Academic Reading Lesson Summarising

https://www.eapfoundation.com/reading/summarising/

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Making texts shorter

In academic writing you often have to summarise part of a book or journal article. It is one of three ways
of using another writer's work in your own (the other two being quotation and paraphrase). Your
summary may be just one or two sentences, to explain the main idea of the article or compare it with
another text, or it might be much longer, up to 50% of the original. This section explains the steps in
writing a summary, as well as giving some useful language for summary writing. There is also
a checklist to help you check your summary.

Steps in writing a summary

You cannot just read a text and produce a summary. You will likely miss many of the main points, and
include unnecessary detail. You may also fail to paraphrase appropriately, leading to a charge
of plagiarism. In order to write an effective summary, you need to follow certain steps. This begins with
skimming the text to get an overall idea. After this, you should read more carefully and highlight the
main points and supporting points (but ignore supporting examples and details). After this you will take
notes, in your own words. You are then ready to write the summary itself. When this is done your task is
not, as you should check the summary to make sure you have included all the main points and have
a reference to the source.

The following flowchart outlines the steps in writing a summary.

Skim

Skim the text, paying special attention to any headings or subheadings.

Highlight

Read the text again more carefully, underlining/ highlighting important information. Check any unknown
words needed to understand the main points.

Note-taking

Make notes of the main points and supporting points (not supporting examples or details). Remember
to use your own words so that you can paraphrase and avoid plagiarism.

Writing

Write the summary using your notes. Make sure you do not add anything which does not appear in the
original (e.g. your own comments).

Checking

Check the summary to make sure you have covered all the main points. Make sure you have included a
reference to the source.
Language for summary writing

Although most of the language in the summary will depend on the content, there are some formulaic
phrases which can be used in a summary to help to make it clearer. These can be divided into three
types: the frame, which begins the summary; reminder phrases, which are used throughout the
summary; and transition signals, which are used in certain parts of the summary.

The frame

The frame is the main idea of the article. This is usually included in the first sentence, with a reference to
the author and the main idea or argument of the text. You will also need to use a reporting verb. Some
examples of frames are shown below, for an article titled "The Global Warming Crisis" by F. Brown,
published in 2014. These use the Harvard style of referencing, but can be adapted to other styles.

 According to Brown (2014), ...

 Brown's (2014) article on global warming discusses...

 Brown (2014), in his article "The Global Warming Crisis", argues that...

Reminder phrases

It is useful to remind the reader, especially in a longer summary, that you are summarising another text.
This is done by using reminder phrases such as the ones shown below. Using these also helps to
avoid plagiarism, as these phrases include a reference to the source, thus making clear that the ideas are
not your own (a mistake many beginning academic writers make is to just include a reference at the
beginning, but if the summary is long, this is not enough).

 The author goes on to say that...

 The article further states that...

 The author further states that...

 (Author's last name) also states/ maintains/ argues/ believes that...

 (Author's last name) concludes that...

Note: In the last two examples, it is enough to include the author's name without the year (if using the
Harvard style of referencing, which requires a year) as you have already given the year earlier in the
summary, in the frame.

Transition signals

Pay attention to the organisation of the original text, and use appropriate transition signals when
organising the ideas in your summary. For example, you may need comparison and
contrast signals, cause and effect signals, classification signals, and so on.
Checklist

Below is a checklist for summarising. Use it to check your own summary, or get a peer (another student)
to help you.

Area Details OK? Notes/comment

All the main ideas and supporting points from

the text have been included in the summary.

Summarising Supporting examples and details have not been

skills included.

The text has been paraphrased enough to avoid

plagiarism (no copied chunks).

The summary includes a frame which states the

main idea or argument of the summary.
Summary
language
If the summary is long, it includes reminder
phrases.

Referencing The paraphrase includes an in-text citation for

skills the source text.

The meaning of the text is the same as the

Meaning original. The writer has not added their own
opinion or comments in the summary.

The length of the text is much shorter than the

Length
original.

References

Bailey, S. (2000) Academic Writing. Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer

Bauer-Ramazani, C. (2006) Guidelines for writing a SUMMARY with IN-TEXT CITATIONS. Available at
http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/AEP/EN104/summary.htm (Access Date 31 December,
2015).

Odegaard Writing & Research Center (n.d.) How to Write a Summary. Available at
http://depts.washington.edu/owrc/Handouts/How to Write a Summary.pdf (Access Date 31 December,
2015).