examples of summary of research paper

• Privacy Policy

Home » Research Summary – Structure, Examples and Writing Guide

Research Summary – Structure, Examples and Writing Guide

Table of Contents

Research Summary

Definition:

A research summary is a brief and concise overview of a research project or study that highlights its key findings, main points, and conclusions. It typically includes a description of the research problem, the research methods used, the results obtained, and the implications or significance of the findings. It is often used as a tool to quickly communicate the main findings of a study to other researchers, stakeholders, or decision-makers.

Structure of Research Summary

The Structure of a Research Summary typically include:

• Introduction : This section provides a brief background of the research problem or question, explains the purpose of the study, and outlines the research objectives.
• Methodology : This section explains the research design, methods, and procedures used to conduct the study. It describes the sample size, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques.
• Results : This section presents the main findings of the study, including statistical analysis if applicable. It may include tables, charts, or graphs to visually represent the data.
• Discussion : This section interprets the results and explains their implications. It discusses the significance of the findings, compares them to previous research, and identifies any limitations or future directions for research.
• Conclusion : This section summarizes the main points of the research and provides a conclusion based on the findings. It may also suggest implications for future research or practical applications of the results.
• References : This section lists the sources cited in the research summary, following the appropriate citation style.

How to Write Research Summary

Here are the steps you can follow to write a research summary:

• Read the research article or study thoroughly: To write a summary, you must understand the research article or study you are summarizing. Therefore, read the article or study carefully to understand its purpose, research design, methodology, results, and conclusions.
• Identify the main points : Once you have read the research article or study, identify the main points, key findings, and research question. You can highlight or take notes of the essential points and findings to use as a reference when writing your summary.
• Write the introduction: Start your summary by introducing the research problem, research question, and purpose of the study. Briefly explain why the research is important and its significance.
• Summarize the methodology : In this section, summarize the research design, methods, and procedures used to conduct the study. Explain the sample size, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques.
• Present the results: Summarize the main findings of the study. Use tables, charts, or graphs to visually represent the data if necessary.
• Interpret the results: In this section, interpret the results and explain their implications. Discuss the significance of the findings, compare them to previous research, and identify any limitations or future directions for research.
• Conclude the summary : Summarize the main points of the research and provide a conclusion based on the findings. Suggest implications for future research or practical applications of the results.
• Revise and edit : Once you have written the summary, revise and edit it to ensure that it is clear, concise, and free of errors. Make sure that your summary accurately represents the research article or study.
• Add references: Include a list of references cited in the research summary, following the appropriate citation style.

Example of Research Summary

Here is an example of a research summary:

Title: The Effects of Yoga on Mental Health: A Meta-Analysis

Introduction: This meta-analysis examines the effects of yoga on mental health. The study aimed to investigate whether yoga practice can improve mental health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, stress, and quality of life.

Methodology : The study analyzed data from 14 randomized controlled trials that investigated the effects of yoga on mental health outcomes. The sample included a total of 862 participants. The yoga interventions varied in length and frequency, ranging from four to twelve weeks, with sessions lasting from 45 to 90 minutes.

Results : The meta-analysis found that yoga practice significantly improved mental health outcomes. Participants who practiced yoga showed a significant reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as stress levels. Quality of life also improved in those who practiced yoga.

Discussion : The findings of this study suggest that yoga can be an effective intervention for improving mental health outcomes. The study supports the growing body of evidence that suggests that yoga can have a positive impact on mental health. Limitations of the study include the variability of the yoga interventions, which may affect the generalizability of the findings.

Conclusion : Overall, the findings of this meta-analysis support the use of yoga as an effective intervention for improving mental health outcomes. Further research is needed to determine the optimal length and frequency of yoga interventions for different populations.

References :

• Cramer, H., Lauche, R., Langhorst, J., Dobos, G., & Berger, B. (2013). Yoga for depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Depression and anxiety, 30(11), 1068-1083.
• Khalsa, S. B. (2004). Yoga as a therapeutic intervention: a bibliometric analysis of published research studies. Indian journal of physiology and pharmacology, 48(3), 269-285.
• Ross, A., & Thomas, S. (2010). The health benefits of yoga and exercise: a review of comparison studies. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 16(1), 3-12.

Purpose of Research Summary

The purpose of a research summary is to provide a brief overview of a research project or study, including its main points, findings, and conclusions. The summary allows readers to quickly understand the essential aspects of the research without having to read the entire article or study.

Research summaries serve several purposes, including:

• Facilitating comprehension: A research summary allows readers to quickly understand the main points and findings of a research project or study without having to read the entire article or study. This makes it easier for readers to comprehend the research and its significance.
• Communicating research findings: Research summaries are often used to communicate research findings to a wider audience, such as policymakers, practitioners, or the general public. The summary presents the essential aspects of the research in a clear and concise manner, making it easier for non-experts to understand.
• Supporting decision-making: Research summaries can be used to support decision-making processes by providing a summary of the research evidence on a particular topic. This information can be used by policymakers or practitioners to make informed decisions about interventions, programs, or policies.
• Saving time: Research summaries save time for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders who need to review multiple research studies. Rather than having to read the entire article or study, they can quickly review the summary to determine whether the research is relevant to their needs.

Characteristics of Research Summary

The following are some of the key characteristics of a research summary:

• Concise : A research summary should be brief and to the point, providing a clear and concise overview of the main points of the research.
• Objective : A research summary should be written in an objective tone, presenting the research findings without bias or personal opinion.
• Comprehensive : A research summary should cover all the essential aspects of the research, including the research question, methodology, results, and conclusions.
• Accurate : A research summary should accurately reflect the key findings and conclusions of the research.
• Clear and well-organized: A research summary should be easy to read and understand, with a clear structure and logical flow.
• Relevant : A research summary should focus on the most important and relevant aspects of the research, highlighting the key findings and their implications.
• Audience-specific: A research summary should be tailored to the intended audience, using language and terminology that is appropriate and accessible to the reader.
• Citations : A research summary should include citations to the original research articles or studies, allowing readers to access the full text of the research if desired.

When to write Research Summary

Here are some situations when it may be appropriate to write a research summary:

• Proposal stage: A research summary can be included in a research proposal to provide a brief overview of the research aims, objectives, methodology, and expected outcomes.
• Conference presentation: A research summary can be prepared for a conference presentation to summarize the main findings of a study or research project.
• Journal submission: Many academic journals require authors to submit a research summary along with their research article or study. The summary provides a brief overview of the study’s main points, findings, and conclusions and helps readers quickly understand the research.
• Funding application: A research summary can be included in a funding application to provide a brief summary of the research aims, objectives, and expected outcomes.
• Policy brief: A research summary can be prepared as a policy brief to communicate research findings to policymakers or stakeholders in a concise and accessible manner.

Advantages of Research Summary

Research summaries offer several advantages, including:

• Time-saving: A research summary saves time for readers who need to understand the key findings and conclusions of a research project quickly. Rather than reading the entire research article or study, readers can quickly review the summary to determine whether the research is relevant to their needs.
• Clarity and accessibility: A research summary provides a clear and accessible overview of the research project’s main points, making it easier for readers to understand the research without having to be experts in the field.
• Improved comprehension: A research summary helps readers comprehend the research by providing a brief and focused overview of the key findings and conclusions, making it easier to understand the research and its significance.
• Enhanced communication: Research summaries can be used to communicate research findings to a wider audience, such as policymakers, practitioners, or the general public, in a concise and accessible manner.
• Facilitated decision-making: Research summaries can support decision-making processes by providing a summary of the research evidence on a particular topic. Policymakers or practitioners can use this information to make informed decisions about interventions, programs, or policies.
• Increased dissemination: Research summaries can be easily shared and disseminated, allowing research findings to reach a wider audience.

Limitations of Research Summary

Limitations of the Research Summary are as follows:

• Limited scope: Research summaries provide a brief overview of the research project’s main points, findings, and conclusions, which can be limiting. They may not include all the details, nuances, and complexities of the research that readers may need to fully understand the study’s implications.
• Risk of oversimplification: Research summaries can be oversimplified, reducing the complexity of the research and potentially distorting the findings or conclusions.
• Lack of context: Research summaries may not provide sufficient context to fully understand the research findings, such as the research background, methodology, or limitations. This may lead to misunderstandings or misinterpretations of the research.
• Possible bias: Research summaries may be biased if they selectively emphasize certain findings or conclusions over others, potentially distorting the overall picture of the research.
• Format limitations: Research summaries may be constrained by the format or length requirements, making it challenging to fully convey the research’s main points, findings, and conclusions.
• Accessibility: Research summaries may not be accessible to all readers, particularly those with limited literacy skills, visual impairments, or language barriers.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

You may also like

Research Design – Types, Methods and Examples

Evaluating Research – Process, Examples and...

Data Analysis – Process, Methods and Types

Research Paper Conclusion – Writing Guide and...

What is a Hypothesis – Types, Examples and...

Research Problem – Examples, Types and Guide

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Working with sources
• How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples

How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples

Published on November 23, 2020 by Shona McCombes . Revised on May 31, 2023.

Summarizing , or writing a summary, means giving a concise overview of a text’s main points in your own words. A summary is always much shorter than the original text.

There are five key steps that can help you to write a summary:

• Read the text
• Break it down into sections
• Identify the key points in each section
• Write the summary
• Check the summary against the article

Writing a summary does not involve critiquing or evaluating the source . You should simply provide an accurate account of the most important information and ideas (without copying any text from the original).

Table of contents

When to write a summary, step 1: read the text, step 2: break the text down into sections, step 3: identify the key points in each section, step 4: write the summary, step 5: check the summary against the article, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about summarizing.

There are many situations in which you might have to summarize an article or other source:

• As a stand-alone assignment to show you’ve understood the material
• To keep notes that will help you remember what you’ve read
• To give an overview of other researchers’ work in a literature review

When you’re writing an academic text like an essay , research paper , or dissertation , you’ll integrate sources in a variety of ways. You might use a brief quote to support your point, or paraphrase a few sentences or paragraphs.

But it’s often appropriate to summarize a whole article or chapter if it is especially relevant to your own research, or to provide an overview of a source before you analyze or critique it.

In any case, the goal of summarizing is to give your reader a clear understanding of the original source. Follow the five steps outlined below to write a good summary.

Don't submit your assignments before you do this

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students. Free citation check included.

Try for free

You should read the article more than once to make sure you’ve thoroughly understood it. It’s often effective to read in three stages:

• Scan the article quickly to get a sense of its topic and overall shape.
• Read the article carefully, highlighting important points and taking notes as you read.
• Skim the article again to confirm you’ve understood the key points, and reread any particularly important or difficult passages.

There are some tricks you can use to identify the key points as you read:

• Start by reading the abstract . This already contains the author’s own summary of their work, and it tells you what to expect from the article.
• Pay attention to headings and subheadings . These should give you a good sense of what each part is about.
• Read the introduction and the conclusion together and compare them: What did the author set out to do, and what was the outcome?

To make the text more manageable and understand its sub-points, break it down into smaller sections.

If the text is a scientific paper that follows a standard empirical structure, it is probably already organized into clearly marked sections, usually including an introduction , methods , results , and discussion .

Other types of articles may not be explicitly divided into sections. But most articles and essays will be structured around a series of sub-points or themes.

Now it’s time go through each section and pick out its most important points. What does your reader need to know to understand the overall argument or conclusion of the article?

Keep in mind that a summary does not involve paraphrasing every single paragraph of the article. Your goal is to extract the essential points, leaving out anything that can be considered background information or supplementary detail.

In a scientific article, there are some easy questions you can ask to identify the key points in each part.

If the article takes a different form, you might have to think more carefully about what points are most important for the reader to understand its argument.

In that case, pay particular attention to the thesis statement —the central claim that the author wants us to accept, which usually appears in the introduction—and the topic sentences that signal the main idea of each paragraph.

Now that you know the key points that the article aims to communicate, you need to put them in your own words.

To avoid plagiarism and show you’ve understood the article, it’s essential to properly paraphrase the author’s ideas. Do not copy and paste parts of the article, not even just a sentence or two.

The best way to do this is to put the article aside and write out your own understanding of the author’s key points.

Examples of article summaries

Let’s take a look at an example. Below, we summarize this article , which scientifically investigates the old saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Davis et al. (2015) set out to empirically test the popular saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Apples are often used to represent a healthy lifestyle, and research has shown their nutritional properties could be beneficial for various aspects of health. The authors’ unique approach is to take the saying literally and ask: do people who eat apples use healthcare services less frequently? If there is indeed such a relationship, they suggest, promoting apple consumption could help reduce healthcare costs.

The study used publicly available cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants were categorized as either apple eaters or non-apple eaters based on their self-reported apple consumption in an average 24-hour period. They were also categorized as either avoiding or not avoiding the use of healthcare services in the past year. The data was statistically analyzed to test whether there was an association between apple consumption and several dependent variables: physician visits, hospital stays, use of mental health services, and use of prescription medication.

Although apple eaters were slightly more likely to have avoided physician visits, this relationship was not statistically significant after adjusting for various relevant factors. No association was found between apple consumption and hospital stays or mental health service use. However, apple eaters were found to be slightly more likely to have avoided using prescription medication. Based on these results, the authors conclude that an apple a day does not keep the doctor away, but it may keep the pharmacist away. They suggest that this finding could have implications for reducing healthcare costs, considering the high annual costs of prescription medication and the inexpensiveness of apples.

However, the authors also note several limitations of the study: most importantly, that apple eaters are likely to differ from non-apple eaters in ways that may have confounded the results (for example, apple eaters may be more likely to be health-conscious). To establish any causal relationship between apple consumption and avoidance of medication, they recommend experimental research.

An article summary like the above would be appropriate for a stand-alone summary assignment. However, you’ll often want to give an even more concise summary of an article.

For example, in a literature review or meta analysis you may want to briefly summarize this study as part of a wider discussion of various sources. In this case, we can boil our summary down even further to include only the most relevant information.

Using national survey data, Davis et al. (2015) tested the assertion that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” and did not find statistically significant evidence to support this hypothesis. While people who consumed apples were slightly less likely to use prescription medications, the study was unable to demonstrate a causal relationship between these variables.

Citing the source you’re summarizing

When including a summary as part of a larger text, it’s essential to properly cite the source you’re summarizing. The exact format depends on your citation style , but it usually includes an in-text citation and a full reference at the end of your paper.

You can easily create your citations and references in APA or MLA using our free citation generators.

APA Citation Generator MLA Citation Generator

Finally, read through the article once more to ensure that:

• You’ve accurately represented the author’s work
• You haven’t missed any essential information
• The phrasing is not too similar to any sentences in the original.

If you’re summarizing many articles as part of your own work, it may be a good idea to use a plagiarism checker to double-check that your text is completely original and properly cited. Just be sure to use one that’s safe and reliable.

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , citation , and plagiarism , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• ChatGPT vs human editor
• ChatGPT citations
• Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
• Using ChatGPT for your studies
• What is ChatGPT?
• Chicago style
• Paraphrasing

 Plagiarism

• Types of plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Academic integrity
• Consequences of plagiarism
• Common knowledge

A summary is a short overview of the main points of an article or other source, written entirely in your own words. Want to make your life super easy? Try our free text summarizer today!

A summary is always much shorter than the original text. The length of a summary can range from just a few sentences to several paragraphs; it depends on the length of the article you’re summarizing, and on the purpose of the summary.

You might have to write a summary of a source:

• As a stand-alone assignment to prove you understand the material
• For your own use, to keep notes on your reading
• To provide an overview of other researchers’ work in a literature review
• In a paper , to summarize or introduce a relevant study

To avoid plagiarism when summarizing an article or other source, follow these two rules:

• Write the summary entirely in your own words by paraphrasing the author’s ideas.
• Cite the source with an in-text citation and a full reference so your reader can easily find the original text.

An abstract concisely explains all the key points of an academic text such as a thesis , dissertation or journal article. It should summarize the whole text, not just introduce it.

An abstract is a type of summary , but summaries are also written elsewhere in academic writing . For example, you might summarize a source in a paper , in a literature review , or as a standalone assignment.

All can be done within seconds with our free text summarizer .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. (2023, May 31). How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved September 28, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/working-with-sources/how-to-summarize/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, how to paraphrase | step-by-step guide & examples, how to quote | citing quotes in apa, mla & chicago, the basics of in-text citation | apa & mla examples, get unlimited documents corrected.

✔ Free APA citation check included ✔ Unlimited document corrections ✔ Specialized in correcting academic texts

• How it works

Writing a Summary – Explanation & Examples

Published by Alvin Nicolas at October 17th, 2023 , Revised On October 17, 2023

In a world bombarded with vast amounts of information, condensing and presenting data in a digestible format becomes invaluable. Enter summaries. 

A summary is a brief and concise account of the main points of a larger body of work. It distils complex ideas, narratives, or data into a version that is quicker to read and easier to understand yet still retains the essence of the original content.

Importance of Summaries

The importance of summarising extends far beyond just making reading more manageable. In academic settings, summaries aid students in understanding and retaining complex materials, from textbook chapters to research articles. They also serve as tools to showcase one’s grasp of the subject in essays and reports. 

In professional arenas, summaries are pivotal in business reports, executive briefings, and even emails where key points need to be conveyed quickly to decision-makers. Meanwhile, summarising skills come into play in our personal lives when we relay news stories to friends, recap a movie plot, or even scroll through condensed news or app notifications on our smartphones.

Why Do We Write Summaries?

In our modern information age, the sheer volume of content available can be overwhelming. From detailed research papers to comprehensive news articles, the quest for knowledge is often met with lengthy and complex resources. This is where the power of a well-crafted summary comes into play. But what drives us to create or seek out summaries? Let’s discuss.

Makes Important Things Easy to Remember

At the heart of summarisation is the goal to understand. A well-written summary aids in digesting complex material. By distilling larger works into their core points, we reinforce the primary messages, making them easier to remember. This is especially crucial for students who need to retain knowledge for exams or professionals prepping for a meeting based on a lengthy report.

Simplification of Complex Topics

Not everyone is an expert in every field. Often, topics come laden with jargon, intricate details, and nuanced arguments. Summaries act as a bridge, translating this complexity into accessible and straightforward content. This is especially beneficial for individuals new to a topic or those who need just the highlights without the intricacies.

Aid in Researching and Understanding Diverse Sources

Researchers, writers, and academics often wade through many sources when working on a project. This involves finding sources of different types, such as primary or secondary sources , and then understanding their content. Sifting through each source in its entirety can be time-consuming. Summaries offer a streamlined way to understand each source’s main arguments or findings, making synthesising information from diverse materials more efficient.

Condensing Information for Presentation or Sharing

In professional settings, there is often a need to present findings, updates, or recommendations to stakeholders. An executive might not have the time to go through a 50-page report, but they would certainly appreciate a concise summary highlighting the key points. Similarly, in our personal lives, we often summarise movie plots, book stories, or news events when sharing with friends or family.

Characteristics of a Good Summary

Crafting an effective summary is an art. It’s more than just shortening a piece of content; it is about capturing the essence of the original work in a manner that is both accessible and true to its intent. Let’s explore the primary characteristics that distinguish a good summary from a mediocre one:

Conciseness

At the core of a summary is the concept of brevity. But being concise doesn’t mean leaving out vital information. A good summary will:

• Eliminate superfluous details or repetitive points.
• Focus on the primary arguments, events, or findings.
• Use succinct language without compromising the message.

Objectivity

Summarising is not about infusing personal opinions or interpretations. A quality summary will:

• Stick to the facts as presented in the original content.
• Avoid introducing personal biases or perspectives.
• Represent the original author’s intent faithfully.

A summary is meant to simplify and make content accessible. This is only possible if the summary itself is easy to understand. Ensuring clarity involves:

• Avoiding jargon or technical terms unless they are essential to the content. If they are used, they should be clearly defined.
• Structuring sentences in a straightforward manner.
• Making sure ideas are presented in a way that even someone unfamiliar with the topic can grasp the primary points.

A jumble of ideas, no matter how concise, will not make for a good summary. Coherence ensures that there’s a logical flow to the summarised content. A coherent summary will:

• Maintain a logical sequence, often following the structure of the original content.
• Use transition words or phrases to connect ideas and ensure smooth progression.
• Group related ideas together to provide structure and avoid confusion.

Steps of Writing a Summary

The process of creating a compelling summary is not merely about cutting down content. It involves understanding, discerning, and crafting. Here is a step-by-step guide to writing a summary that encapsulates the essence of the original work:

Reading Actively

Engage deeply with the content to ensure a thorough understanding.

• Read the entire document or work first to grasp its overall intent and structure.
• On the second read, underline or highlight the standout points or pivotal moments.
• Make brief notes in the margins or on a separate sheet, capturing the core ideas in your own words.

Identifying the Main Idea

Determine the backbone of the content, around which all other details revolve.

• Ask yourself: “What is the primary message or theme the author wants to convey?”
• This can often be found in the title, introduction, or conclusion of a piece.
• Frame the main idea in a clear and concise statement to guide your summary.

List Key Supporting Points

Understand the pillars that uphold the main idea, providing evidence or depth to the primary message.

• Refer back to the points you underlined or highlighted during your active reading.
• Note major arguments, evidence, or examples that the author uses to back up the main idea.
• Prioritise these points based on their significance to the main idea.

Draft the Summary

Convert your understanding into a condensed, coherent version of the original.

• Start with a statement of the main idea.
• Follow with the key supporting points, maintaining logical order.
• Avoid including trivial details or examples unless they’re crucial to the primary message.
• Use your own words, ensuring you are not plagiarising the original content.

Fine-tune your draft to ensure clarity, accuracy, and brevity.

• Read your draft aloud to check for flow and coherence.
• Ensure that your summary remains objective, avoiding any personal interpretations or biases.
• Check the length. See if any non-essential details can be removed without sacrificing understanding if it is too lengthy.
• Ensure clarity by ensuring the language is straightforward, and the main ideas are easily grasped.

The research done by our experts have:

• Precision and Clarity
• Zero Plagiarism
• Authentic Sources

Dos and Don’ts of Summarising Key Points

Summarising, while seemingly straightforward, comes with its nuances. Properly condensing content demands a balance between brevity and fidelity to the original work. To aid in crafting exemplary summaries, here is a guide on the essential dos and don’ts:

Use your Own Words

This ensures that you have truly understood the content and are not merely parroting it. It also prevents issues of plagiarism.

Tip: After reading the original content, take a moment to reflect on it. Then, without looking at the source, write down the main points in your own words.

Attribute Sources Properly

Giving credit is both ethical and provides context to readers, helping them trace back to the original work if needed. How to cite sources correctly is a skill every writer should master.

Tip: Use signal phrases like “According to [Author/Source]…” or “As [Author/Source] points out…” to seamlessly incorporate attributions.

Ensure Accuracy of the Summarised Content

A summary should be a reliable reflection of the original content. Distorting or misrepresenting the original ideas compromises the integrity of the summary.

Tip: After drafting your summary, cross-check with the original content to ensure all key points are represented accurately and ensure you are referencing credible sources .

Avoid Copy-Pasting Chunks of Original Content

This not only raises plagiarism concerns but also shows a lack of genuine engagement with the material.

Tip: If a particular phrase or sentence from the original is pivotal and cannot be reworded without losing its essence, use block quotes , quotation marks, and attribute the source.

Do not Inject your Personal Opinion

A summary should be an objective reflection of the source material. Introducing personal biases or interpretations can mislead readers.

Tip: Stick to the facts and arguments presented in the original content. If you find yourself writing “I think” or “In my opinion,” reevaluate the sentence.

Do not Omit Crucial Information

While a summary is meant to be concise, it shouldn’t be at the expense of vital details that are essential to understanding the original content’s core message.

Tip: Prioritise information. Always include the main idea and its primary supports. If you are unsure whether a detail is crucial, consider its impact on the overall message.

Examples of Summaries

Here are a few examples that will help you get a clearer view of how to write a summary. 

Example 1: Summary of a News Article

Original Article: The article reports on the recent discovery of a rare species of frog in the Amazon rainforest. The frog, named the “Emerald Whisperer” due to its unique green hue and the soft chirping sounds it makes, was found by a team of researchers from the University of Texas. The discovery is significant as it offers insights into the biodiversity of the region, and the Emerald Whisperer might also play a pivotal role in understanding the ecosystem balance.

Summary: Researchers from the University of Texas have discovered a unique frog, termed the “Emerald Whisperer,” in the Amazon rainforest. This finding sheds light on the region’s biodiversity and underscores the importance of the frog in ecological studies.

Example 2: Summary of a Research Paper

Original Paper: In a study titled “The Impact of Urbanisation on Bee Populations,” researchers conducted a year-long observation on bee colonies in three urban areas and three rural areas. Using specific metrics like colony health, bee productivity, and population size, the study found that urban environments saw a 30% decline in bee populations compared to rural settings. The research attributes this decline to factors like pollution, reduced green spaces, and increased temperatures in urban areas.

Summary: A study analysing the effects of urbanisation on bee colonies found a significant 30% decrease in bee populations in urban settings compared to rural areas. The decline is linked to urban factors such as pollution, diminished greenery, and elevated temperatures.

Example 3: Summary of a Novel

Original Story: In the novel “Winds of Fate,” protagonist Clara is trapped in a timeless city where memories dictate reality. Throughout her journey, she encounters characters from her past, present, and imagined future. Battling her own perceptions and a menacing shadow figure, Clara seeks an elusive gateway to return to her real world. In the climax, she confronts the shadow, which turns out to be her own fear, and upon overcoming it, she finds her way back, realising that reality is subjective.

Summary: “Winds of Fate” follows Clara’s adventures in a surreal city shaped by memories. Confronting figures from various phases of her life and battling a symbolic shadow of her own fear, Clara eventually discovers that reality’s perception is malleable and subjective.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is a summary.

A summary condenses a larger piece of content, capturing its main points and essence.  It is usually one-fourth of the original content.

What is a summary?

A summary is a concise representation of a larger text or content, highlighting its main ideas and points. It distils complex information into a shorter form, allowing readers to quickly grasp the essence of the original material without delving into extensive details. Summaries prioritise clarity, brevity, and accuracy.

When should I write a summary?

Write a summary when you need to condense lengthy content for easier comprehension and recall. It’s useful in academic settings, professional reports, presentations, and research to highlight key points. Summaries aid in comparing multiple sources, preparing for discussions, and sharing essential details of extensive materials efficiently with others.

How can I summarise a source without plagiarising?

To summarise without plagiarising: Read the source thoroughly, understand its main ideas, and then write the summary in your own words. Avoid copying phrases verbatim. Attribute the source properly. Use paraphrasing techniques and cross-check your summary against the original to ensure distinctiveness while retaining accuracy. Always prioritise understanding over direct replication.

What is the difference between a summary and an abstract?

A summary condenses a text, capturing its main points from various content types like books, articles, or movies. An abstract, typically found in research papers and scientific articles, provides a brief overview of the study’s purpose, methodology, results, and conclusions. Both offer concise versions, but abstracts are more structured and specific.

You May Also Like

When researching or exploring a new topic, the distinction between primary and secondary sources is paramount. The validity, reliability, and relevance of the information you gather will heavily depend on the type of source you consult. 

In today’s information age, where vast amounts of knowledge are easily accessible, it is crucial to know how to use and represent that knowledge correctly and how to cite sources properly.

USEFUL LINKS

LEARNING RESOURCES

COMPANY DETAILS

• How It Works

• All eBooks & Audiobooks
• Academic eBook Collection
• Home Grown eBook Collection
• Off-Campus Access
• Literature Resource Center
• Opposing Viewpoints
• ProQuest Central
• Course Guides
• Citing Sources
• Library Research
• Websites by Topic
• Book-a-Librarian
• Research Tutorials
• Use the Catalog
• Use Databases
• Use Films on Demand
• Use Home Grown eBooks
• Use NC LIVE
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary vs. Secondary
• Scholarly vs. Popular
• Make an Appointment
• Writing Tools
• Annotated Bibliographies
• Summaries, Reviews & Critiques
• Writing Center

Service Alert

Article Summaries, Reviews & Critiques

Writing an article summary.

• Writing an article REVIEW
• Writing an article CRITIQUE
• Citing Sources This link opens in a new window
• About RCC Library

Text: 336-308-8801

Email: [email protected]

Call: 336-633-0204

Schedule: Book-a-Librarian

Like us on Facebook

Links on this guide may go to external web sites not connected with Randolph Community College. Their inclusion is not an endorsement by Randolph Community College and the College is not responsible for the accuracy of their content or the security of their site.

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:

• 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.
• Use the body paragraphs to explain the supporting ideas of your thesis statement.
• 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.
• 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

All links open in a new window.

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

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

• Next: Writing an article REVIEW >>
• Last Updated: Mar 15, 2024 9:32 AM
• URL: https://libguides.randolph.edu/summaries

Get insightful educational articles from the world of academia for researchers, students and authors. Visit Editage Blog for helpful content and tips on getting published and writing articles that are up to international journal publication standards. Click here to find out more!

• Get Published

How to Write a Summary of a Research Paper and Scientific Articles

• Pin it

Against the backdrop of a rapidly growing number of research papers being published, it is becoming increasingly important for researchers to know how to summarize a research paper effectively to make their work stand out among the noise. Writing a research paper summary is an important skill that will be put to use time and again in one’s academic career.

What is a research summary and why is it important?

A research article summary is a concise and comprehensive overview of a research paper. A summary briefly restates the purpose, methods, findings, conclusions, and relevance of a study, faithfully recapitulating the major points of the work.

Summaries are useful because they inform readers of the key points of the original sources. Further, research paper summaries can be used to guide funding or policy decisions. Summaries are also important to promote one’s research to a wide audience; boiling down one’s work for a blog post is a good way to do this.

Most importantly, a well-written summary gives a good impression of the author’s understanding of the work: the quote “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it enough” rings true!

Structure and qualities of a good summary

A summary must be coherent and cogent and should make sense as a stand-alone piece of writing. It is typically 5% to 10% of the length of the original paper; however, the length depends on the length and complexity of the article and the purpose of the summary. Accordingly, a summary can be several paragraphs or pages, a single paragraph, or even just a sentence.

One-sentence summaries are becoming popular for promoting one’s research via social media. A one-sentence summary should be engaging, include the key points, and be within the recommended character/word limit (e.g., 280 characters for Twitter).

In a one-paragraph summary, each supporting point is addressed in a separate sentence (see Fig. 1).

In a multi-paragraph summary, each point is described in a separate paragraph. Such summaries generally have the following structure (the headings may vary):

• Introduction: This begins with an overview of the article and ends with the main idea and hypothesis statement.
• Body paragraphs: The number of paragraphs in the summary depends on the length of the original article. Each paragraph focuses on a separate main idea and the most important aspects of the study.
• Concluding paragraph: This distils the main idea and the overarching significance of the article.

How to summarize a research paper

The approach for writing a full-scale research article is quite different from that for creating a succinct, digestible version of that very article. A summary should be written objectively and in a way that covers the article in sufficient detail—accurately yet briefly—to allow a reader to quickly absorb its significance.

3.1 Do some groundwork

• Skim the article to get a rough idea of each section and the significance of the content.
• Read the paper in more depth. Annotate the paper, marking or underlining key points, important phrases, and major headings and subheadings.
• Jot down notes on the major points and explanations (these notes should be in your voice; avoid lifting exact sentences from the article, even when taking rough notes).
• Organize your notes into an outline that includes main points but excludes examples or details like numbers and statistics.
• Assemble a skeleton draft by bringing together key evidence and notes from each paragraph/section.

3.2 Put it together Start with an introductory paragraph that introduces the main idea. Put together similar ideas/concepts/findings in separate paragraphs. Use transition words and phrases for a smooth flow and to connect similar ideas. Make logical connections when dealing with cause and effect, comparison and contrast, and sequential order. Remember to use your own words. If you realize you are inadvertently using text from the original, go back to the notes you took in the previous step and build on them.

Sentences might be of the following tone and structure:

“In this study, we report (argue/demonstrate) that ____ (main idea).” “A survey on ____ revealed ____.” “_________________ (the topic) has major implications for ____.”

In the end, the article’s conclusion should appear in one sentence, e.g., “Our results emphasize that…” or “This study unravels …”

Once the summary is drafted, it should be checked against the original article to ensure that no essential information has been left out.

Dos and Don’t of Summary Writing

• Respect word limits provided.
• Make sure you are not deviating from the overall picture.
• Use an objective and impersonal tone.
• Be concise. Avoid using padding phrases like “in other words.”
• Revise your final draft thoroughly and proofread it carefully.
• Use the same sentences from the paper. Instead use your own voice and paraphrase carefully.
• Use too much technical jargon.
• Add anything new. Findings that do not appear in the main text should not make their way into the summary.
• Be afraid to use the first person and/or active voice.

Practice makes perfect

Mastering the skill of summarizing articles has other benefits too. Writing research paper summaries need not be limited to one’s own work. A researcher might be asked to write a summary of someone else’s paper as part of a critique. It is a good practice to write summaries of articles in the literature survey and research planning stages. These summaries can serve as condensed versions of a wealth of information on a particular topic to help one understand studies dealing with the same subject. Writing such summaries for yourself will help you hone the technique and soon, you will be summarizing your own work effortlessly!

Would you like guidance from an expert statistician on how to define your study variables and conduct your analysis? Check out Editage’s  Statistical Analysis & Review Services !

7 Things Every Biologist Should Check Before Submitting Their Research Manuscript

How To Choose A Journal For Your Interdisciplinary Research? Tips for Mechanical, Civil & Industrial Engineering Researchers

Related post

Longitudinal study of omics data: an introduction , empowering research excellence: editage supports grantees for global research advancement , what is regression analysis types of regression analysis for biomedical researchers, let’s talk hypothesis testing: different types of hypothesis testing for biomedical researchers, a handy guide to random forests for big biomedical data, differences between systematic reviews and meta-analyses in biomedical research, featured post, how to write a literature review and prepare the bibliography , what is literature review definition, types and examples, how ai is changing the way research is consumed, conducted, and promoted: saudi vision 2030  , saudi vision 2030 and the kingdom’s research landscape .

• 0 Trackbacks

There are no comment yet.

There are no trackback yet.

Verify originality of an essay

Get ideas for your paper

Cite sources with ease

Research Summary Structure, Samples, Writing Steps, and Useful Suggestions

Updated 28 Aug 2024

What is a Research Summary and Why Is It Important?

A research summary is a type of paper designed to provide a brief overview of a given study - typically, an article from a peer-reviewed academic journal. It is a frequent type of task encountered in US colleges and universities, both in humanitarian and exact sciences, which is due to how important it is to teach students to properly interact with and interpret scientific literature and in particular, academic papers, which are the key way through which new ideas, theories, and evidence are presented to experts in many fields of knowledge. A research summary typically preserves the structure/sections of the article it focuses on. Get the grades you want with our professional research paper helper .

How to Write a Research Summary – Typical Steps

Follow these clear steps to help avoid typical mistakes and productivity bottlenecks, allowing for a more efficient through your writing process:

• Skim the article in order to get a rough idea of the content covered in each section and to understand the relative importance of content, for instance, how important different lines of evidence are (this helps you understand which sections you should focus on more when reading in detail). Make sure you understand the task and your professor's requirements before reading the article. In this step, you can also decide whether to write a summary by yourself or ask for a cheap research paper writing service instead.
• Analyze and understand the topic and article. Writing a summary of a research paper involves becoming very familiar with the topic – sometimes, it is impossible to understand the content without learning about the current state of knowledge, as well as key definitions, concepts, models. This is often performed while reading the literature review. As for the paper itself, understanding it means understanding analysis questions, hypotheses, listed evidence, how strongly this evidence supports the hypotheses, as well as analysis implications. Keep in mind that only a deep understanding allows one to efficiently and accurately summarize the content.
• Make notes as you read. You could highlight or summarize each paragraph with a brief sentence that would record the key idea delivered in it (obviously, some paragraphs deserve more attention than others). However, be careful not to engage in extensive writing while still reading. This is important because, while reading, you might realize that some sections you initially considered important might actually be less important compared to information that follows. As for underlining or highlighting – do these only with the most important evidence, otherwise, there is little use in “coloring” everything without distinction.
• Assemble a draft by bringing together key evidence and notes from each paragraph/ section. Make sure that all elements characteristic of a research summary are covered (as detailed below).
• Find additional literature for forming or supporting your critical view (this is if your critical view/position is required), for instance, judgments about limitations of the study or contradictory evidence.

Read Also:  Criminal Justice Research Topics To Impress Your Teacher

Research Summary Structure

The research summary format resembles that found in the original paper (just a concise version of it). Content from all sections should be covered and reflected upon, regardless of whether corresponding headings are present or not. Key structural elements of any research summary are as follows:

• Title – it announces the exact topic/area of analysis and can even be formulated to briefly announce key finding(s) or argument(s) delivered.
• Abstract – this is a very concise and comprehensive description of the study, present virtually in any academic article (the length varies greatly, typically within 100-500 words). Unlike an academic article, your research summary is expected to have a much shorter abstract.
• Introduction – this is an essential part of any research summary which provides necessary context (the literature review) that helps introduce readers to the subject by presenting the current state of the investigation, an important concept or definition, etc. This section might also describe the subject’s importance (or might not, for instance, when it is self-evident). Finally, an introduction typically lists investigation questions and hypotheses advanced by authors, which are normally mentioned in detail in any research summary (obviously, doing this is only possible after identifying these elements in the original paper).
• Methodology – regardless of its location, this section details experimental methods or data analysis methods used (e.g. types of experiments, surveys, sampling, or statistical analysis). In a research summary, many of these details would have to be omitted; hence, it is important to understand what is most important to mention.
• Results section – this section lists in detail evidence obtained from all experiments with some primary data analysis, conclusions, observations, and primary interpretations being made. It is typically the largest section of any analysis paper, so, it has to be concisely rewritten, which implies understanding which content is worth omitting and worth keeping.
• Discussion – this is where results are being discussed in the context of current knowledge among experts. This section contains interpretations of results, theoretical models explaining the observed results, study strengths and especially limitations, complementary future exploration to be undertaken, conclusions, etc. All these are important elements that need to be conveyed in a summary.
• Conclusion – in the original article, this section could be absent or merged with “Discussion”. Specific research summary instructions might require this to be a standalone section. In a conclusion, hypotheses are revisited and validated or denied, based on how convincing the evidence is (key lines of evidence could be highlighted).
• References – this section is for mentioning those cited works directly in your summary – obviously, one has to provide appropriate citations at least for the original article (this often suffices). Mentioning other works might be relevant when your critical opinion is also required (supported with new unrelated evidence).

Note that if you need some model research summary papers done before you start writing yourself (this will help familiarize you with essay structure and various sections), you could simply recruit our company by following the link provided below.

Need more writing assistance?

Connect with our top writers and receive a research paper sample crafted to your needs.

Research Summary Writing Tips

Below is a checklist of useful research paper tips worth considering when writing research summaries:

• Make sure you are always aware of the bigger picture/ direction. You need to keep in mind a complete and coherent picture of the story delivered by the original article. It might be helpful to reread or scan it quickly to remind yourself of the declared goals, hypotheses, key evidence, and conclusions – this awareness offers a constant sense of direction, which ensures that no written sentence is out of context. It is useful doing this even after you have written a fourth, a third, or half of the paper (to make sure no deviation occurs).
• Consider writing a detailed research outline before writing the draft – it might be of great use when structuring your paper. A research summary template is also very likely to help you structure your paper.
• Sketch the main elements of the conclusion before writing it. Do this for a number of reasons: validate/invalidate hypotheses; enumerate key evidence supporting or invalidating them, list potential implications; mention the subject’s importance; mention study limitations and future directions for research. In order to include them all, it is useful having them written down and handy.
• Consider writing the introduction and discussion last. It makes sense to first list hypotheses, goals, questions, and key results. Latter, information contained in the introduction and discussion can be adapted as needed (for instance, to match a preset word count limit). Also, on the basis of already written paragraphs, you can easily generate your discussion with the help of a conclusion tool ; it works online and is absolutely free of charge. Apart from this, follow a natural order.
• Include visuals – you could summarize a lot of text using graphs or charts while simultaneously improving readability.
• Be very careful not to plagiarize. It is very tempting to “borrow” or quote entire phrases from an article, provided how well-written these are, but you need to summarize your paper without plagiarizing at all (forget entirely about copy-paste – it is only allowed to paraphrase and even this should be done carefully). The best way to stay safe is by formulating your own thoughts from scratch.
• Keep your word count in check. You don’t want your summary to be as long as the original paper (just reformulated). In addition, you might need to respect an imposed word count limit, which requires being careful about how much you write for each section.
• Proofread your work for grammar, spelling, wordiness, and formatting issues (feel free to use our convert case tool for titles, headings, subheadings, etc.).
• Watch your writing style – when summarizing content, it should be impersonal, precise, and purely evidence-based. A personal view/attitude should be provided only in the critical section (if required).
• Ask a colleague to read your summary and test whether he/she could understand everything without reading the article – this will help ensure that you haven’t skipped some important content, explanations, concepts, etc.

For additional information on formatting, structure, and for more writing tips, check out these research paper guidelines on our website. Remember that we cover most research papers writing services you can imagine and can offer help at various stages of your writing project, including proofreading, editing, rewriting for plagiarism elimination, and style adjustment.

Research Summary Example 1

Below are some defining elements of a sample research summary written from an imaginary article.

Title – “The probability of an unexpected volcanic eruption in Yellowstone” Introduction – this section would list those catastrophic consequences hitting our country in  case of a massive eruption and the importance of analyzing this matter. Hypothesis –  An eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano would be preceded by intense precursory activity manifesting a few weeks up to a few years in advance. Results – these could contain a report of statistical data from multiple volcanic eruptions happening worldwide looking specifically at activity that preceded these events (in particular, how early each type of activity was detected). Discussion and conclusion – Given that Yellowstone is continuously monitored by scientists and that signs of an eruption are normally detected much in advance and at least a few days in advance, the hypothesis is confirmed. This could find application in creating emergency plans detailing an organized evacuation campaign and other response measures.

Research Summary Example 2

Below is another sample sketch, also from an imaginary article.

Title – “The frequency of extreme weather events in US in 2000-2008 as compared to the ‘50s” Introduction – Weather events bring immense material damage and cause human victims. Hypothesis – Extreme weather events are significantly more frequent nowadays than in the ‘50s Results – these could list the frequency of several categories of extreme events now and then: droughts and associated fires, massive rainfall/snowfall and associated floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, arctic cold waves, etc. Discussion and conclusion – Several types of extreme events indeed became significantly more frequent recently, confirming this hypothesis. This increasing frequency correlates reliably with rising CO2 levels in atmosphere and growing temperatures worldwide and in the absence of another recent major global change that could explain a higher frequency of disasters but also knowing how growing temperature disturbs weather patterns, it is natural to assume that global warming (CO2) causes this increase in frequency. This, in turn, suggests that this increased frequency of disasters is not a short-term phenomenon but is here to stay until we address CO2 levels.

Get professional fact-checking and editing!

Ensure accuracy and enhance quality in your papers. Our experts provide thorough fact-checking and editing for just $7/page.

Let Professionals Help With Your Research Summary

Writing a research summary has its challenges, but becoming familiar with its structure (i.e. the structure of an article), understanding well the article that needs to be summarized, and adhering to recommended guidelines will help the process go smoothly.

Simply create your account in a few clicks, place an order by uploading your instructions, and upload or indicate the article requiring a summary and choose a preferred writer for this task (according to experience, rating, bidding price). Our transparent system puts you in control, allowing you to set priorities as you wish (to our knowledge, few competitors have something equivalent in place). Obviously, we can help with many other essay types such as critical thinking essay, argumentative essay, etc. In particular, the research paper definition article on our website highlights a few popular paper types we work with.

Another unique advantage is that we allow and encourage you to communicate directly with your writer (if you wish) guiding his or her work – feel free to request partial drafts, to clarify potential issues you worry about, or even to revise papers as often as needed (for free) until you achieve a satisfactory result. We’ve implemented a system where money is released to writers only after students are fully satisfied with what they get. If you feel like giving it a try, it’s easy and worry-free! Just follow the link below.

ORDER RESEARCH PAPER

Was this helpful?

Thanks for your feedback.

Written by Paul Calderon

As a trained writer and an expert in book publishing and finalization, Paul knows how to engage readers in his text. As an author himself, Paul never misses a chance to write. Writing is his true passion as he explores technology, education, and entertainment among many popular subjects these days. His mentoring experience and skills of creative guidance make his writing accessible, clear, and fun to follow.

Related Blog Posts

100+ biology research topics to kickstart your next paper.

Biology is a vast and captivating field, offering countless opportunities for research and discovery. For students just beginning their journey, se...

How to craft research objectives: guidelines & tips

In the ever-evolving landscape of academic study, having clear and well-defined research objectives is crucial for the success of any work. Study a...

How to Write a Research Paper in APA and MLA Format

Properly formatting a research paper in APA or MLA style is essential for several reasons. First, it ensures that your work adheres to the academic...

Join our 150K of happy users

• Get original papers written according to your instructions
• Save time for what matters most

Learning Materials

How to write an effective summary of research paper.

Updated: Sep 20, 2024

Ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information in a research paper? Distilling the essence of a detailed study into a succinct summary can often seem like a daunting task. A research paper summary should crisply encapsulate the purpose, findings, methods, and conclusions of a study, focusing on clarity and brevity without delving too deeply into technical details. Our upcoming blog will guide you through the foundations of writing a research paper summary, provide practical tips, highlight useful tools, and show examples to help you craft a compelling and concise summary.

Start Writing Your Free Essay!

Foundations of writing a summary in research paper.

Writing a summary for a research paper is a skill that condenses the extensive information from the study into a precise and accessible format. The purpose of a research summary is to provide a brief overview of the study's main points, including the hypothesis, methodology, key findings, and conclusions. This not only aids in quickly understanding the essence of the research but also serves as a useful tool for revisiting the study's highlights without perusing the entire document again.

A well-crafted research summary should contain certain essential elements to ensure it fulfills its role effectively. Firstly, it should begin with an introduction that presents the research topic and objectives succinctly. Following this, a section on methodology should briefly describe how the research was conducted. The main body of the summary should then highlight the key findings in a clear and concise manner. Lastly, the conclusion should encapsulate the overall implications of the research, revisiting the hypothesis and stating whether it was supported by the findings.

When writing a research paper summary, it's crucial to keep the language simple and the content organized . This ensures that the summary is accessible to a wide range of readers, from experts in the field to individuals with a general interest in the topic. Use bullet points to list key findings and avoid jargon that might obscure the main points. By adhering to these foundational principles, the summary will not only be informative but also engaging and easy to read.

Structuring Your Research Paper Summary

The structure of a research paper summary is paramount in making the information digestible and impactful. Start with an introduction that provides a brief background of the topic and outlines the research question or hypothesis. This sets the stage for the readers, giving them a context for the ensuing content.

Following the introduction, detail the main findings of the research in a logical order, which could be chronological or based on the significance of the results. Each key point should be a bullet point, making them standout and easy to remember. Conclude with a summary of the research conclusions , linking back to the hypothesis and discussing the broader implications of the findings. This structure ensures that the summary is not only thorough but also coherent and reflective of the research paper's value.

Tips for Crafting a Compelling Research Paper Summary

To craft a compelling research paper summary, focus on clarity and brevity . The summary should be concise yet complete enough to convey the essential aspects of the research without oversimplification. Start by highlighting the main points and findings, using simple language that can be understood by a broad audience. Avoid unnecessary technical details that might detract from the main message of the research.

Additionally, make your summary engaging by linking the findings to the original hypothesis or research questions, which adds coherence to the summary. Use active voice and strong verbs to convey the research actions and outcomes vividly. Remember, the goal is to make the summary informative and interesting, prompting the reader to appreciate the significance of the research without having to delve into the full paper.

Tools to Aid in Summarizing Research Papers

In the digital age, numerous tools have been developed to assist researchers in summarizing research papers efficiently. One such tool is Scholarcy , an AI-based platform that simplifies the process by breaking down articles into structured summaries. It highlights key claims, statistics, and even extracts tables and figures, linking them to their cited sources in the text. This not only saves time but also ensures that researchers can focus on the most pertinent information. Similarly, Paperpal offers a suite of tools that enhance academic writing and summarization through in-depth language checks and subject-specific recommendations.

For those who manage multiple sources, Zotero stands out as an indispensable tool for capturing high-quality publication data and managing citations directly within word processors like Microsoft Word and Google Docs. Its built-in PDF reader is particularly useful for extracting cited quotations and annotations. These tools collectively help in creating precise and concise summaries by:

• Automatically generating lay summaries with Scholarcy.
• Ensuring language clarity and technical accuracy with Paperpal.
• Efficiently managing citations and bibliographies with Zotero.

These digital aids are designed to streamline the summarization process, making it more accessible and less time-consuming for researchers.

Examples of Effective Research Paper Summaries

To grasp how an effective research paper summary can be crafted, let's consider a few real-life examples. One notable summary succinctly encapsulates the study's hypothesis, methodology, key findings, and conclusions without delving into excessive detail. For instance, a summary might begin by stating the research question, followed by a brief description of the methodology used. This sets a clear, informative foundation without overwhelming the reader with too much preliminary information.

Moving on to the main findings, effective summaries often use bullet points to highlight critical data points and results:

• Significant result one : briefly explained, linking back to the hypothesis.
• Important discovery two : outlined with minimal jargon, making the information accessible.
• Unexpected outcome three : presented with a short rationale. This structured approach not only keeps the summary organized but also makes it easier for the reader to follow and understand the significance of the research outcomes.

Finally, a compelling conclusion in a research summary revisits the initial hypothesis and briefly discusses the broader implications of the findings. This part of the summary serves to reinforce the research's value and encourage further consideration or study. It is crucial that this section remains concise but powerful, offering a strong closure to the summary without introducing new information. This method ensures that the summary remains an effective tool for quickly conveying the essence of the entire research paper.

Avoiding Common Mistakes in Research Paper Summaries

One of the most common pitfalls in writing research paper summaries is overgeneralization , where the complexity of the research is not adequately represented. This often occurs when writers try to simplify the findings too much, losing the nuanced details that are crucial for understanding the study's implications. To avoid this, ensure that each significant result is mentioned and linked back to the research question or hypothesis. It's also important to:

• Clearly state the context of the research,
• Discuss the limitations and scope of the study,
• Avoid making sweeping claims that go beyond what the data supports.

Another frequent mistake is omitting crucial data which can lead to a lack of clarity and misinterpretation of the research outcomes. To prevent this, make a checklist of all the critical components of the research such as the methodology, key findings, and conclusions. Ensure that these elements are succinctly covered in the summary. Additionally, maintaining a balance between brevity and completeness is vital. Remember to:

• Include essential statistics or results that support the main argument,
• Avoid skipping over results that might seem less significant but are crucial for a holistic understanding,
• Ensure that the conclusions drawn are directly supported by the data presented.

Seeking Professional Help for Research Paper Summaries

For those who find the task of summarising research papers particularly challenging, seeking professional help can be a beneficial option. Many services, such as Samwell.ai , offer expert assistance in crafting summaries that adhere strictly to academic standards. These professionals are skilled in distilling complex information into clear, concise summaries, ensuring that the essence of the research is captured without losing critical details. Their expertise can be especially valuable in maintaining the integrity of the academic content while making it accessible to a broader audience, which is crucial for students, researchers, and academicians alike.

Utilising professional services for research paper summaries can provide several advantages. Firstly, these services often employ experts who are adept at various citation styles and academic norms, ensuring that all summaries are not only accurate but also perfectly formatted. Secondly, they can help highlight the most pertinent information, making the research more understandable and engaging. Here are a few benefits of opting for professional help:

• Accuracy and adherence to academic standards are ensured, which is critical for academic writing.
• Time-saving as these experts can efficiently condense extensive research, allowing researchers to focus on other important tasks.
• Enhanced clarity in presenting complex data, which can significantly benefit those who may not have a strong background in the research's specific field.

These services can be a worthwhile investment for anyone looking to enhance the quality and impact of their research summaries.

Enhance Your Summaries with Samwell.ai's Expert Tools

Samwell.ai revolutionises the way you write research paper summaries by providing AI-powered writing assistance that simplifies the process, ensuring clarity and adherence to academic standards. With features tailored for academic success, Samwell.ai helps you distil complex research into concise, impactful summaries. The tool automatically generates draft summaries, highlights key findings, and suggests improvements in real-time. This not only saves valuable time but also enhances the quality of your summaries by maintaining a focus on the essential aspects of your research.

Moreover, Samwell.ai 's advanced plagiarism checks are integral to maintaining the integrity of your academic work. These checks ensure that your summaries are original and free of unintentional plagiarism, which is crucial in academic settings. By using Samwell.ai , you can:

• Confidently produce summaries that are both informative and plagiarism-free.
• Avoid common pitfalls such as overgeneralisation or omitting crucial data.

For a seamless and efficient summary writing experience, visit Samwell.ai and start enhancing your research paper summaries today.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to write a summary of a research paper.

Writing a summary of a research paper involves condensing the extensive information from the study into a precise and accessible format. Begin with an introduction that outlines the research topic and objectives. Follow this with a methodology section that briefly describes how the research was conducted. The main body should highlight key findings clearly and concisely. Conclude by encapsulating the overall implications of the research, revisiting the hypothesis and stating whether it was supported by the findings. Keep the language simple and the content organised to ensure the summary is accessible to a broad audience.

What is summary of the study research paper?

The summary of a study in a research paper is a brief overview that includes the study's main points such as the hypothesis, methodology, key findings, and conclusions. It serves to provide a quick understanding of the research's essence and is a useful tool for revisiting the study's highlights without needing to read the entire document again.

What is the summary page of a research paper?

The summary page of a research paper typically presents a concise overview of the research, including the main objectives, methodology, significant findings, and conclusions. It is structured to give readers a quick snapshot of what the research entails and its overall implications, often helping them decide whether to delve into the full document.

How do you write a summary for a research plan?

Writing a summary for a research plan involves outlining the main objectives and methods of the planned research. Start by stating the research question or hypothesis. Describe the methodology briefly, including how data will be collected and analysed. Highlight expected outcomes or what the research aims to prove or disprove. This summary should provide a clear and concise preview of what the research intends to achieve and how.

Most Read Articles

How to Bypass AI Detection: 10 Proven Methods

Learn how to bypass ai detection with these ten proven methods, ensuring your ai-generated content remains undetectable..

AI Detection: How to Bypass Content at Scale

Learn how to bypass content at scale ai detection with semihuman ai. discover effective methods to make your ai-generated content undetectable, ensuring high-quality and seo-friendly text..

How to Humanize AI Text? (AI Humanizer & 9 Other Proven Ways)

Learn how to humanize ai text with semihuman ai. enhance your ai-generated content for better engagement and seo..

ZeroGPT Evaluation – The Rigorous AI Detection Tool

Our honest evaluation about zerogpt, start humanizing for free.

How to Write a Research Paper Summary

One of the most important skills you can imbibe as an academician is to know how to summarize a research paper. During your academic journey, you may need to write a summary of findings in research quite often and for varied reasons – be it to write an introduction for a peer-reviewed publication , to submit a critical review, or to simply create a useful database for future referencing.

It can be quite challenging to effectively write a research paper summary for often complex work, which is where a pre-determined workflow can help you optimize the process. Investing time in developing this skill can also help you improve your scientific acumen, increasing your efficiency and productivity at work. This article illustrates some useful advice on how to write a research summary effectively. But, what is research summary in the first place?  

A research paper summary is a crisp, comprehensive overview of a research paper, which encapsulates the purpose, findings, methods, conclusions, and relevance of a study. A well-written research paper summary is an indicator of how well you have understood the author’s work. 

Table of Contents

Draft a research paper summary in minutes with paperpal. click here to start writing.

• 2. Invest enough time to understand the topic deeply 

Use Paperpal to summarize your research paper. Click here to get started!

• Mistakes to avoid while writing your research paper summary 

Let Paperpal do the heavy lifting. Click here to start writing your summary now!

Frequently asked questions (faq), how to write a research paper summary.

Writing a good research paper summary comes with practice and skill. Here is some useful advice on how to write a research paper summary effectively.  

1. Determine the focus of your summary

Before you begin to write a summary of research papers, determine the aim of your research paper summary. This will give you more clarity on how to summarize a research paper, including what to highlight and where to find the information you need, which accelerates the entire process. If you are aiming for the summary to be a supporting document or a proof of principle for your current research findings, then you can look for elements that are relevant to your work.

On the other hand, if your research summary is intended to be a critical review of the research article, you may need to use a completely different lens while reading the paper and conduct your own research regarding the accuracy of the data presented. Then again, if the research summary is intended to be a source of information for future referencing, you will likely have a different approach. This makes determining the focus of your summary a key step in the process of writing an effective research paper summary. 

2. Invest enough time to understand the topic deeply

In order to author an effective research paper summary, you need to dive into the topic of the research article. Begin by doing a quick scan for relevant information under each section of the paper. The abstract is a great starting point as it helps you to quickly identify the top highlights of the research article, speeding up the process of understanding the key findings in the paper. Be sure to do a careful read of the research paper, preparing notes that describe each section in your own words to put together a summary of research example or a first draft. This will save your time and energy in revisiting the paper to confirm relevant details and ease the entire process of writing a research paper summary.

When reading papers, be sure to acknowledge and ignore any pre-conceived notions that you might have regarding the research topic. This will not only help you understand the topic better but will also help you develop a more balanced perspective, ensuring that your research paper summary is devoid of any personal opinions or biases. 

3. Keep the summary crisp, brief and engaging

A research paper summary is usually intended to highlight and explain the key points of any study, saving the time required to read through the entire article. Thus, your primary goal while compiling the summary should be to keep it as brief, crisp and readable as possible. Usually, a short introduction followed by 1-2 paragraphs is adequate for an effective research article summary. Avoid going into too much technical detail while describing the main results and conclusions of the study. Rather focus on connecting the main findings of the study to the hypothesis , which can make the summary more engaging. For example, instead of simply reporting an original finding – “the graph showed a decrease in the mortality rates…”, you can say, “there was a decline in the number of deaths, as predicted by the authors while beginning the study…” or “there was a decline in the number of deaths, which came as a surprise to the authors as this was completely unexpected…”.

Unless you are writing a critical review of the research article, the language used in your research paper summaries should revolve around reporting the findings, not assessing them. On the other hand, if you intend to submit your summary as a critical review, make sure to provide sufficient external evidence to support your final analysis. Invest sufficient time in editing and proofreading your research paper summary thoroughly to ensure you’ve captured the findings accurately. You can also get an external opinion on the preliminary draft of the research paper summary from colleagues or peers who have not worked on the research topic. 

Mistakes to avoid while writing your research paper summary

Now that you’ve understood how to summarize a research paper, watch out for these red flags while writing your summary. 

• Not paying attention to the word limit and recommended format, especially while submitting a critical review 
• Evaluating the findings instead of maintaining an objective , unbiased view while reading the research paper 
• Skipping the essential editing step , which can help eliminate avoidable errors and ensure that the language does not misrepresent the findings 
• Plagiarism, it is critical to write in your own words or paraphrase appropriately when reporting the findings in your scientific article summary 

We hope the recommendations listed above will help answer the question of how to summarize a research paper and enable you to tackle the process effectively. 

Summarize your research paper with Paperpal

Paperpal, an AI academic writing assistant, is designed to support academics at every step of the academic writing process. Built on over two decades of experience helping researchers get published and trained on millions of published research articles, Paperpal offers human precision at machine speed. Paperpal Copilot, with advanced generative AI features, can help academics achieve 2x the writing in half the time, while transforming how they research and write.

How to summarize a research paper with Paperpal?

To generate your research paper summary, simply login to the platform and use the Paperpal Copilot Summary feature to create a flawless summary of your work. Here’s a step-by-step process to help you craft a summary in minutes:

• Paste relevant research articles to be summarized into Paperpal; the AI will scan each section and extract key information.
• In minutes, Paperpal will generate a comprehensive summary that showcases the main paper highlights while adhering to academic writing conventions.
• Check the content to polish and refine the language, ensure your own voice, and add citations or references as needed.

The abstract and research paper summary serve similar purposes but differ in scope, length, and placement. The abstract is a concise yet detailed overview of the research, placed at the beginning of a paper, with the aim of providing readers with a quick understanding of the paper’s content and to help them decide whether to read the full article. Usually limited to a few hundred words, it highlights the main objectives, methods, results, and conclusions of the study. On the other hand, a research paper summary provides a crisp account of the entire research paper. Its purpose is to provide a brief recap for readers who may want to quickly grasp the main points of the research without reading the entire paper in detail.

The structure of a research summary can vary depending on the specific requirements or guidelines provided by the target publication or institution. A typical research summary includes the following key sections: introduction (including the research question or objective), methodology (briefly describing the research design and methods), results (summarizing the key findings), discussion (highlighting the implications and significance of the findings), and conclusion (providing a summary of the main points and potential future directions).

The summary of a research paper is important because it provides a condensed overview of the study’s purpose, methods, results, and conclusions. It allows you to quickly grasp the main points and relevance of the research without having to read the entire paper. Research summaries can also be an invaluable way to communicate research findings to a broader audience, such as policymakers or the general public.

  When writing a research paper summary, it is crucial to avoid plagiarism by properly attributing the original authors’ work. To learn how to summarize a research paper while avoiding plagiarism, follow these critical guidelines: (1) Read the paper thoroughly to understand the main points and key findings. (2) Use your own words and sentence structures to restate the information, ensuring that the research paper summary reflects your understanding of the paper. (3) Clearly indicate when you are paraphrasing or quoting directly from the original paper by using appropriate citation styles. (4) Cite the original source for any specific ideas, concepts, or data that you include in your summary. (5) Review your summary to ensure it accurately represents the research paper while giving credit to the original authors.

Paperpal is a comprehensive AI writing toolkit that helps students and researchers achieve 2x the writing in half the time. It leverages 21+ years of STM experience and insights from millions of research articles to provide in-depth academic writing, language editing, and submission readiness support to help you write better, faster.  

Get accurate academic translations, rewriting support, grammar checks, vocabulary suggestions, and generative AI assistance that delivers human precision at machine speed. Try for free or upgrade to Paperpal Prime starting at US$19 a month to access premium features, including consistency, plagiarism, and 30+ submission readiness checks to help you succeed.  

Experience the future of academic writing – Sign up to Paperpal and start writing for free!  

Related Reads:

• 5 Reasons for Rejection After Peer Review
• Ethical Research Practices For Research with Human Subjects
• How to Write a Conclusion for Research Papers (with Examples)
• Publish or Perish – Understanding the Importance of Scholarly Publications in Academia

PhD Dissertation Outline: Creating a Roadmap to Success

How ai can improve the academic writing experience, you may also like, how to choose a dissertation topic, how to write an abstract in research papers..., how to write dissertation acknowledgements, how to write a high-quality conference paper, measuring academic success: definition & strategies for excellence, is it ethical to use ai-generated abstracts without..., what are journal guidelines on using generative ai..., should you use ai tools like chatgpt for..., 9 steps to publish a research paper, how to make translating academic papers less challenging.

Welcome to the new OASIS website! We have academic skills, library skills, math and statistics support, and writing resources all together in one new home.

• Walden University
• Faculty Portal

Video Transcripts: Summarizing Sources: Definition and Examples of Summary

• Academic Paragraphs: Examples of the MEAL Plan
• Academic Paragraphs: Appropriate Use of Explicit Transitions
• Academic Paragraphs: Types of Transitions Part 1: Transitions Between Paragraphs
• Academic Paragraphs: Types of Transitions Part 2: Transitions Within Paragraphs
• Academic Writing for Multilingual Students: Using a Grammar Revision Journal
• Academic Writing for Multilingual Students: Write in a Linear Structure
• Academic Writing for Multilingual Students: Cite All Ideas That Come From Other Sources
• Academic Writing for Multilingual Students: Developing Your Arguments With Evidence and Your Own Analysis
• Academic Writing for Multilingual Students: Follow Faculty Expectations
• Accessing Modules: Registered or Returning Users
• Accessing Modules: Saving a Module Certificate
• Analyzing & Synthesizing Sources: Analysis in Paragraphs
• Analyzing & Synthesizing Sources: Synthesis: Definition and Examples
• Analyzing & Synthesizing Sources: Synthesis in Paragraphs
• APA Formatting & Style: Latin Abbreviations
• APA Formatting & Style: Shortening Citations With et al.
• APA Formatting & Style: Capitalization
• APA Formatting & Style: Numbers
• APA Formatting & Style: Pronouns (Point of View)
• APA Formatting & Style: Serial Comma
• APA Formatting & Style: Lists
• APA Formatting & Style: Verb Tense
• Commonly Cited Sources: Finding DOIs for Journal Article Reference Entries
• Commonly Cited Sources: Journal Article With URL
• Commonly Cited Sources: Book Reference Entries
• Commonly Cited Sources: Webpage Reference Entry
• Course Paper Template: A Tour of the Template
• Crash Course in Scholarly Writing
• Crash Course in the Writing Process
• Crash Course in Punctuation for Scholarly Writing
• Engaging Writing: Overview of Tools for Engaging Readers
• Engaging Writing: Tool 1--Syntax
• Engaging Writing: Tool 2--Sentence Structure
• Engaging Writing: Tool 3--Punctuation
• Engaging Writing: Avoiding Wordiness and Redundancy
• Engaging Writing: Avoiding Casual Language
• Engaging Writing: Incorporating Transitions
• Engaging Writing: Examples of Incorporating Transitions
• Grammar for Academic Writers: Advanced Subject–Verb Agreement
• Grammar for Academic Writers: Verb Tense Consistency
• Mastering the Mechanics: Pronoun Tips #1 and #2
• Mastering the Mechanics: Pronoun Tip #3
• Mastering the Mechanics: Pronoun Tip #4
• Mastering the Mechanics: Nouns
• Mastering the Mechanics: Introduction to Verbs
• Mastering the Mechanics: Articles
• Mastering the Mechanics: Modifiers
• Mastering the Mechanics: Proofreading for Grammar
• Mastering the Mechanics: Punctuation as Symbols
• Mastering the Mechanics: Semicolons
• Mastering the Mechanics: Common Verb Errors
• Mastering the Mechanics: Helping Verbs
• Mastering the Mechanics: Past Tense
• Mastering the Mechanics: Present Tense
• Mastering the Mechanics: Future Tense
• Mastering the Mechanics: Apostrophes
• Mastering the Mechanics: Colons
• Mastering the Mechanics: Commas
• Mastering the Mechanics: Periods
• Methods to the Madness: Authors in a Reference Entry
• Methods to the Madness: Publication Date in a Reference Entry
• Methods to the Madness: Title in a Reference Entry
• Methods to the Madness: Publication Information in a Reference List Entry
• Methods to the Madness: Creating a Citation From a Reference Entry
• Methods to the Madness: Why Do Writers Use Citation Styles?
• Methods to the Madness: Why Does Walden Use APA Style?
• Module Preview: Avoiding Passive Plagiarism
• Module Preview: Basic Citation Formatting
• Module Preview: Book Reference Entries
• Module Preview: Essential Components and Purpose of APA Reference Entries
• Module Preview: Basic Citation Frequency
• Module Preview: Journal Article Reference Entries
• Module Preview: Web Page Reference Entries
• Module Preview: Introduction to APA Style
• Module Preview: Avoiding Bias
• Module Preview: Clarifying the Actor
• Module Preview: Emphasis and Specification
• Module Preview: Using and Formatting APA Headings
• Module Preview: Listing the Facts
• Module Preview: Introduction to Paragraph Development
• Module Preview: Transitions Within and Between Paragraphs
• Module Preview: Introduction to Scholarly Writing
• myPASS: Navigating myPASS
• myPASS: Making a Paper Review Appointment
• OLD myPASS: Making an Appointment
• myPASS: Joining a Waiting List
• myPASS: Attaching a File
• myPASS: Attaching a File at a Later Time
• myPASS: Updating an Appointment Form
• myPASS: Download Your Reviewed Paper From the Writing Center
• myPASS: Canceling an Appointment
• Nontraditional Sources: Course Videos
• Nontraditional Sources: Textual Course Materials
• Nontraditional Sources: Citing Yourself
• Nontraditional Sources: Works With the Same Author and Year
• Nontraditional Sources: Secondary Sources
• Nontraditional Sources: Ebooks
• Nontraditional Sources: Chapter in an Edited Book
• Nontraditional Sources: Discussion Board Posts
• Nontraditional Sources: Dissertations or Theses
• Nontraditional Sources: Citing Sources With the Same Author and Year
• Nontraditional Sources: Personal Communications
• Nontraditional Sources: Basic Entry for Nontraditional Sources
• Paper Reviews: Insider Tips for Writing Center Paper Review Appointments
• Paraphrasing Strategies: Comparing Paraphrasing and Quoting
• Paraphrasing Strategies: Paraphrasing Strategies
• Paraphrasing Strategies: Paraphrasing Example
• Paraphrasing Strategies: Paraphrasing Process Demonstration
• Structuring Sentences: Misplaced Modifiers
• Structuring Sentences: Dangling Modifiers
• Structuring Sentences: Types of Sentences
• Structuring Sentences: Simple Sentences
• Structuring Sentences: Compound Sentences
• Structuring Sentences: Complex Sentences
• Structuring Sentences: Combining Sentences
• Common Error: Unclear Subjects
• Structuring Sentences: Common Error--Run-On Sentences
• Structuring Sentences: Common Error--Fragments
• Structuring Sentences: Common Error--Subject–Verb Agreement
• Common Error: Parallel Structure

Summarizing Sources: Definition and Examples of Summary

• Summarizing Sources: Incorporating Citations Into Summaries
• Template Demonstration: Correcting Common Errors in the Template Table of Contents
• Template Demonstration: Updating the Template List of Tables
• Using & Crediting Sources: Why We Cite: Examples
• Using & Crediting Sources: How We Cite
• Using & Crediting Sources: What We Cite
• Using & Crediting Sources: How Often We Cite Sources
• Using & Crediting Sources: How Often We Cite Sources: Examples
• Using & Crediting Sources: Citing Paraphrases
• Using & Crediting Sources: Citing Quotations
• Using & Crediting Sources: Publication Year Quick Tip
• Using Quotations: Integrating Quotations in the Middle of a Sentence
• Using Quotations: When to Use a Quotation
• Using Quotations: Shortening Quotations With Ellipses
• Using Quotations: How to Cite a Quotation
• Welcome to the Writing Center, Undergraduate Students!
• Writing Center Website Tour
• Website Tour: For Multilingual Students
• Welcome to the Writing Center, Master’s Students!
• Welcome to the Writing Center: Coursework to Capstone: Writing Center Support for Doctoral Students
• Writing Tools: Using a Dictionary for Grammatical Accuracy: Countability, Transitivity, and Collocations
• Applying Feedback to Your Paper: Grammar Feedback
• Applying Feedback to Your Paper: Applying Feedback Principles
• Applying Feedback to Your Paper: Paragraph Feedback
• Applying Feedback to Your Paper: Thesis Statement Feedback
• Applying Feedback to Your Paper: Transition Feedback
• Applying Feedback to Your Paper: Word Choice Feedback
• Prewriting Demonstrations: Mindmapping
• Prewriting Demonstrations: Outlining
• Form and Style: Welcome, Doctoral Capstone Students!
• Faculty Voices: Faculty Introduction: Dr. Darci Harland
• Faculty Voices: Faculty Introduction: Dr. Catherine Kelly
• Faculty Voices: Faculty Introduction: Dr. Allyson Wattley Gee
• Faculty Voices: Faculty Introduction: Dr. Laurel Walsh
• Faculty Voices: Faculty Introduction: Dr. Kim Critchlow
• Faculty Voices: What Is Academic Integrity?
• Faculty Voices: Why Is Academic Integrity Important?
• Faculty Voices: What Causes and Can Prevent Plagiarism? Inexperience Parapharsing
• Faculty Voices: What Causes and Can Prevent Plagiarism? Using Resources
• Faculty Voices: What Causes and Can Prevent Plagiarism? Time Management
• Faculty Voices: What Causes and Can Prevent Plagiarism? Critical Reading Strategies
• Faculty Voices: What Causes and Can Prevent Plagiarism? Insufficient Understanding
• Faculty Voices: How Does Academic Integrity Relate to Students' Professional Lives? With Dr. Allyson Wattley Gee
• Faculty Voices: How Does Academic Integrity Relate to Students' Professional Lives? With Dr. Kim Critchlow
• Faculty Voices: How Does Academic Integrity Relate to Students' Professional Lives? With Dr. Gregory Campbell
• Faculty Voices: How Does Academic Integrity Relate to Students' Professional Lives? With Dr. Catherine Kelly, Dr. Allyson Wattley Gee, and Dr. Kim Critchlow
• Faculty Voices: How Does Academic Integrity Relate to Students' Professional Lives? With Dr. Darci Harland
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: Plagiarism Examples: Insufficient Citation Frequency
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: Plagiarism Examples: Insufficient Paraphrasing
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: Types of Plagiarism: Overt Plagiarism
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: Types of Plagiarism: Passive Plagiarism
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: Types of Plagiarism: Self-Plagiarism
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: What Is Plagiarism?
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: A Writing Process for Avoiding Plagiarism
• Writing Process: Writing Motivation:
• Writing for Social Change: With Dr. Catherine Kelly
• Writing for Social Change: With Dr. Gregory Campbell
• Writing for Social Change: How Are Writing and Social Change Connected?
• Writing for Social Change: With Dr. Laurel Walsh
• Writing for Social Change: With Dr. Allyson Wattley Gee
• Transitioning Rrom APA 6 to APA 7 With the Walden Writing Center
• Previous Page: Summarizing Sources: The Process of Summarizing
• Next Page: Summarizing Sources: Incorporating Citations Into Summaries

Last updated 1/5/2017

Visual: The screen shows the Walden University Writing Center logo along with a pencil and notebook. “Walden University Writing Center.” “Your writing, grammar, and APA experts” appears in center of screen. The background changes to the title of the video with books in the background.

Audio: Guitar music plays.

Visual: Slide changes to the title “Summarizing Sources” and the following:

• Central thesis, argument, or purpose
• Main ideas, findings, or conclusions

Definition : An articulation of a source’s basic argument and main points.

Audio: Summary, in its simplest form, is an articulation of a source’s basic argument and main points. What this means is that it’s broad in nature. A summary doesn’t focus on one idea or fact from a source. Instead, it gives an overview of the entire source. This overview should include the source’s central thesis, argument, or purpose, as well as the source’s main ideas, findings, or conclusions. Think of this as a high-level overview of the source. Finally, you may also include the context in which the article was written. For example, you might note if an article was written in response to a government policy or refuting another study.

Visual: The slide changes to the following: What makes a strong summary?

• Balancing accuracy with concision
• High-level overview of main points
• Ensuring your voice as the author

Audio: There are a few things you can do to write a strong summary. First, your summary should be accurate. You need to make sure you are accurately representing the source and the author’s ideas in your summary. Doing so can often be a balancing act; you don’t want to include too many details, but you do need to include enough information so that you can accurately convey what the source said to your reader. Think about your summary in this way: If you were giving a colleague the gist of the article, what main points would you include to ensure he or she understood the overall points of the source?

Next, your summary should be concise. Because a summary is a high-level overview and broad in scope, a summary will be longer than a paraphrase. A paraphrase is a concise rephrasing of a particular idea or piece of information in one or at most two sentences. As a result, even a concise summary will be longer than a paraphrase, at least a couple of sentences long. However, your summary shouldn’t be too long either; most of the time you should be able to summarize a source in one paragraph. However, the length of your summary will always depend on the length of the original source and the level of detail you need based on your assignment’s guidelines.

Finally, your summary should use paraphrases, not quotes. Because summaries are a high-level overview, put the source’s information into your own words, rather than quoting the original source. Doing so will help increase the flow of your summary and ensure your voice as the author comes through. Paraphrasing rather than quoting will also help you keep your summary concise. There could be scenarios where you might want to partially quote a key phrase, but even that should be done sparingly.

Visual: The slide changes to the following:

            In their research, DeBruin-Parecki and Slutzky’s (2016) studied current U.S. pre-K standards, which are meant to set up students for success in kindergarten and beyond. The authors collected quantitative and qualitative data from diverse survey respondents about pre-K learning standards. The key finding from this study was the positive viewpoint most pre-K teachers have of the national learning standards.

Audio: Let’s take a look at this sample summary. As you can see, this summary is a high-level overview of this source. It starts by introducing the source’s authors with a full citation and introducing the topic or focus of the source. It then transitions to discussing the data the authors collected, ending with the authors’ key finding.

This sample summary is accurate, concise, and includes paraphrased main ideas, the three things that make a strong summary. It accurately represents the source authors’ original ideas, while still being concise. The summary’s author also put all of these ideas into their own words.

Visual: The following are overlayed on the paragraph: “the authors” or “this study”

Audio: The final note I want to make here is about citations. It’s important to cite the source in the first sentence of the summary. In subsequent sentences, the citation isn’t necessarily required, although it is important to ensure the reader knows you’re continuing to discuss the same source. This might mean using phrases like “the authors” or “this study”, but you may also include citations in each of these sentences too.

If you’re not sure whether you should cite the source in each sentence in a summary, be sure to ask your instructor.

• Annotated bibliographies
• Compare/contrast essays
• Explicit requests
• Part of note taking
• Synthesizing or paraphrasing sources
• Literature reviews
• Graduate writing

Audio: Alright, so now that you know what a summary is and how to write a strong summary, when should you use a summary? Students most commonly summarize sources in annotated bibliographies and compare/contrast essays. However, you may also find that an assignment prompt or course instructor asks you to summarize as part of another assignment. You may also use summarizing as one of your note-taking and reading strategies; summarizing a source is a great way to ensure you understand and can re-articulate what a source is saying.

It is important to note that summarizing usually isn’t appropriate if you’re being asked to synthesize or paraphrase a source; this is particularly true in a literature review and generally in graduate writing. While summarizing particularly important sources initially or in the note taking stage may make sense in these cases, you don’t want to rely on summarizing extensively.

Visual: Slide changes to display the following: Questions? E-mail [email protected] .

• Office of Student Disability Services

Walden Resources

Departments.

• Academic Residencies
• Academic Skills
• Career Planning and Development
• Customer Care Team
• Field Experience
• Military Services
• Student Success Advising
• Writing Skills

Centers and Offices

• Center for Social Change
• Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services
• Office of Degree Acceleration
• Office of Research and Doctoral Services
• Office of Student Affairs

Student Resources

• Doctoral Writing Assessment
• Form & Style Review
• Quick Answers
• ScholarWorks
• SKIL Courses and Workshops
• Walden Bookstore
• Walden Catalog & Student Handbook
• Student Safety/Title IX
• Legal & Consumer Information
• Website Terms and Conditions
• Cookie Policy
• Accessibility
• Accreditation
• State Authorization
• Net Price Calculator
• Cost of Attendance
• Contact Walden

Walden University is a member of Adtalem Global Education, Inc. www.adtalem.com Walden University is certified to operate by SCHEV © 2024 Walden University LLC. All rights reserved.

Have a thesis expert improve your writing

Check your thesis for plagiarism in 10 minutes, generate your apa citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Working with sources
• How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples

How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples

Published on 25 September 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on 12 May 2023.

Summarising , or writing a summary, means giving a concise overview of a text’s main points in your own words. A summary is always much shorter than the original text.

There are five key steps that can help you to write a summary:

• Read the text
• Break it down into sections
• Identify the key points in each section
• Write the summary
• Check the summary against the article

Writing a summary does not involve critiquing or analysing the source. You should simply provide an accurate account of the most important information and ideas (without copying any text from the original).

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Be assured that you'll submit flawless writing. Upload your document to correct all your mistakes.

Table of contents

When to write a summary, step 1: read the text, step 2: break the text down into sections, step 3: identify the key points in each section, step 4: write the summary, step 5: check the summary against the article, frequently asked questions.

There are many situations in which you might have to summarise an article or other source:

• As a stand-alone assignment to show you’ve understood the material
• To keep notes that will help you remember what you’ve read
• To give an overview of other researchers’ work in a literature review

When you’re writing an academic text like an essay , research paper , or dissertation , you’ll integrate sources in a variety of ways. You might use a brief quote to support your point, or paraphrase a few sentences or paragraphs.

But it’s often appropriate to summarize a whole article or chapter if it is especially relevant to your own research, or to provide an overview of a source before you analyse or critique it.

In any case, the goal of summarising is to give your reader a clear understanding of the original source. Follow the five steps outlined below to write a good summary.

The only proofreading tool specialized in correcting academic writing

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts and by native English editors. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students.

Correct my document today

You should read the article more than once to make sure you’ve thoroughly understood it. It’s often effective to read in three stages:

• Scan the article quickly to get a sense of its topic and overall shape.
• Read the article carefully, highlighting important points and taking notes as you read.
• Skim the article again to confirm you’ve understood the key points, and reread any particularly important or difficult passages.

There are some tricks you can use to identify the key points as you read:

• Start by reading the abstract . This already contains the author’s own summary of their work, and it tells you what to expect from the article.
• Pay attention to headings and subheadings . These should give you a good sense of what each part is about.
• Read the introduction and the conclusion together and compare them: What did the author set out to do, and what was the outcome?

To make the text more manageable and understand its sub-points, break it down into smaller sections.

If the text is a scientific paper that follows a standard empirical structure, it is probably already organised into clearly marked sections, usually including an introduction, methods, results, and discussion.

Other types of articles may not be explicitly divided into sections. But most articles and essays will be structured around a series of sub-points or themes.

Now it’s time go through each section and pick out its most important points. What does your reader need to know to understand the overall argument or conclusion of the article?

Keep in mind that a summary does not involve paraphrasing every single paragraph of the article. Your goal is to extract the essential points, leaving out anything that can be considered background information or supplementary detail.

In a scientific article, there are some easy questions you can ask to identify the key points in each part.

If the article takes a different form, you might have to think more carefully about what points are most important for the reader to understand its argument.

In that case, pay particular attention to the thesis statement —the central claim that the author wants us to accept, which usually appears in the introduction—and the topic sentences that signal the main idea of each paragraph.

Now that you know the key points that the article aims to communicate, you need to put them in your own words.

To avoid plagiarism and show you’ve understood the article, it’s essential to properly paraphrase the author’s ideas. Do not copy and paste parts of the article, not even just a sentence or two.

The best way to do this is to put the article aside and write out your own understanding of the author’s key points.

Examples of article summaries

Let’s take a look at an example. Below, we summarise this article , which scientifically investigates the old saying ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’.

An article summary like the above would be appropriate for a stand-alone summary assignment. However, you’ll often want to give an even more concise summary of an article.

For example, in a literature review or research paper, you may want to briefly summarize this study as part of a wider discussion of various sources. In this case, we can boil our summary down even further to include only the most relevant information.

Citing the source you’re summarizing

When including a summary as part of a larger text, it’s essential to properly cite the source you’re summarizing. The exact format depends on your citation style , but it usually includes an in-text citation and a full reference at the end of your paper.

You can easily create your citations and references in APA or MLA using our free citation generators.

APA Citation Generator MLA Citation Generator

Finally, read through the article once more to ensure that:

• You’ve accurately represented the author’s work
• You haven’t missed any essential information
• The phrasing is not too similar to any sentences in the original.

If you’re summarising many articles as part of your own work, it may be a good idea to use a plagiarism checker to double-check that your text is completely original and properly cited. Just be sure to use one that’s safe and reliable.

A summary is a short overview of the main points of an article or other source, written entirely in your own words.

Save yourself some time with the free summariser.

A summary is always much shorter than the original text. The length of a summary can range from just a few sentences to several paragraphs; it depends on the length of the article you’re summarising, and on the purpose of the summary.

With the summariser tool you can easily adjust the length of your summary.

You might have to write a summary of a source:

• As a stand-alone assignment to prove you understand the material
• For your own use, to keep notes on your reading
• To provide an overview of other researchers’ work in a literature review
• In a paper , to summarise or introduce a relevant study

To avoid plagiarism when summarising an article or other source, follow these two rules:

• Write the summary entirely in your own words by   paraphrasing the author’s ideas.
• Reference the source with an in-text citation and a full reference so your reader can easily find the original text.

An abstract concisely explains all the key points of an academic text such as a thesis , dissertation or journal article. It should summarise the whole text, not just introduce it.

An abstract is a type of summary , but summaries are also written elsewhere in academic writing . For example, you might summarise a source in a paper , in a literature review , or as a standalone assignment.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

McCombes, S. (2023, May 12). How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 27 September 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/working-sources/how-to-write-a-summary/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, how to paraphrase | step-by-step guide & examples, how to quote | citing quotes in harvard & apa, apa referencing (7th ed.) quick guide | in-text citations & references.

We now accept . Special offer for new customers:   5% OFF   your first order!

We now accept . 5% OFF   your first order!

• College Essay
• Custom Writing
• Paper Writing
• Pay For Essay
• Do My Homework
• Research Paper
• Pay For Homework
• Write My Paper
• Academic Writing
• Citation Guides
• Students and Colleges Tips
• Article Writing Examples
• Essay Writing
• Topics Ideas
• "How to" Guides
• How it works
• Testimonials

Research Summary: What Is It?

Navigation of contents

The process of writing every college or university paper requires patience, knowledge, and skills. A research summary is not an exception as well. Some students do not have any idea what is the purpose of the summary and how to prepare it. If you are at the very beginning of the writing research summary or are stuck in the middle of the process, then go on reading this article and find out the answers to all your questions.

A research summary is a kind of paper aimed to give a short analysis of a given study. In most cases, it comes from academic journals and is known to be a common task for American students. They often need to write a research paper despite the type of educational establishment and the subject. 

In this way, students learn to deal with various resources of scientific literature and interpret them. It is crucial while studying both exact sciences and humanitarian as academic papers help work out new theories, ideas and come up with discoveries. Typically, a research summary keeps sections and the overall structure of the discussed article. 

However, it must not be just paraphrasing the article ideas and coming in the same word count. There are certain rules and requirements that you must follow, in case you want to impress your teacher and show a high level of expertise.

Step-by-Step Guide on Writing Research Summary

Most students feel confused while writing a research summary, especially if it is their first experience. Remember that this type of paper, like any other one, needs some practice, patience, and of course, skills. If you want to be more productive and do not waste too much time, then consider this step-by-step guide.

It will be of great help to every student who faces productivity bottlenecks and an absence of inspiration. Follow all steps and decrease the number of potential mistakes, making the entire writing process as simple as it is possible

Look Through the Article

It is not recommended to start with a detailed reading of the article. You just need to skim it to catch the overall idea and how it is revealed in each section. As a result, you will understand how various crucial lines of evidence are and which of them require closer consideration.

Examine and Understand the Article Topic

A student needs to study the topic very well to write a good research summary. Often, it is necessary to learn definitions, models, concepts, as well as the up-to-date state of knowledge. That’s why you need to be ready to do all this while reading the literature review.

In terms of a paper itself, you must understand listed evidence, analysis questions, how the evidence supports mentioned hypotheses, and also analysis implications. It is impossible to come up with a top-quality research summary without a full understanding of the paper and its content.

Write Down Notes

While reading the article, you may take some notes. Probably each paragraph can be described in a single sentence. Mind that some paragraphs require more attention than others, and do not write too much text. Otherwise, you will have to read your notes once again and analyze them. 

Later, you will understand what information is more important and what can be omitted. You can also practice highlighting but be accurate and do not underline everything. Let it be only the most crucial evidence, as too much coloring in the text may make you confused.

Work at a Draft

The next step is to assemble a draft made of notes from every paragraph and fundamental evidence. Ensure that all crucial characteristics are covered and you have not lost anything.

Look for Extra Literature

You can easily make your research summary look fantastic if you find additional literature. It is significant in case you want to talk about the incompleteness of the study, some contradictory evidence, etc. You should give facts to support your position. Otherwise, your ideas will not have any ground, which is unacceptable for a research summary.

What is Research Summary Structure?

A structure is as important as the content itself. Before starting to write, you need to know what should be included in a research summary. Actually, this is significant since missing at least one fundamental element will thwart all your efforts. So, do your best to adhere to a summary format that must be identical to the original paper one. Include all sections, no matter whether the related headings are available or not. The research summary structure looks like this:

• Title. It presents the area or topic of analysis and may present fundamental findings or arguments briefly.
• Abstract. It is a laconic and comprehensive study description. The abstract is available in each academic article and has up to 500 words in length. Do not confuse it with an abstract of an academic article that is longer.
• Introduction. This part of the research summary provides essential context aimed to present the subject to the readers. It introduces an up-to-date state of the investigation, crucial definitions, etc. In case the importance of the subject is not clear, the introduction can describe it. Also, this section mentions some investigation questions that were initiated by the authors.
• Methodology . The next part presents the data analysis or experimental methods that were used to collect the information. Mind that many of such details should be omitted in the research summary, so think twice to understand what to mention and what is not very important.
• Result section.  It includes evidence received from all experiments as well as a primary interpretation of the results. This section is often the largest one, so you need to review all information and include only the most important content.
• Discussion. This part presents the discussion of results by various experts. Here, you can mention various interpretations of results, strengths, and limitations of the study, conclusion, future exploration, etc.
• Conclusion.  This section may be identical to “Discussion” in the original article, but some specific instructions may require it to be a separate one. Here you need to return to hypotheses and either deny or validate them.
• References. This is the last key part of a research summary structure that must include all works that were directly mentioned in your paper. Other works must be included in case your critical point of view is required.

Mind that looking through other research summary paper examples and checking their structures will save your time and simplify the entire writing process. 

Effective Tips for Writing Research Summary

Consider a list of writing tips to make your experience of crafting a research summary as pleasant as it is possible:

• Ensure you are familiar with a general direction . You need to be aware of the story that stands behind a particular article. If you do not remember some hypotheses, conclusions, stated goals, then you need to read and scan them again. You would better perform this when at least the fourth of the paper is ready.
• Start with a detailed research outline . In this way, you will structure your paper and avoid possible inaccuracies. Do not hurry and watch every word.
• Draft key conclusion elements . The conclusion must perform a lot of functions like talking about the subject’s significance, potential implications, invalidate or validate hypotheses, etc. It is recommended to write them down before writing the conclusion so that you will not forget anything.
• Prepare the introduction and discussion parts last . It is recommended to leave these two parts for the end as you can adapt them in order to fit the word count. Start with hypotheses, then goals and questions, followed by main results. But do not break a natural order in terms of other parts.
• Add some visual elements . The readers will perceive the text better if it includes at least a few charts or graphs. They will make your research summary more readable.
• Be careful with plagiarism issues . It is quite common to use the ideas and thoughts of other people, but you need to be very accurate with a quotation. Do not forget to mention cited works not to be accused of plagiarism. Moreover, it is recommended to formulate your own phrases from scratch.
• Mind the word count . Do you know how long a research summary is? It must not be very long as otherwise, you risk losing the necessary focus and confuse readers with too much information. Your summary must not be as long as the original paper, so mind the word count and do not include unimportant details.
• Proofread your paper . Read the research summary a few times to make sure it has no spelling or grammar mistakes. Use all available tools to check whether the paper is too wordy or has some formatting issues. 
• Watch used writing style . You should sound precise and formal when summarizing the content. Expressing a personal attitude may be mentioned only in the critical part if it is stated in requirements.
• Ask somebody to check your summary . It would be great if some of your colleagues have time to read your paper. In this way, you will make sure that all crucial information is included, and you did not omit any important explanations.

Research Summary Examples

The question “How do you write a summary for a research paper” is one of the most popular requests in searching engines. As has been mentioned above, you need to look at some examples of research summary to clarify all issues. They will help you check the structure, length, and extra detail. Here are two such examples that were written based on imaginary articles. Look through them, and mind the structure.

Title – “Possibility of the sudden eruption of volcano Kilauea”

Introduction – This part will include possible catastrophic consequences occurring in Hawaii in the case of the Kilauea eruption, as well as the significance of analyzing this situation.

Hypothesis – Kilauea eruption would be preceded by severe activities before and many years after the event.

Results – This section may include some reports and statistics from numerous volcanic eruptions that took place all over the world. It is necessary to find out what events took place before the eruptions and how they were detected.

Discussions and conclusion –  The volcano Kilauea is constantly watched by scientists and specialists as the possibility of eruption can be detected a few days before the event, so the hypothesis is confirmed. All this makes it necessary to work out emergency plans and prepare response measures.

Title – “ The frequency of flood in the USA in a period from 2003-2007 as compared to the “60s”

Introduction – Extreme weather conditions come up with terrible material damage and losses.

Hypothesis – Flood events occur more often nowadays than in the “60s”.

Results – Here, you can include statistics of the flood events, reports, and their consequences.

Discussion and conclusion – Floods became more frequent these days, so the hypothesis is confirmed. This frequency correlates with regular rain and tsunami that lead to the necessity to make plans for urgent people evacuation and guaranteeing their safety. 

Partner with Professionals

Crafting a research summary comes with its own difficulties, but knowing the correct structure, understanding the content of the article with all complicated definitions, etc., as well as becoming familiar with efficient tips, will help you for sure. As a result, the process of writing a summary will not seem to be a real torture for you. Still, if you do not have enough time, or lack inspiration and desire, then you can approach a professional writing service.

You will not waste much time placing your order and providing the author with extra details. A professional company has a transparent system of ordering and paying. There are no doubts, and you will get a top-quality research summary before a deadline comes. 

Last but not least is the opportunity to communicate directly with the writer and clarify issues that you are interested in. Your teacher will not learn about your cooperation with a professional company, but you will save time, effort and can be completely sure about the research summary quality. 

Psst.. Wait

Incorrect Name, please try again

Incorrect Email, please try again

I’m not interested in saving my money

We`ve sent our special offer to your email Use It Now

• EXPLORE Random Article
• Happiness Hub

How to Write a Summary of a Research Paper

Last Updated: July 10, 2020 References

This article was reviewed by Annaliese Dunne and by wikiHow staff writer, Hannah Madden . Annaliese Dunne is a Middle School English Teacher. With over 10 years of teaching experience, her areas of expertise include writing and grammar instruction, as well as teaching reading comprehension. She is also an experienced freelance writer. She received her Bachelor's degree in English. This article has been viewed 28,938 times.

Writing a summary of an academic research paper is an important skill, and it shows that you understand all of the relevant information presented to you. However, writing a summary can be tough, since it requires you to be completely objective and keep any analysis or criticisms to yourself. By keeping your goal in mind as you read the paper and focusing on the key points, you can write a succinct, accurate summary of a research paper to prove that you understood the overall conclusion.

Reading the Research Paper

• For instance, if you’re supporting an argument in your own research paper, focus on the elements that are similar to yours.
• Or, if you’re comparing and contrasting methodology, focus on the methods and the significance of the results.

• You can also read the abstract of the paper as a good example of what the authors find to be important in their article.

• Depending on how long and dense the paper is, your initial reading could take you up to an hour or more.

• The important information will usually be toward the end of the paper as the authors explain their findings and conclusions.

• Writing a summary without plagiarizing, or copying the paper, is really important. Writing notes in your own words will help you get into the mindset of relaying information in your own way.

Including Relevant Information

• For example, “The methods used in this paper are not up to standards and require more testing to be conclusive.” is an analysis.
• ”The methods used in this paper include an in-depth survey and interview session with each candidate.” is a summary.

• If you’re writing a summary for class, your professor may specify how long your summary should be.
• Some summaries can even be as short as one sentence.

• ”Environmental conditions in North Carolina pose a threat to frogs and toads.”

• For example: “According to the climate model, frog and toad populations have been decreasing at a rapid rate over the past 10 years, and are on track to decrease even further in the coming years.”

• For example: “Smith and Herman (2008) argue that by decreasing greenhouse gases, frog and toad populations could reach historical levels within 20 years, and the climate model projections support that statement.”
• You can add in the authors and year of publication at any time during your summary.

• If you have time, try reading your summary to someone who hasn’t read the original paper and see if they understand the key points of the article.

Expert Q&A

• Make sure you fully understand the paper before you start writing the summary. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 0
• Plagiarism can have serious consequences in the academic world, so make sure you’re writing your summary in your own words. [12] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://writingcenter.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/593/2014/06/How_to_Summarize_a_Research_Article1.pdf
• ↑ https://www.ufv.ca/media/assets/academic-success-centre/handouts/Summarizing-a-Scholarly-Journal-Article-rev2018.pdf
• ↑ https://integrity.mit.edu/handbook/academic-writing/summarizing
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/summary-using-it-wisely/
• ↑ https://davidson.libguides.com/c.php?g=349327&p=2361763

About this article

Reader Success Stories

Mark Jimenez

Oct 18, 2022

Did this article help you?

• About wikiHow
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Research Paper Summary

Ai generator.

Whether you are a student, an academic scholar, or even working in business, there is no denying that a research paper summary is the one tool that you are going to expect when it comes to writing your research paper or research studies. There is also no denying how useful the summary is going to be when you have to report it to your superiors or your professors without having to go through the entire research paper. Students know for themselves that writing a summary of their research paper is useful. With that, here are examples of research paper summaries to download.

10+ Research Paper Summary Examples

1. economics research paper summary.

2. Goals Research Paper Summary

Size: 243 KB

3. Past Research Paper Summary

Size: 371 KB

4. Project Management Research Paper Summary

Size: 681 KB

5. Qualitative Research Paper Summary

Size: 109 KB

6. Reading Research Paper Summary

7. Research Paper Proposal Summary

Size: 187 KB

8. Research Paper Summary Format

Size: 120 KB

9. Research Paper Summary Generator

10. Sample Research Paper Summary

Size: 111 KB

11. Style Research Paper Summary

Size: 199 KB

What Is a Research Paper Summary?

Research paper summaries are short but descriptive writings that are expected in a research paper . What goes in a research paper summary is the main topic or the main plot of your research paper. However, what is and should never be included are any new discoveries, arguments and new leads that help your research. The purpose of the summary is to simply give out the general point of view or the outline of your research paper and nothing else. This is often the mistake made by students when they think of a research paper summary. The need to add all new leads to help their research in the summary. The only main thing to focus on your summary is the overview and the general outline . 

How to Write a Research Paper Summary

Being able to write a research paper summary is important and quite a useful skill. As this does not only work for students on their research paper, but it also works for employees who are given the task to write a project summary. It basically works just the same. To get a glimpse of what you can do to make your research paper summary, here are simple steps you can follow.

Step 1: Take the Main Part of Your Research

When you make your summary, the first paragraph will mainly be about your research paper. The first part is to take the main part of your research. The main part or the main topic should be what it is about. Make sure what you are writing is what your research paper is about, as there are times when your topic may not be the main goal of your paper.

Step 2: Break It Down to Smaller Topics

Since the first paragraph is focused on the introduction and the main topic, the second paragraph will focus mainly on breaking down your main or general topic into smaller subtopics. By doing this, it is easier for you to divide and explain every single important detail of your research paper. Students are often tasked to do this in order for them to get a better outlook of their research paper and how they are able to piece together the smaller topics to the main topic.

Step 3: Get the Gist

The third and final paragraph will be the gist of your research paper. This includes the heart or the main part, the findings and the conclusion. The gist has to be a general summary of your research paper. It should have the facts that support it, the findings of your research and the hypothesis. Add in your conclusion at the end.

Step 4: Proofread Your Work

Lastly, make sure to proofread your entire research paper summary. This is just to make sure you did not misspell any words, your punctuations are in the correct place and the tone of your writing fits the paper you are making.

What is a research paper summary?

Research paper summaries are short but descriptive writings  that are expected in a research paper. What goes in a research paper summary is the main topic or the main plot of your research paper.

What are the characteristics of a research paper summary?

The characteristics of a research paper summary are the following:

• The introduction and the main topic
• The breaking of the main topic to sub topics
• The gist of the research paper summary
• The conclusion

How lengthy can a research paper summary be?

The normal length of a research paper summary should not exceed more than a page. However, when it comes to the number of words for a summary, your wording should not exceed the maximum number of four hundred words.

When it comes to writing a research paper, there is no denying that you must also write a summary for it. Since a research paper can sometimes be overwhelming to those who will be listening to you talk about it, you can relieve it by making a summary of your paper. This will also help them follow what you are discussing and what it is about.

Text prompt

• Instructive
• Professional

10 Examples of Public speaking

20 Examples of Gas lighting

How to Write a Great Summary

A summary is a shorter description of a longer work, covering all of the highlights but not many of the details. It’s used for an overview so that people can get an idea of what the longer work entails without reading or watching it first. 

You see summaries everywhere, from book covers to product descriptions to online review sites. However, no matter how many summaries you’ve read, it can still be difficult to write your own when you need to. 

In this quick guide, we explain how to write a summary like an expert. We share some summary examples and list out the steps. But first, let’s look at the big question:

What is a summary?

Really, a summary is a general term used to describe any writing that briefly explains, or “summarizes,” a larger work like a novel, academic paper, movie, or TV show. Summaries are usually short, from one or two sentences to a paragraph, but if you’re summarizing an enormous work, like all seven Harry Potter books, they can stretch out over pages. 

Summary writing is like a highlight reel, showing only the best parts and ignoring what’s not strictly necessary. A summary example of Hamlet would mention the main plot points like the murder of Polonius, but wouldn’t mention details irrelevant to the plot, like Polonius’s “to thine own self be true” monologue. 

The key to summary writing is to stick to the facts; do not include opinions, analysis, or bias. If it’s written for commercial purposes, such as the summaries on Netflix, it might be intentionally alluring and withhold spoilers. However, for academic papers and more formal writing, summary writing leans towards factual and clinical. 

Summaries appear in many different shapes and forms, including book reports and other school papers. Academics use summaries all the time for research papers when they write an abstract , which is essentially a summary of an entire research paper. 

Really, everyone needs to know how to write a summary at one point or another. Even finding a job requires you to summarize your own professional background and work experience. Learning how to write a good LinkedIn summary can help you land your dream job!

Summary examples: What makes a good summary

Let’s look at some summary examples of famous works to see what constitutes a strong summary. 

On IMDb , the summary for the 2008 movie The Dark Knight is just a sentence long: 

When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.

Right away, you’ll notice that the specific events of the movie are omitted and replaced by a general explanation of what happens. The main characters are mentioned—at least the protagonist and antagonist—and there is some description given about the types of events, such as “psychological and physical tests.” 

However, the details are absent. To summarize a two-hour movie in a single sentence requires broad strokes; there’s only room for the bare essentials. 

Most summaries, though, are longer than a sentence, like this multi-paragraph summary example for the novel To Kill a Mockingbird from SparkNotes . 

As you can see, this summary is about the length of a page. It’s far more detailed, too, mentioning secondary characters and adding more context to the plot events. Still, to condense 281 pages into one requires a lot of cutting, so each key event is given just a sentence or two, consisting of only the need-to-know information. 

How to write a summary in 4 steps

Summary writing uses the same best tips for all good writing . If you want to know how to write a summary yourself, we break the process down into 4 basic steps. 

1 Read or watch the source material

The first step is fairly obvious: Read or watch whatever it is you’re writing a summary about. 

If you’re doing a book report or similar paper, there’s always a temptation to skip this step and just rely on other people’s summaries. We don’t recommend it, though. For starters, how can you trust the writer of that summary? What if they just wrote their summary based on another person’s summary, too? Moreover, you may miss some key points or events that the other summary overlooked. 

The only risk-free way to write a summary is to read or watch the source material yourself. Otherwise you’re liable to miss something essential. 

2 Make a list of the key points

Next comes the outlining phase , where you list out what points to include in your summary. How many items go on your list depends on the length of both the summary and the source material. If you’re running long, start cutting items that are less of a priority. 

It always helps to use your memory at first. The most significant events will have left an impact on you, so using what you remember is a good filter for what’s vital. However, learn to separate what’s truly necessary and what’s just personal preference. Just because you fell in love with a secondary character doesn’t mean they’re worth mentioning in the summary. 

To fill in the gaps of what you’ve missed, you may need to reread or rewatch your source material. Feel free to skim it to save time; you just need to map out the significant points, not reread every word. 

Here’s a tip:   For longer pieces, break the source into sections and make a separate list for each section. For example, if you’re summarizing a research paper, you might write different lists for the Methods, Results, and Conclusion sections respectively. This is optional but helps you organize everything for larger works. 

3 Write the summary in your own words

Next, write the first draft of your summary following the lists you made in the previous outlining stage. If you’re summarizing a book, film, or other media, it’s best to use chronological order (even if the story is told out of order). 

The key here is using your own words. While you’re free to copy the occasional direct quote in your summary writing, it’s best to use original language to make it your own. Also, keep in mind the perspective of someone who’s never read or seen the source material. Do you have all the relevant points they need to understand what’s going on? 

Here’s a tip: Pay close attention to transitions. Summaries are naturally fast-paced, where sentences often jump from one event or point to another in rapid succession. For a reader, this can be very jarring. 

To make your summary writing easier to comprehend, use plenty of transitional words and phrases, such as however , as a result , and meanwhile . You’ll find a more complete list in our guide to transition words and phrases . 

4 Edit and cut what’s unnecessary 

Last comes the proofreading phase, where you reread your summary and correct any mistakes or awkward wording. For summary writing, watch out for unnecessary information, too; every word is crucial, so removing unnecessary information gives you more room to elaborate on the main points. 

Grammarly can save you a lot of time in this step. Grammarly marks any grammar and spelling mistakes you make while you write and provides quick recommendations on how to fix them. This frees you up to focus on more important aspects of summary writing, like the points you’re trying to make. 

Grammarly even helps with conciseness , which is integral to summary writing. If you’re using five words to say what can be said in two, Grammarly points it out so you can fix it. That way, your summaries can be as short and compact as possible—the way summary writing is supposed to be!

How to Write a Summary (Examples Included)

By Ashley Shaw

Have you ever recommended a book to someone and given them a quick overview? Then you’ve created a summary before!

Summarizing is a common part of everyday communication. It feels easy when you’re recounting what happened on your favorite show, but what do you do when the information gets a little more complex?

Written summaries come with their own set of challenges. You might ask yourself:

• What details are unnecessary?
• How do you put this in your own words without changing the meaning?
• How close can you get to the original without plagiarizing it?
• How long should it be?

The answers to these questions depend on the type of summary you are doing and why you are doing it.

A summary in an academic setting is different to a professional summary—and both of those are very different to summarizing a funny story you want to tell your friends.

One thing they all have in common is that you need to relay information in the clearest way possible to help your reader understand. We’ll look at some different forms of summary, and give you some tips on each.

Let’s get started!

What Is a Summary?

How do you write a summary, how do you write an academic summary, what are the four types of academic summaries, how do i write a professional summary, writing or telling a summary in personal situations, summarizing summaries.

A summary is a shorter version of a larger work. Summaries are used at some level in almost every writing task, from formal documents to personal messages.

When you write a summary, you have an audience that doesn’t know every single thing you know.

When you want them to understand your argument, topic, or stance, you may need to explain some things to catch them up.

Instead of having them read the article or hear every single detail of the story or event, you instead give them a brief overview of what they need to know.

Academic, professional, and personal summaries each require you to consider different things, but there are some key rules they all have in common.

Let’s go over a few general guides to writing a summary first.

1. A summary should always be shorter than the original work, usually considerably.

Even if your summary is the length of a full paper, you are likely summarizing a book or other significantly longer work.

2. A summary should tell the reader the highlights of what they need to know without giving them unnecessary details.

3. It should also include enough details to give a clear and honest picture.

For example, if you summarize an article that says “ The Office is the greatest television show of all time,” but don’t mention that they are specifically referring to sitcoms, then you changed the meaning of the article. That’s a problem! Similarly, if you write a summary of your job history and say you volunteered at a hospital for the last three years, but you don’t add that you only went twice in that time, it becomes a little dishonest.

4. Summaries shouldn’t contain personal opinion.

While in the longer work you are creating you might use opinion, within the summary itself, you should avoid all personal opinion. A summary is different than a review. In this moment, you aren’t saying what you think of the work you are summarizing, you are just giving your audience enough information to know what the work says or did.

Now that we have a good idea of what summaries are in general, let’s talk about some specific types of summary you will likely have to do at some point in your writing life.

An academic summary is one you will create for a class or in other academic writing. The exact elements you will need to include depend on the assignment itself.

However, when you’re asked for an academic summary, this usually this means one of five things, all of which are pretty similar:

• You need to do a presentation in which you talk about an article, book, or report.
• You write a summary paper in which the entire paper is a summary of a specific work.
• You summarize a class discussion, lesson, or reading in the form of personal notes or a discussion board post.
• You do something like an annotated bibliography where you write short summaries of multiple works in preparation of a longer assignment.
• You write quick summaries within the body of another assignment . For example, in an argumentative essay, you will likely need to have short summaries of the sources you use to explain their argument before getting into how the source helps you prove your point.

Regardless of what type of summary you are doing, though, there are a few steps you should always follow:

• Skim the work you are summarizing before you read it. Notice what stands out to you.
• Next, read it in depth . Do the same things stand out?
• Put the full text away and write in a few sentences what the main idea or point was.
• Go back and compare to make sure you didn’t forget anything.
• Expand on this to write and then edit your summary.

Each type of academic summary requires slightly different things. Let’s get down to details.

How Do I Write a Summary Paper?

Sometimes teachers assign something called a summary paper . In this, the entire thing is a summary of one article, book, story, or report.

To understand how to write this paper, let’s talk a little bit about the purpose of such an assignment.

A summary paper is usually given to help a teacher see how well a student understands a reading assignment, but also to help the student digest the reading. Sometimes, it can be difficult to understand things we read right away.

However, a good way to process the information is to put it in our own words. That is the point of a summary paper.

A summary paper is:

• A way to explain in our own words what happened in a paper, book, etc.
• A time to think about what was important in the paper, etc.
• A time to think about the meaning and purpose behind the paper, etc.

Here are some things that a summary paper is not:

• A review. Your thoughts and opinions on the thing you are summarizing don’t need to be here unless otherwise specified.
• A comparison. A comparison paper has a lot of summary in it, but it is different than a summary paper. In this, you are just saying what happened, but you aren’t saying places it could have been done differently.
• A paraphrase (though you might have a little paraphrasing in there). In the section on using summary in longer papers, I talk more about the difference between summaries, paraphrases, and quotes.

Because a summary paper is usually longer than other forms of summary, you will be able to chose more detail. However, it still needs to focus on the important events. Summary papers are usually shorter papers.

Let’s say you are writing a 3–4 page summary. You are likely summarizing a full book or an article or short story, which will be much longer than 3–4 pages.

Imagine that you are the author of the work, and your editor comes to you and says they love what you wrote, but they need it to be 3–4 pages instead.

How would you tell that story (argument, idea, etc.) in that length without losing the heart or intent behind it? That is what belongs in a summary paper.

How Do I Write Useful Academic Notes?

Sometimes, you need to write a summary for yourself in the form of notes or for your classmates in the form of a discussion post.

You might not think you need a specific approach for this. After all, only you are going to see it.

However, summarizing for yourself can sometimes be the most difficult type of summary. If you try to write down everything your teacher says, your hand will cramp and you’ll likely miss a lot.

Yet, transcribing doesn’t work because studies show that writing things down (not typing them) actually helps you remember them better.

So how do you find the balance between summarizing the lessons without leaving out important points?

There are some tips for this:

• If your professor writes it on the board, it is probably important.
• What points do your textbooks include when summarizing information? Use these as a guide.
• Write the highlight of every X amount of time, with X being the time you can go without missing anything or getting tired. This could be one point per minute, or three per five minutes, etc.

How Do I Create an Annotated Biography?

An annotated bibliography requires a very specific style of writing. Often, you will write these before a longer research paper . They will ask you to find a certain amount of articles and write a short annotation for each of them.

While an annotation is more than just a summary, it usually starts with a summary of the work. This will be about 2–3 sentences long. Because you don’t have a lot of room, you really have to think about what the most important thing the work says is.

This will basically ask you to explain the point of the article in these couple of sentences, so you should focus on the main point when expressing it.

Here is an example of a summary section within an annotation about this post:

“In this post, the author explains how to write a summary in different types of settings. She walks through academic, professional, and personal summaries. Ultimately, she claims that summaries should be short explanations that get the audience caught up on the topic without leaving out details that would change the meaning.”

Can I Write a Summary Within an Essay?

Perhaps the most common type of summary you will ever do is a short summary within a longer paper.

For example, if you have to write an argumentative essay, you will likely need to use sources to help support your argument.

However, there is a good chance that your readers won’t have read those same sources.

So, you need to give them enough detail to understand your topic without spending too much time explaining and not enough making your argument.

While this depends on exactly how you are using summary in your paper, often, a good amount of summary is the same amount you would put in an annotation.

Just a few sentences will allow the reader to get an idea of the work before moving on to specific parts of it that might help your argument.

What’s the Difference Between Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Using Quotes?

One important thing to recognize when using summaries in academic settings is that summaries are different than paraphrases or quotes.

A summary is broader and more general. A paraphrase, on the other hand, puts specific parts into your own words. A quote uses the exact words of the original. All of them, however, need to be cited.

Let’s look at an example:

Take these words by Thomas J. Watson:

”Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t as all. You can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.”

Let’s say I was told to write a summary, a paraphrase, and a quote about this statement. This is what it might look like:

Summary: Thomas J. Watson said that the key to success is actually to fail more often. (This is broad and doesn’t go into details about what he says, but it still gives him credit.)

Paraphrase: Thomas J. Watson, on asking if people would like his formula for success, said that the secret was to fail twice as much. He claimed that when you decide to learn from your mistakes instead of being disappointed by them, and when you start making a lot of them, you will actually find more success. (This includes most of the details, but it is in my own words, while still crediting the source.)

Quote: Thomas J. Watson said, ”Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.” (This is the exact words of the original with quotation marks and credit given.)

Avoiding Plagiarism

One of the hardest parts about summarizing someone else’s writing is avoiding plagiarism .

That’s why I have a few rules/tips for you when summarizing anything:

1. Always cite.

If you are talking about someone else’s work in any means, cite your source. If you are summarizing the entire work, all you probably need to do (depending on style guidelines) is say the author’s name. However, if you are summarizing a specific chapter or section, you should state that specifically. Finally, you should make sure to include it in your Work Cited or Reference page.

2. Change the wording.

Sometimes when people are summarizing or paraphrasing a work, they get too close to the original, and actually use the exact words. Unless you use quotation marks, this is plagiarism. However, a good way to avoid this is to hide the article while you are summarizing it. If you don’t have it in front of you, you are less likely to accidentally use the exact words. (However, after you are done, double check that you didn’t miss anything important or give wrong details.)

3. Use a plagiarism checker.

Of course, when you are writing any summary, especially academic summaries, it can be easy to cross the line into plagiarism. If this is a place where you struggle, then ProWritingAid can help.

Just use our Plagiarism Report . It’ll highlight any unoriginal text in your document so you can make sure you are citing everything correctly and summarizing in your own words.

Find out more about ProWritingAid plagiarism bundles.

Along with academic summaries, you might sometimes need to write professional summaries. Often, this means writing a summary about yourself that shows why you are qualified for a position or organization.

In this section, let’s talk about two types of professional summaries: a LinkedIn summary and a summary section within a resume.

How Do I Write My LinkedIn Bio?

LinkedIn is all about professional networking. It offers you a chance to share a brief glimpse of your professional qualifications in a paragraph or two.

This can then be sent to professional connections, or even found by them without you having to reach out. This can help you get a job or build your network.

Your summary is one of the first things a future employer might see about you, and how you write yours can make you stand out from the competition.

Here are some tips on writing a LinkedIn summary :

• Before you write it, think about what you want it to do . If you are looking for a job, what kind of job? What have you done in your past that would stand out to someone hiring for that position? That is what you will want to focus on in your summary.
• Be professional . Unlike many social media platforms, LinkedIn has a reputation for being more formal. Your summary should reflect that to some extent.
• Use keywords . Your summary is searchable, so using keywords that a recruiter might be searching for can help them find you.
• Focus on the start . LinkedIn shows the first 300 characters automatically, and then offers the viewer a chance to read more. Make that start so good that everyone wants to keep reading.
• Focus on accomplishments . Think of your life like a series of albums, and this is your speciality “Greatest Hits” album. What “songs” are you putting on it?

How Do I Summarize My Experience on a Resume?

Writing a professional summary for a resume is different than any other type of summary that you may have to do.

Recruiters go through a lot of resumes every day. They don’t have time to spend ages reading yours, which means you have to wow them quickly.

To do that, you might include a section at the top of your resume that acts almost as an elevator pitch: That one thing you might say to a recruiter to get them to want to talk to you if you only had a 30-second elevator ride.

If you don’t have a lot of experience, though, you might want to skip this section entirely and focus on playing up the experience you do have.

Outside of academic and personal summaries, you use summary a lot in your day-to-day life.

Whether it is telling a good piece of trivia you just learned or a funny story that happened to you, or even setting the stage in creative writing, you summarize all the time.

How you use summary can be an important consideration in whether people want to read your work (or listen to you talk).

Here are some things to think about when telling a story:

• Pick interesting details . Too many and your point will be lost. Not enough, and you didn’t paint the scene or give them a complete idea about what happened.
• Play into the emotions . When telling a story, you want more information than the bare minimum. You want your reader to get the emotion of the story. That requires a little bit more work to accomplish.
• Focus. A summary of one story can lead to another can lead to another. Think about storytellers that you know that go off on a tangent. They never seem to finish one story without telling 100 others!

To wrap up (and to demonstrate everything I just talked about), let’s summarize this post into its most essential parts:

A summary is a great way to quickly give your audience the information they need to understand the topic you are discussing without having to know every detail.

How you write a summary is different depending on what type of summary you are doing:

• An academic summary usually gets to the heart of an article, book, or journal, and it should highlight the main points in your own words. How long it should be depends on the type of assignment it is.
• A professional summary highlights you and your professional, academic, and volunteer history. It shows people in your professional network who you are and why they should hire you, work with you, use your talents, etc.

Being able to tell a good story is another form of summary. You want to tell engaging anecdotes and facts without boring your listeners. This is a skill that is developed over time.

Take your writing to the next level:

20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers

Whether you are writing a novel, essay, article, or email, good writing is an essential part of communicating your ideas., this guide contains the 20 most important writing tips and techniques from a wide range of professional writers..

Be confident about grammar

Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

Ashley Shaw

Ashley Shaw is a former editor and marketer/current PhD student and teacher. When she isn't studying con artists for her dissertation, she's thinking of new ways to help college students better understand and love the writing process. You can follow her on Twitter, or, if you prefer animal accounts, follow her rabbits, Audrey Hopbun and Fredra StaHare, on Instagram.

Get started with ProWritingAid

Drop us a line or let's stay in touch via:

• USC Libraries
• Research Guides

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

• Executive Summary
• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Independent and Dependent Variables
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Reading Research Effectively
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Applying Critical Thinking
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Research Process Video Series
• The C.A.R.S. Model
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tiertiary Sources
• Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Insiderness
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Writing Concisely
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Generative AI and Writing
• USC Libraries Tutorials and Other Guides
• Bibliography

An executive summary is a thorough overview of a research report or other type of document that synthesizes key points for its readers, saving them time and preparing them to understand the study's overall content. It is a separate, stand-alone document of sufficient detail and clarity to ensure that the reader can completely understand the contents of the main research study. An executive summary can be anywhere from 1-10 pages long depending on the length of the report, or it can be the summary of more than one document [e.g., papers submitted for a group project].

Bailey, Edward, P. The Plain English Approach to Business Writing . (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 73-80 Todorovic, Zelimir William and Marietta Wolczacka Frye. “Writing Effective Executive Summaries: An Interdisciplinary Examination.” In United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Conference Proceedings . (Decatur, IL: United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 2009): pp. 662-691.

Importance of a Good Executive Summary

Although an executive summary is similar to an abstract in that they both summarize the contents of a research study, there are several key differences. With research abstracts, the author's recommendations are rarely included, or if they are, they are implicit rather than explicit. Recommendations are generally not stated in academic abstracts because scholars operate in a discursive environment, where debates, discussions, and dialogs are meant to precede the implementation of any new research findings. The conceptual nature of much academic writing also means that recommendations arising from the findings are distributed widely and not easily or usefully encapsulated. Executive summaries are used mainly when a research study has been developed for an organizational partner, funding entity, or other external group that participated in the research . In such cases, the research report and executive summary are often written for policy makers outside of academe, while abstracts are written for the academic community. Professors, therefore, assign the writing of executive summaries so students can practice synthesizing and writing about the contents of comprehensive research studies for external stakeholder groups.

When preparing to write, keep in mind that:

• An executive summary is not an abstract.
• An executive summary is not an introduction.
• An executive summary is not a preface.
• An executive summary is not a random collection of highlights.

Christensen, Jay. Executive Summaries Complete The Report. California State University Northridge; Clayton, John. "Writing an Executive Summary that Means Business." Harvard Management Communication Letter (July 2003): 2-4; Keller, Chuck. "Stay Healthy with a Winning Executive Summary." Technical Communication 41 (1994): 511-517; Murphy, Herta A., Herbert W. Hildebrandt, and Jane P. Thomas. Effective Business Communications . New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997; Vassallo, Philip. "Executive Summaries: Where Less Really is More." ETC.: A Review of General Semantics 60 (Spring 2003): 83-90 .

Structure and Writing Style

Writing an Executive Summary

Read the Entire Document This may go without saying, but it is critically important that you read the entire research study thoroughly from start to finish before you begin to write the executive summary. Take notes as you go along, highlighting important statements of fact, key findings, and recommended courses of action. This will better prepare you for how to organize and summarize the study. Remember this is not a brief abstract of 300 words or less but, essentially, a mini-paper of your paper, with a focus on recommendations.

Isolate the Major Points Within the Original Document Choose which parts of the document are the most important to those who will read it. These points must be included within the executive summary in order to provide a thorough and complete explanation of what the document is trying to convey.

Separate the Main Sections Closely examine each section of the original document and discern the main differences in each. After you have a firm understanding about what each section offers in respect to the other sections, write a few sentences for each section describing the main ideas. Although the format may vary, the main sections of an executive summary likely will include the following:

• An opening statement, with brief background information,
• The purpose of research study,
• Method of data gathering and analysis,
• Overview of findings, and,
• A description of each recommendation, accompanied by a justification. Note that the recommendations are sometimes quoted verbatim from the research study.

Combine the Information Use the information gathered to combine them into an executive summary that is no longer than 10% of the original document. Be concise! The purpose is to provide a brief explanation of the entire document with a focus on the recommendations that have emerged from your research. How you word this will likely differ depending on your audience and what they care about most. If necessary, selectively incorporate bullet points for emphasis and brevity. Re-read your Executive Summary After you've completed your executive summary, let it sit for a while before coming back to re-read it. Check to make sure that the summary will make sense as a separate document from the full research study. By taking some time before re-reading it, you allow yourself to see the summary with fresh, unbiased eyes.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Length of the Executive Summary As a general rule, the correct length of an executive summary is that it meets the criteria of no more pages than 10% of the number of pages in the original document, with an upper limit of no more than ten pages [i.e., ten pages for a 100 page document]. This requirement keeps the document short enough to be read by your audience, but long enough to allow it to be a complete, stand-alone synopsis. Cutting and Pasting With the exception of specific recommendations made in the study, do not simply cut and paste whole sections of the original document into the executive summary. You should paraphrase information from the longer document. Avoid taking up space with excessive subtitles and lists, unless they are absolutely necessary for the reader to have a complete understanding of the original document. Consider the Audience Although unlikely to be required by your professor, there is the possibility that more than one executive summary will have to be written for a given document [e.g., one for policy-makers, one for private industry, one for philanthropists]. This may only necessitate the rewriting of the introduction and conclusion, but it could require rewriting the entire summary in order to fit the needs of the reader. If necessary, be sure to consider the types of audiences who may benefit from your study and make adjustments accordingly. Clarity in Writing One of the biggest mistakes you can make is related to the clarity of your executive summary. Always note that your audience [or audiences] are likely seeing your research study for the first time. The best way to avoid a disorganized or cluttered executive summary is to write it after the study is completed. Always follow the same strategies for proofreading that you would for any research paper. Use Strong and Positive Language Don’t weaken your executive summary with passive, imprecise language. The executive summary is a stand-alone document intended to convince the reader to make a decision concerning whether to implement the recommendations you make. Once convinced, it is assumed that the full document will provide the details needed to implement the recommendations. Although you should resist the temptation to pad your summary with pleas or biased statements, do pay particular attention to ensuring that a sense of urgency is created in the implications, recommendations, and conclusions presented in the executive summary. Be sure to target readers who are likely to implement the recommendations.

Bailey, Edward, P. The Plain English Approach to Business Writing . (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 73-80; Christensen, Jay. Executive Summaries Complete The Report. California State University Northridge; Executive Summaries. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Clayton, John. "Writing an Executive Summary That Means Business." Harvard Management Communication Letter , 2003; Executive Summary. University Writing Center. Texas A&M University;  Green, Duncan. Writing an Executive Summary.   Oxfam’s Research Guidelines series ; Guidelines for Writing an Executive Summary. Astia.org; Markowitz, Eric. How to Write an Executive Summary. Inc. Magazine, September, 15, 2010; Kawaski, Guy. The Art of the Executive Summary. "How to Change the World" blog; Keller, Chuck. "Stay Healthy with a Winning Executive Summary." Technical Communication 41 (1994): 511-517; The Report Abstract and Executive Summary. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing Executive Summaries. Effective Writing Center. University of Maryland; Kolin, Philip. Successful Writing at Work . 10th edition. (Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2013), p. 435-437; Moral, Mary. "Writing Recommendations and Executive Summaries." Keeping Good Companies 64 (June 2012): 274-278; Todorovic, Zelimir William and Marietta Wolczacka Frye. “Writing Effective Executive Summaries: An Interdisciplinary Examination.” In United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Conference Proceedings . (Decatur, IL: United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 2009): pp. 662-691.

• << Previous: 3. The Abstract
• Next: 4. The Introduction >>
• Last Updated: Sep 27, 2024 1:09 PM
• URL: https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide