Write a memo critiquing the following report:
(critique the organization, tone, and design of one of the formal report)
Come Heat and High Water: Climate Risk in the Southeastern U.S. and Texas
Instructions:
For today’s assignment, the take-away from this chapter is that the organization of the document you critique is intentional. The authors structured it in the way they did because of their audiences, their information, and their purposes. Pay attention to what is emphasized via the organization and how it is done. Note if some potential sections seem missing. Have they been dropped because they are not relevant? Have they been folded into other sections to help readers follow key points? Or have they been dropped entirely, perhaps for the authors to downplay something they don’t want to discuss?
Study these pages and topics:
1. Ambiguous pronoun references (200)
2. Active and passive voice (203-05)
3. Overstuffed sentences (206)
4. Weak verbs (209-10)
5. Jargon (218-19)
6. Analogies (222)
7. Biased language (227-29)
Now that you’ve had a strong dose of style and tone advice, use these points to help you
critique what your report authors do. Are they overly technical? Are they precise? Do they write impenetrable sentences or vary sentence length? Does their selection of terms suggest any bias? Note what the authors do well and do poorly. These are the items you will want to discuss in your memo.
