Short Report Instructions

Internet Marketing: The Title You Give the Report

You are writing one 1800-word (minimum)  report that incorporates your reading for the semester. From the information you have read, you will come up with an idea regarding Internet marketing that you will show as being valid to the reader.

You will simulate what business executives call an executive summary. Executive reports save time for top executives. Think of an individual who manages any large corporate, institution, government agency, or even country. For the president (executive officer) to keep abreast of the happenings in his organization, she/he needs information from a variety of departments. She, however, does not have the time. The executives in charge of the departments, therefore, send her summaries. As with any writing, each summary has an objective, which relates to the primary idea someone is attempting to show. So will your short report.

Format: The format of an executive summary resembles that of an email or letter: single-spaced and block paragraphs (no indenting). Unlike an email or letter, the writer gives the report a title but the writer does not put his/her name on the report. The writer centers the title, boldfaces it, and leaves it at the same point size of the report (Times New Roman, 12 pt). Look at these instructions. They follow the format.

Number of sources and citations: You will use a minimum of five sources, which must include the following: (1) either one of "Search Engines" or "Internet Marketing," (1) one of either "HD Marketing" or "Interactive Marketing," and (3) three original sources, whose links you picked up from the class blog. Within the report itself, you will use a minimum of two in-text citations per 300 words or 12 for this entire report. Do not include artwork (graphs, pictures, charts). They will appear in MLA style.

You will submit it to jconlin@bridgeport.edu on March 7 (not March 4) as a Word document attachment. Deadline: 11:59 pm.

Should you be thinking, "How can I write differently about Internet marketing," then I would suggest that you read more, or read more carefully, or re-read. Each time you add two ideas (which you would find in at least two of the articles) you get a new idea. For example, the mix of Celtic folk music and African folk music led to Blues and Bluegrass. Classical music and New Orleans Blues evolved into Jazz. From Blues/Jazz and Jute Joint Music came Rhythm and Blues in the 40s, which split into Rock n Roll and R&B and so on. Therefore, a student who has read the material and who has thought about how the material relates will have some ideas. So if your ideas have come up short, re-read the material carefully (do not read new material), take notes, and think about why some ideas seem important to you.

During the semester, I have given you several reasons why individuals find writing difficult. One remains, the one that drives even professional writers crazy.

Applied science and mathematics, engineering, and business administration ask four basic questions: who, when, what, and how. They rarely ask the question behind writing: Why? The question starts with children. Daddy (Mommy) why is the sky blue? Why does grandpa fart? Why do farts smell? As people age, the question becomes more complex. Why do I exist? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does she (he) not love me? Most of us hate the question because it rarely evokes a definitive answer as you can get with business administration of engineering.

When writing, you ultimately are answering one question: Why should the reader believe you? Why should she/he trust you? Why should the reader give you her valuable time to read your ideas? The reader finds the answer to those questions in how you explain how one idea relates to another. You cannot trick the reader into belief. You first must discover why you believe by unearthing why one idea relates to another—for you. Then you explain that to the reader. The more you understand a subject, the more complex the relationship among ideas.

Finally, when I grade your work, I am concentrating primarily on how you present your material not on what you present.