Title Case: This means that all of the words should
start with upper-case (or 'capital') letters, except articles ('a', 'an', and
'the') and prepositions; e.g. 'Report on the Microwave Oven'. The first word of
a title case always has an upper-case first letter; e.g. 'The Report Correction
Exercise'.
Redundant: something that is unnecessary, and
therefore should not be included. Things may be redundant because:
they are obvious, and therefore the reader does not need to be told
they have been written already, and do not need to be repeated.
In workplace writing you need to balance the need for conciseness with the
need for clarity, especially as the report may be read in the future by someone
who does not understand the situation.
The numbering system is a modern one. It is a very flexible system,
as you can have sub-sub-sub-sub-section 4.1.3.5.19, but it is difficult
in the traditional system to go beyond a three-level organisation; e.g.
4. a. iii. For example, the numbering for 'Air Space for Cooling' is an
easy-to-understand '4.2.1.1' in the first list, but a confusing '1.' in the second
list:
4. Findings
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Size
4.2.1 Width
4.2.1.1 Air Space for Cooling
The microwave needs to have a space of 2" all the way round for
ventilation and to get rid of excess heat. Therefore we need to add 2" to
all of the measurements.
4.2.2 Height
4.2.3 Length
4.2.4 Volume
4.3 Power
4. Findings
a. Introduction
b. Size
i. Width
Air Space for Cooling The microwave needs to have a space of 2" all the way round for
ventilation and to get rid of excess heat. Therefore we need to add 2" to
all of the measurements.
ii. Height
iii. Length
iv. Volume
c. Power
Also, Roman numerals can be hard to understand; e.g. xliv =
?
xliv = 44 ( l = 50,
xl = 40 (ten before 50) v = 5
iv = 4 )
Corrected report
Click on the links to go to explanations of sections:
CONTACT
COMPUTER GRAPHICS
MEMORANDUM
To:
S.M. Chan, General Manager
From:
Samantha Ng, Office Manager
Date:
Subject:
Report on Staff Satisfaction with the Microwave Oven
1. Introduction At the monthly staff meeting on , you requested information
about staff satisfaction with the new microwave oven. The aim of this report is to present this
information, and make suggestions about how to improve the situation.
2. Background Since the move to the new office in Kowloon Bay, staff have had difficulty
in finding a nearby place to buy lunch. This is
because the new office is in a factory area,
and there is a lack of restaurants.
A Sharpe R-3R29 microwave oven was purchased so that staff could eat hot lunches at work.
However, some staff have expressed dissatisfaction with the microwave.
3. Method
Sixty staff were surveyed by questionnaire from
.
4.1 Introduction
In general, staff were not satisfied with the power and size of the microwave.
Some were satisfied with the location of the microwave,
and most were satisfied with its reliability (see Table 1).
On analysing the data, two distinct groups of staff emerged. The first
group were 40 staff who had usually eaten in the office when the office
was in Central. The second group of 20 staff had usually eaten outside
in Central.
Table 1: Staff Satisfaction with the Microwave Oven
Feature
Staff Satisfaction
Group A
Usually ate in the office (n=40)
Group B
Usually ate outside the office (n=20)
Both Groups
Size
55%
35%
48%
Power
30%
25%
28%
Location
70%
75%
71%
Reliability
95%
95%
95%
Average
62.5%
57.5%
60.5%
4.2 Power
Only a quarter of Group B staff said that the oven was powerful enough for their
needs. Also, less than a third of Group A staff were satisfied,
giving a total for both groups of less than 30%. Staff responded that it
took too long for the oven to cook their food and therefore they had
to queue at lunchtime.
4.3 Size
In addition,
about
two-thirds of Group B staff said that the microwave was too small.
For example, one member of staff complained that his 10" pizza would
not fit in the oven.
However, more than half of Group A staff were satisfied, giving a
total satisfaction for both groups of just under 50%.
4.4 Location
About three-quarters of both groups of staff
thought that the location of the oven was
acceptable. The rest of the staff did not agree on a better position for
the oven.
4.5 Reliability
Regarding reliability, almost all of the staff were satisfied. Three members of staff
did not understand how to operate the oven.
5. Conclusions The Findings show that staff, especially staff in Group B, were not satisfied with the power and size of the microwave. We
should therefore consider buying a bigger and more
powerful microwave.
6. Recommendations There are a number of options we
could consider, as follows:
6.1 Exchange
Given that we need a better microwave, we should return the microwave to the shop and ask them if we can buy a
bigger one, and only pay the difference. I suggest
trying this first.
6.2 Purchase of a New Microwave
If the shop will not take back the old microwave I recommend buying a
new one, and keeping the old one in another part of the office for the staff who
do not like the present location. Alternatively, we could sell the old
microwave second hand.
6.3 Queuing System
We could let the staff arrange a system for different staff to use the
microwave at different times.
