Transcript Organizing Information and Constructing the Outline

Organizing Information and
Constructing the Outline
Identify the problem
What must I accomplish with this
message?
Why is this message important or
imperative?
Who is the subject of the message?
The answer to these questions are
combined into the problem statement.
What needs to be investigated?
Identify the factors that need to be
considered (scope), and why.
Identify what data need to be gathered
for each factor and how to gather it.
Gather the data.
Based on the problem . . .
Classify the data

Such as by time, quantity, factors, or place
Tabulate the data collected

Use statistical tools where appropriate
Organize the outline by:



determining the outline ORDER.
determining the outline’s DIVISIONS.
Determining the outline’s HEADINGS.
ORDER of the Outline
Study Notes p. 17
Indirect order is inductive. Indirect order moves
from known to unknown—typically introduction, facts,
conclusions & recommendations, closing (summary).
Direct order is deductive. Direct order begins with
the most important information—conclusions &
recommendations, introduction, facts, summary,
closing.
Modified Direct order – The only difference between
the direct and modified direct orders is in the
placement of the introduction. In modified direct:
Introduction, conclusions & recommendations, facts,
summary, closing.
Chronological order is in time sequence.
Chronological order is an order based on the present to
the past or the past to the present.
DIVISION OF INFORMATION
Time periods. When the information has a
time basis. E.g., progress on a building’s
construction.
Place. When the information is related to a
geographic location. E.g., sales reports by
city.
Quantity. When the information has a
number base. E.g., demographic habits of
buying.
Factors. Areas of investigation. E.g.,
quality-of-life factors of neighborhoods.
Combination and Multiple Divisions.
Combinations of the above. E.g., annual
report to stockholders.
OUTLINE SYSTEMS
See Study Notes
pp. 14 - 16
Businesses usually use the format
depicted in Nelson, page 16. You will use
this format in this class.
Study Notes p. 16
HEADINGS of the Outline
Topic Headings. Topics give only the
subject of discussion. E.g., Introduction,
Background, Analysis, Limitations, etc.
Talking Headings. Talking headings
identify the subject AND tell what is said.
E.g., Background of the Production Problem,
Investigation of the Production Department,
Analysis of the Personnel Records, Need for
More Financial Information, etc.
Heading Formats
See Study Notes pp. 18-19
Short reports normally use Level 3 and
Level 4 headings; Levels 1, 3, and 4 if
needed.
For more complex reports additional
levels may be added.
Level 5 is only used for the largest
reports.
Tips to Write Effective Headings
Parallelism
Conciseness of Wording
Variety of Expression
Parallelism of Construction
pp. 152-153
Captions at a level of division should be grammatically
parallel. E.g., if caption II is a noun phrase, so should
be captions III, IV, V, etc.
Incorrect
I.
Machine output is
lagging. [sentence]
II. Increase in cost of
operations [noun
phrase]
III. Unable to deliver
necessary steam
[decapitated sentence]
Correct
I.
Lag in machine
output
II. Increase in cost of
operations
III. Inability to deliver
necessary steam
Conciseness of Wording
Make the talking captions concise
Incorrect
I.
Personal appearance
enhancement is most
desirable feature of
contact lenses that
wearers report.
II. The drawback of
contacts mentioned by
most people who don’t
wear them is that they
are difficult to put on
Correct
I.
Personal appearance
most desirable feature
II. Installation difficulty
prime criticism
Variety of expression
Repeating words in captions can be
monotonous.
Incorrect
Correct
A. Chemical production in
Texas
A. Texas leads in chemical
production
B. Chemical production in
California
B. California holds runnerup position
C. Chemical production in
Louisiana
C. Rapidly gaining
Louisiana ranks third
Organizing information exercise
Assume you have interviewed a representative
group from the student body at Indiana State
University on the subject of total out-of-pocket
expenditures of students during the academic
year. Making any logical assumptions, into what
categories could your findings possibly be
classified?
List them making certain that you employ
parallel construction, concise wording, and
variety of expression.