1. KRG Writing Group
How to write an Executive Summary

2. Table of Contents
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Guide to Writing Scientific Article
Key Elements of an Executive Summary
Resources
Difference Between Interdisciplinary
Example
Executive Summary Example

3. Guide To Writing A Scientific
Article
Content
•Abstract
•Introduction
•Methods
•Results
•Discussion
•Summary and Conclusions
•Acknowledgements
•References
Socolofsky (2004)

4. Key Elements of an Executive Summary
• Summary of the main points of the article
– No more than 10% of the original length
• Provide Analysis
• Make a persuasive recommendation
– Based upon the article’s findings

5. Not just a large Abstract
Executive Summary
Abstract
• Longer, up to 10% of the original
article
• Short limited to 1-2 paragraphs
• Provides Analysis
• To be read instead of the original
• Used to decide whether or not to
read the article
• Provides Persuasive
Recommendations
• Results and recommendations are
only reported
• Provides facts

6. Resources
• Examples
• Writing Guide
• The Saint Mary’s University writing center
• Google Search

7. History Writing Elements
• Thesis statement - drives the engine of the article or academic paper.
• Evidence – Not only What, but how it is collected secondary (present) &
primary (past) sources. These will help draft the thesis.
• Has an argument.
• Data is more narrative than other Kinesiology disciplines.

8. Psych and Motor Learning
• Introduction
– Provides a referenced overview of the topic and presents the purpose
• Background
– Provides detailed information about the intervention and knowledge about what is to be
manipulated
• Subjects and Methodology
• Results and Discussion
– Presents and analyses the data
• General Discussion
– Discusses the implications of the results and provides recommendations/next steps

9. Executive Summary
Example
What Do Young Athletes Implicitly Understand
About Psychological Skills?
Key Points to Summarize:
•Purpose
•Procedure and Participants
•Data Analysis
•Results
•Recommendations

10. Purpose
Given the limited information about the effectiveness of psychological skills
training for young athletes, this study seeks to identify what young athletes
implicitly understand about goal setting, self-talk, mental imagery and
relaxation. As the number of young athletes in the elite level increases,
sports psychology needs to increase the study of this group to fulfill goals of
accountability and effectiveness due to child development.

11. Procedure and Participants
118-young athletes between the ages of 10-15 years old who participated in an
array of sports in England were selected. Participants completed openended questionnaires in their classrooms with a teacher present.
Participants wrote answers to the following questions about the four basic
psychological skills:
“What do you think goal setting means?” “What do you think mental imagery
means?” “What do you think self-talk means?” and “What do you think
relaxation means?” with the generic stem: “I think this means. . .”

12. Data Analysis
In the analysis, the responses were repeatedly organized into meaningful
themes until general dimensions appeared which could not be divided
further. Three authors were involved in the process to ensure the credibility
of the analysis. Further details of the process can be found in the report. The
study provides details to support the claim that increasing chronological age
was significantly associated with better explanations of psychological skills.
The report provides a detailed description of the content analysis.

13. Results
The results show that the understanding of psychological skills increases as a
young athlete moves through different developmental phases. This
demonstrates that cognitive development levels should be considered when
teaching psychological skills. Limiting this hypothesis is that the
participants were all from one area of England. Gender and ethnicity were
not evaluated as confounding data. Since the questions were open-ended,
only surface level answers should be expected, probing questions might
provide better detail.

14. Recommendations
Recommendations include follow up studies that control skill level, elite and
non-elite and age level comparisons. Future studies should also be
conducted to establish appropriate ages for integrating psychological skills
into practice and competition. Assessment of the learning of psychological
skills should also be done to provide guidance in how to properly introduce
and integrate these skills into competitions for young athletes.

15. Works Cited
•
McCarthy, P. J., Jones, M. V., Harwood, C. G., & Olivier, S. (2010). What
do young athletes implicitly understand about psychological skills?. Journal
of Clinical Sport Psychology. 4 (2).
•
S. A. Socolofsky, How to write a research journal article in engineering and
science, Texas A&M University, 2004