Consumer Report

Consumer Report

Please review these helpful suggestions on this Consumer Report.

I want you to make sure to introduce your sources in your report. Don’t just say, “The iPhone 6 Plus is the perfect phone for the experienced technology user or even the novice smartphone user.”

You could lead into that quote with

According to the well-respected consumer electronics web site www.cnet.com they state that….

or

David Williams a Senior Editor of Wired magazine states that…

You want the person to learn more of the background or expertise of the people or sources you are using.

You want to build on the credibility and expertise of the sources you use.

As a point of format, it’s not a bad idea if you use bold consistently when you refer to your products in the report like the Dell Inspiron 815W or the HP Multi 950.

As a point of formatting you can bold those.

I would also encourage you to at least sprinkle in a few quotes in your writing. That really helps a great deal. It varies the writing nicely.

The other area you need to work on is what I call evaluative comments or analysis.

Do not end a paragraph with a quote or a source. I want you to draw conclusions on what you just presented from your source or sources. This is vitally important to do. Your reader will get a better sense of what you are concluding and why. Don’t leave your reader guessing.

Be aware that a report SHOULD BE redundant and repetitive. Some people don’t want to or don’t need to read a whole report. They are often read in pieces and not in their entirety.

What I do want you to do is to use the required headings that I gave to you:

Informative Abstract

Introduction

Discussion of Findings

Summary of Findings

Conclusion

or

Conclusions

Those headings are REQUIRED and not optional.

You can added sub-headings under any heading. You may list the products under the DOF section.

In the Informative Abstract you need to briefly review your rankings of your products to state which was first, second, and third and why. Usually, about three-five paragraphs will do.

In the Discussion of Findings, please explain the points of criteria. This is very helpful to do. Don’t be general. So if you are using a terms like draw weight, bow weight, single or dual cam, and optical sighting, please explain what those mean.

I did not realize until recently that with a shotgun an adjustable comb is a piece of wood or composite material on the stock that can be moved so that piece is right on the person’s cheek, which results in better shooting.

Also, at the end of this section, please explain the steps of your research process, the sources you used, the best ones and less effective ones, and how long it took.

Be aware that in the DOF section, you can focus on one product at a time, which is what most writers do.

However, you can do a point-by-point comparison as you write. For example, you could look at three laptops and see how they rate with their standard warranty or ergonomics (keyboard design, ease of use, etc).

It’s your choice.

In your Summary of Findings you do need to eliminate the worst or lowest ranked product.

In the Conclusion I like to see a good review and also a numeric grid if possible to compare the three brands to see which was on top.

Always start the Works Cited or References section on another page. List alphabetically. If you need help with the formatting for this section use www.ezbib.com

A few more suggestions to you:

Longer titles are in italics, like books, periodicals, names of TV shows, CDs, movies, web sites etc. The one exception is a brochure. Even though it’s shorter, MLA asks you to treat it like a book and underline it. With a web site, you can underline it when you introduce it, like the Centers for Disease Control, though I also commonly see those not underlined. In Works Cited or References, of course, the URL will be underlined.

Shorter documents are in quotes. Examples are names of articles in periodicals, segments of television programs (like 60 Minutes), articles in books, etc.

Quotes of three or more typed lines are a block quote and will be indented ten spaces. No quote marks are needed.

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There is a chapter in your handbook on MLA Documentation and APA Documentation. You can use either one. I don’t require in-text citations for this report.

Also, be aware that at the end of your textbook there is a chapter on research and documentation.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Follow the other links on the bottom of the page for more information.

The APA Format can also be found at the Purdue Online Writing Lab.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

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I don’t expect you to be a polished report writer after doing this report.

I just want you to practice it. You will only improve as time goes along.