Business reports courses listed by tuition and depth of training
Business Report Writing Skills (BWC421)
Business reports course teaches the best practices for writing business reports
Taught by a business college PhD professor
Self-pacing
All business reports course materials online
Many business report writing exercises
Activities to practice writing clear business reports that have impact
Easy-to-understand lessons
A wide variety of business reports examples
Five writing examinations of sample business reports
Business reports course materials stay online after graduation for later reference
Tuition: $295
See instructor credentials
Coaching, Tutoring, and Training from Dr. Robert HoganRobert Hogan, PhD, is an accomplished business-writing trainer with over 40 years’ experience training business writers in companies, government agencies, and universities. He has been a professor of business report writing and communications at Illinois State University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County Community College. He is a specialist in writing training with articles about writing training in English Education, College Composition and Communication, Research in the Teaching of English, and various conference proceedings. He has written two books training business writers: Explicit Business Writing: Best Practices for the Twenty-first Century, and Business Writing Skills for Forensic Laboratory Managers. Dr. Hogan is the director of the Business Writing Center.
Dr. Hogan’s PhD is in training and supervision, with a focus on training in writing. He is the author of most of the training materials in the 45 courses offered by the Business Writing Center. As a result, he selects the training from the courses that will be most beneficial for you. As you learn with Dr. Hogan, you can expect the following:
Conscientious attention to your unique goals and needs
Personal attention from Dr. Hogan by email or phone anytime you want it
Clear, simple explanations of writing skills
Training for any language, grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and word usage issues
Effective training approaches that Dr. Hogan originates for your unique needs based on his 40 years of teaching
A willingness to listen to your goals, needs, and desire to learn specific skills
You will be able to contact Dr. Hogan by email or phone at any time to ask questions about your business writing needs.
Courses Dr. Hogan Teaches
BWC130 Individualized Writing for Nonnative Speakers of English BWC110 Basic Grammar Skills Tutorial BWC520 Coaching through Writing Actual Documents BWC510 Individualized Business Writing TrainingBWC 625 Customized Business Writing Skills Course BWC225 Explicit Business Writing with Additional Training BWC140 Writing Coaching for Executive Nonnative Speakers of English BWC600 Writing Coaching for Managers and Executives
See the syllabus
Syllabus: BWC421 Business Report Writing SkillsThe Business Report Writing course teaches the skills required to write clear, explicit business reports. The business reports course focuses on the structure critical to all business reports, providing the basic knowledge any writer can use for all types of business reports.
The Business Report Writing course teaches all the best practices that result in clear, professional business reports, from deciding what should go into the business report to preparing the final draft. The business reports course includes five writing samples your instructor will evaluate, comment on, and use to coach you through skills you need to learn.
The online lessons contain clear explanations and many business report writing examples. You go at your own pace and submit assignments when you are ready. The instructor evaluates the activities and examinations, comments on skills learned and skills that still need polish, coaches you through learning the business report writing skills, and certifies your competence. You receive a graduation certificate for framing at the end of the business reports course.
Course Time: You will go through the business reports course at your own pace, so you could complete it within a few weeks. However, you have up to four months to complete the course so you can fit the study time into your schedule. All lessons must be finished within the four-month period. Writing Business Reports Course ContentPlan the Report1. Set goals.
2. Know your readers.
3. Choose strategies based on the goals and readers.Submit Report 1 for Evaluation and Coaching
Prepare Your Notes 4. Learn how to overcome writer’s block.
5. Prepare notes for your report.Organize the Writing 6. Have an organizational pattern in mind.
7. Use special organizational patterns for some messages.Introduce the Content 8. Write a clear, complete report introduction.
9. State the contents of the report.
10. State conclusions and recommendations in the introduction.Present Explanations in Blocks 11. Write the explanations in blocks.
12. Keep explanations of a subject together in one block.
13. Check each block for focus.
14. Check each block for completeness.
15. Open each block with a statement of the contents.
16. Use headings to open blocks.
17. Bold field or data names to identify them as blocks.Submit Report 2 for Evaluation and CoachingPresent Lists Clearly 18. Create lists.
19. Open list blocks.
20. Mark the list items clearly.
21. Keep list items in a single list.
22. Keep list items in the same format.
23. Present information in tables when possible.
24. Consider information blueprinting to be explicit.Submit Report 3 for Evaluation and Coaching Write Clear, Complete Explanations 25. Write to build conclusions in the reader’s mind.
26. For reports, write clear, complete, relevant explanations.
27. Use key words consistently.
28. Fully explain each new concept word or phrase.
29. Use full phrases to define words clearly.Write Conclusions that Have Impact 30. Write a conclusion that achieves your goals.Submit Report 4 for Evaluation and CoachingWrite Clear, Effective Paragraphs, Sentences, and Words 31. Use paragraphs to organize information.
32. Write concisely.
33. Combine sentences to show relationships.
Separate sentences to make them clearer.
34. Write clear, simple, straightforward sentences.
35. Write strong, direct sentences.
36. Write clearly and simply for non-technical readers.
37. Use words the reader will understand.Prepare a Polished, Correct Final Draft 38. Use your spell checker and grammar checker.
39. Proofread.Register for this business reports course
Business Research Report Writing Skills (BWC420)
Teaches the best practices for writing business research reports
Taught by a business college PhD professor
Self-pacing
All business reports course materials online
Many business report writing exercises
Training in using sources and writing objectively
Activities to practice writing clear business research reports that have impact
Easy-to-understand lessons
A wide variety of examples
Five diagnostic writing examinations of sample business research reports with coaching by the instructor
Business research reports course materials stay online after graduation for later reference
Tuition: $295
See instructor credentials
Coaching, Tutoring, and Training from Dr. Robert HoganRobert Hogan, PhD, is an accomplished business-writing trainer with over 40 years’ experience training business writers in companies, government agencies, and universities. He has been a professor of business report writing and communications at Illinois State University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County Community College. He is a specialist in writing training with articles about writing training in English Education, College Composition and Communication, Research in the Teaching of English, and various conference proceedings. He has written two books training business writers: Explicit Business Writing: Best Practices for the Twenty-first Century, and Business Writing Skills for Forensic Laboratory Managers. Dr. Hogan is the director of the Business Writing Center.
Dr. Hogan’s PhD is in training and supervision, with a focus on training in writing. He is the author of most of the training materials in the 45 courses offered by the Business Writing Center. As a result, he selects the training from the courses that will be most beneficial for you. As you learn with Dr. Hogan, you can expect the following:
Conscientious attention to your unique goals and needs
Personal attention from Dr. Hogan by email or phone anytime you want it
Clear, simple explanations of writing skills
Training for any language, grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and word usage issues
Effective training approaches that Dr. Hogan originates for your unique needs based on his 40 years of teaching
A willingness to listen to your goals, needs, and desire to learn specific skills
You will be able to contact Dr. Hogan by email or phone at any time to ask questions about your business writing needs.
Syllabus: BWC420 Business Research Report Writing Skills
The Business Research Report Writing course will teach you how to prepare reports summarizing the results of your research for use by internal clients in accomplishing business goals. One specific example of such a report is the report that presents information about a potential customer to enable account representatives, marketing specialists, and strategic planners to enhance or develop a business relationship with the potential customer. The business reports course will teach you how to decide what information is pertinent and how to summarize or synthesize the information into a coherent presentation without interjecting bias. The online lessons contain clear explanations and many examples. You go at your own pace and submit assignments when you are ready. The instructor evaluates the business reports activities and examinations, comments on skills learned and skills that still need polish, coaches you through learning the skills, and certifies your competence. You receive a graduation certificate for framing at the end of the course.
Course Time
You will go through the course at your own pace, so you could complete it within a few weeks. However, you have up to four months to complete the course so you can fit the study time into your schedule. All lessons must be finished within the four-month period. Course Content
Diagnostic 1: Initial diagnosis of business report writing ability
Lesson 1: The client and audience
Lesson 2: Objectives and specifications for the business research report
Lesson 3: Methods of filtering and recording information
Lesson 4: Facts, conclusions, inferences, and judgments
Lesson 5: Paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, and filtering objectively
Diagnostic 2: Writing business reports objectively
Lesson 6: Organizing
Lesson 7: Using guideposts for clarity
Diagnostic 3: Synthesizing and organizing business reports
Business reports course teaching trainees how to write the specialized business reports they write
Business report writing examinations using the trainee’s specialized business reports or simulations of them
Teaching the best practices for writing the specialized business reports
Taught by a business college PhD professor
Self-pacing
Business reports course materials all online
Many business report writing exercises
Activities to practice writing clear business reports that have impact
Easy-to-understand lessons
A wide variety of examples
Five diagnostic writing examinations of the specialized business reports with coaching by the instructor
Business reports course materials stay online after graduation for later reference
Tuition: $295
See instructor credentials
Coaching, Tutoring, and Training from Dr. Robert HoganRobert Hogan, PhD, is an accomplished business-writing trainer with over 40 years’ experience training business writers in companies, government agencies, and universities. He has been a professor of business report writing and communications at Illinois State University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County Community College. He is a specialist in writing training with articles about writing training in English Education, College Composition and Communication, Research in the Teaching of English, and various conference proceedings. He has written two books training business writers: Explicit Business Writing: Best Practices for the Twenty-first Century, and Business Writing Skills for Forensic Laboratory Managers. Dr. Hogan is the director of the Business Writing Center.
Dr. Hogan’s PhD is in training and supervision, with a focus on training in writing. He is the author of most of the training materials in the 45 courses offered by the Business Writing Center. As a result, he selects the training from the courses that will be most beneficial for you. As you learn with Dr. Hogan, you can expect the following:
Conscientious attention to your unique goals and needs
Personal attention from Dr. Hogan by email or phone anytime you want it
Clear, simple explanations of writing skills
Training for any language, grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and word usage issues
Effective training approaches that Dr. Hogan originates for your unique needs based on his 40 years of teaching
A willingness to listen to your goals, needs, and desire to learn specific skills
You will be able to contact Dr. Hogan by email or phone at any time to ask questions about your business writing needs.
Courses Dr. Hogan Teaches
BWC130 Individualized Writing for Nonnative Speakers of English BWC110 Basic Grammar Skills Tutorial BWC520 Coaching through Writing Actual Documents BWC510 Individualized Business Writing TrainingBWC 625 Customized Business Writing Skills Course BWC225 Explicit Business Writing with Additional Training BWC140 Writing Coaching for Executive Nonnative Speakers of English BWC600 Writing Coaching for Managers and Executives
See the syllabus
Syllabus: BWC424 Writing Specialized Business Reports
The Writing Specialized Business Reports course teaches the skills required to write clear, well-organized business reports of a special type. The five writing examinations in this business reports course will ask you to submit a business report you write as part of your normal work activities. Your instructor will help you apply the general skills of business report writing to the specialized reports you write. The instructor will write detailed notes in your business reports, help you revise them, and coach you through any skills you need to learn to write high-quality business reports.
The online lessons contain clear explanations and many examples. You go at your own pace and submit assignments when you are ready. The instructor evaluates the activities and examinations, comments on skills learned and skills that still need polish, coaches you through learning the skills, and certifies your competence. You receive a Writing Specialized Business Reports course graduation certificate for framing at the end of the course.
Course Timeline
You will go through the business reports course at your own pace, so you could complete it within a few weeks. However, you have up to four months to complete the course so you can fit the study time into your schedule. All lessons must be finished within the four-month period.
Business Reports Course ContentPlan the Business Report1. Set goals for the business report.
2. Know your readers.
3. Choose strategies based on the goals and readers.Submit an actual work report for evaluation and coachingPrepare Your Business Report Notes 4. Learn how to overcome writer’s block.
5. Prepare notes for your business report.Organize the Business Report6. Have an organizational pattern in mind.
7. Use special organizational patterns for some business reports.Introduce the Business Report Content8. Write a clear, complete report introduction to the business report.
9. State the contents of the business report.
10. State conclusions and recommendations in the introduction.Write the Business Report in Blocks 11. Write the explanations in blocks.
12. Keep explanations of a subject together in one block.
13. Check each block for focus.
14. Check each block for completeness.
15. Open each block with a statement of the contents.
16. Use headings to open blocks.
17. Bold field or data names to identify them as blocks.Submit an actual business report for evaluation and coachingPresent Lists in Business Reports Clearly 18. Create lists.
19. Open list blocks.
20. Mark the list items clearly.
21. Keep list items in a single list.
22. Keep list items in the same format.
23. Present business report information in tables when possible.
24. Consider information blueprinting to create explicit business reports.Submit an actual business report for evaluation and coachingWrite Clear, Complete Business Reports25. Write to build conclusions in the reader’s mind.
26. Write clear, complete, relevant explanations.
27. Use key words consistently.
28. Fully explain each new concept word or phrase.
29. Use full phrases to define words clearly.Write Business Report Conclusions that Have Impact 30. Write a conclusion that achieves your goals.Submit an actual work business report for evaluation and coachingWrite Clear, Effective Paragraphs, Sentences, and Words 31. Use paragraphs to organize information.
32. Write concisely.
33. Combine sentences to show relationships.
Separate sentences to make them clearer.
34. Write clear, simple, straightforward sentences.
35. Write strong, direct sentences.
36. Write clearly and simply for non-technical readers.
37. Use words the reader will understand.Prepare a Polished, Correct Final Business Report38. Use your spell checker and grammar checker.
39. Proofread.Submit an actual work report for evaluation and coachingRegister for this business report course
Writing Clear, Objective Audit Reports (BWC425)
Business report course teaching trainees how to write the clear, informative, objective audit reports
Teaching the best practices for writing effective audit reports
Taught by a business college PhD professor
Self-pacing
Business report course materials all online
Training in understanding facts, inferences, conclusions, and judgments
Many business report writing exercises
Activities to practice writing clear business reports that have impact
Easy-to-understand lessons
A wide variety of examples of business reports
Five diagnostic writing examinations of the specialized business reports with coaching by the instructor
Business reports course materials stay online after graduation for later reference
Tuition: $295
See instructor credentials
Coaching, Tutoring, and Training from Dr. Robert HoganRobert Hogan, PhD, is an accomplished business-writing trainer with over 40 years’ experience training business writers in companies, government agencies, and universities. He has been a professor of business report writing and communications at Illinois State University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County Community College. He is a specialist in writing training with articles about writing training in English Education, College Composition and Communication, Research in the Teaching of English, and various conference proceedings. He has written two books training business writers: Explicit Business Writing: Best Practices for the Twenty-first Century, and Business Writing Skills for Forensic Laboratory Managers. Dr. Hogan is the director of the Business Writing Center.
Dr. Hogan’s PhD is in training and supervision, with a focus on training in writing. He is the author of most of the training materials in the 45 courses offered by the Business Writing Center. As a result, he selects the training from the courses that will be most beneficial for you. As you learn with Dr. Hogan, you can expect the following:
Conscientious attention to your unique goals and needs
Personal attention from Dr. Hogan by email or phone anytime you want it
Clear, simple explanations of writing skills
Training for any language, grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and word usage issues
Effective training approaches that Dr. Hogan originates for your unique needs based on his 40 years of teaching
A willingness to listen to your goals, needs, and desire to learn specific skills
You will be able to contact Dr. Hogan by email or phone at any time to ask questions about your business writing needs.
Courses Dr. Hogan Teaches
BWC130 Individualized Writing for Nonnative Speakers of English BWC110 Basic Grammar Skills Tutorial BWC520 Coaching through Writing Actual Documents BWC510 Individualized Business Writing TrainingBWC 625 Customized Business Writing Skills Course BWC225 Explicit Business Writing with Additional Training BWC140 Writing Coaching for Executive Nonnative Speakers of English BWC600 Writing Coaching for Managers and Executives
See the syllabus
Syllabus: BWC425 Writing Clear, Objective Audit Reports
The Writing Clear, Objective Audit Reports course teaches the business reports skills you need to organize data from audits into clear, objective audit reports. It will teach you to write clear, concise, logically structured, objective audit reports that present the data clearly enough for the readers will be able to accomplish business objectives after reading your report.
The online business reports course lessons contain clear explanations and many examples. You go at your own pace and submit assignments when you are ready. The instructor evaluates the activities and examinations, comments on skills learned and skills that still need polish, coaches you through learning the skills, and certifies your competence. You receive a Writing Clear, Objective Audit Reports graduation certificate at the end of the course.
Course Time
You will go through the business reports course at your own pace, so you could complete it within a few weeks. However, you have up to four months to complete the course so you can fit the study time into your schedule. All lessons must be finished within the four-month period.
Business Audit Reports Course Content
Lesson 1: Understanding the business report readers and expectations
Lesson 2: Objectives and specifications for the business report
Lesson 3: Facts, conclusions, inferences, and judgments
Business Report Examination 1
Lesson 4: Moving data to messages objectively
Business Report Examination 2
Lesson 5: Organizing the business report
Lesson 6: Using guideposts for clarity
Lesson 7: Writing business reports clearly
Business Report Examination 3
Lesson 8: Writing user-friendly audit reports
Lesson 9: Editing the audit report
Business Report Examination 4
Lesson 10: Writing concise business reports
Lesson 11: Audit report format and publishing
Lesson 12: Proofreading the business report
Business Report Examination 5Register for this business reports course
Technical Business Report Writing (BWC422)
Teaching trainees how to write technical business reports
Teaching the best practices for writing effective technical business reports
Taught by a business college PhD professor
Self-pacing
Business reports course materials all online
Training in explaining technical report information clearly
Many technical report writing exercises
Activities to practice writing clear business reports that have impact
Easy-to-understand lessons
A wide variety of examples
Five diagnostic technical business report examinations with evaluation, comments, and coaching by the instructor
Business reports course materials remain online after graduation for later reference
Tuition: $295
See instructor credentials
Coaching, Tutoring, and Training from Dr. Robert HoganRobert Hogan, PhD, is an accomplished business-writing trainer with over 40 years’ experience training business writers in companies, government agencies, and universities. He has been a professor of business report writing and communications at Illinois State University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County Community College. He is a specialist in writing training with articles about writing training in English Education, College Composition and Communication, Research in the Teaching of English, and various conference proceedings. He has written two books training business writers: Explicit Business Writing: Best Practices for the Twenty-first Century, and Business Writing Skills for Forensic Laboratory Managers. Dr. Hogan is the director of the Business Writing Center.
Dr. Hogan’s PhD is in training and supervision, with a focus on training in writing. He is the author of most of the training materials in the 45 courses offered by the Business Writing Center. As a result, he selects the training from the courses that will be most beneficial for you. As you learn with Dr. Hogan, you can expect the following:
Conscientious attention to your unique goals and needs
Personal attention from Dr. Hogan by email or phone anytime you want it
Clear, simple explanations of writing skills
Training for any language, grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and word usage issues
Effective training approaches that Dr. Hogan originates for your unique needs based on his 40 years of teaching
A willingness to listen to your goals, needs, and desire to learn specific skills
You will be able to contact Dr. Hogan by email or phone at any time to ask questions about your business writing needs.
Courses Dr. Hogan Teaches
BWC130 Individualized Writing for Nonnative Speakers of English BWC110 Basic Grammar Skills Tutorial BWC520 Coaching through Writing Actual Documents BWC510 Individualized Business Writing TrainingBWC 625 Customized Business Writing Skills Course BWC225 Explicit Business Writing with Additional Training BWC140 Writing Coaching for Executive Nonnative Speakers of English BWC600 Writing Coaching for Managers and Executives
See the syllabus
Syllabus: BWC422 Technical Business Reports
The Technical Business Reports course will teach you how to prepare business reports about subjects that require technical explanations, analyses, data presentation, and information understood by technical readers. The Technical Business Reports course teaches the business writer how to present information to technical readers so they understand the concepts and can apply them in their work. The course is not intended to explain technical subjects to non-technical readers. The Business Writing Skills course and Writing Technical Explanations for Non-technical Readers course teach the skills required to explain any concepts to non-technical readers using clear, straightforward, simple explanations.
The online business reports lessons contain clear explanations and many examples. You go at your own pace and submit assignments when you are ready. The instructor evaluates the activities and examinations, comments on skills learned and skills that still need polish, coaches you through learning the skills, and certifies your competence. You receive a Technical Business Reports course graduation certificate for framing at the end of the course.
Course Time
You will go through the Technical Business Reports course at your own pace, so you could complete it within a few weeks. However, you have up to four months to complete the course so you can fit the study time into your schedule. All lessons must be finished within the four-month period.
Technical Business Reports Course ContentDiagnostic 1: Initial diagnosis of technical business reports writing ability
Lesson 1: The business report client and audience
Lesson 2: Objectives and specifications for the technical business report
Lesson 3: Methods of selecting information
Lesson 4: Formats for the major types of technical business reports
Lesson 5: Presenting technical business report explanations clearly
Diagnostic 2: Writing technical business reports clearly
Lesson 6: Organizing
Lesson 7: Using guideposts for clarity
Diagnostic 3: Synthesizing and organizing
Lesson 8: Writing clearly
Lesson 9: Using visual devices
Diagnostic 4: Complete sample technical business report
Lesson 10: Editing
Lesson 11: Writing concisely
Lesson 12: Format and publishing
Lesson 13: Proofreading
Diagnostic 5: Final complete technical business reportRegister for this report writing course
Catalog of 45 Courses
Know the Proportions of Facts, Conclusions, Inferences, and Judgments in Your Reports
In your business reports, you present the information in such a way that the reader can learn the critical information about the subject without having to review and evaluate the raw data you have used. Your role as a report writer is to reduce the reader’s time from 100 hours of analyzing the data to two hours of reading one source–you. You do the 98 hours of reading, thinking, and synthesizing; you then present it in such a clear, orderly fashion that the reader grasps the concepts after only two hours of reading.
You must make judgments about what to include and how to explain your findings. As you decide what to include, you will choose from four types of content: facts, conclusions, inferences, and judgments. Your readers will expect some balance of these four types of content, depending on the subject and your company or agency. Some reports must contain predominately facts. Others may include inferences and judgments. A few will even include judgments.
This article explains how you can evaluate your reports for the amount of each of the four types of content: facts, conclusions, inferences, and judgments. You will have a better understanding of the balance among these four types of writing in your writing so you can decide whether your readers and company or agency will be satisfied with the balance.
Facts, Conclusions, Inferences, and Judgments
Imagine that the report writer has three sources describing a company’s difficult times during 1993, 1994, and 1995. The total number of pages is 33. Her report will describe those difficult times in two paragraphs. She might use any of these three descriptions to introduce the two paragraphs:
“The company nearly failed in the 1990s due to poor management practices and delaying action on the losses.”
“The company suffered heavy losses in 1993, 1994, and 1995 and filed for bankruptcy. Speculation was that the losses were due to young, inexperienced management. The losses and delays in acting upon them nearly caused the company to fail.”
“The company lost $5 million to $8 million on revenues of $68 million to $76 million in 1993, 1994, and 1995 and filed for Chapter 11 in 1995. During that period, two rating services described the company as being “top-heavy with inexperienced management” (Lohman 45) and “filled with young, untested upper-level managers” (Bradshaw 4).
All three descriptions explain the company’s situation during 1993, 1994, and 1995. However, the first uses generalized words that required judgment on the writer’s part. The last reported the facts without judgment. The description in the middle used conservative statements that required some judgment by the writer, but less than the first.
The differences among the descriptions are in the use of facts, conclusions, inferences, and judgments. The explanations that follow will help you assess the proportions of facts, conclusions, inferences, and judgments in your writing.
Facts
Facts are objective and verifiable: “Two companies attempted to use portable monitoring devices to measure source pollution, but both stopped using the devices after the testing periods.” The statement is made up of facts. Someone could check company records and know that, in fact, two companies tried the portable monitoring devices over a period of time; the companies used them to measure source pollution; the companies stopped using them after the testing periods.
In the descriptions of the company’s losses in 1993, 1994, and 1995, it was a fact that Lohman and Bradshaw made the statements, but it was not necessarily a fact that the company had inexperienced management or young, untested upper-level managers. The report writer could not verify those facts, so she quoted the sources directly and cited them. She made no claim that the reports were true; she only reported, factually, that the two writers stated those words.
The more unbiased and objective the report must be, the more necessary it is that the writer reports facts without inferences or judgments. The third description of the company’s situation uses all facts. Most of your report writing will be factual without conclusions and may avoid inference and analysis.
Conclusions
Conclusions are based on the facts, but are not themselves facts. When based on facts, conclusions have the feel of being logical or justified. They result from deductions: if A is true and B is true, then C must be true.
In the statements about company losses in 1993, 1994, and 1995, the writer’s conclusion might be that since two writers described the company’s management as “young” and “inexperienced,” the company must have had young, inexperienced management. However, that is a conclusion based on fact, not a fact itself. It is a fact that the two writers used the words “young” and “inexperienced” to describe the management team, but the writer does not have the evidence to conclude that, therefore, the management team was young and inexperienced.
The second of the three descriptions of the company that suffered losses in 1993, 1994, and 1995 contained one conclusion: “The company suffered heavy losses.” The word “heavy” requires a conclusion that losses of $5 million to $8 million on revenues of $68 million to $76 million were “heavy” losses.
The first description is made up largely of conclusions and judgments: “The company nearly failed in the 1990s due to poor management practices and delaying action on the losses.” We would expect that the writer has the facts to conclude that the company nearly failed in the 1990s. The writer could have facts to show the near failure was due to poor management and delaying action on the losses. If the reader could ask the writer what the facts were that led to the conclusion and the writer produced them, that would mean it is a justified conclusion. If the writer does not have facts, then the statement is an inference or a judgment.
Inferences
Inferences are based on facts but are not themselves facts. The assumption that having a young, inexperienced management team resulted in the losses may be an inference. It is not a fact. It cannot be proven. It is “reading between the lines” to create a statement that seems to flow from the facts, but may not.
Inferences generally use words that describe the probability of truth of the statement: “probably,” “might,” “may,” “could,” or “possibly.” “It is possible that the losses were due to an inexperienced management team,” or “It is probable that the losses were due to an inexperienced management team.” By introducing the degree of probability, the writer moves the statements more toward being an objective statement and further from being judgment.
After all, it is possible that the losses could be due to poor management, just as it’s possible that they could have resulted from two dozen other factors. If the writer stated that it was probable that the losses were due to poor management, then the writer would have gone further from the factual end of the continuum toward the inferential end.
The first and second of the three descriptions of the company that suffered losses in 1993, 1994, and 1995 contained the inference that action was delayed because the company waited three years to file for Chapter 11.
Generally, avoid inferences in your report writing. The reader may draw inferences in the process of doing his or her analysis based on your objective, factual presentation. You may have the latitude to point out inferences to the reader to help the reader interpret the data. If so, state the inference that could be drawn, but state it clearly as an inference: “One inference, not based in any factual data, is that the higher error rates resulted from the presence of two new staff during the audit period.”
Judgments
Judgments are very much like conclusions, but the writer has made a value judgment. Judgments require some leap from the facts to a conclusion that might not be so easily supported by the facts. They often imply good, bad, right, or wrong. “The company needs a work ethic policy.” “Their plans to expand to the other market are ill-advised.” “Without reducing their expenses, the company will fail.”
Some of the statements about the company that suffered losses are inferences that border on being judgments: “The company nearly failed in the 1990s due to poor management practices and delaying action on the losses.” We only know from the research that the company lost money for three years and filed Chapter 11. We don’t know that it nearly failed. We don’t know that their difficulties were due to “poor management practices” and “delaying action on the losses.” All of these are very close to being judgments.
Evaluate the Proportions of Facts, Conclusions, Inferences, and Judgments in Your Writing
You can evaluate the proportions of facts, conclusions, inferences, and judgments in your writing to see how much of each type of content you have. You can then decide whether you must change the proportions to reflect your company or agency’s preferences.
Use a report you have written. Open it in Microsoft Word.
Use Microsoft Word’s highlighters to mark the facts, conclusions, inferences, and judgments. Make sure you use the highlighter so the background is colored, not the letters. You can read about the function at this link.
Use yellow for facts.
Use green for conclusions.
Use cyan for inferences.
Use red for judgments.
You can see an approximation of the proportion of each of the types of writing. For a more exact measure, make four copies and delete all but one colored text in each. Microsoft Word will tell you how many words are in each selection. Calculate the percentages by dividing the number of words in each by the total number of words.
Use your understand to adjust your writing as necessary to fit your company or agency’s preferences.
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Robert Hogan, PhD, is an accomplished business-writing trainer with over 40 years’ experience training business writers in companies, government agencies, and universities. He has been a professor of business report writing and communications at Illinois State University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County Community College. He is a specialist in writing training with articles about writing training in English Education, College Composition and Communication, Research in the Teaching of English, and various conference proceedings. He has written two books training business writers: Explicit Business Writing: Best Practices for the Twenty-first Century, and Business Writing Skills for Forensic Laboratory Managers. Dr. Hogan is the director of the Business Writing Center.
Dr. Hogan’s PhD is in training and supervision, with a focus on training in writing. He is the author of most of the training materials in the 45 courses offered by the Business Writing Center. As a result, he selects the training from the courses that will be most beneficial for you. As you learn with Dr. Hogan, you can expect the following:
Use yellow for facts.
Use green for conclusions.
Use cyan for inferences.
Use red for judgments.
You can see an approximation of the proportion of each of the types of writing. For a more exact measure, make four copies and delete all but one colored text in each. Microsoft Word will tell you how many words are in each selection. Calculate the percentages by dividing the number of words in each by the total number of words.
Use your understand to adjust your writing as necessary to fit your company or agency’s preferences.
