What Is a Forecast Statement?
A forecast statement involves writing a brief preview of the basic ideas or information that you wish to convey to readers in your writing. It gives your readers a brief outline of what they should expect in your piece of work (paper). It is an effective way of informing your readers in advance of what to expect, particularly concerning how you have organized ideas in your writing.
The writing of a forecast statement is a building block of good writing in various fields. It can be used in essays where it serves as a broad view of the topic, the purpose of the paper and boundaries of the paper. In scientific writing, it can be used to give an outline of the investigative approach to a problem since they can be used to list a series of steps used during the investigation process. Also, you can use a forecast statement in writing a résumé. Forecast statements, also known as career objectives in résumé writing, underscore the job you are seeking as well as how you would benefit your potential employer if he hires you. Additionally, in your cover letter you may as well use a forecast statement to provide additional information regarding your skills and competences. Also the forecast statement is the last thing in your introduction of the thesis statement.
Forecasting statements help in providing your audience or readers with organizational information since it offers them a preview of what lies ahead in the main body of your paper as well as how the contents are organized. Consequently, forecast statements help readers to predict what to expect, which encourages readers to go ahead and read the entire writing. Also, its simple and straightforward nature gives readers the appeal of simplicity, which is a great point in helping the readers to understand the basis of your paper.
When deciding on the details to include in the forecast statement, it is imperative to provide some specific ideas as to what you intend to discuss and the likely arrangement of your points in your paper. Additionally, you should not provide more details than your audience has the capacity to remember since forecasting statements are aimed at helping them to understand what to anticipate but not to test their memory. Lastly, you should not forecast more than one level at a time since it may burden the reader with confusing details. In that case, include only the major divisions of a particular section and in case those divisions are themselves divided, then each of them can have individual forecasting statements.
First, begin with the most important information and think about the emotional response that the writing will evoke. Start from the most general information as you move to more specific or supporting facts. Put the most important points or details in a list form rather than paragraphs for easy reading. Edit the forecast statement to ensure there are no grammatical mistakes. The forecast statement should be brief, clear and concise.