Check your own S, A and R
Your marked draft. Count the three letters. A report that is all S is a transcript; one that is mostly R is an opinion piece.
Then check that every R is actually marked in the sentence, not just in your margin.
Six things from your four minutes. Match each to what happens to it on the page.
A finished report
Release Planning · 14 March · 237 words
Present: J. Okafor (project), R. Villanueva (testing), M. Sørensen (client services), and me.
Okafor opened by saying that the launch date had not moved, and added that the client had reconfirmed it on the Friday.
Villanueva and Sørensen both pushed back on the testing window. Villanueva said three weeks was not enough for a release of this size and warned the group not to promise a date it could not hold. Sørensen said she had raised the same concern in January.
Okafor replied that the window had been agreed in June and that nothing had changed since. She did not say who had signed the June note off. Villanueva asked whether anybody could produce it, and nobody answered.
Okafor offered to circulate the June note before the end of the week. That is the only action point from the meeting, and it is hers.
Villanueva insisted on seeing the note before agreeing to a test plan. Okafor did not object to that, but she did not agree to it either.
My own reading, which nobody said in the room: the June agreement probably exists and probably does not say what Okafor thinks it says. If the note appears and it is specific, the date holds. If it appears and it is vague, we will be having this meeting again in April with three weeks less room.
Next meeting: 21 March, same group.
Four questions about the construction of the report.
1. Every reporting verb in the first five paragraphs is neutral or descriptive. Why?
2. She did not say who had signed the June note off. Why include it?
3. Okafor did not object to that, but she did not agree to it either. What is this reporting?
4. The reading paragraph uses two first conditionals. What are they doing?
Eight paragraphs, three kinds of sentence
The shape
| Part | Job | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Header | Title, date, who was present | 15–25 |
| Opening | What was stated at the start, and by whom | 20–30 |
| The disagreement | Each objection, attributed and in its own framing | 45–55 |
| The response | What was said back, and what was not said | 35–45 |
| Action points | Who, what, by when. Nothing else in this paragraph | 25–35 |
| Non-decisions | What was left unagreed, precisely | 25–35 |
| Your reading | Marked as yours, in its own paragraph, at the end | 45–55 |
| Footer | Next meeting | 5–10 |
Six sentences from a different report, out of order. Put them into the shape.
- Reis agreed to send the consultation record to Lindqvist by Friday. That is the only action point.
- Reis opened by saying that the shift pattern would change from 1 May.
- My own reading is that the consultation record will show two meetings, neither of which included anybody who works nights.
- Present: A. Reis (operations), K. Lindqvist (HR), and me.
- Reis said it had, and did not say by whom.
- Lindqvist objected that nobody on nights had been consulted, and asked whether the change had already been signed off.
Two rules the model obeys.
The opinion is in exactly one paragraph and it announces itself. A report with judgement scattered through it is not a report, and a reader who finds one piece of unmarked opinion stops trusting all of it.
Every reporting verb outside that paragraph is one the speakers themselves would accept. If you would not read the sentence out to the person it describes, it is the wrong verb.
Before you write it
The paragraph that has to be scrupulous. One to five words per gap.
Reis that the change had already been signed off in February. She by whom. Lindqvist whether the night staff had been consulted, and seeing the consultation record before agreeing to anything. Reis to send it by Friday, but that the date itself was open to discussion.
Six sentences from first drafts. Fix each now.
1. She claimed the change had been signed off. — the reporter has no reason to doubt it
2. Obviously nobody had bothered to consult anyone.
3. He told that the deadline was fixed.
4. Somebody asked was it signed off.
5. She said she will send it tomorrow.
6. She suggested to send the record.
Write it
Task card · Writing · Individual · 16 minutes
Your meeting, written up as a report somebody who was not there has to act on. This goes into your portfolio.
About 240 words, in the eight parts.
- Header: title, date, who was present.
- Names on every reported statement. Somebody said only if you genuinely do not know.
- At least one absence — something nobody said, reported as such.
- At least one reported question, and at least one non-decision.
- Action points in their own paragraph, with a name and a date.
- Your reading in exactly one paragraph, announcing itself. Word count at the bottom.
Write straight through, then audit the expensive list. Twelve minutes writing, four minutes on two questions only: is every reporting verb one the speaker would accept, and is every judgement inside the marked paragraph?
Task card · Audit · Pairs · 7 minutes
Swap. You were not at this meeting and you have to act on the report.
Hand back a marked page and one spoken sentence: the thing you would do first, and whether you are confident it is what the meeting decided.
- Mark every sentence S, A or R from the text alone.
- Circle any R that is not marked in the sentence itself.
- Box every reporting verb that is not neutral, and ask whether the writer has evidence for it.
- Check the action points: is there a name and a date on each?
What the drafts did
Five sentences from drafts. Fix each, then check your own page.
1. The meeting was a waste of time.
2. He admitted the report had been sent on time. — sending it on time was correct
3. Somebody said the budget was frozen. — the writer knows who
4. She said she is going to look into it.
5. Action point: circulate the note.
What goes home
Two questions about your own draft.
1. Your auditor circled two unmarked judgements. What is the risk?
2. Your action point has no name and no date. Why does that matter?
Before next lesson. Rewrite it once from the marked page and bring the clean version on paper.
Next lesson you hand it in and give the same report out loud, to somebody who will ask you which parts were said and which were yours.