Strategic Research and Analysis

Effective Report Writing Strategies (pdf)

Examples:  

Abstract  (doc)

Checklist  (doc)

Report (pdf)

Monday, October 19, 2009 8:30 am to 9:15 am

Effective report writing strategies for Institutional Research should be employed to help define and enhance projects. The most common report writing mistakes are misleading information, poor organization, graphics (i.e., tables, charts and graphs), inaccurate data, and grammar. Five key effective writing strategies highlighted in this presentation are: 1.) Planning the Report, 2.) Organizing the Report, 3.) Writing the Report, 4.) Revising the Report, and 5.) Concluding the Report. Institutional Research professionals may also find the AIR publication, Effective Reporting, useful for report writing tips and strategies.

Presenters: Mr. Patrick Roberts and Dr. Jayne Perkins Brown, Georgia Southern University

Enhance Your Reports with Sparklines (pdf)

Hand-out (pdf)

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 9:15 am to 10:00 am

The term "Sparkline" was created by Edward Tufte, an expert in the presentation of informational graphics. Sparklines are described by Tufte as "small, high-resolution graphics embedded in a context of words, numbers and images" that depict longitudinal data. A demonstration of the Bissantz SparkMaker Pro tool, MS Excel and MS Word will be used in creating sparklines for the reports presented. This will be a close look at the process and the software tools.

Presenters: Mrs. Mary Poe and Dr. Jayne Perkins Brown, Georgia Southern University