How to effectively summarize another author’s work

What is a summary? It is a brief restatement in your own words of the content of a paper or essay written by another author It focuses on the central idea of the text It includes the main points in their order It may include some important examples It should never include personal opinion

What is a summary? If you are summarizing an academic paper, you should keep your summary in an academic tone. It is always necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material. From: Purdue OWL

Follow these helpful steps: Read the entire text, noting the key points and main ideas. Summarize in your own words what the single main idea of the essay is. Paraphrase important supporting points that come up in the essay. Consider any words, phrases, or brief passages that you believe should be quoted directly.

Characteristics of a Summary 1) BREVITY Be concise: say everything that needs to be said in as few words as possible 2) COMPLETENESS Being brief does not mean leaving anything out. Make sure you are including all important points! 3) OBJECTIVITY Do not include any opinions or personal feelings. Include only the ideas of the author you are summarizing.

Characteristics of a Summary From page 23 in Becoming an Active Reader Be SPACE conscious: a summary should represent 20 per cent of the original length S pecific P recise A ccurate C lear E fficient

An Essential Component! ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS include the author’s name and the title of the work you are summarizing in the first sentence. For example, if you were summarizing the text Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud, your summary would begin something like this: 1) In Sigmund Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams, he states that… OR 2) In his famous and influential work the Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud argues that …

“Overload” by Andy Clark Read “Overload” by Andy Clark on page 25 in the textbook Summarize the piece in your own words Compare your summary with the example summary on page 27 Did you miss any important details? Why does the example summary include a direct quotation? Read over the Review Questions on page 28 and be prepared to share your answers with the class