Appendix B: Writing a Summary
An academic summary provides an objective, condensed (shortened) description of the content of a piece of writing or presentation. Unlike a review, it does NOT analyze, evaluate, or critique; your opinion of the work is not typically part of the summary (unless you have been asked to add your thoughts afterward). Since summaries usually occur within a context (eg., part of your essay), your thoughts about what you have summarized will probably be relevant to your subsequent analysis. But when writing the actual summary of someone else’s ideas, you must neutrally and accurately describe what you take to be the important ideas in the author’s or presenter’s work in as few words as possible. Occasionally, if the work you are summarizing has an unusual form, style, or tone that affects the content, your summary might describe HOW the author presents those ideas.
What is the purpose of a summary?
A summary is meant to inform your reader—who has not read the text or seen the presentation—of what the text is about. It describes its purpose or main idea, and summarizes the supporting arguments that develop that idea. The reader will then know if he or she will find it useful and want to read it.
There are many kinds of summaries that serve different purposes:
- An academic summary of someone else’s ideas, in the context of a research essay, helps you to support and develop your ideas. You may summarize someone’s ideas because they support your own, or because they differ from yours and allow you to introduce the idea you want to argue. Someone else’s theory may provide a framework for your analysis, so you might summarize the theory before beginning your argument. A summary can act as a springboard to launch your ideas
- An abstract, written by the author(s) of the paper, describes the content and purpose of an academic paper and is included at the beginning of the article. Abstracts are written by the authors, and thus do not use signal phrases.
- Government workers often write briefing notes to give the busy minister a summary of important information needed for a meeting or for a decision
- In business, an executive summary gives the busy executive a quick overview of the contents of a formal report.
Being able to write a clear and useful summary is a valuable skill both in academic and professional contexts.
Test your knowledge on types of summaries with this practice exercise:
H5P: Summaries
Match the words (Briefing Notes, Academic Summary, Executive Summary, Abstract) with the correct description.
- Kevin is asked by his director to read the report and provide him with a summary of the main ideas.
- Samira is writing a summary for the college’s new Strategic Plan.
- Leo has read a great article for his research paper and is now using that information to support and develop his idea.
- Emilé has just completed his academic paper and now needs to write the summary of the content and purpose.
How do you write an effectiv