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Report Writing For Code Inspectors

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98 views6 pages

Report Writing For Code Inspectors

Gddgh

Uploaded by

Nidharshan Selvaraj R
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

 

Report  Writing  for  Code  Inspectors  


   

Jean Reynolds, Ph.D.


Polk State College
Winter Haven, Florida
and
David Diamantes
Code Trainer and Consultant
Berryville, Virginia

 
 

The Maple Leaf Press


Published by CreateSpace

www.InspectorWriteRight.blogspot.com

Printed in the USA


Copyright © 2014 Jean Reynolds and David Diamantes
All rights reserved.
Table  of  Contents  
Introduction 3
Pretest 5
Pretest Answer Key 8
Section I: Writing the Report 11
Chapter 1 Why Is Report Writing Important? 13
Chapter 2 Introduction to Report Writing 19
Chapter 3 Preparing to Write 27
Chapter 4 Organizing a Report 33
Chapter 5 Writing a Report 35
Chapter 6 Reports, Notices, Citations, Summonses
and Orders 41
Chapter 7 Objectivity 47
Chapter 8 What To Omit 51
Chapter 9 Quoting Exact Words 55
Chapter 10 How Helpful is OJT? 59
Chapter 11 Bullet Style 63
Chapter 12 Active or Passive Voice? 67
Chapter 13 Online Resources for Code Inspectors 71
Section II: Solving Sentence Problems 75
Chapter 14 Fragments 77
Chapter 15 Run-on Sentences 81
Chapter 16 Misplaced Modifiers 85
Chapter 17 Parallelism 89
Section III: Professional Sentences 93
Chapter 18 Writing Effective Sentences 95
Chapter 19 Periods and Semicolons 97
Chapter 20 Commas 103
Chapter 21 Comma Rule 1 105
Chapter 22 Comma Rule 2 109
Chapter 23 Comma Rule 3 113
Section IV: Mastering English Usage 117
Chapter 24 Apostrophes 119
Chapter 25 Quotation Marks 125
Chapter 26 Pronouns 127
Chapter 27 Verbs 133
Chapter 28 Subject-Verb Agreement 139
Chapter 29 Capital Letters 143
Chapter 30 Comparisons 147
Chapter 31 Prepositions 151
Chapter 32 Avoiding Common Errors 155
Chapter 33 Myths about Grammar 161
Section V Choosing the Correct Word 165
Chapter 34 Criminal Justice Terminology 167
Chapter 35 Words and Expressions to Avoid 171
Chapter 36 More Words to Watch 177
Chapter 37 Using Plain English 187
Chapter 38 The Freedom of Information Act 193
Post-test 197
Post-test Answer Key 199
Answer Key 202
Index 227
About the Authors 229
Introduction  
Effective writing is vital to your career as an inspector. Your
notices of violation, letters, and reports are public documents
that may be read by supervisors, attorneys, judges, citizens,
design professionals, contractors, and reporters. Quality
inspection reports and notices of violation help ensure code
compliance, impress superiors, and win respect from
colleagues. They facilitate repairs, reinforce requirements for
safe operations, and ensure unsafe practices are discontinued.
If you work for a government agency, your notices, letters,
and inspection reports may become the basis for appeal
hearings and criminal and civil trials—and may even prevent
cases from ending up in court. Attorneys, consulting engineers,
and code consultants who read your reports hoping to find
omissions and errors may decide that the odds of prevailing in
an appeal or trial are slim, and compliance is their best option.

Unlike police reports that capture the details of an incident


or complaint for further investigation or prosecution, your
inspection reports and notices of violation will compel a
business or property owner to take action to bring the property
or facility into compliance with the code. Clarity is important
because repairs and changes to procedures and practices
generally involve precious time and money.
Your writing skills can help you advance in your career.
You'll be prepared to communicate effectively with business
owners, design professionals, the media, community leaders,
and other government officials. Well-written documents help
you create a reputation for professionalism, accuracy, and
fairness that will stand you in good stead as you start to climb
the career ladder.
This book offers you a wealth of information about report
writing. A pretest will help you assess your strengths and

3
determine which skills need your attention. Section I shows you
how to organize and write professional reports. Sections II and
III cover sentence skills, Section IV helps you avoid usage
errors, and Section V covers special words you need to know. A
post-test helps you decide what areas need further review.
Exercises are provided throughout the book, and an Answer Key
allows you to check your progress at each step. Let’s get started!

Acknowledgments  
from Jean Reynolds: To my husband, Charles Reynolds, for
his long and loving support through all my writing projects,
including this one. And of course to my co-author, David
Diamantes, a great collaborator who brought a wealth of code
enforcement experience and knowledge to this book and—
indeed—suggested this project in the first place.
from David Diamantes: To Jean Reynolds for taking me
under her wing, providing the brains, and doing the heavy
lifting on this project, and to my wife Bonita for always
supporting my efforts.

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