34 Integrative Summary Writing
What Is an Integrative Summary?
In an integrative summary, the writer summarizes what several sources say about a topic that has been narrowed down and presented in a prompt. The goal is to present an overall picture of the narrowed topic based on the information discussed in various sources.
As with any summary, writers do not include their own arguments or opinions. It is the writer’s job only to provide an objective description of the topic by adhering strictly to the prompt.
This sort of summarizing resembles some important aspects of research writing at the undergraduate level:
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- Students should use multiple sources in a research paper.
- Students should make decisions when structuring the research paper by using selected pieces of information from a number of sources.
- A research paper should be written coherently at both levels: macro (whole document) and micro (paragraphs).
- For any given sub-topic in the paper, students should use support from more than one source because relying on only one source creates the danger of an incomplete or biased paper.
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The above points are very important skills that you will continue to learn in-depth in ESL 117 and/or ESL 118.
Prompt Sample:
The topic of this integrative summary is bike-friendly cities in the world. Specifically, you will summarize how bike-friendly cities can be realized.
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Optional addition to the prompt: Using only the sources provided, you will identify and summarize:
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- Background information that contextualizes the topic of bike-friendly cities.
- Factors that are needed to make a city bike-friendly.
- Obstacles that should be overcome for a city to become bike-friendly.
Good note-taking, including margin notes, markups, and color coding, is critical for writing an integrated summary successfully. Your task is to read, understand, associate information, figure out subtopics, and integrate, organize, and attribute information. For an integrative summary you can apply the annotation and other note-taking strategies that you have been practicing since the onset of the semester. An integrative summary will require accurate attribution of sources and a reference list, so you will need to be very careful in your organization and writing.
