English B1A Summarizingg

What is a Summary? A summary is a way, in addition to quoting, to incorporate source material into your work. A summary is a brief restatement in your own words of the main ideas of a selected passage.

When to summarize Summarizing source material is helpful when your source goes into much more detail than you or your audience needs. Providing just the main points in a summary will allow you to use the source and give the needed information without getting off topic or too involved. It can also help when you are reaching your limit of direct quotes (10-15%). Since summaries are written in your own words, they do not count against your quote limit.

How to summarize 1.Read the section to be summarized and be sure you understand it. 2.Outline the passage. Note the major points. 3.Write a first draft of the summary without looking at the article. 4.Always use your own words when writing a summary. If you do copy a phrase from the original be sure it is a very important phrase that is necessary and cannot be paraphrased. In this case put "quotation marks" around the phrase and provide an in-text citation after the quoted material.

How to Summarize 5. Write using "summarizing language." Periodically remind your reader that this is a summary by using phrases such as the article claims, the author suggests, etc. 6. Make sure you leave out your own ideas, opinions, or interpretations into the summary. This means you have to be very careful of your word choice. 7.Check with your outline and your original to make sure you have covered the important points. 8.Target your first draft for approximately 1/4 the length of the original.

Incorporating summaries When summarizing, you should treat the source just like you would a quote by introducing, citing, and explaining it. Any words OR ideas that are not your own need to be given appropriate credit.