10 What Is a Summary?
Learning Outcomes
- Define what an academic summary is.
- Explain the importance of summarizing.
- Identify the parts of a summary.
What Is a Summary?
A summary…
- is a brief statement of the main ideas from a text,
- is written in your own words (paraphrased), and
- should be accurate, complete, and objective.
When you read to summarize, the goal is to be able to articulate the author’s ideas and perspectives, regardless of your opinions about the ideas. There will be a place for sharing your ideas later, but first, you must fully process the ideas presented by the author(s).
Why Summarize?
- Summarizing is a tool to check your understanding of a text.
- It helps you recall what you have read because you must understand it deeply enough to be able to express the same key ideas differently.
- Summarizing is a type of academic writing. You will use it when writing about texts you have read in a variety of assignments across the curriculum.
- Summarizing is a skill you will use in your personal life and on the job when conveying key points to others.
The Parts of a Summary
What is included in a summary?
- Title of the text
- Author of the text
- The overall main idea of the text (the writer’s thesis) written in your own words
- Major support for the thesis (paragraph-level or section-level main ideas) written in your own words
What is not included in a summary?
- Minor details from a text: The goal is to report the main ideas, and minor details are specific, not general.)
- Quoted material from the text: Quotes make a summary wordier and lengthier than it needs to be. The goal is to be concise.
- Your opinion: The summary should provide an accurate and concise representation of the author’s points. Save your opinions for a response to the article, which will be covered in section 5 of the text.
In the next chapter, you will learn how to take notes in preparation for writing a summary.