Summary Writing Avoiding Plagiarism

Step One: Underline Once you clearly understand the writer's major point (or purpose) for writing, read the article again. This time underline the major points supporting the thesis; these should be words or phrases here and there rather than complete sentences Do not underline specific statistics- you will want to quote those, not paraphrase them.

Avoid Plagiarism: Tip To make sure that you don’t accidentally plagiarize something, read the article a few times, and make sure you understand it fully. Then put the article away. Write as much as you can to summarize what you remember. This way, you will not be tempted to use the author’s original words.

Step Two: Topic Sentence Begin with a clear statement that reveals the following: author, type of work, title of work, and one general statement that conveys the central point of what you’re summarizing: –In the introduction to their book, Multicultural Literacy, Rick Simonson and Scott Walker discuss the controversial issues surrounding cultural literacy and the complex knowledge bases that such a literacy includes.

Step Three: Supporting Details Use the author’s name often throughout your summary. Remember, your purpose is to relay the author’s ideas. Make the cast of characters clear—attribute thoughts, ideas, and quotes accurately. In this type of summary, omit your opinion. Save your analysis for other places in the paper.

Step 3 Continued Use direct quotes sparingly. As much as possible, put things into your own words. (A great way to learn something is to teach it, and by putting things into your own words, you are making the ideas your own by "teaching" them to your audience.) Although you should be concise in your wording, your audience will respond well to a text with varied sentence structure. Avoid asking questions, but rather reframe the original questions as statements

Step Four: Clincher Conclude with a final statement reflecting the significance of the article -- not from your own point of view but from the writer's.

Step Five: Revise After you've completed a draft, read your summary and check for accuracy. Does your summary make the same point as the article? Have you omitted anything important? Does your summary read smoothly with all parts clearly related? Keep in mind that a summary should generally be no more than one-fourth the length of the original. If your summary is too long, cut out words rather than ideas. Then look for non- essential information and delete it.

Step Six: Revise Again Write another draft -- still a draft for revision -- and ask someone to read it critically. Can that person understand the sense of the article by reading your summary? Ask for criticism; then weigh these criticisms and make valid changes.

Step Seven: Check for plagiarism Revise some more: Do you use the same wording as the original article? If so, change it. Do you introduce the same ideas as the article without giving the author credit? If so, change it.