Section 4: Working with Sources
Summarizing Sources
Introduction
Summarizing is a valuable academic, job, and life skill.
You will often be asked to summarize something, be it in a formal or an informal setting. For example, you may need to include a summary of a source within a research paper. At your job, your supervisor may request an oral or written summary to provide an update on a project you are tasked with completing. In your personal life, a friend may ask you to explain the gist of a movie before deciding whether to watch it. As with any skill, summarizing requires practice. You will become more proficient through practice and build your confidence to handle these tasks.
What Is a Summary?
A summary
- is a brief statement of the main ideas from a text,
- is written in your own words (paraphrased), and
- should be accurate, complete, and objective.
When you read to summarize, the goal is to be able to articulate the author’s ideas and perspectives, regardless of your opinions about the ideas. There will be a place for sharing your ideas later, but first, you must fully process the ideas presented by the author(s).
You will notice that academic articles are often preceded by a summary called an abstract. The abstract provides readers with an overview of the article's contents; many academic readers read abstracts first to judge the article's relevance to their own work.
Why Summarize?
- Summarizing is a tool to check your understanding of a text.
- It helps you recall what you have read because you must understand it deeply enough to express the same key ideas differently.
- Summarizing is a type of academic writing. You will use it when writing about texts you have read in various assignments across the curriculum. Summarizing is the key skill behind citation, an important feature of academic writing.
- Summarizing is a skill you will use in your personal life and job when conveying key points to others.
The Parts of a Summary
What is included in a summary?
- Title of the text
- Author of the text
- The overall main idea of the text (the writer’s thesis) written in your own words
- Major support for the thesis (paragraph-level or section-level main ideas) written in your own words
What is not included in a summary?
- Minor details from a text: The goal is to report the main ideas, and minor details are specific, not general.) When we summarize texts that use quantitative data (numbers and statistics), we don’t include those values in a summary.
- Quoted material from the text: Quotes make a summary wordier and lengthier than it needs to be. The goal is to be concise.
- Your opinion: The summary should accurately and concisely represent the author’s points.
Key Steps to Developing a Summary
Step 1: Prepare to summarize
Before you begin the summary process, use one of the active reading processes described in the chapter “Reading Academic Sources.” It is important to have a good grasp of the text you are working with before you sit down to summarize it.
If you are summarizing an academic research article, one good strategy is to read around the edges. For instance, read the abstract, the introduction, and the conclusion first to help you build a better understanding or model of what the text is about. Then you can return to the text and read the material in the middle.
To demonstrate how to summarize, we will work through the article “Students perceive themselves as a ‘math person’ or a ‘reading person’ early on,” which appeared on the not-for-profit independent news website The Conversation in August 2022. The article examines students’ identities as “reading people” or “math people.”
Practice highlighting and annotating a text
To highlight and annotate the article “Students perceive themselves as a ‘math person’ or a ‘reading person’ early on” as part of your practice summarizing a text, you have the following options:
- Highlight and annotate the article text below using a web annotation tool like hypothes.is.
- Download a printable PDF of the article.
- You can print the PDF and highlight and annotate it by hand.
- You can use PDF annotation software to highlight and annotate the document. Google “PDF annotation software” to find apps that might work for you.
- You can upload the PDF into notetaking software to highlight and annotate it. Google “notetaking software” to find apps that might work for you.
Select the panel for the full text of the article.
Students perceive themselves as a ‘math person’ or a ‘reading person’ early on
Students perceive themselves as a ‘math person’ or a ‘reading person’ early on – and this can impact the choices they make throughout their lives
Sirui Wan, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.
The big idea
1 As kids progress through school, they tend to increasingly perceive themselves as either a “math person” or a “language person,” even if they’re good at both, according to a recent study I led.
2 My colleagues and I were interested in why people pursue specific educational and career trajectories – like choosing a science, technology, engineering and mathematics major vs. a non-STEM major in college. We know that having a specific academic identity, like considering oneself a “math person,” is one of the reasons people choose a corresponding career path. My team wanted to find out when some kids start to lean toward identifying this way.
3 We focused on math and language arts because they are the most common subjects in the U.S. K-12 system; for example, the SAT has two main sections: English and math. There is also a gender stereotype that reading is for girls and math is for boys.
4 My team analyzed data involving 142 independent samples across the world, featuring almost 211,000 students from 16 countries and regions. This data includes self-reported confidence and interest in math and language arts from students in different grades.
5 Our research indicates an age-related change in kids’ academic identity formation.
6 We found that during primary school, students who reported high confidence and interest in language arts were also likely to report high confidence and interest in math. But as students progress though the school years, this pattern gradually changes. In high school, students who reported high confidence and interest in language arts reported lower confidence and interest, on average, in math, and vice versa.
7 In other words, students become more likely to think that they’re either a math person or a reading person as they progress through their school years.
Why it matters
8 Students choose to pursue a specific career path for various reasons. One of the most common is that they believe they are good at doing a task. Our research suggests that some students develop a misconception that they can only be either a math or a reading person as they move from primary to secondary school.
9 This misconception can have a dark side: Students might disengage from subjects that they perceive as their relative weaknesses even when they are actually good at these subjects relative to other students.
10 An example is that many students, especially girls, perform very well in math but do even better in verbal domains. These students might view math as a relative weakness and avoid pursuing math-related educational and career paths.
11 In other words, the misconception found in our study can lead some students to miss out on educational opportunities.
What still isn’t known
12 Although viewing oneself as better in one domain than another likely carries costs, it may have benefits as well. It would be useful to understand these before our team can make strong recommendations to parents, teachers or policymakers for interventions.
13 Additionally, to support each student’s unique journey, parents, teachers and schools would benefit from a stronger understanding of how students come to think that one can only be good at either math or reading. Unfortunately, we still know little about the impact of contributing factors, such as the school environment.
14 A potential contributing factor that we considered in our study is tracking, or schools dividing students into groups by their perceived achievement. Our study found that German students tend to believe they are good at only one of the two domains slightly earlier than U.S. students do, perhaps because academic tracking starts earlier in Germany than in the U.S.
15 Studying the implications of different educational practices on students’ academic beliefs is a line of research that my colleagues and I are currently pursuing.
Sirui Wan, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Step 2: Gather information for the summary
After using an active reading process technique, reread the article you plan to summarize. This might seem unnecessary. However, you read the article the first time to familiarize yourself with the content. Summarizing requires a more detailed examination of the text to understand the relationship between the ideas: major points, minor details, and how all the major points are connected.
When summarizing, you are reading for a different purpose; your goal is to search for the main ideas, sift out the details, and express the main ideas in your own words.
Take notes to summarize
As you develop your summarization skills, having a template that guides you as you work through the process can be helpful. The Summary Notes Template document guides you as you begin to distinguish between a text's major and minor points.
Distinguish between the major and minor points
Re-read the text. Write down the major supporting point or main idea from each paragraph or section in your own words. Writing an idea in your own words is called paraphrasing. Sometimes, a single paragraph may have its own major supporting point; however, if the paragraphs are short, consider grouping related paragraphs together to determine the major point.
Determine the thesis, or overall main idea, of the text. This should be the central point of the text. The major supporting points should relate to the thesis.
Practice completing the Summary Notes Template document for the example text “Students perceive themselves as a ‘math person’ or a ‘reading person’ early on.” Compare your notes to the example below. Make sure your ideas agree. The topic, major supporting points, and thesis should be written in your own words, but the content should be the same as what is included in the example.
Example: Summary notes
*Student responses are written in blue.*
Title of the reading
“Students Perceive Themselves As a ‘Math Person’ or a ‘Reading Person’ Early on – and This Can Impact the Choices They Make throughout Their Lives”
Author(s) of the reading
Sirui Wan
Topic of the reading (topic = the person, place, event, or idea that the article is about; express as word or phrase)
math, reading, and student identity
NOTE: There are many ways to state the topic. Other possibilities include:
- identity as a math or reading person
- self perception as a math or reading person
- math, reading, and self-perception
Major supporting points in the reading (major support = paragraph-level and section-level main ideas; express in complete sentences; paraphrase all ideas; label points with paragraph numbers)
NOTE: You may have grouped the paragraphs differently than what is shown below. That is okay, as long as you have the same key ideas from the article. For example, paragraphs 4-7 are grouped together in the notes below, but you may have chosen to include paragraph 4 (the data from over 200,000 students) separate from the finding discussed in paragraphs 5-7.
Paragraphs 1-2: Researchers investigated when students start to identify as either “math people” or “reading people.”
Paragraph 3: They chose math and reading because they are commonly taught and because girls are often stereotyped as readers and boys as math people.
Paragraph 4-7: The researchers examined data from over 200,000 students around the world and concluded that students are more likely to view themselves as either math or reading people as they advance through school, even if they liked or believed they were skilled in both areas in elementary school.
Paragraphs 8-11: When students see themselves as one or the other, they may avoid what they perceive as their weaker subject area in school and not consider related career paths.
Paragraphs 12-15: The author wants to know if there may be benefits to identifying as one type, either math or reading, and to understand the variables that contribute to students’ misperceptions, such as whether or not schools track students into certain subjects.
Thesis of the reading (What is the main point the author is telling us about the topic? What is the overall main idea of the text?)
Researchers learned that students increasingly view themselves as either “math people” or “reading people,” and this can impact their academic and career decisions.
NOTE: When you write your summary, the topic sentence of the paragraph will include the title, author, and thesis. Why is the thesis last in the notes if that is the case? When you read to summarize, sometimes you have an idea of the thesis before identifying the major supporting points, but not always. Sometimes, identifying the major supporting points will help you determine the thesis.
Step 3: Write the summary
Now that you have collected the information to include in your summary, you can use your Summary Notes to draft your summary. Below is guidance for writing the summary, followed by an example from the article “Students perceive themselves as a ‘math person’ or a ‘reading person’ early on.”
How should you organize the summary?
- Start with a topic sentence that states the title, author, and thesis (overall main idea) of the article. This is how you let the reader know what you are summarizing and give credit to the author.
- Follow the topic sentence with the major supporting points (paragraph-level main ideas or section main ideas). Present them in the order of importance. Note that this order may not be the same as you read these points in your source text.
- The last major supporting point may be general enough to conclude the paragraph. If not, then you can rewrite the thesis of the article.
What writing style should be used?
Don’t expect to simply copy and paste the sentences from your Summary Notes document; the result will be a disjointed, choppy summary. Use the following guidelines so that all the sentences make sense and flow from one to the next in your paragraph.
- Use the present tense when referring to what the author “writes” (not the past tense “wrote”).
- Use the third person (e.g. Sirui Wan explains that students develop a preference for math or reading early in school.). This makes it clear that the ideas are not yours but belong to the author. Refer to the author by name, as “the author,” as “the writer,” or by the appropriate pronoun (he/she/they) if known. It is common practice to use both of the author’s names (Sirui Wan) the first time you mention them but only to use the family name or surname (Wan) after that point. In the summary, do not use first-person pronouns (I/me/my/we/our/us) or second-person (you/your).
- Vary the verbs in the summary. Do not repeat the same verbs (e.g. “says” and “writes”) throughout the summary. Below is a list of possible verbs, but these are not the only ones. Make sure the verb fits the context. For example, do not use the verb argue unless the author presents an opinion.
| acknowledge | demonstrate | present |
| add | describe | question |
| admit | explain | reason |
| argue | find | report |
| assert | identify | say |
| believe | illustrate | state |
| claim | indicate | suggest |
| compare | note | think |
| conclude | mention | warn |
| critique | point out | write |
Practice summarizing the article “Students perceive themselves as a ‘math person’ or a ‘reading person’ early on.”
Select the panel to compare your summary to the example below.
Example: Summary
In the summary below, note the following colour coding:
- The topic sentence of the summary includes the title, author, and thesis of the article and is blue.
- References to the author are marked in burgundy.
- Present tense verbs that indicate what the author is saying or writing are green.
In the informational article “Students Perceive Themselves As a ‘Math Person’ or a ‘Reading Person’ Early on – and This Can Impact the Choices They Make throughout Their Lives,” Sirui Wan reports that students increasingly view themselves as either “math people” or “reading people” as they advance through school, and this self-perception can impact their academic and career decisions. Wan describes how he and his research team investigated the ages at which students start to identify as either “math people” or “reading people” (par. 1-2). They chose to focus on the subjects of math and reading because they are commonly taught and because girls are often stereotyped as readers and boys as math people (par. 3). Wan explains that they examined data from over 200,000 students around the world and concluded that students are more likely to view themselves as either math or reading people when moving into higher grade levels; the author notes that this occurred even if the students liked both subjects and believed they were skilled in both areas in elementary school (par. 4-7). Wan expresses concern that if students see themselves as stronger in either reading or math, they may avoid the subject they perceive as their weaker one and not consider related career paths (par. 8-11). The author concludes by noting that the research team is conducting further research to determine if there may be benefits to identifying as either reading or math and to understand the variables within schools that contribute to students’ misperceptions (par. 12-15).Work Cited
Wan, Sirui. “Students Perceive Themselves As a ‘Math Person’ or a ‘Reading Person’ Early on – and This Can Impact the Choices They Make throughout Their Lives.” Becoming a Confident Reader: Developing Interactive Reading, Writing, and Thinking Practices for College, by Susannah M. Givens, 2022, Pressbooks, pressbooks.nvcc.edu/ede10/.
Step 4: Evaluate and revise your summary
Once you have completed the first draft of your summary, you should evaluate it and revise it based on this process.
Use the following checklist to read and evaluate your summary yourself, or ask a peer to use the checklist to review and evaluate your summary. All answers should be “yes.” If the answer to any question is “no,” then you should revisit that aspect of your summary. After making changes, make sure you reread your summary to edit and proofread.
Additionally, reading a summary of the same text written by your peer may be helpful. If you and your peer had different understandings of points in the article, you can work together to clarify the meaning.
Self-Assessment/Peer Review Questions
- Does the summary have a topic sentence that states the article's author, title, and thesis (overall main idea)?
- Is the summary complete (all major supporting points/paragraph-level main ideas included)?
- Is all of the information accurate?
- Are the major supporting points ordered by importance? Remember that this may not be the order in which you find them in the source text.
- Are all ideas paraphrased? Quotes should not be used in the summary.
- Is the author referenced first by the full name and, after that, by last name (or “the author” or “the writer” or appropriate pronoun) throughout the summary?
- Are unnecessary details excluded from the summary?
- Are the student’s opinion statements excluded from the summary?
- Is the bibliography included, and is it correct?
Using Generative AI to Summarize
Consider academic integrity
- Please refer to your course syllabus and university policies on using Generative AI. Using Generative AI to help you better understand a text may be okay. Still, it will likely violate academic integrity policies if you submit the summary as your own writing.
Use it effectively
- Generative AI can be very helpful when summarizing texts. Some Generative AI tools allow you to upload and summarize texts. Other Generative AI summary tools are built into websites. For example, some academic publishers now allow you to summarize a text with a built-in AI tool.
Beware of the limitations
- Generative AI may change the meaning of a text when summarizing it. You need to assess any AI-generated summary carefully to ensure that the author’s meaning is maintained and that the Generative AI tool correctly identifies a text's thesis and significant points.
Consider your learning journey
- It is still important to learn how to summarize well. Separating out major and minor points in a text is an important skill that forms the basis of critical thinking about texts and other complex ideas. Furthermore, if you don’t learn how to summarize well, you won’t be able to judge the accuracy and value of any AI-generated summary.
Consider ethics
- Make sure that you understand the ethical implications of using Generative AI. When you upload a text to Generative AI and ask the tool to summarize it, you may be providing that material to its training database without the author's permission.
Attributions
"Summarizing Sources" by Nancy Bray, Introduction to Academic Writing, University of Alberta, is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 and was adapted from:
- "What Is a Summary?" by Susannah M. Givens, Becoming a Confident Reader, Northern Virginia Community College is licensed under CC BY 4.0
- "Preparing to Summarize" by Susannah M. Givens, Becoming a Confident Reader, Northern Virginia Community College is licensed under CC BY 4.0
- "Writing a Summary" by Susannah M. Givens, Becoming a Confident Reader, Northern Virginia Community College is licensed under CC BY 4.0
- "Evaluating a Summary" by Susannah M. Givens, Becoming a Confident Reader, Northern Virginia Community College is licensed under CC BY 4.0
