12.3 Summary Reports

A summary report is used to give management information. For example, if you work in the marketing department, your boss might ask you to find out about your competitors’ online activities so that your company can effectively compete with them. To do this, you would research your competitors’ websites, social media profiles, digital advertising campaigns, and so on. You would then distill what you find down to the key points so that your boss can get the essential information in a short time, and then decide how to act on it. The summary report focuses on the facts, leaving it to management to decide on a course of action.

When you prepare a summary report:

• Read the source information carefully
• Highlight the most important points as per the request
• Write your first draft
• Check your document against the source to ensure your summary is accurate

In general, the main point that you are making in summary reports is that you have done enough research and have used appropriate sources and that you have organized this information in a logical and useful manner. Activity 12.3 illustrates an example of a summary report.

^{Activity 12.3 | Summary Email Report}

Checklist for Summary Reports

As you reread and revise your summary report, keep in mind the following:

• Write a good introduction highlighting the source(s) which will be included in your summary
• Think about the needs of the audience in determining the length of your summary
• Check your version against the original to ensure there is no misrepresentation of information
• Proofread and revise for grammar, mechanics and style