MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics What is an Executive Summary? An executive summary (required in .621 Version III) is just what it says it is: a summary of the entire document directed at the executive ---an intelligent, decision-maker who may or may not be a technical expert. This executive may not read the rest of the document; s/he has to be able to understand the project based on this one page. • The executive summary is usually a page or less (although summaries of very long reports are longer). • It is on a separate page. • It appears after the Table of Contents and the List of Tables and Figures and before the main proposal or report begins. • It is double spaced. • It has no reference citations. • It’s rare to have graphics in an executive summary. • It summarizes background and significance, key concepts, schedule, budgets, and concluding recommendations and/or proposals. • The language in an executive summary is for the general, educated reader, not for the technical expert. Suggestion Write the executive summary last. - It is not an introduction. It’s a entirely separate section of the document that summarizes the entire report or proposal.

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