What is an Executive Summary?
The Purpose of an executive summary is to provide an abstract of the report to the reader. It is a short document that presents the most important points associated with a report.
An executive summary is:
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| a short report (usually 1 to 1 1/2 page) |
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| often placed at the beginning of a full report (after the Title Page and before the Table of Contents) |
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| provides the most essential information about particular subject or report |
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| typically, does not require citations |
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| concise and clear (this is often very difficult) |
A successful executive summary should leave the reader with:
| confidence in understanding the general nature of the subject and report |
| provide most important points of controversy (if any) |
| decisions that need to be made (if any) |
| actions to be taken with quantitative and qualitative (cost/benefit) analysis (if possible |
| recommendations (if appropriate) |
The tone of an executive summary should be:
| positive |
| motivating |
| challenging |
Last Updated 11/22/2004 by Mernoush Banton