Writing reports and evaluations

1. Writing reports and evaluations Understanding your assignment task Writing genres Report vs. essay Purpose and audience Report format Report format details Critical evaluation Reflective writing

2. How to analyze your assignment task • Step 1: Collect the information about the assignment • Collect allgiven information about the assignment: assignment task, FAQ sheet, and assessment criteria • Be clear about the purpose of the assignment: what skills, knowledge etc. you are being asked to demonstrate • Step 2: Work out the genre of the assignment • Identify the genre and type of assignment required to write. • Step 3: Identify the key words in the assignment • Break the question down into components by highlighting key words help with your interpretation and analysis. • Step 4: checklist • make a checklist of deliverables to tick off before submission. Understanding your assignment task Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations

3. Common assignment writing genres: Abstract and executive summary Annotated bibliography Case study Critique Essay Reflective journal Report Writing genres Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations

4. Report vs. essay Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations

5. Before starting to write a report, two key questions need to be clarified: • What is the purpose of the report? • Who is the audience for the report? Purpose: ? Is it to: • collect data and present the findings? • analyse a situation or activity? • review and evaluate existing literature on a topic and identify issues? All of these reports are forms of a research report, but they fulfil different functions. • AudienceAlthough lecturers are the obvious audience for any assessment task, it is important to think of the task in more objective terms, to see it as a 'real' task, e.g. as writing a report for a client or company. To help locate a report in a more realistic context, think carefully about all the potential readers of a report,and ask: • Who will read the report? • What are their needs, what do they need to see? How do you make your report user-friendly? • How will you structure and package the report? • How much detail needs to be included in the report? Purpose & audience Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations

6. Title page • Contents • Part 1: overview • may include Introduction, rationale and summary of key findings • may be bullet point • Part 2: discussion • Critical evaluation • discussion • May combine subheadings, bullet point and narrative (essay style) • Part 3: conclusion • review, reflection • Usually narrative • Bibliography • Appendices Generic report format Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations

7. Overview • (less than 10% of the word length) • Provide basic details of the work being reviewed e.g. date it was created, the name of the author/creator.   • Describe the main argument or purpose of the work. • Rationale: explain the context in which the work was created.  • Briefly summarize the main points of discussion or findings. • Have a concluding sentence that signposts what your evaluation of the work will be. For instance, it may indicate whether it is a positive, negative, or mixed evaluation. • Discussion (see next slide) • Conclusion • usually a very brief paragraph • A statement indicating the overall evaluation of the work • A summary of the key reasons, identified during the critical evaluation, why this evaluation was formed. • recommendations for improvement or future directions may be appropriate here. • Reference list • Include all resources, including images, cited in your critique. • Check with your lecturer/tutor for which referencing style to use.    Report format details Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations

8. give a systematic and detailed assessment of the different elements of the work • Sometimes you will be given a task-specific template or set of guidelines for this • Do not simply describe or highlight pros and cons. • deconstructthe work methodically • Criticallyanalyze: identify aims, assumptions, strengths and weaknesses • make connections to wider context, if possible • evaluate for effectiveness • provide evidence from the work itself, such as a quote or example • cite evidence from related academic sources. Explain how this evidence supports your evaluation of the work. Discussion section Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations

9. “One must learn by doing the thing; though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try”. Sophocles, 495-406 BC “Other people’s knowledge is just information.Teaching is helping people to turn information into knowledge……by getting them to do things with the information…” P. Race, Assessment, Learning and Teaching Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth “… to learn something does not mean to receive knowledge or information, but … that the relationship between person and world changes.” LouiseLimberg, 1999 Senior Professor of Library and Information Science University of Gothenburg About learning Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations

10. Reflective writing is: • your response to experiences, thoughts, events or new information • a way of thinking to explore your learning • an opportunity to gain self-knowledge • a way to achieve clarity and better understanding of what you are learning • a chance to develop and reinforce writing skills • a way of making meaning out of what you study • Reflective writing is not: • just conveying information, instruction or argument • pure description, though there may be descriptive elements • straightforward decision or judgment(e.g. about whether something is right or wrong, good or bad) • simple problem-solving • a summary of course notes • a standard university essay What is reflective writing? Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations

11. To make connections • builds on your prior knowledge, whether it is formal (e.g. education) or informal (e.g. gained through experience). • helps you develop and clarify the connections: • between what you already know and what you are learning • between theory and practice • between what you are doing and how and why you do it. • To examine your learning processes • to consider and comment on your learning experiences—not only WHAT you've learned, but HOW you learned it. • to clarify what you are learning • clarifywhat you have studied • integrate new knowledge with previous knowledge • identify the questions you have • identify what you have yet to learn. Why are we asked to do reflective writing? Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations

12. Reflective sample from a weekly journal Week 13 Reflective Practice & your ePortfolio

13. A crucial part of your reflection • Is an iterative, cyclic process • Identifies your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and barriers to learning • helps you avoid repeating them. • helps identify successful principles to use again. • To become an active and aware learner • To become a reflective practitioner once you graduate and begin your professional life reflecting on mistakes and successes Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations

14. The reflective practice model Rodin's The Thinker" Originally conceived in 1880 as Dante, with the poet overlooking the Gates of Hell, it is now seen to "represent the power of thought and mental creativity" This model comes from Kolb (1984) Week 13 Reflective Practice & your ePortfolio

15. Reflective Practice is a cyclic process. For example: 1. Describe the experience briefly 2. Reflect on what you experienced – what did you observe about yourself? about yourself interacting with the task? 3. Conceptualized the experience: is there a key theme in it? what is the main concept? can you relate this to other similar experiences 4. What could you do differently next time, what could you change and why? 5. Do the task again – what was the experience this time? Steps in reflective practice Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations

16. Report Writinghttps://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/2_AssessmentTasks/assess_tuts/reports_LL/types.html Reflective writinghttp://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/reflect.html UTS Academic writing resourceshttp://www.lib.uts.edu.au/help/study-skills/writing-reading-speaking Other general resourceshttp://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/olib.htmlhttp://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/taskanal.htmlhttp://unilearning.uow.edu.au/main.html Further readings Guide to Writing Reports and Evaluations