How to Write Article Summaries, Reviews & Critiques

When writing a summary, the goal is to compose a concise and objective overview of the original article. The summary should focus only on the article's main ideas and important details that support those ideas.

Guidelines for summarizing an article:

• State the main ideas.
• Identify the most important details that support the main ideas.
• Summarize in your own words.
• Do not copy phrases or sentences unless they are being used as direct quotations.
• Express the underlying meaning of the article, but do not critique or analyze.
• The summary should be about one third the length of the original article. 

Your summary should include:

• Introduction
  • Give an overview of the article, including the title and the name of the author.
  • Provide a thesis statement that states the main idea of the article.
• Body Paragraphs
  • Use the body paragraphs to explain the supporting ideas of your thesis statement.
  • The number of paragraphs will depend on the length of the original article. 
    • One-paragraph summary - one sentence per supporting detail, providing 1-2 examples for each.
    • Multi-paragraph summary - one paragraph per supporting detail, providing 2-3 examples for each.
  • Start each paragraph with a topic sentence.
  • Use transitional words and phrases to connect ideas.
• Concluding Paragraph
  • Summarize your thesis statement and the underlying meaning of the article.

 Adapted from "Guidelines for Using In-Text Citations in a Summary (or Research Paper)" by Christine Bauer-Ramazani, 2020

Additional Resources

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How to Write a Summary - Guide & Examples (from Scribbr.com)

Writing a Summary (from The University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center)