How to Summarize an Article Research Skills How to Summarize an Article

The Main Idea Read the passage carefully to determine the main idea In one sentence, what is the author saying? Or, briefly, what is the author’s position on the topic? Don’t forget to name the author and the title of the article and the year published in your topic sentence (APA style) Example: Mark Keast says in his article, “Addressing the Elephant” (2007) that the NHL uses fighting as a major marketing tool to attract young people to its game.

Supporting Details Now, carefully select the most important details from the article that help to argue the author’s main idea Choose several points (or examples or statistics) the author is offering as proof Leave out parts of the article that are not absolutely essential to the author’s argument

Be concise Don’t ramble on Rather, choose 3-4 specific points that author is making to prove his/her position If the author gives several examples, you may choose to focus on one or group the examples together

Writing Style Write your summary smoothly Rewrite the author’s words in your own words (when not quoting directly) Use connecting words in your paragraph to move from one point to the next Examples: also, next, in addition, as well, further, and

Using Direct Quotations If you want to use a sentence or phrase from the text that expresses a point strongly, indicate this using direct quotations Example: Morrison (2007) starts off by saying that a discussion should be had about the issue of fighting, but the result is clearly going to be that “it’s the cheap shots and sucker punches that should be addressed, not the fighting” (para. 1). (use paragraph number if no page number is present) If the paragraph is referring to several authors, cite the source right after the quotation or summary of the argument

Paragraph Transitions Start a new paragraph for each article review Use transition or connecting words to move from one paragraph to the next If the author in the next article to be discussed agrees with the previous author, use words such as: Similarly, likewise, further, another author… Like Mark Keast, Morrison, in the article, “Taking Fighting out of Hockey would be wrong,” believes that fighting is an essential part of hockey. If the author in the next article disagrees with the previous author, use connecting words such as: In contrast, however, on the other hand, although, nevertheless

Author’s Views only Remember to include only the author’s views when summarizing an article, even if you disagree Save your own opinion for the “Analysis and Conclusion” section of this paper