SummaryIn the third workshop we look in more detail at those elements in report writing which highlight and focus important information for readers: titles and headings, summaries and introductions. We look at the findings section of an NGO mission report and consider how it could be redrafted to be more concise and reader-friendly.
More on Titles
As we saw in workshop two, titles play a major role in focusing the topic and purpose of reports. In the workshop we look at a number of examples. Here are the main tips to remember:
1. Try a Colon
Colons can work wonders for an unwieldy title. Take this example:
A Report on the Evaluation of Bids Received for the Upcoming Catering Contracts within XYZ in the Year 2002-3
This is quite a mouthful for a title. It does not focus the report. Introducing a colon to separate the report's TOPIC and PURPOSE:
TOPIC : PURPOSE
helps to add focus:
Contracts for XYZ Staff Catering Services 2002-3: an Evaluation of Bids
The colon allows the writer to get a lot of information into the title without overloading the reader. It clearly separates topic and purpose.
2. Watch out for Prepositions
As titles can be very dense, they can easily get cluttered up with too many prepositions (words like 'in', 'on' and 'for'). One or two prepositions in a sentence are useful; but a whole string of them can make reading hard-going. In the first title above, there are four:
on + of + for + within
This is reduced in the second version to only two (for + of).
3. Delete Unnecessary Words
In first title above, the word 'upcoming' is redundant because the date is specified. It can be deleted with no consequences for the title's impact.
In this example, can you spot the redundant word?
A Review of Recent Sales Performance of XYZ Products in the South-East Asian Market and Proposals for Future Market Expansion
It's 'future'. This word is redundant as it is implied in both 'proposals' and 'expansion'.
Note also the overload of prepositions in that title. It can be simplifed with a colon, even though the report has two purposes:
XYZ Products in South East Asia: a Review of Recent Sales Performance and Proposals for Market Expansion
4. Clear up Ambiguity
Ambiguity can easily creep into titles. Consider this title from a WHO report:
A Report on WHO Field Workers Dealing with Children's Health in Honduras
This looks OK at first sight; but in fact it is not clear what the word 'dealing' refers to. Is it the report 'dealing', or the workers 'dealing'?
A cleared-up version of this title might be:
A Report on the Work of WHO Children's Health Field Workers in Honduras
5. Reverse the Words!
Sometimes report titles can be improved by a reversal of the order of words. It is worth trying this at the drafting stage - you may be surprised by what happens when the end is moved to the beginning!
Take the example of the security review report (left, click to enlarge). The word 'car park' moves from near the end of the title to the beginning, making an extended noun phrase ('Car Park Security Incident Review') which concisely captures both the topic and the purpose of the report.
See more examples of titles on pages 22-24 in the course book.
Summaries
A summary (sometimes called an executive summary in longer reports) is often the first thing a reader sees when reading a report. Moreover, summaries often have a life beyond the report itself. A good summary may form the basis of a presentation, a citation in another report or become an aide memoire.
A good summary gives, in miniature, the gist of the whole report. It should mirror the shape of the report as a whole: Background > Findings > Conclusions.
In terms of length, it should be less then 5% of the whole text, excluding appendices. So if a report is 100 pages long, the executive summary should be five pages or less.
See left (click to enlarge) for an example of a short executive summary. This summary appears at the start of a report of about 2000 words. So the length of this summary (about 200 words) is appropriate.
Here the summary is organised by a movement from:
past situation > present situation > future situation
This movement will be reflected in the structure of the report - the relationship between background, findings and conclusions.
What is the difference between a summary and an introduction?
As one participant said in a recent workshop:
a summary is about the WHAT
an introduction is about the HOW
Both summary and introduction give overviews which highlight priority information for the reader; but they do so in different ways. A summary overviews the content of a report; an introduction overviews the structure of a report.
The summary should tell the reader 'at a glance' what the report is about and what its main conclusions are; the introduction explains the terms of reference of the report and outlines its shape, scope and purpose. The introduction is more business-like, using phrases like 'this report..' and 'the current report..' whereas the summary focuses more on the content.
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More on Executive Summaries
For examples of executive summaries, see the links to Sample Reports (right). Notice how summaries are positioned and how long they are; notice how they are structured and how they relate to the introduction and the rest of the report.
As you browse, read critically. In many of these reports there is room for further editing, especially to improve the efficiency and reduce the length of the executive summary.
In online reports, executive summaries are often presented in html on the web site with the rest of the report downloadable as a PDF file (for examples of this approach see the World Bank reports in the samples).
What to remember when writing executive summaries
* Don't write the summary first. Leave it until last, or when you have a good first draft and your whole report has a visible structure.
* Distinguish between the major and minor points in the report.
* Keep the length of the summary to 5% or less of the whole report.
* Use the structure of the report to organise the summary. For example: Background > Main Findings > Recommendations. Use sub-headings or bullet points to give shape to the summary. The structure of the summary should in miniature mirror the structure of the whole report.
* Give the key recommendations only. Do not give all the details. The summary is only that - a summary. It is not a copy of the report itself. Remember that summaries are often read quickly before meetings or used as press releases.
* Do not overload your paragraphs in a summary. Keep to 3/4 sentences per paragraph.
* If you are writing in a team, assign the job of the summary to one person and then consult together during the drafting process. It may help to ask a colleague outside the team to 'test read' the summary to check that it represents the report effectively.
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For a good exercise on summary writing, with a solution, see the United Nations Report Writing Course Online here.
In North American report writing an executive summary is sometimes referred to as an abstract. This word is also used in connection with academic and research reports in British English. For some tips on writing abstracts (= summaries) see here.
