ABSTRACTS AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES THE FINAL SECTION OF THE FORMAL REPORT

OVERVIEW Definition Abstracts: audience, types, content, organization Executive summary: audience, content, organization

Definition Abstract: technical precis of a research report Executive summary: nontechnical precis of a research report

Abstracts Types Descriptive, sometimes called table-of-contents abstract because it mainly repeats the main headings from the report. Informative, the type we’ll be using, contains information from the introduction, body, and conclusion of the report

Abstracts 2 Audience Specialist, technical audience. It’s all right to use technical terms without defining them for this audience. Be sure to include information in the abstract that will interest this audience.

Content Write the abstract last. Content comes from introduction: topic, audience and scope body: method of data collection and findings conclusion: results and recommendations

Organization No more than two paragraphs or 250 words for the abstract

Executive summaries Audience—managers and executives No technical language should appear in the summary. Tone is formal since you’re writing for your supervisors

Content Summarize major points, findings, or recommendations from report. Be specific. Tell what the recommendations are, not just that there are some. Condense the report; this is not the same as the introduction. Write the summary last.

Organization Same paragraph format as used in abstracts Terminology should be used consistently here and in the report itself (ex. Don’t say “aerial” here and “antenna” in the report.)