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.

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.

Here are some additional resources on how to summarize an academic article:

• Summarizing (U of T)
• How to Summarize a Research Article (UConn)
• Guidelines for Summarizing an article (Andrews University)
• Guidelines for using In-text citations in a summary or research paper (Saint Michael's College)