QSO 680 Executive Summary Guidelines and Rubric Overview: Every business report, white paper, and article over a certain length requires some sort of summary, that is, an executive summary or abstract. Quite often, busy executives rely heavily on the executive summary of a long report to give them the information they need. The purpose of a summary is to highlight the main points of the report, the findings, and the recommendations. Prompt: Write a one-page executive summary of your program report. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

? The executive summary highlights the main points, key findings, and recommendations of the program report.

? The executive summary uses tone and language appropriate for the specified audience.

? The executive summary is clear and concise.

? The executive summary uses visual cues (graphs, tables, charts, bullet points, headings) appropriately to communicate the message. Guidelines for Submission: Your paper must be submitted as a one-page Microsoft Word document with double-spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins.

Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (75%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Main Points, Key Findings, and

Recommendations

Executive summary highlights main points, key findings, and recommendations of the program report

Executive summary highlights some but not all main points, key findings, and recommendations of the program report

Executive summary does not highlight main points, key findings, and recommendations of the program report

20

Audience Executive summary uses tone and language appropriate for specified audience

Executive summary mostly uses tone and language appropriate for specified audience but reflects some gaps in judgment

Executive summary does not use tone and language appropriate for specified audience

20

Clear and Concise Executive summary is clear and concise Executive summary has areas that are not clear and/or concise

Executive summary is not clear or concise

20

Visual Cues Executive summary uses graphs, charts, tables, bullet points, headings, and other visual cues to help communicate ideas

Executive summary uses graphs, charts, tables, bullet points, headings, and other visual cues, but they are used inappropriately or inaccurately

Executive summary does not use visual cues

20

Articulation of Response

Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization

Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas

Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas

20

Total 100%

Applied