The goal of this activity is to focus on the relationship between purpose, audience, and document design. Document design is key not only to the
accessibility and readability/skimmability of your report, but to the achievement of the report’s purpose with its target audience. This analysis will help you
get ideas for the document design of your report, and the impact those design decisions have on achieving your purpose for your target audience.
To learn about document design, you will closely analyze specific design elements in an exemplar report with an eye toward purpose and audience.
The Activity
1. Choose one of the following examples to analyze.
Example: Rail Feasibility Analysis Download Rail Feasibility Analysis
Example: The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act from 1990 to 2020 Download The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act from 1990 to 2020
Example: Insectivorous Bat Captive Population Download Insectivorous Bat Captive Population
Example: Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States Download Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United
States
Example: Beyond Traffic 2045 Download Beyond Traffic 2045
Example: Inclusive Education Download Inclusive Education
2. Last week, you identified the purpose and audience of these reports. This week, analyze the document design for the following elements and describe
whether you think each element is employed in such a way that meets the needs of the target audience:
Title Page
Use of running headers and/or footers
Use of headings and/or subheadings
Use of bolded, underlined, or italicized text
Use of in-text citations
Use and integration of visualizations
Organization of sections
Use of research