英语商务报告写作

‘IhavemadethisletterlongerthanusualonlybecauseIhavenothadtimetomakeitshorter’

BlaisePascal(FrenchMathematician)?BeingConcise-Don’taddinextrawordstoshowyouhaveanextensivevocabularyiftheyarenotneeded!StyleandToneItshouldbepersuasivebutwiththerightlevelofformality.Beobjective-Don’tuse“I”or“you”Consideringtheinformation,Ithinkthat……->Theinformationsuggeststhat…….Youshouldtry…….->Itwouldbebeneficialtotry………..Beclearandconcise-Don’tusemetaphors,idiomsorsayings-Theycanbeinterpretedindifferentways!eg.Itissaidthat“Thereisno‘I’inteam”…..DONOTUSEeg.Everycoinhastwosides…../Therearetwosidestoeverycoin….DONOTUSEButtherearelimitsonbeingconcise!eg.Inaword……………DONOTUSEStructureIntroductionMainBody(OrganisedinParagraphs)ConclusionRecommendationsReadthereportonPage72andnotedownthegoodandbadpointsGoodPointsClearlyOrganisedAddressesthepointsrequestedBadDoesn’tmakeclearrecommendationsTooinformalNolinkingphrasesLinkingPhrasesPractice(pg73)Linkingphrasesareveryimportanttocreateaflowinyourwriting.Howevertheycanbeoverused.Rememberyouareusingthemtolinkideastogether,somakesureyouchoosetherightonetodefinetherelationship.Rewritesentence1-4givingthemthesamemeaning.LinkingPhrases-Answers1a.Inspiteof/Despitebeingrich,he’sunhappy.ORInspiteof/Despitehiswealth,He’sunhappy.b.He’srich.Nevertheless,he’sunhappy.2a.Inadditiontobeingcomplex,it’s(also)expensive.ORInadditiontothefactthatit’scomplex….2b.Aswellasbeingcomplex,it’s(also)expensive.2c.It’scomplex.Furthermore,it’sexpensive.LinkingPhrases-Answers3a.Aftergatheringalltheevidence,theywillproduceareport.3b.(First)theywillgatheralltheevidence.Subsequentlytheywillproduceareport.4a.Thecompanywentbankruptonaccountofpoormanagement/beingpoorlymanaged.4b.Thecompanywaspoorlymanaged.Consequently,itwentbankrupt.CommonGrammaticalMistakesArticles:The,A,Anmakesureyouknowwhichonetouseanduseit!Mostnounsneedanarticle,butnotalldo!Rememberitis‘TheU.K’and‘ThePeople’sRepublicOfChina’but‘Britain’and‘China’.Useadictionarytocheck.CommonGrammaticalMistakes3rdPersonSingularadd’s’Ifyouareusingaverbtodescribeaperson,theoryoranorganisationyouusuallyaddan’s’eg.TheoryXacknowledges……………TheoryXandYacknowledge………Theauthorindicatesthat……………..Theauthorsindicatethat……..CitingandReferencing-Whydowedoit?Todistinguishyourownviewsfromotherpeoples.Toindicatethereliabilityofyourstatements.Toshowthedepthofyourresearch.CitingandReferencing-Whydowedoit?Youhavelimitedbusinessexperience,ifany.Ifyoudonotshowme,IwillassumethatyouropinionsareNOTbasedonrealworldexperiencesorevidence.Byreferencingpeoplewhohaveresearch/reallifeexperience,youareshowingmethatyouhaveknowledgeofwhathasworkedornotworkedintherealworldandthenusedthesetoinformyourownopinion.CriticalthinkingWhatiscriticalthinking?Donotjustpassivelyacceptwhatyoureadbutactivelyquestionandassesit.TheExposureofReinhartandRogoff-AnExampleOfCriticalThinkingIn2013ReinhartandRogoff,twoHarvardProfessorswereexposedforerrorswithintheir2010paper“GrowthInATimeOfDebt”Theirpaperindicatedthataslowingofgrowthby1%forthenext23yearswouldcausetheU.S.economytoshrinkby25%ThiswasusedtoinformseveralpolicydecisionsbytheU.S.Government.AGraduatestudentalongwithhisprofessorsanalysedthepaperandfoundmistakeswithinboththeoriginalfiguresofGDPincertaincountriesandintheexcelformulasusedtoanalysethedataandproducetheirresults.Itwasshownthattheirresultswereagreatexaggerationandmanypeoplehadtore-evaluatethefutureoftheirbusinessandthecountry.WhatCanWeLearnFromThis?IfresearchresultsprovidedbyHarvardprofessorsareerroneous,weneedtoconsiderthetruthbehindallsourcesweread.Thesemistakeswerecausedbyhumanerrorbutothermistakescouldbecausedbytheauthorsownagenda/biases.Theymaylettheirownfeelingsgetinthewayofthetruthortheymaybebeingpaidbyacompanytoreportresultsthatmakethatcompanylookgood.Theonlywaytoknowistoresearchdeeper,lookatthewaytheygottheirresultsandtheresultsotherpeoplehaveproduced.Dotheyallsaythesamething?Ifnot,why?Criticalthinking-ChecklistWhatarethekeyideas?Doestheauthorhaveabias?Doestheevidenceseemreliable?IstheargumentsimilartoanythingelseIhaveread?DoIagreewiththewritersview?ShouldYouUseWikipediaWhenWritingAReport?AnanonymousWikipediacontributorwhoeditedthousandsofentriesandclaimedtobeaprofessorofreligionturnedouttobea24-year-oldcollegedropout.Bythetimehewasexposedasafraud;HewassorespectedintheWikipediacommunitythathehadevenbeenmadeanarbitrator(apersonwhojudgesotherarticlesforvalidity)byWikipediaandhadbeenhiredbyWikiaInc.ShouldYouUseWikipediaWhenWritingAReport?YesandNo…..Yes,itcanofferausefuloverview.HOWEVERtherearemanymistakes!Scrolldownthewikipediapagetothelinksatthebottom.Readtheseandjudgeiftheyarereliable.PlagiarismWhatisplagiarism?Discussthisingroups-writedownadefinition.PlagiarismAnythingthatisnotcommonknowledgeoryourownideasandresearch(publishedornot)mustbecitedandreferenced.Ifyoudonotdothis,youareplagiarising!Ifyoureferencebutchangethemeaningormis-quotestatistics,youareplagiarising!Itisanacademicoffenceandwillresultinfailure.Ifindoubt,citethesource(Way,2015).ReportWriting-CommonMistakesofPhrasingGeneralisations:Itisobviousthat………Itiscertainthat/Certainly……Everyoneknowsthat………Beforeyouwriteoneofthesestatements,stopandthink!Ifitiscertain,youdonotneedtotellsomeoneeg.Itisobviousthattheworldisround.->Theworldisround.Ifitisnotcertain,youneedtocitewhereyougottheinformationfrom.WhatisCommonKnowledge?-ToCiteorNotToCite?“HelsinkiisthecapitalofFinland”“JerusalemistheCapitalofIsrael”"AbrahamLincolnwasthe16thPresidentoftheUnitedStates”"ThepopulationofFinlandhasbeenabout5millionforthepastseveraldecades”"ThepopulationofFinlandinJuly1999was4,992,311"HowtoUseOtherPeoplesIdeasandResearchOnceyouknowthatyoushouldcitetheinformation,youthenneedtoputitintoanappropriateform.Thisinvolvesquoting,paraphrasingorsummarising

ShortQuotesShouldbeintegratedintothesentenceusingreportingwords.Youshouldsitetheauthor,theyearandthepage,lineorparagraph,dependingonthesource.Shouldusedoublequotationmarks“……”Eg.AccordingtoPrincetonWritingCentre(2009,para.7),directquotingshouldonlybeusedtoprovidesupportforacademicargumentfora“compelling”reasonandthechoicetoquotemaybebecause“youwantyourreadertobeabletosee,infull,whatsomeoneelsehassaid”beforeyougoontoanalysethestatement.LongQuotes

LeaveNOSPACEaboveandbelowthelongquote Makethetextsizethesameastheessaytextsize Indentapproximatelyonecentimetretotheright

DONOTusequotationmarksStudentsoftenmisunderstandtheroleofquotationsinwritingandoverdothestrategy:Studentsincludefourquotationswhereonewoulddo.Thiscangivetheimpressionthatyoudon'thaveenoughtosayandareusingquotationstotakeupspace[acommonstrategyforsomestudents].Also,theexcessiveuseofquotes...maybetakentoindicatethatyoudon'tunderstandthepositionwellenoughtoexplainitinyourownwords.(Dartmouth,2008,para.11)Moreover,thereareanumberoftechnicalrulesthatstudentsneedtolearntousequotationscorrectlyintheirwriting.ParaphrasingOriginalfromAllen,J.(2009)‘Thecauseoftheindustrialrevolution’,OxfordUniversityPress:UK;“Therehasbeenmuchdebateaboutthereasonsfortheindustrialrevolutionhappeningin18thCenturyBritain,ratherthaninFranceorGermany”Paraphrased:WhytheindustrialrevolutionoccurredinBritainintheeighteenthcentury,insteadofonthecontinent,hasbeenthesubjectofconsiderablediscussion(Allen,2009)Canyouidentifythekeyfeaturesofaneffectiveparaphrase?Paraphrasinghasadifferentstructuretotheoriginalhasmainlydifferentvocabularyretainsthesamemeaningkeepssomephrasesfromtheoriginaltextthatareincommonuseeg.‘industrialrevolution’or‘eighteenthcentury’ParaphrasingPracticeYouarewritingareportcomparingchangesinmanufacturingandculturalattitudesintheWest.Youreadthisandthinktheideaswouldbegoodtouseinyouressay.‘Thegrowthofthecarindustryparallelsthedevelopmentofmoderncapitalism.Inthe1920sAlfredSloan’smanagementtheorieshelpedGeneralMotorstobecometheword’sdominantcarcompany.’(Bailey,2013)“Thegrowthofthecarindustryparallelsthedevelopmentofmoderncapitalism”1.Firstlookforsynonymsofkeywords:Thegrowthofthecar

industry

parallelsthedevelopment

ofmoderncapitalism.changeitto:Theriseoftheautomobileindustrydirectlycorrespondstotheprogressofcontemporarycapitalism.2.Thenchangethestructurebutkeepthesamemeaning:Thereisadirectcorrespondencebetweentheprogressofcontemporarycapitalismandtheriseoftheautomobileindustry.3.Citetheoriginaltext:Thereisadirectcorrespondencebetweentheprogressofcontemporarycapitalismandtheriseoftheautomobileindustry(Bailey,2013).‘Inthe1920sAlfredSloan’smanagementtheorieshelpedGeneralMotorstobecometheworld’sdominantcarcompany.’1.Firstlookforsynonymsofkeywords:2.Thenchangethestructurebutkeepthesamemeaning:3.Citetheoriginaltext:‘Inthe1920sAlfredSloan’smanagementtheorieshelpedGeneralMotorstobecometheword’sdominantcar