see a title page, abstract, table of contents, etc.). All of your work for this project needs to be original work composed by you.
5. Write an opening paragraph that describes the purpose of your report, what research you did, and why you are writing the report.
6. Write an introduction to the topic that defines terms (if necessary) and gives readers background information about the topic. You may present primary and secondary research facts here, but no visuals. Not everyone will present research in the introduction.

7. Use three talking headed sections that divide the body of the report into distinct subtopics or sections. Here is where you discuss all aspects of your topic. Do NOT include general information that defines the topic (that is in the introduction). Use Guffey’s Figure 11.3 example. Some writers may have more than three sections.

8. Present the secondary research in the appropriate sections of the body of the report. Use in-text referencing that corresponds to your References page. The in-text reference includes the author’s name and the date of the resource. Readers can then use this brief information to find the complete citation on the reference page. Use APA style. Use Word’s reference tools to create in-text citations and a references page in APA style.

9. Include one Word table and one Excel chart to present the survey results visually. You may have more than two visuals (three at the most). More than three visuals will result in a mark off. You cannot use two charts in place of the table. The chart must be prepared in Excel or another spreadsheet program. Create a sentence to introduce the table and a sentence to introduce the chart.

10. Include a summary. Summaries should include the main point from each of the headed sections in the body of the report.

11. Create a header for each of the pages except for the first page; the header includes the addressee’s name, the page number, and the date. See Guffey’s Figure 11.3. Most students write from four to six pages, but a lot depends on the size of your visuals and the number of headings. Include a references page as the last numbered page in your report. This is the last page in the report after the page with the summary and your signed name.

12. Sign the report with your cursive signature name after the summary.

13. When the report is submitted to the Independent Project 1 assignments, you will also upload a copy and paste of the questions you wrote for the survey and the results supplied by surveymonkey.com. I will confirm that the required number of responses (10 – 15) was received. Review the instructor handout, Create a Survey Using Surveymonkey.com.
Research and Data Collection
You will use primary and secondary research in your informational report.

Primary research. The survey is your primary research and is designed, distributed, and analyzed using surveymonkey.com. Decide what you can survey others about that is related to your topic. You may want to ask questions that will help you clarify an issue, collect opinions about your topic, assess the understanding of your audience, or ask questions that help you decide what information to discuss in your report. You can use results to support a position or to show that a topic is controversial. Data can also present an aspect of your topic that readers will find interesting.
Secondary research. Your secondary research is completed by using the findings and opinions of other writers and researchers. You should use business databases accessed through our library or Google Scholar. You can also use information from company, government, or public web pages as long as the material is reliable. Some of you may use company publications or brochures—it all depends on your topic. Introduce at least three facts, statistics, opinions, or findings from secondary research within your report body that you cite. In-text references and a reference page are required in APA style; you should include at least three references on the References page. Most writers find they write better surveys if they do their secondary research first. That helps them write useful questions that can be included in the report.

Report Survey
Using the principles of good survey design from your textbook reading and on surveymonkey.com, create an online survey that includes at least five questions. Your survey must include at least three different types of questions (e.g., yes/no, multiple choice, short answer, matrix). One of those types must be a matrix question.

Some questions can be demographic questions that you don’t intend to use in your report (age, gender, household income). When writing the questions, keep in mind which questions you want to table and chart. Some questions chart and table better than others, so design the questions with that in mind. Visuals should help simplify relatively complicated results or data. Create a Word table for the matrix question. Review the in-class activity, Creating Excel Charts and Word Tables for Reports.

You will receive feedback on your survey during class. You are required to receive 10 – 15 responses to your survey. You can continue working on your report, knowing that you will insert data from your survey.
Secondary Research Documentation
When you use resources from the Web or in print, you must cite your sources in APA format. Guffey’s Appendix C shows you how to use APA format. APA format is different from MLA format, which is what you might have used in college or high school English classes (if you’re used to using Works Cited, you know MLA, not APA). APA format is used by business schools and in business classes. Here’s the good news—you don’t have to learn APA formatting; you can use the citation manager feature in Word to create and organize your citations and automatically create the References page.