Prospectus

ENG302 : The Class : Forms and Formats : HSort and Informal : Prospectus
Writing a Prospectus

To complete this assignment successfully, you should:

Study the assignment carefully
Enter your response(s) in the space(s) provided
Fill in your Name and Email address
Send the Assignment

Let's get started on the final project.

Remember, for your final project, you will write one short, informal report and one more elaborate and formal report. You will do the short formal report in Module 3, Topic 1 (this topic), and the elaborate, formal report in Module 3, Topic 2 (the
next topic). The short, informal report will be a prospectus of the elaborate, formal one.

There are four basic choices for the formal report:

A. A thesis report:
A report which has an arguable main point, supported by hard data and possibly other types of evidence.

B. A report of original research:
A thesis report in which much of the evidence comes from the writer’s own experiments or other data gathering efforts in the field, as opposed to data taken from written or electronic sources.

C. A problem/solution report:
A thesis report in which a problem is first presented and then a solution to that problem is offered.

D. A practical application report:
A thesis report in which a successful method or solution that works in one field or situation is applied to a new and different field or situation.

We will first look at the prospectus and in the next topic we will look at the formal reports in more detail.

The prospectus is a sales job, in which you propose to do a certain piece of writing. In this case, you may consider that I am your audience and you are telling me about the report you have selected for your formal report and convincing me to allow you to do it. At the end of reading your prospectus, what I must believe is the following:

You care enough about the topic to do a good job.

Somebody else might actually care about the report.

You are qualified to do the report.

The supporting data exists to make the report believable.

You can get access to that data.

You have a realistic and workable plan and timetable for structuring the report, gathering the data, and writing it up into a formal report.

Toward these ends, the prospectus contains the following parts:

1. The Introduction, which contains two parts:

A. Impetus: here you show me what got you started on this topic; you show me some personal connection to the topic that motivates you personally.

Get started right here:

2. B. Background:
here you explain the overall topic and where your specific report fits within that topic. This is like a funnel: you show the broad category of your topic and how you have narrowed it down to a specific and workable scope.

Get started right here:

3. Main Point

Here in one or two sentences you show me the exact point you will be making. You may phrase it as a statement or you may phrase it as a question, if you are not certain yet of the exact answer. You must know either what you are setting out to prove
or what you are setting out to discover.

Get started right here:

4. Plan

Here you must show me how you plan to gather the evidence either to prove your point or answer your question. What I need here is a working outline of the points you think you will have to cover in the report. This working outline may change as you gather data--that’s OK--just give me your best shot for now.

Get started right here:

5. Then I need to know where the data or evidence will come from to fill in this outline. This may be printed matter; it may be interviews; or it may be electronically gathered material; or a combination of all three. List your potential sources.

Get started right here:

6. Finally, I need a timeline for your project. When will you do each step? How do the steps relate to one another?

Get started right here:

7. This document, two or three pages, addressed to me, is your prospectus, your short, informal report.

It must be submitted and resubmitted until I am satisfied that you have a workable project in hand.

The prospectus will be graded on the following criteria:

Grading Criteria: Prospectus

Impetus: Personal Connection	5 pts.	50 pts.
Background: Overall topic where your report fits	5 pts.
Main Point: Phrased in a question or a statement	10 pts.
Plan for Gathering Data	10 pts.
Data Sources: Printed, interviews, and electronic	10 pts.
Timeline: When will you do each step? How do the steps relate to each other?	10 pts.

Clarity: Clearly Defined Purpose, Adequate Factual Support for Purpose, Clear and Appropriate Organization, Clear Sentences	15 pts.	50 pts.
Conciseness: Presentation that is long enough to get the job done, Effective Language	15 pts.
Coherence: Logical Patterns, Argumentative Patterns, Other Organizational Forms that create a flow for the document appropriate to audience, purpose, voice	10 pts.
Correctness: Appropriate Use of Standard Formats, Proper Grammer, Mechanics, and Other Conventions	10 pts.

100 pts. Total

For grading purposes, please provide the following information:

Your Name:
Your Email address:

Once you have filled in all of the areas above, click the Send the assignment button below to send the assignment to the instructor.

E-mail Greg Larkin at Gregory.Larkin@nau.edu
or call (520) 523-4911

Web site created by the NAU OTLE Faculty Studio