Style Guide for Business Writing

T, U

Table of contents

A Table of Contents is necessary in any document longer than eight to ten pages. It gives the reader a frame of reference for finding major sections of the report and indicates the scope and coverage of the report. In a book, the Table of Contents is a key factor in the purchasing decision. Therefore, titles of sections should be descriptive and interesting.

1.Use the table of contents as an outline to organize work and the sequence and contents of the report.

In organizing the document, convert an initial outline to a sequence guideline, and ultimately to a Table of Contents.

2.Decide how much detail to include in the table based on the nature of the report.

If the report has only a few sections but they are long, include ...