summary review essay

Introduction

Goals and Goal Setting

Goals Common to All RST Writers

Other Goals to Consider

Defining My Own Goals

Advice about Assignments

Getting Started: Listing Topics to Write about in the Tutorial

Narrative One: Personal Piece on a Significant Experience

Narrative Two: Academic Piece on a Significant Experience

Summary/Response One

Summary/Response Two

Tutorial Evaluation Postscript

On Using the Resources for Writers

Generating and Developing Ideas

Finding/Expressing Main Ideas

Showing v. Telling Sentences

Focusing Topic Sentences

Thesis Statements

Reading Strategies

Assessing Your Reading Strategies

Summarizing

Writing Effective Summary and Response Essays

Discourse Analysis Worksheet

Trade Magazines

Selecting Readings

A summary is a concise paraphrase of all the main ideas in an essay. It cites the author and the title (usually in the first sentence); it contains the essay's thesis and supporting ideas; it may use direct quotation of forceful or concise statements of the author's ideas; it will NOT usually cite the author's examples or supporting details unless they are central to the main idea. Most summaries present the major points in the order that the author made them and continually refer back to the article being summarized (i.e. "Damon argues that ..." or "Goodman also points out that ... "). The summary should take up no more than one-third the length of the work being summarized.

The Response:

A response is a critique or evaluation of the author's essay. Unlike the summary, it is composed of YOUR opinions in relation to the article being summarized. It examines ideas that you agree or disagree with and identifies the essay's strengths and weaknesses in reasoning and logic, in quality of supporting examples, and in organization and style. A good response is persuasive; therefore, it should cite facts, examples, and personal experience that either refutes or supports the article you're responding to, depending on your stance.

Two Typical Organizational Formats for Summary/Response Essays:

1. Present the summary in a block of paragraphs, followed by the response in a block:

Intro/thesis Summary (two to three paragraphs) Agreement (or disagreement) Disagreement (or agreement) Conclusion

Note: Some essays will incorporate both agreement and disagreement in a response, but this is not mandatory.

2. Introduce the essay with a short paragraph that includes your thesis. Then, each body paragraph summarizes one point and responds to it, and a conclusion wraps the essay up.

Intro/thesis Summary point one; agree/disagree Summary point two; agree/disagree Summary point three; agree/disagree Conclusion

How to Summarize an Essay: Proven Strategies and Tips

Learning how to summarize an essay is an important skill to develop during your academic career. As a student, you will likely be assigned many essays to read, and as part of these assignments, you’ll likely have to write responses to them and/or discuss them with your classmates. In order to do that, you’ll have to be able to restate briefly what the essay says.

Beyond summarizing essays for assignments, developing this skill will also enhance your ability to think critically, review efficiently, and read with a discerning eye.

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What is essay summarization?

Essay summarization is the process of distilling the main points, arguments, and essential information from an essay into a concise overview. An essay summary is short, just a paragraph or two, and discusses the essay’s key details and themes.

Summarizing an essay is not the same as writing or reviewing an essay. In a review, you incorporate your personal insights, opinions, and critiques. A summary, on the other hand, is a completely objective piece of writing that only includes information that can be found in the source material.

If you’ve ever been asked to write an abstract about an essay, you’re already familiar with writing an essay summary . That’s because an abstract is a summary of a piece of academic writing , such as an essay or research paper. It states the essay’s main argument, supporting evidence, and conclusions.

Preparing to summarize an essay

A strong summary effectively communicates the original essay’s thesis statement and supporting arguments. To write a strong summary, read the essay carefully and take notes on:

• Its main argument and the evidence used to support it
• Any additional arguments in the essay
• The type of essay it is (analytical, expository, personal, etc.)
• The essay’s structure
• References made in the essay, if any

Out of all of these points, identifying and discussing the essay’s thesis statement is the most important. If you’re not sure of the essay’s thesis statement, reread its introductory paragraph and determine the main point its author is making. It can be helpful to ask yourself, “What is this essay about?” The answer can help you decode the thesis statement.

Reading strategies for effective summarization

As you read the essay critically, take detailed notes. Although you can glean the essay’s structure from skimming it, you shouldn’t only skim the text. To fully understand it, you need to read the essay closely, ideally without distractions.

Highlight key information and include it in your notes. By isolating key information like the thesis statement, cited references, and supporting arguments, you’re setting yourself up to write a strong outline for your summary.

Steps to summarize an essay

To effectively summarize an essay, follow these steps:

1 Read the essay: Fully read the essay to understand its main argument and structure. As you do this, identify the essay’s thesis statement and main arguments, which will be featured in your summary.

2 Identify main points: Pinpoint the key points and arguments within the essay.

3 Take notes: Write down the major points and any crucial supporting evidence.

4 Draft your summary: Start with the essay’s main argument, then concisely outline the primary points in your own words.

5 Review for accuracy: Compare your summary to the original to ensure you’ve accurately captured the essential ideas.

6 Cite the original essay: If applicable, properly cite the original work to acknowledge your source. This is important for avoiding plagiarism . Citations also allow readers of your summary to locate the original essay for further reading or verification of the details. Depending on the citation style you’re required to use (such as APA , MLA , Chicago ), the format of your citation will vary. Make sure to follow the specific guidelines of the citation style you’re using to ensure accuracy and consistency. Grammarly’s citation generator makes this easy.

7 Proofread: Proofread your summary for clarity, grammar, and spelling errors. Grammarly’s free AI-powered grammar checker can pinpoint grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and punctuation inaccuracies in seconds. Additionally, reading your summary aloud can help you catch errors or awkward phrasing that you might miss when reading silently.

Dos and don’ts of essay summarization

When you’re writing an essay summary, stick to the following best practices:

• Be objective. No matter what kind of essay you’re summarizing, the correct tone is a neutral, academic one.
• Cite your sources. With an academic essay, it’s likely you’ll mention academic sources in your summary. Be sure to cite them to avoid unintentional plagiarism . Additionally, you can use Grammarly to acknowledge your use of AI if you’ve used a tool like Grammarly’s free summary generator.
• Keep it short. A summary should only cover the original essay’s highlights. You can omit details that aren’t directly relevant to the thesis statement.

Additionally, avoid the following:

• Including your opinions or interpretations. A summary is a straightforward, informational piece of writing.
• Misinterpreting the essay’s argument. Every essay, even those that are not argumentative essays, has a specific argument or position—also known as the thesis statement . Read the essay thoroughly and carefully, checking that the supporting arguments align with the thesis statement, to ensure you understand it. You don’t need to agree with it to summarize the essay—you just need to understand it.

The importance of critical thinking in summarization

With essays, more critical thinking is necessary on the summarizer’s part than with other types of writing, like stories. This is because your summary needs to represent the original essay accurately. That means you can’t merely regurgitate what you’ve read—you must also clearly express its intent and goals. As you read and take notes, answer the following questions:

• What is the author communicating through their essay?
• How do they support this position?
• Why might they feel this position is correct and important?

Example of an essay summary

What is the human experience? In her essay “This Is the Life,” Annie Dillard explores this question and themes of cultural relativism as she introduces a wide range of scenarios, asking the reader to contemplate them. Throughout the essay, Dillard asks questions surrounding these scenarios, simultaneously suggesting that some knowledge is inherent to humanity, like the knowledge that bees sting. Tying these experiences together, Dillard states the actions all humans perform, noting that “most humans who were ever alive lived inside a single culture that had not changed for hundreds of thousands of years.” (Dillard).

(Summarized from This Is the Life: Annie Dillard Asks, Then What? )

Tools and resources for summarizing essays

Grammarly’s AI-powered summary generator can help you write all kinds of summaries, including essay summaries, in just a few clicks. Use it to draft concise, well-formatted summaries efficiently. After drafting, use Grammarly to cite the original source of your summary to prevent plagiarism . This step is crucial for maintaining academic integrity and giving credit where it’s due. Navigate responsible AI use with Grammarly’s  AI checker , trained to identify AI-generated text.

Essay summarization FAQs

Essay summarization is the process of condensing an essay’s main points and ideas into a shorter, clearer form without losing the original meaning.

What’s the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing an essay?

Summarizing involves creating a concise overview of an essay, focusing only on its main points, without inserting personal views. Paraphrasing , on the other hand, entails rewriting the essay in your own words, covering all its points but in a more condensed form than the original.

How do I avoid plagiarism when summarizing an essay?

Avoid plagiarism when summarizing an essay by writing the summary in your own words. When you absolutely need to borrow text from either the original story or another summary, make sure to cite the source. Grammarly offers generative AI features to enable responsible AI use throughout the entire writing process. Grammarly also makes it easy for you to acknowledge your use of AI.

How can I make my essay summary stand out?

Make your essay summary stand out by accurately summarizing the original’s thesis statement and supporting arguments in an engaging way. Be clear and get straight to the point. Start with a strong sentence that shows what the essay is about, stick to the main ideas, and refrain from including your opinion.

How can I use AI to summarize essays?

AI tools like Grammarly’s summary generator make it easy to quickly pinpoint the main ideas of an essay and distill them into a concise, well-formatted summary. Then you can use Grammarly to refine your summary further, ensuring it’s mistake-free and effectiv

REVIEW ESSAY: MEANING, STRUCTURE, TIPS

Stylianos M.

Checked : Dana E. , Deja Tyla S.

Latest Update 12 Jan, 2024

Table of content

MEANING OF A REVIEW ESSAY

1. come up with a title, 2. cite the articles you are working on, 3. identify the articles, structure of a review essay, • introduction, • the conclusion, examples of review essay topics:.

A review essay shows a writer’s feelings and opinions on the major themes and messages that an author tries to pass across in a piece of literature. It is a critical discussion and evaluation of a book where the writer’s opinion about the book is supported by concrete evidence from the book.

The review essay should be based on the opinions or analysis of other writers about the book. It requires two stages which are: developing an argument about the essay and writing a well-organized review. It can also be defined as the review of two or more readings covered in a course.

The purpose of this essay is to show students that they understand the arguments and main points of readings and also organize them into a coherent, integrated and thematic fashion. This type of essay does not aim to develop your research skills, thus, you are not expected to make research outside the papers you have been given. The key purpose of the paper is to develop your analytical and writing skills.

Oftentimes, the writings or readings that are to be reviewed by students are based on different topics thus the major challenge faced by students writing review essays is to find and make connections between these topics and make these writings speak to each other by reorganizing them focusing on a specific part of these writings. To do this, you have to present an argument that makes this reading to be in agreement and full dialogue with each other. Your intellectual ability is the major thing that is required for you to be able to do this. The aim is for you to try to come up with a central theme that runs through the text itself and while reviewing the readings the theme is still fully interpreted.

Important things you need to do before you start writing the introduction to the review essay. 

The title should show and reflect the focus of the whole essay. Decide between a declarative,  descriptive  or interrogative title.

You must let your reader know the articles that your reviews are based upon. The citation of the article should be just below the title of the article, and it should be done properly. Do not skip a line between the citation and the first sentence.

Start your review by referring to the title and author of the article, the title of the journal and the year of publication in the first paragraph. Doing this will give anybody reading your review essay background information about what your essay is based on.

Just like all other types of essays, the structure of a review essay also consists of The Introduction, The Body and The Conclusion. 

The introduction should start with an identification sentence. The central theme and claims of the article or articles that you are reviewing should be mentioned here. Also, you need to put the thesis statement in the introduction. Here, the thesis statement can have more than one central idea. Since it might not be clearly stated in the article you are reviewing, you should try to come up with a suitable one that summarizes the major theme of your essay. The introduction should not be more than 10%-25% of the whole essay. It should be concluded with the thesis statement which should be on the last line of the introductory paragraph.

This is where you express your main points, arguments, and findings of the article in your own words, referring to the summary of the article for assistance. Show the reader how the article supports its claims and make your conclusions on the article. When you are writing the body of the essay, avoid writing in the first person pronouns and also do not cover specific examples, statistics or background information familiar to the experts in the field.

After you have read and understood the article correctly, use your knowledge to points out whether the article is clear and concise. Support your claims with evidence from the article, you can even use quotes from the article to back up your points. You can also show if the information provided by the author supports the main arguments of the essay. Identify a situation where the author has been biased and decide generally if you agree with the author or not and then give reasons for your decision.

The final paragraph of the essay should conclude by summarizing all the major points of the article, as well as your opinions about the significance and accuracy of those points. You can also comment on the effect of further research on the subject that the article is based on. Finish the conclusion by restating your thesis statement.

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Writing an article summary.

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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

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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

Summary: Using it Wisely

What this handout is about.

Knowing how to summarize something you have read, seen, or heard is a valuable skill, one you have probably used in many writing assignments. It is important, though, to recognize when you must go beyond describing, explaining, and restating texts and offer a more complex analysis. This handout will help you distinguish between summary and analysis and avoid inappropriate summary in your academic writing.

Is summary a bad thing?

Not necessarily. But it’s important that your keep your assignment and your audience in mind as you write. If your assignment requires an argument with a thesis statement and supporting evidence—as many academic writing assignments do—then you should limit the amount of summary in your paper. You might use summary to provide background, set the stage, or illustrate supporting evidence, but keep it very brief: a few sentences should do the trick. Most of your paper should focus on your argument. (Our handout on argument will help you construct a good one.)

Writing a summary of what you know about your topic before you start drafting your actual paper can sometimes be helpful. If you are unfamiliar with the material you’re analyzing, you may need to summarize what you’ve read in order to understand your reading and get your thoughts in order. Once you figure out what you know about a subject, it’s easier to decide what you want to argue.

You may also want to try some other pre-writing activities that can help you develop your own analysis. Outlining, freewriting, and mapping make it easier to get your thoughts on the page. (Check out our handout on brainstorming for some suggested techniques.)

Why is it so tempting to stick with summary and skip analysis?

Many writers rely too heavily on summary because it is what they can most easily write. If you’re stalled by a difficult writing prompt, summarizing the plot of The Great Gatsby may be more appealing than staring at the computer for three hours and wondering what to say about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s use of color symbolism. After all, the plot is usually the easiest part of a work to understand. Something similar can happen even when what you are writing about has no plot: if you don’t really understand an author’s argument, it might seem easiest to just repeat what he or she said.

To write a more analytical paper, you may need to review the text or film you are writing about, with a focus on the elements that are relevant to your thesis. If possible, carefully consider your writing assignment before reading, viewing, or listening to the material about which you’ll be writing so that your encounter with the material will be more purposeful. (We offer a handout on reading towards writing .)

How do I know if I’m summarizing?

As you read through your essay, ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I stating something that would be obvious to a reader or viewer?
• Does my essay move through the plot, history, or author’s argument in chronological order, or in the exact same order the author used?
• Am I simply describing what happens, where it happens, or whom it happens to?

A “yes” to any of these questions may be a sign that you are summarizing. If you answer yes to the questions below, though, it is a sign that your paper may have more analysis (which is usually a good thing):

• Am I making an original argument about the text?
• Have I arranged my evidence around my own points, rather than just following the author’s or plot’s order?
• Am I explaining why or how an aspect of the text is significant?

Certain phrases are warning signs of summary. Keep an eye out for these:

• “[This essay] is about…”
• “[This book] is the story of…”
• “[This author] writes about…”
• “[This movie] is set in…”

Here’s an example of an introductory paragraph containing unnecessary summary. Sentences that summarize are in italics:

The Great Gatsby is the story of a mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby, who lives alone on an island in New York. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the book, but the narrator is Nick Carraway. Nick is Gatsby’s neighbor, and he chronicles the story of Gatsby and his circle of friends, beginning with his introduction to the strange man and ending with Gatsby’s tragic death. In the story, Nick describes his environment through various colors, including green, white, and grey. Whereas white and grey symbolize false purity and decay respectively, the color green offers a symbol of hope.

Here’s how you might change the paragraph to make it a more effective introduction:

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald provides readers with detailed descriptions of the area surrounding East Egg, New York. In fact, Nick Carraway’s narration describes the setting with as much detail as the characters in the book. Nick’s description of the colors in his environment presents the book’s themes, symbolizing significant aspects of the post-World War I era. Whereas white and grey symbolize the false purity and decay of the 1920s, the color green offers a symbol of hope.

This version of the paragraph mentions the book’s title, author, setting, and narrator so that the reader is reminded of the text. And that sounds a lot like summary—but the paragraph quickly moves on to the writer’s own main topic: the setting and its relationship to the main themes of the book. The paragraph then closes with the writer’s specific thesis about the symbolism of white, grey, and green.

How do I write more analytically?

Analysis requires breaking something—like a story, poem, play, theory, or argument—into parts so you can understand how those parts work together to make the whole. Ideally, you should begin to analyze a work as you read or view it instead of waiting until after you’re done—it may help you to jot down some notes as you read. Your notes can be about major themes or ideas you notice, as well as anything that intrigues, puzzles, excites, or irritates you. Remember, analytic writing goes beyond the obvious to discuss questions of how and why—so ask yourself those questions as you read.

The St. Martin’s Handbook (the bulleted material below is quoted from p. 38 of the fifth edition) encourages readers to take the following steps in order to analyze a text:

• Identify evidence that supports or illustrates the main point or theme as well as anything that seems to contradict it.
• Consider the relationship between the words and the visuals in the work. Are they well integrated, or are they sometimes at odds with one another? What functions do the visuals serve? To capture attention? To provide more detailed information or illustration? To appeal to readers’ emotions?
• Decide whether the sources used are trustworthy.
• Identify the work’s underlying assumptions about the subject, as well as any biases it reveals.

Once you have written a draft, some questions you might want to ask yourself about your writing are “What’s my point?” or “What am I arguing in this paper?” If you can’t answer these questions, then you haven’t gone beyond summarizing. You may also want to think about how much of your writing comes from your own ideas or arguments. If you’re only reporting someone else’s ideas, you probably aren’t offering an analysis.

What strategies can help me avoid excessive summary?

• Read the assignment (the prompt) as soon as you get it. Make sure to reread it before you start writing. Go back to your assignment often while you write. (Check out our handout on reading assignments ).
• Formulate an argument (including a good thesis) and be sure that your final draft is structured around it, including aspects of the plot, story, history, background, etc. only as evidence for your argument. (You can refer to our handout on constructing thesis statements ).
• Read critically—imagine having a dialogue with the work you are discussing. What parts do you agree with? What parts do you disagree with? What questions do you have about the work? Does it remind you of other works you’ve seen?
• Make sure you have clear topic sentences that make arguments in support of your thesis statement. (Read our handout on paragraph development if you want to work on writing strong paragraphs).
• Use two different highlighters to mark your paper. With one color, highlight areas of summary or description. With the other, highlight areas of analysis. For many college papers, it’s a good idea to have lots of analysis and minimal summary/description.
• Ask yourself: What part of the essay would be obvious to a reader/viewer of the work being discussed? What parts (words, sentences, paragraphs) of the essay could be deleted without loss? In most cases, your paper should focus on points that are essential and that will be interesting to people who have already read or seen the work you are writing about.

But I’m writing a review! Don’t I have to summarize?

That depends. If you’re writing a critique of a piece of literature, a film, or a dramatic performance, you don’t necessarily need to give away much of the plot. The point is to let readers decide whether they want to enjoy it for themselves. If you do summarize, keep your summary brief and to the point.

Instead of telling your readers that the play, book, or film was “boring,” “interesting,” or “really good,” tell them specifically what parts of the work you’re talking about. It’s also important that you go beyond adjectives and explain how the work achieved its effect (how was it interesting?) and why you think the author/director wanted the audience to react a certain way. (We have a special handout on writing reviews that offers more tips.)

If you’re writing a review of an academic book or article, it may be important for you to summarize the main ideas and give an overview of the organization so your readers can decide whether it is relevant to their specific research interests.

If you are unsure how much (if any) summary a particular assignment requires, ask your instructor for guidance.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Barnet, Sylvan. 2015. A Short Guide to Writing about Art , 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Corrigan, Timothy. 2014. A Short Guide to Writing About Film , 9th ed. New York: Pearson.

Lunsford, Andrea A. 2015. The St. Martin’s Handbook , 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Zinsser, William. 2001. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction , 6th ed. New York: Quill.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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