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. This is because being cited in other texts (for example in the summary that you are writing) is a major way for academics to advance their careers. Visually, it is very important to cite last names throughout any academic text because it 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:

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 to 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.

7. Attribution in the Body of the Summary ✅

After the first introductory paragraph, attribution or citation or attribution to the author(s) is needed whenever a new subtopic is presented and, within subtopics, whenever a new main idea is introduced.

In the case of subtopics, for example, a topic sentence should be written at the beginning of this paragraph:

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:

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), a complete name, and credentials. Afterward, you can cite by the last name only.

Check this example:

Useful Language to Use:

9. No Quotations in ESL 116 Summaries ✅

While it is not uncommon to see some quotations in academic summaries, you must not quote phrases or long sentences from the article in this particular summary. There are two reasons for this.

• • • A 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.
  • • Quoting is done only in specific cases in academic writing; for example, critiques of what people say and how they say it, which is common in the fields of literature and political science.

LANGUAGE BONUS

There are five words/phrases that should never appear in a summary: “mention”, “at last”, “at first”, and “point out”.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.”
4. 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.