the results from other
studies within the same field
to evaluate the results by providing an assessment of the results
(whether the results obtained are expected or unsatisfactory)
Examples:
A possible explanation for this might be that Toyota Camrys beefy,
aggressive, street demon look seems cannot be detected in Honda
Accord.
It seems possible that these results are due to
This result may be explained by the fact that
These variations can be explained in part by
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contd - element 4: Concluding the Results
This element states the implications of the work which may
include either positive or negative findings.
relate your findings to the original objective; interpret and
compare; point out special features of your work; discuss
limitations and discrepancies; demonstrate whether you have
solved the problem.

Examples:
In general, it seems that Hyundai Motor Company has beaten out
Kia in several criteria discussed.
One weakness while conducting this research is
Overall, the results of the study suggest that
The results of the study indicate that
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Conclusion/Recommendation
The conclusion section contains the summary of the whole report
what knowledge comes out of the report?

As you draw a conclusion, you need to explain it in terms of the
preceding discussion

Some repetition of the most important ideas you presented there is
expected, but you should avoid copying

What actions does the report call for?

The final recommended choice should be clearly connected to the
results of each criterion in the report.

This section may also include plans for how further research should
proceed.

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Reference List & Appendixes
These will include references and may include appendices
Any research that you refer to in the report must also appear in a
list of references at the end of the work so that an interested reader
can follow up your work
Since the format for references varies across engineering, consult
your instructor, or check a style manual for the field
Appendices may include raw data, calculations, graphs, and other
quantitative materials that were part of the research, but would be
distracting to the report itself
Refer to each appendix at the appropriate point (or points) in your
report

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