FEASIBILITY REPORT

Planning Guide

Your Name ______Due Date______

Overall Purpose

  1. What are you writing about?
  1. Why are you writing?

Reader Profile

  1. Who are your primary readers?
  1. Who else might read your report?
  1. What are your readers’ relationships to you?
  1. What are your readers' titles and professional responsibilities? How will they affect what your readers look for in your report?
  1. How familiar are your readers with the subject of your report?
  1. How well do your readers understand the technical, scientific, or other specialized terms and concepts you might use?
  1. Do your readers have any communication preferences you should take into account? If so, describe them.
  1. Are there any other considerations you should keep in mind when writing your report to these readers?

Situational Analysis

  1. What events and circumstances will influence the way your readers will read and respond to your report?

Usability Objectives (Readers’ Tasks)

  1. What do your readers want to be able to do as a result of reading your report?
  1. Will your readers want to read the entire report sequentially?
  1. Will your readers want to find and use only certain parts?
  1. What questions will readers want your report to answer?

Persuasive Objectives (Readers’ Attitudes)

  1. What are your readers' present attitudes toward your subject? What do you want their attitudes to be?
  1. What are your readers' present attitudes toward you? What do you want them to be?

Stakeholders

  1. Who, besides your readers, are the stakeholders in your report?
  1. How will they be affected by it?

Superstructure

Introduction

  1. If the readers requested that you prepare the report, what were their reasons for doing so?
  1. If the readers didn’t request your report, what reasons can you give your readers to read your report? (Focus on the readers’ goals or values that your report will help them achieve.)
  1. What is your main point in the report?
  1. What background information do your readers need about your subject?
  1. Can you help your readers by forecasting the rest of your report?

Objectives

  1. What are you trying to find out?

Method

  1. What, if anything, will your readers want to know about your method?
  1. What additional things should you tell your readers about your method to persuade them that your method is sound?

Results

  1. What data, information, and ideas or other results that are relevant to your readers did your research produce?

Discussion

  1. What generalizations do you draw from these results? (Remember to make your generalizations from your readers' point of view.)

Conclusions

  1. What is the significance of these results to your readers?

Recommendations

  1. Based upon your conclusions, what do you think your readers should do?

Graphics

  1. What graphics would your readers find helpful or persuasive?

Organization

  1. What organization would your readers find useful and persuasive? (Provide a brief sketch or outline to identify the major sections and subsections.)

From Paul V. Anderson’s Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach