"Today's managers and administrators of corporations, companies and government offices depend on executive summaries to save themselves time and money. That's because a good executive summary immediately allows the reader to make the right decision at the right time and to delegate responsibility appropriately.

As the authors of this book explain in simple and straightforward terms, the executive summary isn't just short, it's concise; and it isn't just condensed, it's exact. The reader of a well-written executive summary is able to act instantly and responsibly on the basis of the relevant, accurate and time-efficient information it encapsulates. The message of this book is clear: anything short of precision won't do; anything longer wastes time.

Ed and Judi Jewinski have been training writers to be concise, exact and explicit since 1973.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

How to use this book

Section I: The Theory Why Tackle the Executive Summary?

Chapter 1: Towards a Definition 1. What Do Summaries Do? 2. From Writer to Reader: Who Is Your Audience? 3. Identifying Your Own Purpose 4. Getting Organized 5. The Scientific Shortcut 6. The Purpose = The Main Point 7. The Four Steps 8. Focusing on Contents

Chapter 2: Down to Specifics 1. Ways of Reasoning 2. The Generality Pyramid 3. The Case for Tables, Charts and Diagrams 4. The Case for Bullets 5. In Summary...

Section II: The Practice The Executive Summary in Context

Chapter 3: Summarizing Reports 1. Overview 2. The Approach: Accounting for Structure 3. An Example: The One-Minute Management Summary 4. An Exercise: The Marlon Report Summary

Chapter 4: Summarizing Technical Reports and Documents 1. Overview 2. The Approach: Managing the Technical Language 3. Example A: The Overall Summary 4. Example B: Summary of the Findings 5. Example C: Summary of the Recommendations

Chapter 5: Summarizing Proposals 1. Overview 2. The Approach: Confirming Your Competitiveness 3. An Example: Executive Summary - Project KIDS 4. Exercise A: Bullet Summary - Project KIDS 5. Exercise B: Manitou Tourism Strategy Summary

Chapter 6: Summarizing Spoken Material 1. Overview 2. The Approach: Preparing Official Minutes - Example: Manitou Tourism Task Force Minutes 3. The Approach: Preparing Prose Notes - Example: Summary of an Interview 4. An Exercise: Summarizing from a Transcript

Chapter 7: Summarizing Questionnaires and Surveys 1. Overview 2. The Approach: Making Results Readable 3. An Example: A Chapter Summary 4. Exercises: The Geronimo Survey

Chapter 8: Summarizing Instructions 1. Overview 2. The Approach: Justifying the Steps 3. An Example: A Chapter Summary 4. An Exercise: "How to Prepare a Speech"

Chapter 9: Make Every Word Count 1. Overview 2. Reduce Wordiness: Avoid weak verbs -- Avoid writing in the passive voice -- Avoid Redundant Expressions -- Use short substitues for long-winded phrases -- Reduce which/that/who clauses -- Exercise 3. Avoid Unnecessary Formality 4. Avoid Slanted Language

The Last Word