Summary

In this section, we will discuss the Summary chapter of your report. Often, this is the first chapter a reader will look at, to determine whether or not the report is relevant to him (or her).

Most important to remember is the fact that the Summary should be a stand-alone document: It should be comprehensible without looking at any other part of your report. To achieve this, it should contain the following components:

• A statement of the main problem,
• An outline of the main methods used to study it,
• The main conclusions drawn in the report.

This information is obviously repetitive for a reader going through your report from A to Z, but will be very useful to more casual readers.

Finally, keep your summary short. It should consist of a couple of paragraphs at most, and it should contain only those formulas that are absolutely essential (or none at all). A reader who is interested in the details can find them in the rest of your report.