12 Writing a Summary
Learning Outcomes
- Draft an academic summary using the summary notes.
- Demonstrate the stylistic qualities of summary writing.
- Use MLA format for citing sources.
Now that you have collected the information to include in your summary, you can use your Summary Notes to draft your summary. Below is guidance for writing the summary, followed by an example for the article “Students Perceive Themselves As a ‘Math Person’ or a ‘Reading Person’ Early on – and This Can Impact the Choices They Make throughout Their Lives” by Sirui Wan (see previous chapter).
How should you organize the summary?
- Start with a topic sentence that states the title, author, and thesis (overall main idea) of the article. This is how you let the reader know what you are summarizing and give credit to the author. You may also mention the type of writing: narrative, expository, or argumentative.
- Follow the topic sentence with the major supporting points (paragraph-level main ideas or section main ideas). Present them in the order they were included in the article unless reordering them is necessary for clarity.
- The last major supporting point may be general enough to conclude the paragraph. If not, then you may conclude by rewording the thesis of the article.
What writing style should be used?
Don’t expect to simply copy and paste the sentences from your Summary Notes document; the result would be a disjointed, choppy summary. Use the following guidelines so that all the sentences make sense and flow from one to the next in your paragraph.
- Use present tense when referring to what the author writes (not the past tense wrote).
- Use third person (e.g. The author explains that students develop a preference for math or reading early in school.). This makes it clear that the ideas are not yours but belong to the author. Refer to the author by name, as “the author,” as “the writer,” or by the appropriate pronoun (he/she/they) if known. Do not use first person pronouns (I/me/my/we/our/us) or second person (you/your) in the summary.
- Vary the verbs in the summary. Do not repeat the same verbs (e.g. says and writes) throughout the summary. Below is a list of possible verbs, but these are not the only ones. Make sure the verb fits the context. For example, do not use the verb argue unless the author is presenting an opinion.
| acknowledge | demonstrate | present |
| add | describe | question |
| admit | explain | reason |
| argue | find | report |
| assert | identify | say |
| believe | illustrate | state |
| claim | indicate | suggest |
| compare | note | think |
| conclude | mention | warn |
| critique | point out | write |
Is it necessary to cite?
You must use MLA format for Works Cited and in-text citations. Follow these guidelines:
- No paragraph citation is needed for the thesis or overall main idea of the article because thesis represents the work in its entirety.
- Include paragraph numbers for specific, paraphrased points as you write. (If you had page numbers, you would use them instead, but we do not have page numbers for this online text.)
- After paraphrasing an idea from the writing, include the paragraph reference in parentheses with the abbreviation “par.” for paragraph like this: (par. 3).
- If a point covers multiple paragraphs, include the range of paragraphs like this: (par. 4-8).
Summary – Example
- The topic sentence of the summary includes the title, author, and thesis of the article and is blue.
- References to the author are marked in burgundy.
- Present tense verbs that indicate what the author is saying or writing are green.
In the informational article “Students Perceive Themselves As a ‘Math Person’ or a ‘Reading Person’ Early on – and This Can Impact the Choices They Make throughout Their Lives,” Sirui Wan reports that students increasingly view themselves as either “math people” or “reading people” as they advance through school, and this self-perception can impact their academic and career decisions. Wan describes how he and his research team investigated the ages at which students start to identify as either “math people” or “reading people” (par. 1-2). They chose to focus on the subjects of math and reading because they are commonly taught and because girls are often stereotyped as readers and boys as math people (par. 3). Wan explains that they examined data from over 200,000 students around the world and concluded that students are more likely to view themselves as either math or reading people when moving into higher grade levels; the author notes that this occurred even if the students liked both subjects and believed they were skilled in both areas in elementary school (par. 4-7). Wan expresses concern that if students see themselves as stronger in either reading or math, they may avoid the subject they perceive as their weaker one and not consider related career paths (par. 8-11). The author concludes by noting that the research team is conducting further research to determine if there may be benefits to identifying as either reading or math and to understand the variables within schools that contribute to students’ misperceptions (par. 12-15).
Work Cited
Wan, Sirui. “Students Perceive Themselves As a ‘Math Person’ or a ‘Reading Person’ Early on – and This Can Impact the Choices They Make throughout Their Lives.” Becoming a Confident Reader: Developing Interactive Reading, Writing, and Thinking Practices for College, by Susannah M. Givens, 2022, Pressbooks, pressbooks.nvcc.edu/ede10/.
A note about MLA in-text citations
Paragraph references (e.g. par. 8-11) are used in the summary because the version of the article in this text has numbered paragraphs. If this were a print book or a PDF formatted book with page numbers, then page numbers would be used instead of paragraph numbers. If you were to use the original article as published on the site The Conversation, where there are neither page numbers nor paragraphs numbers, the parenthetical citations would be omitted in the summary. In all cases, you should refer to the author throughout the summary to cite the source, making the origin of the information clearly identifiable.
A note about the MLA work cited format
The above Work Cited format refers to the article as it is published in this OER textbook. If you used the original article as published on the site The Conversation, the format would be as follows:
Wan, Sirui. “Students Perceive Themselves As a ‘Math Person’ or a ‘Reading Person’ Early on – and This Can Impact the Choices They Make throughout Their Lives.” The Conversation, 29 Aug. 2022, theconversation.com/students-perceive-themselves-as-a-math-person-or-a-reading-person-early-on-and-this-can-impact-the-choices-they-make-throughout-their-lives-187827.
Practice: Write a Summary
Now that you have studied the example summary, practice writing your own summary using your notes.
In the next chapter, you will review guidelines for evaluating your summary.