Summary / Abstract

An abstract or summary is at the beginning of your report. It is a short summary of the report that follows. Again, the goal is to briefly inform the reader about the contents of your report, so that the reader can determine whether the report contains the information he or she is looking for. 

Generally, an abstract is between 150-250 words. Sometimes, an explicit maximum number of words is indicated, mostly within research and for official articles. When you write a report for a company or yourself, you have more freedom, but even then it is important to keep it concise. 

In a summary or abstract of a research report, you briefly describe: 

You only write one or two sentences per component, to keep it as succinct as possible. 

Tip: A summary is usually written at the end, when you have already written everything else. You can then summarize each (relevant) chapter in 1-2 sentences.