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Research Guides

GGR401: Geomorphology and the Anthropocene

How Do You Summarize an Article

A summary has two aims:

  1. to reproduce the overarching ideas in a text, identifying the general concepts that run through the entire piece, and
  2. to express these overarching ideas using precise, specific language.

Your Summary Should Include:

1. Introduction

  • Start with an overview of the article which includes the author’s name and the title of the article.
  • Include a sentence that states the main idea of the article.

​​2. Body 

  • Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence.
  • The number of paragraphs in your summary depends on the length of the original article.
  • Each paragraph focuses on a separate main idea and just the most important details from the article.

​3. Conclusion

  • Summarize the main idea and the underlying meaning of the article.

Adapted from "Guidelines for Writing a Summary" by Christine Bauer-Ramazani, Saint Michael's College.

 

Tips on Summarizing

Please see the video Tips on Summarizing on the Ohio State Flipped ESL YouTube channel. This video investigates the basic elements needed to create an effective one-sentence summary and a summary paragraph.