31 Fundamentals of Academic Summaries
1. The Audience
Always assume that the reader of a summary is someone who has not read the original text. Your task is to provide enough information so the reader understands the author’s argument(s) and main ideas.
2. What Belongs in a Summary
A summary consists only of the original author’s main ideas and, if appropriate, of other people’s ideas included in the text. It is important to avoid using words that indicate or even suggest your opinion.
3. Consistent Attribution ✅
At all times, it must be clear to the reader that the main ideas are those expressed by the text’s author(s) and not your own. In other words, you must attribute the main ideas to the article’s author(s) and/or to the people cited in the article. This is also called citing the source in your summary. To do so, it is necessary to use attributive language frequently throughout the summary, specifically when presenting a main idea for the first time and whenever the report of main ideas shifts (even slightly.) That is, whenever it is possible that, without attributive language, the reader could think that the text is expressing your personal opinions or that the information could have come from another text or another person.
4. How to Cite in the Summary ✅
Citing in summaries is easy to do. Essentially, it is no different from any piece of academic writing that involves the use of retrieved sources.
- The first time you cite the text’s author, you should use his or her full name. This is also true when you cite another person that the author cites in the text.
- Thereafter, you should use either the author’s last (family) name or a pronoun (she, he, or they).
- Do not use the expressions “the author” or “the writer” after the author’s full name has been written. One reason for this is because being cited in other texts (for example in the summary that you are writing) gives prestige to the person who is being cited. This is a feature of academic culture.
5. Citation in the First Paragraph
The first paragraph of the summary will be short; perhaps only three or four lines. It will contain the first citation (or attribution). For example, if you are summarizing an article entitled “The Nasty Logistics of Returning Your Too-Small Pants”, written by Amanda Mull (a woman), you will do this:
In “The Nasty Logistics of Returning Your Too-Small Pants”, Amanda Mulls argues that online shopping generates a large number of returns in the United States, most of which go to waste.
6. The Main Idea of the Whole Article ✅
Notice that the example sentence above presents the purpose of the author in writing this article. The first sentence answers these questions:
- What is Mull’s purpose in this article?
- What does she intend to present in this article, from the beginning until the end? (not specifically in a paragraph, but in the whole article).
- How does she do it?
To answer these questions, you need to select an attributive verb that represents the intended purpose. The example above says “Mull argues that….”. Thus, the intended purpose is to argue about a topic, and not, for example, to exemplify an idea.
It is essential to read the article a few times, take good notes, reflect upon all the main ideas of the article, and understand its spirit. Then, you will be able to answer the questions above by choosing the right verb(s) and writing the first paragraph of the summary.
Where is the main idea of the whole article?
-
The author’s main idea is not textually written in the article. You won’t find it textually written in any of the lines in the article, nor is the title necessarily a reflection of the purpose of the entire article. Therefore, you must figure it out.
-
In your summary, the author’s main idea can be expressed in one long sentence, or in two or three sentences. Perhaps the author’s purpose is multiple (e.g., two or three purposes).
7. Attribution in the Body of the Summary ✅
After the first sentence, attribution to the author(s) is needed whenever a new subtopic is presented and, within subtopics, whenever a new main idea is introduced. This kind of attribution is often referred to as a “summary reminder”. You need to frequently remind the reader that these ideas are those of the original author, and not yours.
In the case of subtopics, for example, a topic sentence should be written at the beginning of this paragraph:
Mull states that returns from online shopping have become habitual among Americans.
After this topic sentence, attribution is necessary every time you present a new main idea that supports the subtopic.
Sometimes, attribution is not needed because you are continuing with the reporting of one main idea and it is clear who the source is:
Mull says that not all products that are returned go to waste. In fact, many electronic products are disassembled in order to use their parts.
| Check examples of attribution verbs here: https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/esl116/chapter/chapter-1-2/ |
8. How to Cite People that Are Being Cited in the Article ✅
Some of the main ideas to be summarized will belong to people who are being cited by the article’s author. In other words, the person who is “speaking” is not the author of the article. In these cases, you must cite both the author of the article and the person who is being cited.
The first time you cite the person who is being cited, you must indicate this person’s position (for example, CEO, doctor; professor), and their full name. Afterward, you can cite by the last name only.
Check this example:
Mull cites Scott Schaefer, Zappos’s Vice President of Finance, who says that the company has no plans to change its free return policy. Schaefer says such a change would mean to compromise the trust that the company has developed among its
Useful Language to Use:
- Mull cites Schaefer, who argues that…
- Mull continues by citing Joel Rampoldt, managing director at the consulting firm Alix Partners, who estimates that about 25% of online-purchased merchandise is returned in the United States.
Reminder:
-
Whenever there is even a slight shift in the main idea, a citation is required. If there is no citation, then it means that it is YOUR idea (and your ideas don’t belong in an academic summary anywhere at all, even at the end). In any academic text, this lack of citation constitutes an instance of plagiarism. These rules are not limited to the writing of complete summaries; they apply to all academic writing. If you are unsure whether to cite or not, it is safer to cite.
-
The goal of this assignment is to write a 100% pure summary. It needs to be very objective. The language in summary writing should be neutral and even a bit “dry”, unlike the expression of arguments and personal opinions.
9. Avoid Quotations in ESL 116 Summaries ✅
For your summaries, you will need to try to summarize, or paraphrase rather than quote. If there is a very special short phrase, you may include that in quotes. In general, quoting is rare in academic writing (except in some fields like literary studies or political science). One major purpose of ESL 116 is the development of the ability to express what a text says in your own words. This is a vital skill that also leads to improvement in your overall ability to use academic English.
LANGUAGE BONUS
There are four words/phrases that should never appear in a summary: “mention”, “at last”, “at first”, and “point out”.
- Mention means to say something about a topic very briefly just once. Don’t use it unless this is the meaning you want to convey.
- At last does NOT mean “finally,” as in “the final point.” It means: “I am so glad it is over.” In fact, do not use any ordinals (first, firstly, second, thirdly, etc.) or any other chronological connectors (e.g., then) to connect ideas.
- At first does not mean “first”. Instead, it presages a change in a situation from the beginning to a later stage. For example, “At first, I thought this class would be boring. Later, I discovered how interesting it is.”
- Point out is a phrasal verb and is, therefore, an idiom. As indicated in the “Academic Writing Tips,” idioms, including phrasal verbs like “points out,” should be avoided.
