Section 3.3

Front Matter

The front matter is the "envelope" of your document. The elements that make up the front matterintroduce the reader to the body of your document. They help the reader understand a document'swho, what, why, where, and how--the author, problem, argument, organization, andmethod. This first part of a document is, from the reader's standpoint, the most important. It tellshim or her what your topic and purpose are, how your material isarranged, and where to locate items of interest. The front matter of reports, including theses, is enumeratedin lowercase roman numerals.

The following table lists some typical elements contained in the front matter of various documents(y=yes; n=no; s=sometimes).

Front matter

	Report	Article	Proposal	Memo
Title	y	y	y	y
Abstract	y	y	y	n
Executive summary	s	n	s	n
Table of contents	y	n	y	n
List of figures	y	n	y	n
List of tables	y	n	y	n
List of terms	s	s	s	s
Acknowledgments	s	s	s	n

## Front Matter ##


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