For this weeks Writing Assignment you will produce an executive summary of the discussion board conversation from this week.  An executive summary allows for a large amount of material to be summarized in a short, easy to read document that focuses on the takeaways from a broad discussion.  Executive summaries typically are written in the third person, and effectively relay to the reader what the basis was for the primary discussion and summarizes the main findings from the discussion.  A good rule of thumb is that the summary should be able to stand on its own so that the reader does NOT need to see the full discussion in order to get the jist of critical information.  This will cause you all heartache as it is very easy to summarize something without a page limit, but by limiting your summaries to one page, you will be forced to be very careful about word choice, and as concise as possible. 

There is no set format for an executive summary, and so when an instructor asks you for one, be sure to ask for clarifying information!  Here I would like you to limit your response to 1 page (narrow margins, 12 pt double spaced).  While you do not need to follow this format suggestion, many students approach this assignment in three primary paragraphs:

1)    What is the nature of the question being asked?  Start off by clearly indicating what the discussion was about, who had it, and for what purposes.
2)    Summarize the primary points being made.  You might find it useful to take each comment and group them together if they are about a similar subject.  Make sure that your statements are clear and that they are also reflective of the overall discussion you observed.
3)    What are your major conclusions?  Form your end as the writer of the summary, what are some of the big takeaways from the discussion?