When writing a summary, the goal is to compose a conciseand objective overview of the original article. The summary should focus only on the article'smain ideas and important details that support those ideas.
Guidelines for summarizing an article:
- State the main ideas.
- Identify the most important details that support the main ideas.
- Summarize in your own words.
- Do not copy phrases or sentences unless they are being used as direct quotations.
- Express the underlying meaning of the article, but do not critique or analyze.
- The summary should be about one third the length of the original article.
Your summary should include:
- Introduction
- Give an overview of the article, including the title and the name of the author.
- Provide a thesis statement that states the main idea of the article.
- Body Paragraphs
- Use the body paragraphs to explain thesupporting ideas of your thesis statement.
- The number of paragraphs will depend on the length of the original article.
- One-paragraph summary - one sentence persupporting detail, providing 1-2 examples for each.
- Multi-paragraph summary - one paragraph per supporting detail, providing 2-3 examples for each.
- Start each paragraph with a topic sentence.
- Use transitional words and phrases to connect ideas.
- Concluding Paragraph
- Summarize your thesis statement and the underlying meaning of the article.
Adapted from "Guidelines for Using In-Text Citations in a Summary (or Research Paper)" by Christine Bauer-Ramazani, 2020
Additional Resources
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How to Write a Summary - Guide &Examples(from Scribbr.com)
Writing a Summary(from The University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center)
