Identify what a good summary is; Compare executive summary and evaluative summary; Examine abstract and its two types including informative abstract and descriptive abstract Discuss the news release.

1. Chapter 9:
Summarizing at
Work
Course: Writing at
Work
Year 3, Semester: II
Academic year: 2023 - 2024
Lecturer: Mr. VATH VARY
Phone: 017 471 117
Email: vathvary017@gmail.com

2. Chapter Outline
• Summaries in the Information Age
• Executive Summaries
• Evaluative Summaries
• Abstracts
• Writing Successful News Releases
• Conclusion: Writing Summaries is a
Vital Skill

3. Learning Objectives
• Describe the seven steps to follow when
preparing a summary.
• Create an executive summary of a report
using the six organizational steps.
• Appraise an article’s content and style when
writing an evaluative summary.
• Explain the differences between a summary
and an abstract and between a descriptive
and informative abstract.
• Create news releases on newsworthy topics,
using appropriate tone and style.

4. Introduction
• A summary is a brief
restatement of the main
points of a book, report,
website, article, laboratory
test, PowerPoint
presentation, meeting, or
convention that saves
readers hours of time
because it captures only the
most important parts of a
work.
What is
Summary?

5. Introduction
A summary can
reduce a work by 85-
95%, capturing the
key points of a three-
day convention in a
one-page memo.

6. Summaries in the Information Age
• For example:
– Google retrieves positive
“hits” by looking for
keywords that summarize a
source and help users
determine whether the
material is relevant for their
purpose.
– Television and radio
stations regularly air one- or
two-minute “news breaks”
that summarize in a few
paragraphs the major
stories of the day.
Because of the Web
and other
technologies today,
we have an
abundance of
information

7. 9.1a The Importance of Summaries in
Business
01
02
03
04
On the job, writing
summaries for
employers, co-
workers, and
customers is a
regular
and important
responsibility.
You may have to
condense a
proposal to fit a
one-page
format for an
organization.
You may be asked to
write a news release—
another type of
summary vital for your
organization’s image
Or you may be asked
to summarize the
main features of
a competitor’s product
or a new model you
saw at a trade show.

8. Figure 9.1 is a summary of a long report evaluating workplace child care
facilities. Note how it concisely identifies the main purpose and conclusions
of the report.

9. 9.1b
Contents of
a Summary
Purpose
Scope
Conclusio
ns
Recomme
ndations

10. Contents of a Summary
A summary
should
straightforwardly
and accurately
answer readers’
two most
important
questions:
1. What are the
findings of the
report or meeting?
1. How do the
findings apply to
my business,
research, or job?

11. What to Include in a Summary
• What they
are, when can
they be
carried out,
and why they
are necessary,
or why a plan
will not work.
Recommend
ations or
implications
• Emphasize
what the final
vote was, the
result of the
tests, or the
proposed
solution to
the problem.
Conclusions
or results
• Include
only the
essential
names,
costs, titles,
places, or
dates.
Essential
specifics
• Why was the
article or report
written or hearing
or meeting held?
• Give readers a
brief introduction
(even one
sentence will do)
indicating the
main purpose of
the report or
event.
Purpose

12. What to Omit from a Summary
1. Opinion. Avoid injecting opinions—your own, the author’s, or the
speaker’s. A later section of this chapter (pages 385–387) will deal with
evaluative summaries that require you to state your views.
2. New data. Stick to the original article, report, book, or meeting. Avoid
introducing comparisons with other works or conferences; readers will
expect an unbiased digest of only the material being summarized.
3. Irrelevant specifics. Do not include biographical details about the author
of an article that might be included in “Notes on Contributors.”
4. Examples. Readers will want to know outcomes, results, and
recommendations, not the illustrative details supporting or elaborating on
those results.
5. Background. Readers want the big picture, not supporting or technical
details.
6. Jargon. Technical definitions or jargon in the original document may
confuse rather than clarify the essential information for general readers.
7. Reference data. Exclude information found in footnotes, bibliographies,
appendixes, tables, or graphs.

13. 9.1c Preparing a Summary
Follow these steps to prepare a concise, useful
summary.
1. Read the material once in its entirety to get an overall
impression of what it is about.
2. Reread the material.
3. Collect your highlighted material or notes and organize the
information into a draft summary.
4. Read through and revise your draft(s) and delete whatever
information you can.
5. Now put the revised version into your own words.
6. Edit your summary to make sure it is fair, clear, and
concise.
7. Identify the source you have just summarized.

14. Make Sure Your Summary Is Ethical
You can write an ethical summary by
doing the following:
• Make sure your summary agrees with the original.
• Emphasize the main points the author makes.
• Do not omit key points.
• Be fair in expressing the author’s
conclusions/recommendations.
• Do not dwell on minor points to the exclusion of
major ones.
• Do not let your own opinions distort or contradict
the message of the original document.

25. Executive summary
▪ Executive summary refers to:
▪ Is usually one or two pages long and condenses the most
important points from the proposal or report for an executive.
▪ A complete but summarized version of the report; may contain
headings, well-developed transitions, and even visual elements
(Thill, J. V., & Bovée, C. L. (2021). Excellence in business
communication. Pearson Higher Ed.)
• An executive summary is written to help the reader
reach a major decision based on the report or proposal.
• Your goal is to tell your employer concisely what
findings the report includes, what those findings mean
for the company or organization, and what action, if
any, needs to be taken.
• Executives look for four E’s: evaluation, economy,
efficiency, and expediency.

26. Figure 9.6
(page 384)
An executive
summary of a
report on
software for a
safety training
program,
directly advises a
decision maker
to purchase a
safety software
package.

27. Organization of an Executive
Summary
(Figure 9.6).
Follow this organizational plan when you write an
executive summary:
1. Begin with the purpose and the scope of the report. For example,
a report might be written to study new marketing strategies, to
identify inadequate software, or to relocate a store.
2. Relate your purpose to a key problem. Identify the source
(background) and seriousness of the problem.
3. Identify the criteria used to solve the problem. Cite why and how
the strategies used relate to solving the problems.
4. Condense the findings of your report. Specify what tests or
surveys revealed. Be careful not to include too many details.
5. Stress conclusions and possible solutions. Be precise and clear.
6. Provide recommendations. For example, buy, sell, hire more
personnel, relocate, or choose among alternative solutions. Also
indicate when a decision needs to be made.

28. Evaluative Summary
(also known as ‘Critique’)
Evaluative
Summary
▪ Your company or agency may
also ask you to write short
evaluative summaries of job
candidates, applications,
sales proposals, or
conferences.
▪ Evaluative summary
▪ Follows the guidelines of an
executive summary;
▪ But also asks for an opinion
(commentary) regarding the
work summarized.

29. Evaluative Summary
(also known as ‘Critique’)
To write a careful
evaluative
summary, follow
the guidelines:
✔ Keep the summary short—5 to 10
percent of the length of the original.
✔ Blend your evaluations with your
summary; do not save your evaluations
for the end of the summary.
✔ Place each evaluation near the
summarized points to which it applies
so readers will see your remarks in
context.
✔ Include a pertinent quotation from the
original to emphasize your
recommendation.
✔ Comment on both the content and the
style of the original.

30. Evaluative Summary
(also known as ‘Critique’)
Evaluating
the
Content
1. How carefully and completely is the subject
researched? Is the material accurate and up-to-date? Are
important details missing? Exactly what has the writer left
out? Where could the reader find the missing information? If
the material is inaccurate or incomplete, is the whole work
affected or just part of it?
2. Is the writer or speaker objective? Are conclusions
supported by evidence? Is the writer or speaker following a
particular theory, program, or school of thought? Is that fact
made clear in the source? Has the writer or speaker
emphasized one point at the expense of others? What are
the writer’s qualifications and background?
3. Does the work achieve its goal? Is the topic too large to
be usefully discussed in a single talk, article, or report? Is
the work sketchy? Are there digressions, tangents, or
irrelevant materials? Do the recommendations make sense?
4. Is the material relevant to your audience? How would the
audience use it? Is the entire work relevant or just part of it?
Why? Would the work be useful for all employees of your
company or only for those working in certain areas? Why?
What answers offered by the work would help to solve a
specific problem you or others have encountered on the job?

31. Evaluative Summary
(also known as ‘Critique’)
Evaluatin
g the
Style
1. Is the material readable? Is it well written and
easy to follow? Does it contain helpful
headings, careful summaries, and appropriate
examples?
2. Is the material organized and free of errors?
Is each paragraph well-developed and does the
author handle transitions well between
paragraphs? Does it follow proper grammatical
conventions (see Appendix, pages A-1–A-19)?
3. What kind of vocabulary does the writer or
speaker use? Are there too many technical
terms or too much jargon? Is it written for the
layperson? Is the language precise or vague?
Would readers have to skip certain sections that
are too complicated?
4. What visuals are included? Infographs?
Photographs? Videos? How are they used? Are
they used effectively? Are there too many or
too few?

32. Figure 9.7 is a student’s opinion of an article
summarized for a class in information management.

33. Figure 9.8 is an
evaluative summary in
memo format
collaboratively written
by two employees who
have just returned from a
seminar. They have
divided their labor, one
writing the opening
paragraph and the
summary of “Techniques
of Health Assessment”
and the other doing the
summaries of
“Assessment of the Heart
and Lungs” and
“Assessment of the
Abdomen.”

34. Abstracts
• An Abstract is brief summary of the content of a
work. It is different from an executive or
evaluative summary in that it is much shorter the
first person singular or plural (“I” or “We”) is
never used, and footnotes are never incorporated.
• There are two distinct types of abstracts:

35. Informative
abstract
indicates what research
was done, what
conclusions were
reached, and what
recommendations were
made.
is the same as
a summary.
Descriptive
abstract
is usually only a few
sentences long;
does not go into any
detail or give
conclusions
provides information
on what topics a work
discusses but not
how or why they are
discussed.

36. Figure 9.9 reproduces two descriptive abstracts from the Journal of
Interactive Marketing, a publication that includes abstracts as a way
to help readers learn about research in this specialized discipline.

37. Writing Successful News Releases
(press release or media release)
is an announcement
(usually one page or a
single screen on the
Web) about your
company’s or agency’s
specific product,
services,
or personnel.
Subjects Appropriate for
News Releases:
• News releases should be
written only about newsworthy
subjects, such as these:
▪ New products, services, or
publications
▪ New policies or procedures
▪ Personnel changes and awards
▪ New construction and developments
▪ Financial and business news
▪ Ecofriendly (green) news
▪ Special events

38. The Slug, or
Headline
• Should announce a specific subject for readers and draw them
into it.
• Write a slug that entices or grabs your readers, but also informs
them quickly and clearly.
The Lead
• Is the first (and most significant) sentence.
• Introduces and aptly summarizes your topic, sets the tone, and
continues to keep readers’ attention–hook. The best leads easily
answer the basic questions Who? What? When? Where? Why?—the
five W’s—and How? (or How much?).
The Body
• If the five W’s are answered in your lead, the following paragraphs can
fill in only the most necessary supporting details.
• Regard your lead as a summary of a summary. The body of your
release then amplifies the Why? and How? and may also get into the
So what?
Organization of a News Release:
The Three Parts of a News Release

39. Here is an effective lead that answers
these crucial questions:

40. Figure 9.10 contains a
sample news release
distributed over the
Internet.

41. News Releases
About Bad News
Reporting on difficult events like
product recalls, work stoppages or
strikes, layoffs, plant closures,
limited availability or unavailability of
products or parts, fires, computer
viruses, alerts, higher prices,
declining enrollment, or canceled
events can be challenging for a
company
Despite these challenges,
it's crucial to portray the
company honestly,
professionally, and
accurately, while maintaining
a professional image.

42. Summaries are a vital part of workplace writing, and knowing how to
summarize a document—a report, proposal, or presentation—and
select only the most important and relevant points for your audience is
a prized job skill.
Busy managers, clients, and even co-workers will depend on
your summaries to give them the big picture, the bottom-line
conclusions and recommendations they need to get the job
done.
Your summaries, including executive and evaluative ones, must
be accurate, concise, relevant, and ethical.
Conclusion