(BQ) Part 2 book "Essentials of business communication" has contents: Proposals and formal reports, interviewing and following up, the job search, résumés, and cover letters, business presentations, professionalism at work - business etiquette, ethics, teamwork, and meetings | 10 CHAPTer 10 Proposals and Formal Reports OBJeCTiVeS After studying this chapter, you should be able to • Identify and explain the parts of informal and formal proposals. • Describe the preparatory steps for writing a formal report. • Learn to collect data from secondary sources including print and electronic sources. • Understand how to use Web browsers, search tools, blogs, and other online communication tools to locate reliable data. • Discuss how to generate primary data from surveys, interviews, observation, and experimentation. © / LISE GAGNE • Understand the need for the accurate documentation of data. • Describe how to organize report data, create an outline, and make effective headings. • Illustrate data using tables, charts, and graphs. • Describe and sequence the parts of a formal report. understanding Business Proposals You may wonder what proposals are and why you are learning to write them. For example, a business plan, a type of proposal, is necessary to obtain financing if you wish to start your own business. Similarly, if you apply for a grant or a graduate fellowship, you will need to provide a written plan or sketch a worthy project. The goal when writing business proposals and formal reports is to make them accessible and useful to your readers. In this chapter you will learn how to achieve this goal. Our discussion will start with proposals. Proposals are written offers to solve problems, provide services, or sell equipment. Some proposals are internal, often taking the form of justification and recommendation reports. You learned about these reports in Chapter 9. Most proposals, however, are external and are a critical means of selling equipment and services that generate income for many companies. External proposals may be divided into two categories: solicited and unsolicited. Enterprising companies looking for work might submit unsolicited proposals, but most proposals are solicited. When a firm knows exactly what
