32 Global Summary Writing
A Global Summary presents the main ideas of the entire article for a reader who has not read the original text. It is essential that you read the article and take good notes in order to know:
- The general main idea of the whole article
- Subtopics (if present)
- Main ideas
- Relevant secondary details
When you summarize globally, you start the summary with a citation of the author, the title, and the general main idea of the whole article. Then, you include the main ideas from the various portions of the text. You do not typically include secondary details. You should sum-up or paraphrase the main ideas, and you should attribute each of them to the original author. For a detailed explanation of academic summaries, read this PB page: https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/esl116/chapter/global-summary-1…ademic-summaries/
Use formal, academic English when writing summaries. See—> https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/esl116/chapter/academic-writing-tips/
Academic Misconduct in Summary Writing
Academic summaries must be written only by you, using your own thinking process and your own English. This means that:
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You must not rely on AI to generate any main ideas to be included in the summary. Besides being “risky” in terms of accuracy (AI may not help you with the exact main ideas your instructor is looking for), asking AI to generate the main ideas effectively eliminates your critical thinking process. Any summary that you submit should demonstrate your genuine critical thinking.
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You must not ask anybody to write a summary for you. Your instructor wants to read your work.
Receiving any help, including translation or other language-generating software, is considered academic misconduct and is taken very seriously at UW-Madison. You may be reported if your instructor discovers non-genuine work.
There is one exception: You may only get help from your instructor or classmates during in-class activities, peer-reviewing, or Canvas discussion boards.
