Executive summary is an overview of the main report. It is used for the documentation and summarizes long reports and proposals into short. It covers all information and key points related to the reports and proposal (Kolin, 2009). It is used for the people, who don’t have time for reading a long report. So, it is the way of saving time of readers. Executive summary has a distance from abstract. Length of executive summary is long as compared to abstract.
Executive summary should be written in 1/10 length of the main report. It makes recommendation and conclusion. It should be accurate as it is the base of decision making for the readers; those have not time to read original report. Tables and figures should be avoided in the executive summary. It should include all information regarding the report and have relevant message or conclusion for the reader (Schwetje & Vaseghi, 2007).
Elements of effective Executive summary
Aware about Executive summary: Before writing an Executive summary, one should aware about the importance and benefits of it. It will make executive summary more persuasive (Dickson, 2006).
Focus on objective: The purpose should be clear into the mind of writer on the time of preparing executive summary.
Focus on main documents: On the time of writing executive summary, one should remember the topic. It will be easier to write an executive summary (Campanizzi, 2005).
Use nontechnical language: By using positive and strong language and by avoiding unnecessary jargons, one should make effective executive summary. One should try to write a simple declarative sentence for each of the main point (Kolin, 2009).
Specific recommendation: An executive summary must provide complete information relevant to the report and specific recommendation to audience/ reader.
Steps for making an Effective Executive summary: Writer should adopt following steps, on the time of writing executive summary.
Title of the report: Firstly, writer should describe the title of the report that the topic covered by him or her in executive summary (Dickson, 2006).
Plan the summary: Writer should use whole points; those covered in main report and describe simply each point.
Write an Executive summary: One should avoid unnecessary sentence while preparing executive summary. Writer should prepare an executive summary that follow purpose, message and recommendation of the report (Campanizzi, 2005).
Check the summary: Writer should examine the errors and mistakes after making an executive summary. Writer should prepare an executive summary without missing any point of the main report.
References
Schwetje, G & Vaseghi, S. (2007). How to Win Your Investors' Confidence. Germany: Springer.
Campanizzi, J. (2005). Effective Writing for the Quality Professional: Creating Useful Letters,
Reports and Procedures. USA: American Society for Qualit.
Dickson, G. B. (2006). Tips and traps for writing an effective business plan. USA: McGraw-Hill
Professional.
Kolin, P.C. (2009). Successful Writing at Work. USA: Cengage Learning.