How to present your work

This section is about presenting a trend statement and analyses statements.

Trend statement

Write the trend statement as an annotated bibliography. List the bibliographical details of each item (book, journal article, etc.) and give brief comment on each one. The items are list in alphabetical order of the author's names, even if the author is an organization rather than a person.

It makes good sense to state what you're trying to research and what you concluded. So it is strongly recommended that you have an introductory paragraph to state the purpose of your work, and a closing paragraph to state your conclusion, however tentative.

Things to watch out for:

  1. You are collecting and collating information. Whether you need to apply extensive critique of sources will depend on the topic.
  2. Make sure that you have a reasonable idea of the change before you start, otherwise you will need to do the research again. Even then, you might find that you need to do some research again anyway to explore new emergent issues.
  3. Make sure that the research is not done just to prove you are right. Test your ideas; they may be wrong or may need major improvements.
  4. You should cover at least three of the kinds of sources below. In many cases an Internet search will cover all kinds, but you may use other kinds too. (Consultations, directed interviews, and focus groups may be quite appropriate.) Your conclusions must be sound, even if you need to research much more widely:

 

Analysis statements

  1. Write up a PEST analysis of the Political, Economic, Social, and Technological developments in a global context. Collate and interpret statistical data, and show the trends.
  2. Write up a SWOT analysis of your organization's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
  3. Consider co-operative ventures. For each one:
    1. Do a risk analysis
    2. Do a cost-benefit analysis.
    3. Check that their organizational vision, mission and values are consistent with those of your organization.
    4. Provide for due diligence, including managing risks.
  4. What is your assessment of these trends and changes?
  5. What likely and potential effects could they have on your organization?
  6. What are the implications for each one? Explore them as much as the information allows.
  7. What future scenarios do you anticipate? Why?
  8. What do you recommend as an ongoing strategy for getting accurate, current information on trends and changes in the community that could affect impact your organization and its clients? (It should include membership of professional associations, research organizations, and networks.)
  9. How do you assess your organization in terms of:
    1. the relevance of services to high need individuals and groups?
    2. broad directions and corporate goals?
    3. policy against broad directions for relevance, gaps and compliance?
  10. What opportunities do these trends create for your organization?
  11. How could your organization effectively respond to these trends? Present a set of concrete recommendations for ongoing strategic direction. It must include:
    1. an adequate explanation to make it useful for decision-makers. (In other words, How do you know your strategies are appropriate?)
    2. identified priorities and processes for reviewing, amending or developing policy.
    3. a strategy for complying with organizational and legal requirements.
  12. Who needs to be kept informed of trends? How will you do it?

Include the following: