Follow the five steps outlined below to write a good summary. In any case, the goal of summarizing is to give your reader a clear understanding of the original source. You might use a brief quote to support your point, or paraphrase a few sentences or paragraphs.īut it’s often appropriate to summarize a whole article or chapter if it is especially relevant to your own research, or to provide an overview of a source before you analyze or critique it. When you’re writing an academic text like an essay, research paper, or dissertation, you’ll integrate sources in a variety of ways. To give an overview of other researchers’ work in a literature review.To keep notes that will help you remember what you’ve read.As a stand-alone assignment to show you’ve understood the material.There are many situations in which you might have to summarize an article or other source: Frequently asked questions about summarizing.Step 5: Check the summary against the article.

Step 3: Identify the key points in each section.Step 2: Break the text down into sections.

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