Q&A Hero

Q: Position papers spell out lasting guidelines on company policies and procedures.

Q: Operating reports establish expectations and guidelines to direct future action.

Q: Sales call reports are a type of compliance report.

Q: An email summarizing an employee's trip to a trade show would be an example of a personal activity report.

Q: Compliance reports, progress reports, and monitor/control reports are all types of informational reports.

Q: A primary goal in preparing monitor/control reports is to emphasize the good news and hide the bad news.

Q: In business reports, it is never appropriate to combine the direct and indirect approaches by revealing conclusions and recommendations as you go along.

Q: For long, complex reports, the indirect approach tends to be less effective than the direct approach.

Q: Depending on your status in the organization, using the direct approach in reports can be misconstrued as arrogance.

Q: The direct approach is the most popular strategy for business reports.

Q: Online reports are always preferable to paper reports in today's business environments.

Q: An executive dashboard is a customized online presentation of highly summarized business information.

Q: Some work plans include a preliminary or "working" outline.

Q: When writing a work plan, it's important to begin by developing a problem statement.

Q: Very few reports require a work plan.

Q: The statement of purpose for analytical reports will usually need to be more comprehensive than one for informational reports.

Q: The statement of purpose for a report is always presented as a question.

Q: Internal reports are more likely to be misinterpreted than external reports.

Q: For a business document to be considered a report, it must be at least six pages long.

Q: An analytical report often ends by presenting a recommendation.

Q: In an unsolicited proposal, the people applying for the job often must A) convince readers that a problem exists that must be addressed. B) analyze the client's business in light of the competition. C) use a style approved by the American Association of Business Writers. D) enumerate the client's options regarding such business decisions as product-line expansion.

Q: A contractor receives a request from the owner of a company to bid on a large-scale construction project. The contractor will prepare a(n) A) unsolicited proposal. B) solicited proposal. C) blind proposal. D) request for proposal.

Q: You're writing an analytical report outlining the benefits of starting a recycling program. You need to explain how the program meets numerous criteria including reasonable cost, ease of implementation, and long-term impact. The ________ approach will probably be the best way to organize your report. A) 2 + 2 = 4 B) scientific C) direct D) yardstick

Q: One drawback of using the yardstick approach to structure business reports is that A) you must discuss all the alternatives, even if many of them turn out to be irrelevant and/or unproductive. B) this approach is generally considered old-fashioned. C) it forces you to ignore the fact that the problem may have multiple causes. D) it is impractical in most business settings.

Q: Because of its natural feel and versatility, the ________ approach is generally the most persuasive way to develop an analytical report for skeptical readers. A) 2 + 2 = 4 B) yardstick C) direct D) hypothetical

Q: Which of the following is not a strategy for structuring reports focused on logical arguments?A) 2 + 2 = 4 approachB) Direct approachC) Yardstick methodD) An approach that compares a solution to a set of predetermined standards

Q: Unlike reports focused on conclusions or recommendations, reports focusing on logical arguments A) use an indirect approach. B) are not very convincing. C) emphasize the positive. D) do not include outside evidence.

Q: Any risks involved with your recommendations should A) not be addressed, since they may discourage your audience. B) be discussed in your report, but only in vague, general terms. C) be addressed clearly in your report. D) be outlined before you reveal the benefits that can be achieved.

Q: A report focused on recommendations should A) first establish or verify the need for action. B) not include conclusions. C) avoid mentioning any potential risks. D) outline costs, but not in detail.

Q: One potential drawback of focusing immediately on conclusions in a report is that you may A) reveal information you know about that has not been included in the report. B) make everything you say seem too simple. C) offend your audience. D) do all of the above.

Q: Explain "data visualization" and give at least one example to support your explanation.

Q: One of the most common visuals in many business documents is the table. What six guidelines should you follow to make your tables easy for audiences to read?

Q: What are the "five Cs" to consider when you're deciding which points to illustrate with visuals?

Q: Discuss six principles to keep in mind when designing visuals regarding the aesthetic and symbolic aspects of graphic art.

Q: Define and explain the "visual evolution in business communication."

Q: What three questions should you ask in verifying the quality of the visuals you include in business messages?

Q: Briefly explain the difference between descriptive titles and informative titles for visuals, and provide an example of each.

Q: List two ways that including too many visuals can distract your audience from the main points of your message.

Q: In preparing a presentation for a local community group, you need to describe the process your plant uses to manufacture home appliances. What type of visual should you use to describe the process, and why?

Q: How are Gantt charts used in business documents?

Q: In designing visuals for business reports, what tasks are best suited for bar charts? List at least two.

Q: In a line chart, what do the vertical and horizontal axes normally illustrate?

Q: List at least five types of visuals commonly used to present data in business documents. Provide an example of a specific task for which one type would be especially useful.

Q: Briefly describe one way that visuals can be designed to emphasize or deemphasize certain aspects of the data they present.

Q: What is "chartjunk"?

Q: Along with the title of a visual, the ________ offers additional discussion of the visual's content and can be several sentences long.

Q: A(n) ________ title calls attention to the conclusion that ought to be drawn from the data.

Q: A(n) ________ title on a graphic simply identifies the topic.

Q: To illustrate the positions, units, or functions of an organization and the way they interrelate, use a(n) ________ chart.

Q: In a flowchart, ________-shaped symbols will have more than one branch leading out of them.

Q: The most difficult chart to use to collect numerical data from is the ________ chart.

Q: A(n) ________ chart is a type of time line chart used to track progress toward completing a project.

Q: A(n) ________ ________ chart shows how much time is needed to complete each task in a given project.

Q: A(n) ________ is a type of chart that uses symbols instead of words or numbers to portray data.

Q: A(n) ________ chart can take several forms including singular, deviation, segmented, combination, or paired.

Q: ________ charts are a form of line chart with a cumulative effect; all the lines add up to the top line.

Q: A(n) ________ is a poor choice for noticing mathematical trends.

Q: A(n) ________ chart specializes in showing how a variable changes over time.

Q: ________ refers to decorative elements that clutter documents without adding any relevant information.

Q: A basic principle of design is to maintain ________ or visual parallelism among all the visuals in a document.

Q: Short titles such as "Improvements" intrigue audiences and encourage them to pay careful attention to your visuals.

Q: The best place to put a visual is right next to or immediately following the paragraph it illustrates.

Q: When describing the data from a visual in the text of your report, you should be sure to reiterate all the details of the data, rather than simply touching on the highlights.

Q: In the text of a report, only the most important visuals should be referred to by number.

Q: One potential disadvantage of using a photograph to help explain a repair procedure is that it shows too much detail.

Q: Because of the costs of reproduction, photographs are usually not used in business reports.

Q: Drawings, diagrams, and photographs are generally not helpful in business documents.

Q: On a flowchart, diamonds indicate decision points.

Q: If you want to illustrate a process or procedure, the best type of visual to use is a flowchart.

Q: Data visualization is focused on extracting broad meaning from data (rather than on clarifying individual data points).

Q: A pie chart would provide an effective visual to illustrate how an employee's time is divided among different tasks throughout the week.

Q: A Gantt chart is a type of time line chart used to track the progress of a project.

Q: Compared to bar charts, pictograms can present a less professional tone.

Q: Bars in a bar chart should always be aligned horizontally.

Q: The deviation bar chart shows variation for a variable over time.

Q: Bar charts can be used to compare more than one set of data.

Q: The edge of the bottom section of a surface chart shows the cumulative total for all of the categories.

Q: Generally speaking, a line chart should not contain more than 2-3 lines for comparison.

Q: In line charts showing trends, the vertical axis indicates time or quantity, and the horizontal axis indicates amount.

Q: Word tables are generally less useful than numerical ones.