A summary is a short overview of the main points of an article or other source, written entirely in your own words. To avoid plagiarism when summarizing an article or other source, follow these two rules:. May I use some of the content in your article to teach my students about summarizing? You have presented an excellent article and I would like to use the example summary You can always feel free to use Scribbr content in your teaching.
Just make sure to credit Scribbr. Glad you're finding the material helpful! Have a language expert improve your writing. Check your paper for plagiarism in 10 minutes. Do the check. Generate your APA citations for free! APA Citation Generator.
Home Knowledge Base Citing sources How to write a summary. Davis et al. Using national survey data, Davis et al. What is a summary? How long is a summary? How can I summarize a source without plagiarizing? Cite the source with an in-text citation and a full reference so your reader can easily find the original text. Is this article helpful? Shona McCombes Shona has a bachelor's and two master's degrees, so she's an expert at writing a great thesis. For a multi-paragraph summary , discuss each supporting point in a separate paragraph.
Avoid copying phrases and sentences from the article. It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results. Set aside some time to look for the text main ideas. It doesn't matter if it's an article or a textbook page, check the very first sentence of each paragraph, as that's where the main ideas usually are.
Then, try paraphrasing some of that, rewriting the main ideas in your own words. That's a real skill you should practice from elementary school to the university level. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 0. You should try to include all the main ideas if you can, but some things may have to be left out to save space. If you think a point is important to the piece you're summarizing, add it to your summary.
However, keep in mind that your summary should be concise rather than perfectly detailed. Not Helpful 48 Helpful Not Helpful 76 Helpful These are some examples of the beginning of a summary: - The story is about Not Helpful 51 Helpful No, just use the appropriate words to convey a chronological order, for example words like "first," "second," "then," "finally," etc. Not Helpful 34 Helpful What if the book has a lot of characters that are only mentioned once or twice?
If they are minor characters then you shouldn't include them in your summary. Decide on whether the character is important to the storyline. You'll probably just need to focus on the main characters to write an effective summary.
Not Helpful 42 Helpful A summary's length depends on the passage you're summarizing. If it's a short article or story, then it should just be one long paragraph. If it's a novel, however, 3 to 5 paragraphs should be enough.
So really, it depends on the passage. Not Helpful 45 Helpful Yes it is obligatory, because readers of your summary must have a possibility to easily find and read the original text, that you have summarised.
Not Helpful 44 Helpful Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Related wikiHows How to.
How to. Expert Interview. More References 8. About This Article. Co-authored by:. Co-authors: Updated: September 9, Categories: Academic Writing. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 1,, times. Quite honestly, not only did these notes help me gain more knowledge, but reminded me of the information I had learned throughout the semester.
Thanks, guys! More reader stories Hide reader stories. So if the original piece is 4 pages long, your summary should be no more than 1 page. A summary is a short overview of the main points of an article or other source, written entirely in your own words. A good summary has three basic characteristics: conciseness, accuracy, and objectivity. Conciseness: unlike paraphrase, summary condenses information. The degree of density can vary: while you can summarize a two-hundred page book in fifty words, you can also summarize a twenty-five-page article in five hundred words.
It should identify the title, author, and main point or argument. A summary must be comprehensive: You should isolate all the important points in the original passage and note them down in a list. There are many ways to end your summary. One way is to point toward the future. Another way is to say why this article was so important. Another is to repeat what you said earlier. A good summary of an essay should probably include the main idea of each paragraph, and the main evidence supporting that idea, unless it is not relevant to the article or essay as a whole.
A summary does not need a conclusion, but if the original ends with a message to the reader this should not be left out. Conclusion paragraphs are very important to a piece of writing. Maybe there was still another way? The conclusion of an essay usually consists of one paragraph, but you may choose to write a longer summary.
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