Introduction

The introduction presents:

the background to the issue (i.e. why was the report commissioned),

the objective or purpose of the report

a definition of the research problem/topic

a definition of the report’s terms of reference (the what, where, and when of the research problem/ topic)

an outline of the report’s structure

an overview of the report’s sections and their relationship to the research problem

an outline and justification of the scope of the report (the boundaries the report is working within)

a description of the range of sources used (i.e. personal investigation, interviews, statistics and questionnaires)

acknowledgment of any valuable assistance received in the preparation of the report

While there will be some duplication in the contents of the executive summary and the introduction, the purpose of the executive summary is to provide a summary of the findings of each section of the report. The purpose of the introduction, however, is to outline what the report will cover and how these issues address the research problem.