Writing a Summary of an Article

What is a Summary?

A summary restate the main ideas of an author in your own words. It keeps the essential information  from the original passage while eliminating most supporting details, such as the examples and illustrations.  A good summary makes the author’s ideas clear, perhaps even clearer than the original. 

A summary is generally much  shorter than the original text. It includes only key ideas and omits the details.  It may or may not follow the order of the original because the author may have structured his/her article with the most important ideas last. 

How to Write a Summary

1. Preview the article to get an idea of what it is about.  Read the title, headings, first paragraph, first sentence of the following paragraphs, and the last paragraphs.  ( This is not a substitute for reading the article.)

2. Read the article.  Highlight main ideas.  Write the main idea of each paragraph in the right hand margin.   Write the purpose of each paragraph in the left hand margin, i.e. explains, analyzes, summarizes, narrates, etc.  You may want to SSOAPSTone it as well.

3. Express in one sentence the author’s main idea or thesis.  This sentence should include the author’s name, the title of the article, and... the author’s thesis.

4. Write the first draft using what you have underlined and written. Keep this draft simple, but be sure to use proper attribution tags when summarizing key info or quotes. By the way, do not quote directly; blend the quotes with your own words so you communicate key ideas. If you must quote directly, keep the quote short. Additionally, write in present tense. Your summary should be one- third the length of the original article. 

5. Revise your draft. Did you indent paragraphs? Did you correctly construct sentences? Did you write in present tense? Did you punctuate correctly?  Have you used apostrophes correctly? Have you avoided fragments, fused sentences, and comma splices?

6. Read your summary carefully to make sure that the meaning of original article  would be clear to someone who has not read it.