Recommendation on a report

The Recommendation section is the most important section for your target audience!

It should offer detailed, clear, and specific recommendations that should solve the organization’s problems, if implemented. Every recommendation should be able to be supported by information/evidence provided elsewhere in this report. (I.e., you cannot just make recommendations up out of your head that weren’t supported by your research!). These recommendations are not simply opinions that you are offering; they are recommendations that arise from the research you have conducted.

In the actual recommendations,

Seek to:

Show the reader how to transform findings into action. You can recommend that the reader:
perform certain actions
refrain from performing certain actions
choose from various strategies, methods, or options which you suggest as viable
tell them what to do, what to do first (steps and priorities), and how to do it
Organize your recommendations by clustering recommendations under relevant subject headings and progressing logically from one recommendation to the next. (Consider organizational strategies: chronological order, priority order, etc.)
Offer assertive, clear, and specific recommendations, arising from your research, that answer who, what, when, and where and how questions. (“Why” should be clear from your lit review and analysis.)
Write confidently; avoid sounding indecisive. Be assertive (don’t waffle or “suggest”).

Not: You might offer…

But: Offer…

List each recommendation as a separate item, preceded by a bullet or some other typographical devise. Use short but complete sentences.
Edit the recommendations to professional business standards.
Use active voice for each recommendation

Not: Six 45 minute training sessions could be offered during lunch times.

But: Offer six, 45-minute training sessions to staff during lunch times.

Use parallel form with each recommendation.

Be clear and precise throughout.

Example of a precise, professional recommendation:

1. Decide upon the brand image you want to project to communicate your new vision, and integrate this brand throughout your promotional materials and social media sites.

First, revise your organization’s slogan to better fit your new vision.
Adapt the logo to better reflect the slogan.
Next, begin online revisions by replacing the slogan and logo on your two primary sites:
Website
Facebook
Then, review promotional texts to determine how each needs to be revised to better communicate your new vision.

Avoid:

Discussing the target audience interview as a source of information for this report. You are writing to the target audience. Do not use their opinions as evidence. (Remember, if they already knew the answer to the problem, you didn’t need to research it.)
Indecisiveness or waffling. (Avoid hesitant phrases like “It is suggested” or “You might want to….”)
Repeating unnecessary percentages and comments discussed earlier in your recommendation report. Focus instead on the way the organization can accomplish your plan.
Contradicting any conclusions you come to elsewhere.
Proposing recommendations that are not supported by data/evidence elsewhere in the report.
Overly lengthy recommendations or vague recommendations.