Use heads, subheads, and summaries
Let the reader know the bottom line up front. Offer a brief introduction that lets the reader know what information is being presented.
Last modified: 6/1/98
Help the reader skim
Use standard typographic techniques and writing features that help the reader find their way through each page of your document.
Titles, subtitles, bold subheads between paragraphs, and summaries help the reader find out what they would learn if they read a page or section in greater detail.
The author knows best how to write them
Who better to write the titles and summaries than the person who knows the document best -- the author? Good titles, summaries, and subheads require a detailed understanding of the content.
Write these parts carefully to aid in skimming
In most business writing, you want to provide information in the most effective way possible. The goal is specifically not to see how much time you can get the reader to spend with your document, rather it is how little time they need to get all the information they need.
Much can be learned from straight news-style writing. Teasing titles like "The answer", as opposed to "The answer: Develop internally", should be avoided. Cleverness can be used to liven up a document some, but not if it gets in the way of understanding and communicating.
Summaries are very important on screen
It is very hard to "flip through" large amounts of material on screen the way you do with paper, so the reader has to rely on summaries and other hints of what exists provided by the author to know when they should scroll and read further or follow a link. Summaries can let the reader know the scope of what is covered and what type of information will be found. In many cases the summary itself can provide enough information for the reader so they do not have to read any more. For example, if the summary at the top of a page says that it covers domestic operations, and the reader is looking for information on international, they can skip the entire page without having to skim for sub-titles, bold words, or just any words about international.
See the examples of writing titles and summaries.