Progress Report Technical Assignment
Refer back to chapter 6, “Short Reports, Proposals, and Technical Documents.” You are going to write a progress report about your progress toward your educational goals. In addition, you will incorporate scholarly research regarding study skills/learning strategies for college/university students that will help you achieve your goals. Your research question is: What study skills/learning strategies should I focus on to increase my chances of success?
Note: You will also be preparing an oral report and PowerPoint slides to present your research in Zoom. Guidelines and a presentation schedule will be posted later in Moodle.
You will conduct (secondary) research for this report through the CNC library catalogue and databases.
- You are required to provide a minimum of four sources that should include two scholarly journal articles, one book, and one reliable website.
- You must include at least one quote or paraphrase from each of your sources that you cite (in the body of the report) and reference at the end. You must include a minimum of two paraphrases in total.
- Citations and references should be in APA or MLA format.
If you need help with research and/or referencing, see the librarians in the CNC library.
While this is not a technical report per se, follow the format on pp. 94-95 from chapter 6 in the textbook; create a title and use headings as follows (you may also include sub-headings if you choose):
Summary: Write this section last. It is a brief summary of the information in the entire report. Remember, if your reader(s) does not have time to read the entire report, the summary should provide enough information for the reader to understand what the report is all about. Including a summary at the beginning of the report means that you are following a direct strategy.
Context: What are your specific goals? When did you start? Are you an international student? Do you plan to continue your education after you complete your diploma?
Progress: This should be the largest section of the report. What have you accomplished toward your goal so far? (Do not
discuss specific assignments–that is too detailed; rather, focus on courses and semesters.) For example, which courses are you currently enrolled in? Which courses remain? Will you be taking courses in the summer? What have you not be able to get done, and why not? Do you anticipate any problems/obstacles? If so, what can you do to overcome them? What learning strategies have you used that have been successful? Not successful? From your research, what learning strategies are recommended?
Include at least one table of your own creation in this section. Be sure to title your table and refer to it in the narrative.
Next Steps: What are you planning to do? What is your projected completion date? If you noted any problems above, specify what you are doing right now to deal with the problem. What learning strategies from above will you implement? Do you need to seek help from campus resources such as writing tutoring, the Wellness Centre, etc. Anything else?
- Address the report to your instructor.
- Allow enough white space for your document to look professional, and follow the spacing guidelines from the textbook (single space within paragraphs, leave a line space between paragraphs, etc.).
- Left justify the report. Do not right justify your report.
- Documents must be typed using 12 pt. “Times New Roman” font.
- Be sure to use correct grammar and punctuation throughout.
- This progress report is about your own goals in addition to learning strategies, so first person point of view is acceptable.
- The report should be at least three pages including a separate references page at the end.
- After page 1, include a heading (in the header section) on subsequent pages that includes your name and the page number.
- Do not include a separate title page.
Save your report as a pdf file and submit that file in Moodle.