How to write a summary essay
Have you been wondering, “What is a summary essay?” It’s a paper that gives a brief review of an already existing text to help the reader understand the components of a scholarly work.
It reduces the need for the reader to go through the main text. Different texts can be covered in a summary paper, including scientific texts, interesting journals, storybooks, or research works.
A summary paper should be a reflection of the source text. Introducing new points or over-explaining the existing ones can be misleading. Thus, the essay should aim to examine an original text briefly and not criticize it. Let’s review some top tips on how to write a summary essay.
Read and understand the original text
Handling the paper meticulously like experts at an Australian essay writing service is a sure bet of acing the essay. And the first step to achieving that is to read and understand the piece that should be summarized.
Having a deep knowledge of the contents of the original text will make it easy for you to highlight the key points that have contributed to the significant arguments and discussions in the paper. If you have doubts about the meaning of specific terms, look them up to ensure you give accurate information.
It’s easy to miss out on essential facts when you graze through the article, hence the need for comprehensive reading. When reading the text, take short notes that you’ll use as roadmaps for your writing.
It’s also best to read the article several times. The first reading should be to familiarise yourself with the work, and the second reading should help you identify key points and arguments. When reading, try to relate to the purpose of the text for better understanding.
Write an outline
The most crucial step on how to start a summary essay is to make an outline. After reading the source text, draft an outline to give you a sense of direction on the summary essay format.
Divide the outline into different sections, from the introduction to the conclusion. Each essay section should highlight a specific part of the original text.
Dividing the work into sections also helps you understand better issues that should or should not go into the final draft of the paper.
After dividing your work into segments, you can reread the piece to be summarised while highlighting the critical points for better comprehension. After getting information from every part of the source, note down the main arguments and issues in your outline in the order in which they appear.
There are several ways to start a summary paper, but the most appropriate one is by highlighting the text’s primary ideas and the author’s name, the title of their work, and a brief background of the text. To be sure about how the intro should look, reviewing a summary essay introduction example is okay.
The outline of the body paragraphs should contain a summary of the main ideas you have selected. The conclusion should also mimic the author’s conclusion; pick out the main points highlighted in the conclusion of the original text and make a summary.
Reference the author’s words
Using the author’s words without citing them can amount to plagiarism. Therefore, when you use the author’s direct words, give them credit for the work. Don’t assume that since you are summarising a text, you don’t have to provide citations.
Even though you must repeat and summarise the information in the text, it’s also essential to avoid plagiarism. So, paraphrase the author’s words without changing the meaning and reference it. However, if you want to use direct terms, put them in quotation marks.
Do not give personal insight and arguments
A summary essay is only meant to give a brief revelation of the contents of a source text. So, don’t provide a critique of the text. Additionally, adding information outside the text may not be necessary. A summary requires one to stick to the content of the text.
Noteworthy, you will only have to highlight the critical points in the text you will summarise.
Covering everything discussed by the author beats the purpose of a summary paper. A quick hack here is to review an example of a summary essay to get a glimpse of how information should be summarised.
Use present tense
The primary purpose of writing a summary essay is to report the author’s message and not analyse it. Thus, a great tip on how to summarise an essay of another author is to use the present tense and third person.
It would be best to use a neutral tone so that it doesn’t look like you are giving a critique or a personal opinion. Noteworthy, when introducing key points or direct quotations, it’s crucial to use direct verbs.
For instance, you write that the author:
· Suggests
· Says
· Believes that
· Maintains
· Asserts
· Disagrees
· Agrees
These verbs indicate that the words the reader is about to read are not yours but are the author’s opinions. Using such verbs can help you paint a picture to the reader of how the author has argued or presented their ideas.
Proofread the paper
After completing the summary, review it to ensure every critical point in the original text is well represented. You may find the best spot to fix a new quotation or some mistakes.
You can have your friend or classmate review the work and help you make the necessary changes. Having an independent party proofread the work is usually the best way to check your work since they may note mistakes that you cannot see.
Final thoughts
A summary essay’s contents depend solely on the original text, and the introduction of new ideas may be misleading to the reader. The steps to write a summary paper discussed above will help you achieve a meticulous piece.
Keep in mind that the length of the essay will depend on how long the source text is and the instructor’s word count specifications. However, the main objective is to keep your work brief while highlighting the primary points and arguments in the text.
Therefore, the main focus should be on how the author has developed their plot. For a better understanding of the original text, your essay should follow the same order as the original text.
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