Have You Written Your Summary?

The pace of modern life is becoming faster every day. Most of us constantly come across more obligations and issues that need our attention. Thus, people have less and less time to read lengthy reports. Very often the person who writes lengthy reports is the only one who actually reads them.

When you start writing a larger document, it often helps to outline your main points. For example, in your outline you can write down the headings and structure of your report and main conclusions that you need to communicate. Outlining helps you stay organized when writing. It also helps you prepare for the presentation because you know your main points at all times.

Nowadays most reports have an executive summary in the beginning of the document. An executive summary is a report, proposal, etc. in brief that contains enough information for the reader to become familiar with the document without reading it. Usually it contains the statement of the problem, some background information and the major conclusions. It has no more than one page. Some companies only distribute executive summaries to their employees, and then people who are interested in it may request a full document.

It is important that all summaries and outlines emphasize or highlight your main points clearly. It means you are giving your main arguments a special weight. You can achieve proper emphasis by putting your main points into your executive summary, into your conclusions, in the beginning of the paragraphs, or simply by underlining them. However, be careful with underlining because if your report ends up being underlined from the beginning to the end, then underlining fails to accomplish the purpose. In that way, it fails to highlight your main points. Although highlight can refer to using a bright-colored pen (usually yellow) to make parts of the text more noticeable, it also means to emphasize.

Finally, an overview is a general summary of the subject. For example, you could say that “The treasurer gave the overview of the financial consequences of the recession”. The overview can also serve the purpose of an outline: it is a roadmap for your larger document. In sum, when you need to write a long report, proposal or any other official document, keep in mind that writing an outline helps you navigate through the process, having an executive summary helps your reader decide if he or she needs to read it, and that proper highlighting or emphasizing of your points may make your document more efficient and easier to read. In the era when people have less time to read, those little tricks might win you some serious points at work!