Writing Orientation 2 Organising

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WritingTo be read

March 2008, Kathmandu, Nepal

SOURCE: The World Bank Group. Revised 2008.Background Readings. Report Writing.Writing and Speaking Skills Program.


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Planning the Report

Anticipate what the readers want/expect

Dialogue with the reader (intended audience)

What do readers want to know about the subject?

How do you plan to respond to their questions?

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Planning the Report

Primary reader/s

Who is he/she, they?

How much do they know?

Main question/s of readers

If purpose is to recommend readers want suggestions

If purpose is to describe and suggest then what is the

status, what needs to be done?

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Planning the Report

Main message

Does it answer the main question/s of reader/s?

Does it allow you the scope for the content of the

document?

If purpose and questions have two parts the main message

will also have two parts

Essentially you are anticipating questions and

answering them

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Planning the Report (example)

Purpose

Primary reader/s

Main question/s

Main messages

To write a paper on human

resources management at

commercial banks

Top management/ decision

makers

What is the human resources

situation? What needs to be

done?

The large number of commercial

banks has led to short supply oftrained HR. Banks need to

establish HRD systems to meet

the demand.


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Outlining Ideas

An outline helps to allow you to take different

approaches, generate ideas and examine logical

relationships.

Traditional vertical outline list your ideas not worrying

about the sequence

Shortage of HR, Poaching, inflated salaries, generally low

quality of HR, capacity enhancement, targeted training

programs, etc.

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Purpose

Primary reader/s

Main question/sMain messages

To write an essay of 500 words on

effective communication.

Teacher/examiner

What is effective communication?

What would be my main issue/s?

Importance of communication, and it

being a two-way process, the

barriers that prevent effective

communication, and how can theybe overcome.

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Outline

Communication 2- way process.

Define effective communication.

Communication in an organisational setting.

Forms of communication formal, informal, upward,

downward

Elements of the communication process.

Message.

Medium.Feedback.

Examples.

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Outlining Ideas

Pyramid outline: The main message (your answer to the

readers main question) forms the top level of the pyramid.

The dialogue continues with the secondary level of

questions that flow from the main message in Q/A format

These are answered with full sentences and could lead to

more questions

All mini-main messages are ordered logically and not placed

randomly

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Outlining Ideas

Make statement about each topic rather than only naming.

Helps define topics and writers position

Dialogue with reader helps to stay focused

Putting in ideas horizontally rather than vertically helps in

spotting gaps in logic, missing or overlapping information

For a long document, a pyramid outline may be needed for

each chapter

Pyramid outline requires statements (not only topics)

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Outlining Ideas

Outline: Pyramid

HR management is about managing people effectively for meeting

organisational goals.

What are organisational goals?

Organisations have many goals, use an example (bank), it involves

providing services, investing, managing money, managers andsupport staff, etc.

Why use bank as example?

It is what my readers are more used to, it could interest them.

How much do they know about the HR issues facing banks?

Very much, they face it on a day-to-day basis, especially these

days

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Outlining Ideas

Outline: Pyramid

What is effective communication?

EC is being able to have two way exchanges or ideas clearly and

purposefully.

What definitions/examples could I use of ineffective

communications? Situations of communication in noisy situations? Unclear

messages? Communicating across cultures? Or should I cover

communications using different forms of communication?

Use both approaches: situations and forms because that helps me

broaden my content.

How many examples to use?

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Outlining Ideas (Example)

MAIN MESSAGE: There is a shortage of HR for meeting the needs of the

expanding financial sector. There is a need for short-term training

programs for entry and mid-level employees.

QUESTION: What is like before?

ANSWER: There were fewer banks and therefore the HR supply was not

very acute. EVIDENCE:

There were just a few banks (number? Year?)

There were few banks and you had a pool of best and brightest

young graduates to choose from

HR was not trained but could learn fast, they were keen to learn

Good quality on-the-job training helped prepare the best teams

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QUESTION: What has changed?

ANSWER: The number of banks has grown and is still going along with

other financial institutions EVIDENCE:

Number of banks over 240 BFIs, insurance companies? Finance

companies? Details how much?

Growth has overtaken supply of quality graduates

The best and brightest are heading abroad

Inadequate entry level training facilities, banks overburdened by

competition (no time for in-house training)

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QUESTION: What can be done to change? Inside the bank, outside?

ANSWER: Focus on producing graduates with focus on meeting the

demands of the financial sector.

EVIDENCE:

Give examples of how this has helped other countries

Improve job quality to attract the best and brightest

Institute entry-level training facilities and job-enrichment training

for middle mangers.

Have in-house, team-building training programs

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QUESTION: How can short-term interventions benefit the sector?

ANSWER: It can help improve quality of services at reasonable costs

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THIS?

A healthy banking/financial sector can give the economy the push

needed for restarting growth

It can foster healthy competition

It can lead to overall growth of the sector, with benefits for all

players those inside and the general public at large

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Organizing Report

Front Matter

Contents

Foreword: Endorsement by someone other than author

Preface: introduction to a book, typically stating subject, scope, or aims

Main Text

Executive summary: Review of the main points of report, highlighting

issues or problems, findings and recommendations or actions. Assume

that reader may not read the main report. Focus on most important

information not on summarizing the whole report.

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Organising Report

Main Text continued

Introduction: Information reader needs to know to read the report. A

main message, and may include context, purpose, scope, relevance to

readers, methodology and a road map (rarely all of these). It may also

summarize findings (if it involves research) and does not have asummary.

Overview: A combination of introduction and summary for lengthy

works. (World Development Report, for example)

Body: Detailed discussion, supporting the points, recommendations,

and conclusions presented in summary or overview.

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Organizing Report

Back Matter

Appendixes: Material that is helpful but not essential for

understanding the report, tables, technical explanations, related

studies, data. Must be self-contained with introduction and headings.

Endnotes: Information that would interrupt the flow of text. Material

not directly related to the main topic of discussion.

References: List every item cited in text, boxes, notes, tables and

figures.

Bibliography: List may included sources not cited in the text.

Glossary: Definition of terms (including acronyms and abbreviations

used in text. (Abbreviations may be included in front matter)

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Organizing Report

Ascending

Introduction

Least important detail

More important detail

Conclusion and recommendation

Appears logical, but readers want to know what iscoming and why to read further.

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Organizing Report

Descending

Conclusion and recommendation

Most important detail

Least important detail

Appendixes

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Organizing Report

Descending

The idea is putting the bottom line (conclusion and main

message) at the top throughout the report.

Summary states overall message against a contextEach chapter discusses the main topics or mini-messages

Paragraphs begin with topic sentences to alert readers

about what is coming their way

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Writing Orientation 2 Organising