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Writing Article Summaries

  • Understanding Article Summaries 

Common Problems in Article Summaries

Read carefully and closely, structure of the summary, writing the summary.

  • Sample Outlines and Paragraphs

Understanding Article Summaries

An article summary is a short, focused paper about one scholarly article that is informed by a critical reading of that article. For argumentative articles, the summary identifies, explains, and analyses the thesis and supporting arguments; for empirical articles, the summary identifies, explains, and analyses the research questions, methods, findings, and implications of the study.

Although article summaries are often short and rarely account for a large portion of your grade, they are a strong indicator of your reading and writing skills. Professors ask you to write article summaries to help you to develop essential skills in critical reading, summarizing, and clear, organized writing. Furthermore, an article summary requires you to read a scholarly article quite closely, which provides a useful introduction to the conventions of writing in your discipline (e.g. Political Studies, Biology, or Anthropology).

The most common problem that students have when writing an article summary is that they misunderstand the goal of the assignment. In an article summary, your job is to write about the article, not about the actual topic of the article. For example, if you are summarizing Smith’s article about the causes of the Bubonic plague in Europe, your summary should be about Smith’s article: What does she want to find out about the plague? What evidence does she use? What is her argument? You are not writing a paper about the actual causes of Bubonic plague in Europe.

Further, as a part of critical reading, you will often consider your own position on a topic or an argument; it is tempting to include an assessment or opinion about the thesis or findings, but this is not the goal of an article summary. Rather, you must identify, explain, and analyse the main point and how it is supported.

Your key to success in writing an article summary is your understanding of the article; therefore, it is essential to read carefully and closely. The Academic Skills Centre offers helpful instruction on the steps for critical reading: pre-reading, active and analytical reading, and reflection.

Argumentative Articles

As you read an argumentative article, consider the following questions:

  • What is the topic?
  • What is the research question? In other words, what is the author trying to find out about that topic?
  • How does the author position his/her article in relation to other studies of the topic?
  • What is the thesis or position? What are the supporting arguments?
  • How are supporting arguments developed? What kind of evidence is used?
  • What is the significance of the author’s thesis? What does it help you to understand about the topic?

Empirical Articles

As you read an empirical article, consider the following questions:

  • What is the research question?
  • What are the predictions and the rationale for these predictions?
  • What methods were used (participants, sampling, materials, procedure)? What were the variables and controls?
  • What were the main results?
  • Are the findings supported by previous research?
  • What are the limitations of the study?
  • What are the implications or applications of the findings?

Create a Reverse Outline

Creating a reverse outline is one way to ensure that you fully understand the article. Pre-read the article (read the abstract, introduction, and/or conclusion). Summarize the main question(s) and thesis or findings. Skim subheadings and topic sentences to understand the organization; make notes in the margins about each section. Read each paragraph within a section; make short notes about the main idea or purpose of each paragraph. This strategy will help you to see how parts of the article connect to the main idea or the whole of the article.

A summary is written in paragraph form and generally does not include subheadings. An introduction is important to clearly identify the article, the topic, the question or purpose of the article, and its thesis or findings. The body paragraphs for a summary of an argumentative article will explain how arguments and evidence support the thesis. Alternatively, the body paragraphs of an empirical article summary may explain the methods and findings, making connections to predictions. The conclusion explains the significance of the argument or implications of the findings. This structure ensures that your summary is focused and clear.

Professors will often give you a list of required topics to include in your summary and/or explain how they want you to organize your summary. Make sure you read the assignment sheet with care and adapt the sample outlines below accordingly.

One significant challenge in writing an article summary is deciding what information or examples from the article to include. Remember, article summaries are much shorter than the article itself. You do not have the space to explain every point the author makes. Instead, you will need to explain the author’s main points and find a few excellent examples that illustrate these points.

You should also keep in mind that article summaries need to be written in your own words. Scholarly writing can use complex terminology to explain complicated ideas, which makes it difficult to understand and to summarize correctly. In the face of difficult text, many students tend to use direct quotations, saving them the time and energy required to understand and reword it. However, a summary requires you to summarize, which means “to state briefly or succinctly” (Oxford English Dictionary) the main ideas presented in a text. The brevity must come from you, in your own words, which demonstrates that you understand the article.

Sample Outlines and Paragraph

Sample outline for an argumentative article summary.

  • General topic of article
  • Author’s research question or approach to the topic
  • Author’s thesis
  • Explain some key points and how they support the thesis
  • Provide a key example or two that the author uses as evidence to support these points
  • Review how the main points work together to support the thesis?
  • How does the author explain the significance or implications of his/her article?

Sample Outline for an Empirical Article Summary

  • General topic of study
  • Author’s research question
  • Variables and hypotheses
  • Participants
  • Experiment design
  • Materials used
  • Key results
  • Did the results support the hypotheses?
  • Implications or applications of the study
  • Major limitations of the study

Sample Paragraph

The paragraph below is an example of an introductory paragraph from a summary of an empirical article:

Tavernier and Willoughby’s (2014) study explored the relationships between university students’ sleep and their intrapersonal, interpersonal, and educational development. While the authors cited many scholars who have explored these relationships, they pointed out that most of these studies focused on unidirectional correlations over a short period of time. In contrast, Tavernier and Willoughby tested whether there was a bidirectional or unidirectional association between participants’ sleep quality and duration and several psychosocial factors including intrapersonal adjustment, friendship quality, and academic achievement. Further they conducted a longitudinal study over a period of three years in order to determine whether there were changes in the strength or direction of these associations over time. They predicted that sleep quality would correlate with measures of intrapersonal adjustment, friendship quality, and academic achievement; they further hypothesized that this correlation would be bidirectional: sleep quality would predict psychosocial measures and at the same time, psychosocial measures would predict sleep quality.

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When you underline and annotate a text, when you ask yourself questions about its contents, when you work out an outline of its structure, you are establishing your understanding of what you are reading. When you write a summary, you are demonstrating your understanding of the text and communicating it to your reader.

To summarize is to condense a text to its main points and to do so in your own words. To include every detail is neither necessary nor desirable. Instead, you should extract only those elements that you think are most important—the main idea (or thesis) and its essential supporting points, which in the original passage may have been interwoven with less important material.

Many students make the mistake of confusing summary with analysis. They are not the same thing. An analysis is a discussion of ideas, techniques, and/or meaning in a text. A summary, on the other hand, does not require you to critique or respond to the ideas in a text. When you analyze a piece of writing, you generally summarize the contents briefly in order to establish for the reader the ideas that your essay will then go on to analyze, but a summary is not a substitute for the analysis itself.

If you are writing a literature paper, for example, your teacher probably does not want you to simply write a plot summary. You may include some very brief summary within a literature paper, but only as much as necessary to make your own interpretation, your thesis, clear.

It is important to remember that a summary is not an outline or synopsis of the points that the author makes in the order that the author gives them. Instead, a summary is a distillation of the ideas or argument of the text. It is a reconstruction of the major point or points of development of a text, beginning with the thesis or main idea, followed by the points or details that support or elaborate on that idea.

If a text is organized in a linear fashion, you may be able to write a summary simply by paraphrasing the major points from the beginning of the text to the end. However, you should not assume that this will always be the case. Not all writers use such a straightforward structure. They may not state the thesis or main idea immediately at the beginning, but rather build up to it slowly, and they may introduce a point of development in one place and then return to it later in the text.

However, for the sake of clarity, a summary should present the author’s points in a straightforward structure. In order to write a good summary, you may have to gather minor points or components of an argument from different places in the text in order to summarize the text in an organized way. A point made in the beginning of an essay and then one made toward the end may need to be grouped together in your summary to concisely convey the argument that the author is making. In the end, you will have read, digested, and reconstructed the text in a shorter, more concise form.

WHEN AND HOW TO SUMMARIZE

There are many instances in which you will have to write a summary. You may be assigned to write a one or two page summary of an article or reading, or you may be asked to include a brief summary of a text as part of a response paper or critique. Also, you may write summaries of articles as part of the note-taking and planning process for a research paper, and you may want to include these summaries, or at least parts of them, in your paper. The writer of a research paper is especially dependent upon summary as a means of referring to source materials. Through the use of summary in a research paper, you can condense a broad range of information, and you can present and explain the relevance of a number of sources all dealing with the same subject.

You may also summarize your own paper in an introduction in order to present a brief overview of the ideas you will discuss throughout the rest of the paper.

Depending on the length and complexity of the original text as well as your purpose in using summary, a summary can be relatively brief—a short paragraph or even a single sentence—or quite lengthy—several paragraphs or even an entire paper.

QUALITIES OF A SUMMARY

A good summary should be comprehensive, concise, coherent, and independent . These qualities are explained below:

  • A summary must be comprehensive: You should isolate all the important points in the original passage and note them down in a list. Review all the ideas on your list, and include in your summary all the ones that are indispensable to the author's development of her/his thesis or main idea.
  • A summary must be concise: Eliminate repetitions in your list, even if the author restates the same points. Your summary should be considerably shorter than the source. You are hoping to create an overview; therefore, you need not include every repetition of a point or every supporting detail.
  • A summary must be coherent: It should make sense as a piece of writing in its own right; it should not merely be taken directly from your list of notes or sound like a disjointed collection of points.
  • A summary must be independent: You are not being asked to imitate the author of the text you are writing about. On the contrary, you are expected to maintain your own voice throughout the summary. Don't simply quote the author; instead use your own words to express your understanding of what you have read. After all, your summary is based on your interpretation of the writer's points or ideas. However, you should be careful not to create any misrepresentation or distortion by introducing comments or criticisms of your own.

TWO TECHNIQUES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

Summarizing shorter texts (ten pages or fewer).

  • Write a one-sentence summary of each paragraph.
  • Formulate a single sentence that summarizes the whole text.
  • Write a paragraph (or more): begin with the overall summary sentence and follow it with the paragraph summary sentences.
  • Rearrange and rewrite the paragraph to make it clear and concise, to eliminate repetition and relatively minor points, and to provide transitions. The final version should be a complete, unified, and coherent.

Summarizing Longer Texts (more than ten pages)

  • Outline the text. Break it down into its major sections—groups of paragraphs focused on a common topic—and list the main supporting points for each section.
  • Write a one or two sentence summary of each section.
  • Formulate a single sentence to summarize the whole text, looking at the author's thesis or topic sentences as a guide.
  • Write a paragraph (or more): begin with the overall summary sentence and follow it with the section summary sentences.
  • Rewrite and rearrange your paragraph(s) as needed to make your writing clear and concise, to eliminate relatively minor or repetitious points, and to provide transitions. Make sure your summary includes all the major supporting points of each idea. The final version should be a complete, unified, and coherent.

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Summarizing

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This resource provides guidelines for paraphrasing and summarizing the sources you have researched.

In many situations, you will not have to provide the level of detail that the original writer did. At such times, you should summarize, or remove minor details. Here’s an example:

Example: Overall, the first two quarters of 2008 have been profitable to the company. Nineteen of twenty departments report cutting costs at least twenty percent, and sales from fifteen departments have risen five percent, or about $5 million. Despite these positive developments, most department heads believe that they will not be able to maintain these levels for the remainder of the year.

Revision: The company has driven profits from January to June of 2008, but the rest of the year is not expected to be as good.

Unlike paraphrasing, the basic order of the original text is maintained. However, some words have been changed to close synonyms. When summarizing, avoid cutting too much important information.

For more information on paraphrasing, visit the OWL’s resource, Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing .

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Academic English UK

RESOURCES: Reading / Writing / Listening / Speaking / Argument / SPSE / Reading Tests / Summary / Dictogloss / Grammar / Vocab / Critical Thinking / Instant Lessons / Medical English / Graphs / New 2023 /

Academic Reading to Writing Summary

AEUK Academic Reading summaries have been specifically written for university reading tests. The texts are based around academic journals and the lesson includes key points with support and a model answer. Also includes a critical thinking worksheet.

summary writing university level

This short 10:50 lecture introduces the global cost of air pollution. It talks about the most polluted cities around the world, it explains how much air pollution costs developing countries and it puts forward measures to decrease air pollution at a global, national and individual level. The listening test includes: open answer questions; true, false, not given; multiple choice; and a gap fill summary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [B2/C1]  / Video [10.50] /  MP3 / PPT link in download  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

MEMBERS ONLY

This is a speaking seminar sheet that provides a range of questions for students to discuss together after they have done the reading and listening texts. The seminar provides students with an opportunity to discuss the content, share their opinions and build confidence in speaking.   Level *** ** [B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Artificial  Intelligence (A.i)

  • Listening Test 1
  • Listening Test 2
  • Lesson Book

Reading Summary & Response Writing

Topic: 100 year study of A.I (Stanford Uni, 2016) . Two page text (included) – students read the text, make notes of key ideas, relevant support and write a 250 word summary. Then they write 150-word critical response. Lesson includes a plan, outline, suggested main points and support, a model summary and model response [webpage] .   Level **** * [ B2/C1] Example / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

AEUK does not own the rights to the article: Full Text Source

£6.50 – Add to cart Checkout Added to cart

Losing control of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Sam Harris

TED Talk: An informative talk about the worries of A.I and how we fail to address the seriousness of what A.I could become. Example .  Level: ** ** * [C1]  /   Video [14:27]    / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

How can A.I save humanity?  – Kai Fu Lee,

TED TALK: This lecture discusses how China has embraced A.I technology and is accelerating its advancement. It focuses on the main challenges that we all face with an A.I future and how it will  positively  compliment our lives.   Level: ** ** * [B2/C1]  /   Video [14:42]   / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

£4.00 – Add to cart Checkout Added to cart

Artificial Intelligence Lesson PDF Book

Amazing value – five lessons in one book. introduction, definition, reading & summary writing, 2 x lecture listenings & seminar / example  , teacher membership / institutional membership.

£14.50 – Add to cart Checkout Added to cart

Amazon: the retail giant. Reading & Summary Writing Lesson 

The text provides an overview of the company, its innovative strategies, the digitalisation of warehousing systems and the darker side of working at Amazon. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers .  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: Amazon: The largest internet company in the world 

The text provides an overview of the company, its innovative strategies, the digitalisation of warehousing systems and the darker side of working at Amazon.The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

A short 8-minute listening lecture written by AEUK on Amazon. It discusses the company, recruitment, recent criticisms of safety and Amazon’s response,  It includes a video, test questions, tapescript and PPT.   Exampl e.  Level *** ** [B2/C1]  / Video [9.10] /  MP3 / PPT link in download  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Aviation  decarbonisation , writing summary – aviation decarbonisation: sustainable aviation fuel  [new 2022].

This 788-word text looks at the environmental impact of aviation. It talks about sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as an alternative to conventional jet fuel, it explains how SAF is produced and it discusses the issues that have been raised with SAF. The summary task includes: note-taking worksheet with key, summary writing exercise with one sample summary, and a critical thinking worksheet with suggested answers .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP  

Reading Test – Aviation Decarbonisation: Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)  [new 2022]

This 788-word text looks at the environmental impact of aviation. It talks about sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as an alternative to conventional jet fuel, it explains how SAF is produced and it discusses the issues that have been raised with SAF.  The reading test includes: matching headings to paragraphs; true, false, not given; open answer questions; summary identification exercise; reference words and a vocabulary task .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Listening Test – Aviation  Decarbonisation: Hydrogen Planes   [new 2022]

This short lecture talks about aviation decarbonisation. It looks at the connection between aviation and global average temperatures, it explains how hydrogen is a solution to reduce CO 2  emissions, it discusses the processing of hydrogen and how it would work in reality, and it examines the challenges of hydrogen-powered planes. The listening test includes: open answer questions; true, false, not given; multiple choice; and a gap fill summary.  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] / Video [10.25] /  MP3 / PPT link in download  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Aviation Decarbonisation Lesson PDF Book

Amazing value – four lessons in one book: reading test, reading to writing summary writing, listening test & speaking seminar.  example   teacher membership / institutional membership.

MEMBERS ONLY *

Behavioural Economics 

Writing summary:  behavioural economics  [new 2022].

This 773-word text discusses behavioural economics. It provides a definition of the key term, it analyses how different this type of economics is from classical economics, it looks at nudge theory along with examples of successful nudges and criticisms of the theory and it ends by considering how society can benefit through both types of economics. The summary task includes: note-taking worksheet with key, summary writing exercise with one sample summary, and a critical thinking worksheet with suggested answers .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] T TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP  

Reading Test: Behavioural Economics  [new 2022]

This 773-word text discusses behavioural economics. It provides a definition of the key term, it analyses how different this type of economics is from classical economics, it looks at nudge theory along with examples of successful nudges and criticisms of the theory and it ends by considering how society can benefit through both types of economics.  The reading test includes: matching headings to paragraphs; true, false, not given; reference words; open answer questions; citations; and a vocabulary task .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP /  INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Listening Test: Behavioural Economics  [new 2022]

This 10-minute lecture talks about how behavioural economics impacts government policy. It defines behavioural economics and nudge theory, it analyses the different types of nudges, it puts forward some successful examples of nudge theory before looking at some of the criticisms of the theory, and it ends with a brief summary. The listening test includes: open answer questions; gap fill summary; true, false, not given; a matching exercise; a gap fill completion activity; and a summary identification task.  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] / Video [10.00] /  MP3 / PPT link in download  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

This is a speaking seminar sheet that provides a range of questions for students to discuss together after they have done the reading and listening texts. The seminar provides students with an opportunity to discuss the content, share their opinions and build confidence in speaking.   Level *** ** [B2/C1]  TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Behavioural Economics  PDF Book

Amazing value – four lessons in one book: reading test, reading to writing summary writing, listening test & speaking seminar.  example teacher membership / institutional membership, summary writing: the path to brexit.  .

The text discusses the background history of the EU, its three key treaties and the economics of the EU. It then highlights the dissatisfaction of EU policy in the UK that led to the referendum and then explores the future policies of leaving the EU.The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers. ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: The path to Brexit.

The text discusses the background history of the EU, its three key treaties and the economics of the EU. It then highlights the dissatisfaction of EU policy in the UK that led to the referendum and then explores the future policies of leaving the EU. The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary . ( Example ).  Level *** ** [ B2/C1]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Summary Writing: CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility

The text discusses the popularity of CSR and its historical evolution from the 1950s. It highlights the key values associated with effective CSR policies and examines the key challenges of implementing it. Finally, the author points out that there are still a number of areas that need to be addressed regarding transparency and better legislation . The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers.   ( Example ) .  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility

The text discusses the popularity of CSR and its historical evolution from the 1950s. It highlights the key values associated with effective CSR policies and examines the key challenges of implementing it. Finally, the author points out that there are still a number of areas that need to be addressed regarding transparency and better legislation. The reading test worksheet tests   headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1]  TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Buy now pay later

Reading & summary writing lesson: buy now, pay later (new 2022).

This 793-word text defines Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), it talks about the users and the providers of the platform, it explains the benefits and the drawbacks of BNPL and it looks at what can be done to improve this way of purchasing products. The summary task includes: note-taking worksheet with key, summary writing exercise with one sample summary, and a critical thinking worksheet with suggested answers .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP  

Reading Test: Buy Now, Pay Later  [new 2022]

This 793-word text defines Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), it talks about the users and the providers of the platform, it explains the benefits and the drawbacks of BNPL and it looks at what can be done to improve this way of purchasing products. The reading test includes: matching headings to paragraphs; true, false, not given; open answer questions; summary identification exercise; reference words and a vocabulary task .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

This short lecture defines Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), discusses the market share of different countries, introduces Klarna the largest provider of BNPL, explains why Klarna is so successful and looks at the issues with BNPL using Klarna as an example. The listening test includes: open answer questions; true, false, not given; multiple choice; and a gap fill summary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [B2/C1]  / Video [10.14] /  MP3 / PPT link in download  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Circular Economy. Reading & Summary Writing Lesson 

The text provides an overview of both the linear and circular economy. It discusses the positive aspects of a circular economy and how economies can change to this new model. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: The Circular Economy 

The text provides an overview of both the linear and circular economy. It discusses the positive aspects of a circular economy and how economies can change to this new model.The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

TED Talk: A short listening lecture on what is the circular economy, how humans are the stewards of the earth and have a responsibility to protect it and examples of how the circular economy works. Exampl e.  Level *** ** [B2/C1]  / Video [13.13] / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Covid-19 pandemic, covid-19: reading & summary writing lesson [new for 2021].

The text provides an explanation of COVID-19, its possible origins, the global transmission of the virus, global responses and future control. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers . Example   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: COVID-19 Pandemic  [new for 2021]

The text provides an explanation of COVID-19, its possible origins, the global transmission of the virus, global responses and future control. The reading test worksheet includes:  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary. Example     Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

COVID-19 – Lecture Listening Test   [new for 2021]

This is a lecture on defining COVID-19, how COVID-19 affects the body, typical symptoms, why some people get sick and others don’t, COVID-19 mutations and recent vaccines. It includes a video, test questions and PPT. Worksheet Example   Level *** ** [B2/C1]   PPT link  /  Video   [12.14] / MP3 / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

COVID-19 Pandemic PDF Book [new for 2021]

Amazing value – five lessons in one book. introduction (internet research), reading test, summary writing, 1 x lecture listening & a seminar / example /   webpage link /.

  • TED Talk Listening 1
  • TED Talk Listening 2

Writing Summary: Dementia [new 2023]

This 1000-word text discusses dementia. It provides an extended definition of dementia, key facts and stats connected to dementia, the four types of dementia, and the diagnosis and possible treatments of dementia.   The summary task includes: note-taking worksheet with key, summary writing exercise with one sample summary, and a critical thinking worksheet with suggested answers .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP  

Reading Test: Dementia [new 2023]

This 1000-word text discusses dementia. It provides an extended definition of dementia, key facts and stats connected to dementia, the four types of dementia, and the diagnosis and possible treatments of dementia.   The reading test includes: matching headings to paragraphs; true, false, not given; reference words; open answer questions; citations; and a vocabulary task .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Alzheimer’s is not normal aging and we can cure it – Samuel Cohen [new 2023]

TED TALK: This talk discusses what happens in the brain of someone with this disease. It describes the incidence rate, the economic challenges and the results of the latest experiments. Listening worksheets use a range of test type questions: open questions; multiple choice; true, false; gap fills and more. Example   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] / Video [07.44] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

The dementia village that’s redefining elder care – Yvonne van Amerongen [new 2023]

TED TALK: This talk describes what the new ‘dementia village’ looks like, how it has been set up to support dementia sufferers and why it works. Listening worksheets use a range of test-type questions: open questions; gap fills; true, false; multiple-choice; table completion and more. Example   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] / Video [10.21]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

This seminar worksheet provides a a number of questions based on the reading and listenings. Students refer to the reading text and their listening notes and discuss some of the key points made in all texts. The seminar sheet includes the sources so students can refer to specific evidence by author. .   Level *** ** [B2/C1]  TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Dementia PDF Book [new 2023]

Amazing value – five lessons in one book: reading test, reading to writing summary writing, 2xlistening tests & speaking seminar.   example   teacher membership / institutional membership.

£12.50 – Add to cart Checkout Added to cart

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Writing summary: diversity, equity & inclusion (dei)  [new 2023].

This 800-word text discusses Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). It provides definitions of the key terms, it looks at the results of two studies into gender and ethnic representation and inclusion, it describes the changes that have taken place since the introduction of The Equality Act 2010, and it looks at strategies that can be implemented to encourage more effective DEI practices.   The summary task includes: note-taking worksheet with key, summary writing exercise with one sample summary, and a critical thinking worksheet with suggested answers .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [B1/ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP  

Reading Test: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)  [new 2023]

This 800-word text discusses Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). It provides definitions of the key terms, it looks at the results of two studies into gender and ethnic representation and inclusion, it describes the changes that have taken place since the introduction of The Equality Act 2010, and it looks at strategies that can be implemented to encourage more effective DEI practices.   The reading test includes: matching headings to paragraphs; true, false, not given; reference words; open answer questions; citations; and a vocabulary task .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [B1/ B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP  

Listening Test:  Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (Unconscious Bias)   [new 2023]

This 8-minute lecture talks about unconscious bias and unequal pay. It provides definitions of the key terms, it supports the definitions with concrete examples, it shows important data of how widespread these two issues are, and it puts forward some solutions to help solve these problems. The listening test includes: open answer questions; gap fill summary; true, false, not given; a matching exercise; a gap fill completion activity; and a summary identification task.  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] / Video [08.18] /  MP3 / PPT link in download  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Speaking Seminar: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)   [new 2023]

Diversity, equity & inclusion (dei) pdf book [new 2023].

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Economic Inequality

Economic inequality: reading & summary writing lesson.

The text discusses what is economic inequality and how it is measured. It also discusses the unfairness of wealth distribution between the rich and the poor and suggests possible solutions to address the situation. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers.  ( Example) Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: Economic Inequality.

The text defines economic inequality. It discuses differences in income distribution between the rich and poor, it highlights how inequality is measured and offers a range of solutions to address income inequality. The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Economic Inequality- Lecture Listening Lesson

This is a lecture on what is economic inequality, how is wealth distributed, how the past has affected the present and the current debate. it includes a video, test questions and ppt ( example ).   level *** ** [b2/c1] / ppt link in download   /   video   [10.00] teacher membership / institutional membership, economic inequality lesson pdf book, amazing value – five lessons in one book. introduction, definition, reading test & summary writing, 1 x lecture listening, [extra reading text] & seminar / example.

£12.50 – Add to cart Checkout Added to cart x

Ethical Consumerism

Financial crisis, summary writing: the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.

The text discusses the background history of the financial crash through focusing on prime and sub-prime mortgage lending. It then explores the key reasons behind the profitable trading systems of that time, highlighting the collapse and then the following banking regulations that were introduced in 2009/2010. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers.  ( Example ) .  Level *** **  [ B2/C1 ]  TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: The causes of the 2008 Financial Crisis

The text discusses the background history of the financial crash through focusing on prime and sub-prime mortgage lending. It then explores the key reasons behind the profitable trading systems of that time, highlighting the collapse and then the following banking regulations that were introduced in 2009/2010. The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary . ( Example ) .  Level *** * * [ B2/C1]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Front Groups

Writing summary: front groups   [new 2023].

This 820-word text discusses front groups. It provides a definition of the key terms, it analyses the characteristics of front groups, it looks at some well-known examples of front groups and the companies that support them, and it ends by considering what needs to be done to raise people’s awareness of these types of groups.   The summary task includes: note-taking worksheet with key, summary writing exercise with one sample summary, and a critical thinking worksheet with suggested answers .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP  

Reading Test: Front Groups  [new 2023]

This 820-word text discusses front groups. It provides a definition of the key terms, it analyses the characteristics of front groups, it looks at some well-known examples of front groups and the companies that support them, and it ends by considering what needs to be done to raise people’s awareness of these types of groups.  The reading test includes: matching headings to paragraphs; true, false, not given; reference words; open answer questions; citations; and a vocabulary task. ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Listening  Test: Front Groups  [new 2023]

This 10-minute lecture discusses front groups. It explains what a front group is, it looks at the purpose of a front group and how it operates, it outlines and analyses three case studies connected to the tobacco, alcohol and oil industries, and it ends with a summary and the speaker’s thoughts. The listening test includes: gap fill completion activities; open answer questions; true, false, not given; and multiple choice questions .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] / Video [10.45] /  MP3 / PPT link in download  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Speaking Seminar: Front Groups   [new 2023]

Front groups pdf lesson book [new 2023], the gig economy, summary writing: the gig economy.

The text discusses the rise of the gig economy and makes an attempt to define exactly what it is. It then highlights key gig companies investigating the importance and limitations of this new contemporary employment platform. Finally, it puts forward the future challenges of the gig economy for employees, employers and society . The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers.  ( Example ) . Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: The Gig Economy  

The text discusses the rise of the gig economy and makes an attempt to define exactly what it is. It then highlights key gig companies investigating the importance and limitations of this new contemporary employment platform. Finally, it puts forward the future challenges of the gig economy for employees, employers and society. The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary . ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

The Gig Economy – AEUK Test

This is a lecture on the defining the Gig Economy and discussing the positives and negatives of three Gig Economies (AirBnB, Uber and Task Rabbit). It includes a video, test questions and PPT (see example ).   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ]  / PPT link in download /   Video   [ 12.14] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Gig Economy Lesson PDF Book

Amazing value – six lessons in one book. introduction, definition, reading test, summary writing, lecture listening & seminar  more information, summary writing: globalisation: international trade..

The text defines the key points associated with globalisation. It discusses the disparity of progression of trade between countries and highlights the integration of in-ward and out- ward looking policies. It finally points out that three key areas of international globalisation are imperative for the economic growth of a country. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers.  ( Example )  Level ***** [ B1/B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: Globalisation: International Trade.

The text defines the key points associated with globalisation. It discusses the disparity of progression of trade between countries and highlights the integration of in-ward and out- ward looking policies. It finally points out that three key areas of international globalisation are imperative for the economic growth of a country. The reading test worksheet tests headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary. ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B1/B2/C1]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Globalisation: economic, political, & cultural relationships   –   by Edeos

This lecture discusses the key elements to the rise of globalisation. It focuses on the inter-connected relationships of politics, culture and the economy. It includes a lot of important vocabulary. The worksheet is based on note-taking followed by a gap-fill summary. ( E xample) . Level: *** ** [B2/C1]  /   Video [8.10]  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Global Debt

Reading & summary writing lesson: global debt  (new 2022).

This 775-word text defines global debt, explains how to measure global debt and compares the level of debt in some countries. It talks about the difference between emerging markets and advanced economies in terms of debt, it discusses the reasons for the current debt issues and it compares past and present financial crises. The summary task includes: note-taking worksheet with key, summary writing exercise with one sample summary, and a critical thinking worksheet with suggested answers .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP  

Reading Test: Global Debt  [new 2022]

This 775-word text defines global debt, explains how to measure global debt and compares the level of debt in some countries. It talks about the difference between emerging markets and advanced economies in terms of debt, it discusses the reasons for the current debt issues and it compares past and present financial crises.   The reading test includes: matching headings to paragraphs; true, false, not given; open answer questions; summary identification exercise; reference words and a vocabulary task .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

This short 10:51 lecture defines global debt, looks at the current trends regarding debt and explains how global borrowing works. It discusses why global borrowing has increased, puts forward some reasons why debt could be sustainable and looks at what’s happening with inflation. The listening test includes: open answer questions; true, false, not given; multiple choice; and a gap fill summary .  ( Example )  Level *** ** [B2/C1]  / Video [10.51] /  MP3 / PPT link in download  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Understanding happiness: Reading & Summary Writing Lesson 

The text discusses the three dimensions of happiness, happiness at home and work and the recent research into what are the important features of happiness. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers .  (  Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: Understanding happiness 

The text discusses the three dimensions of happiness, happiness at home and work and the recent research into what are the important features of happiness. The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

  What makes a good life? – Robert Waldinger

TED TALK: Lessons from the longest study on happiness by Harvard. It discusses the success of the study and what the findings were. [ Example]   Level: ** ** * [B2/C1]  / Download PPT.  / Video [12:46]   /  TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Speaking Seminar: Happiness

Happiness lesson pdf book  , amazing value – six lessons in one book. introduction, definitions, questionnaire, reading test & summary writing, 1 x lecture listening & seminar / example /   webpage link, heart disease, writing summary: heart disease  [new 2023].

This 789-word text discusses cardiovascular disease (CVD). It provides a detailed paragraph definition of CVD and focuses on two of the biggest causes: high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It also puts forward solutions in the form of treatment and prevention .  The summary task includes: note-taking worksheet with key, summary writing exercise with one sample summary, and a critical thinking worksheet with suggested answers .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP  

Coming soon…

Reading Test: Heart Disease  [new 2023]

This 789-word text discusses cardiovascular disease (CVD). It provides a detailed paragraph definition of CVD and focuses on two of the biggest causes: high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It also puts forward solutions in the form of treatment and prevention . The reading test includes: matching headings to paragraphs; true, false, not given; reference words; open answer questions; citations; and a vocabulary task .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Listening Test: Heart Disease (CABG Procedure)  [new 2023]

This short lecture explains how the mortality rate of cardiovascular disease has declined through the emergence of the coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). It talks about the CABG procedure and risks of open-heart surgery which involves single, double, triple or quadruple bypasses or the less invasive coronary angioplasty. The listening test includes: open answer questions; gap fill summary; true, false, not given; a matching exercise; a gap fill completion activity; and a summary identification task.  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] / Video [07.00] /  MP3 / PPT link in download  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Heart Disease PDF Book [new 2023]

Agenda setting theory: reading & summary writing lesson .

Mass communication: The text provides an overview of agenda setting in the media. It discusses its purpose, impact and relevancy in contemporary society. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers .  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test : Mass Communication: Agenda Setting Theory 

The text provides an overview of agenda setting in the media. It discusses its purpose, impact and relevancy in contemporary society. The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

summary writing university level

A 10-minute lecture on Gatekeeping Theory. The lecture provides a basic historical background, followed by key factors associated with the theory and finally discusses its role in the 21st century . Exampl e.  Level *** ** [B2/C1]  / Video [10.19] / MP3 /   PPT link in Download / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Writing summary: marketing theories  [new 2022].

This 1000-word text looks at the three most common marketing models: the marketing mix (7ps), the PESTLE model and Porter’s 5 forces.  It evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of each model and questions their relevancy in today’s market. The summary task includes: note-taking worksheet with key, summary writing exercise with one sample summary, and a critical thinking worksheet with suggested answers .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [B1/ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP  

Reading Test: Marketing Theories  [new 2022]

This 1000-word text looks at the three most common marketing models: the marketing mix (7ps), the PESTLE model and Porter’s 5 forces.  It evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of each model and questions their relevancy in today’s market .  The reading test includes: matching headings to paragraphs; true, false, not given; open answer questions;  citations; reference words and a vocabulary task .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [B1/ B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Listening Test: Digital Marketing Strategies  [new 2022]

This short lecture talks about marketing strategies. It looks at how companies build brand awareness and customer retention through SEO building, PPC advertising, email and social media campaigns, influencer and affiliate marketing strategies.   The listening test includes: gap fill completion; true, false, not given; multiple choice; open answer questions and a gap fill summary.  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1] / Video [10.30] /  MP3 / PPT link in download  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Marketing Lesson PDF Book

Mergers and acquisitions, reading & writing argument essay [mergers & acquisitions].

Topic: Mergers & Acquisitions . Two short texts (included) – students read the texts, make notes of key arguments ,  and write a 400-600 word essay using in-text referencing and paraphrasing. Lesson includes teacher notes, outline & a model essay [webpage] .   Example  Level **** * [ B2/C1] / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

  • Speaking Seminar

Reading & Summary Writing Lesson: The microchip crisis  (new 2022)

This 773-word text discusses the current microchip shortage. It looks at the cause and effects of this crisis, it talks about the world’s reliance on the largest two manufacturers, and it puts forward solutions to mitigate this issue. The summary task includes: note-taking worksheet with key, summary writing exercise with one sample summary, and a critical thinking worksheet with suggested answers .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP  

Reading Test: The microchip crisis  [new 2022]

This 773-word text discusses the current microchip shortage. It looks at the cause and effects of this crisis, it talks about the world’s reliance on the largest two manufacturers, and it puts forward solutions to mitigate this issue. The reading test includes: matching headings to paragraphs; true, false, not given; open answer questions; summary identification exercise; reference words and a vocabulary task .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

This short lecture explains why there is a global shortage of microchips. It talks about why silicon is used to manufacture microchips, the challenge of producing microchips, the costs involved in production, and the profits the largest manufacturers need to make. The listening test includes: open answer questions; true, false, not given; multiple choice; and a gap fill summary.  ( Exampl e )  Level *** ** [B2/C1]  / Video [7.14] /  MP3 / PPT link in download  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Noise Pollution:  Reading & Summary Writing Lesson

The text discusses what noise pollution is and how it has recently been recognised as harmful to health. The text explores recent empirical evidence into the detrimental effects of noise pollution and presents the W.H.O (2018) guidelines for reducing urban noise.The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers .  Example. Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: Noise Pollution – the under-estimated threat to health

The text discusses what noise pollution is and how it has recently been recognised as harmful to health. The text explores recent empirical evidence into the  detrimental  effects of noise pollution and presents the W.H.O (2018) guidelines for reducing urban noise. The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Why Noise is bad for your health and what you can do about it.   – Mathias Basner

TED TALK: This lecture discusses the rise in environmental noise and its psychological and physical effects. It proposes a number of possible solutions to control and reduce noise. Level: ** *** [B1/B2/C1]  /   Video [09:58] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Noise Pollution Lesson PDF Book

Amazing value – five lessons in one book. introduction, definition, reading test, summary writing, lecture listening & seminar   more information, contemporary office design: reading & summary writing lesson .

The text discusses the evolution of open plan office space, important considerations in office planning, the drawbacks associated with open plan and possible solutions. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: Contemporary Office Design 

The text discusses the evolution of open plan office space, important considerations in office planning, the drawbacks associated with open plan and possible solutions.The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

TED TALK: Why work doesn’t happen at work – Jason Fried

TED TALK: the problems with working in an office environment and highlights two main reasons and three possible improvement solutions. Example.   Level: ** *** [B1/B2/C1]  /   Video [15:21]  / Download PPT.  & adapted PPT Video /  MEMBERSHIP

Phone addiction

Mobile phone addiction: reading & summary writing lesson .

The text discusses the rise in mobile phone use, the factors that lead to addiction and implications for the future. Students take notes on key ideas and write a summary of 200-250 words. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: Mobile Phone Addiction 

The text discusses the rise in mobile phone use, the factors that lead to addiction and implications for the future. The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Mobile Phone Addiction [TED Talk]  by R. Sleight 

This lecture discusses the rise in smartphone use, associated data in terms of user usage, and five insights to control addictive tendencies. ( Example) . Level: *** ** [B1/B2/C1]  /   Video [11:48] / MP3 / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Academic Plagiarism: Summary  Reading & Writing Lesson

The text discusses what academic plagiarism is, what custom essay writing services are and why university students use them. It highlights the key problems associated with using these sites and offers possible solutions to prevent students from using them. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers . Example. Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: Academic Plagiarism – the use of custom essay writing services / writing mills

The text discusses what academic plagiarism is, what custom essay writing services are and why university students use them. It highlights the key problems associated with using these sites and offers possible solutions to prevent students from using them. The reading test worksheet tests headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.   ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Academic Plagiarism- Lecture Listening Lesson (same text as reading)

This lecture focuses on academic plagiarism, what are custom essay writing services and the associated problems and solutions. it includes a video, test questions, tapescript and ppt ( example ).   it is exactly the same text as the reading lesson. level *** ** [b2/c1] / ppt link in download   /   video   [12.00]   / teacher membership / institutional membership, why are some countries poor reading & summary writing lesson .

The text discusses how wealth is measured, how governments and institutions influence wealth, the importance of international trade and a range of possible solutions. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers .  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test:  Why  are some countries poor? 

The text discusses how wealth is measured, how governments and institutions influence wealth, the importance of international trade and a range of possible solutions. The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

  Why some countries are poor and others are rich   – The School of Life

A really good lecture on the three key elements of why some countries are poor. It discusses how corruption of institutions, culture and geographical features all play a significant role in poverty. The worksheet is based on note-taking followed by a gap-fill summary. Example. Level: ** ** * [B2/C1]  /   Video [8.47]   / MP3 / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading & Summary Writing Lesson: Primark: a case study  (new 2022)

This 760-word text explains how Primark’s business model has led to it becoming a very successful business. It talks about Primark’s plans for expansion, it puts forward the reasons why Primark does not sell its products online and it explains how Primark intends to move towards more sustainable and ethical practices. The summary task includes: note-taking worksheet with key, summary writing exercise with two sample summaries, and a critical thinking worksheet with suggested answers . ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP  

Reading Test: Primark: a case study [new 2022]

This 760-word text explains how Primark’s business model has led to it becoming a very successful business. It talks about Primark’s plans for expansion, it puts forward the reasons why Primark does not sell its products online and it explains how Primark intends to move towards more sustainable and ethical practices. The reading test includes: matching headings to paragraphs; true, false, not given; open answer questions; reference words and a vocabulary task .  ( Example )   Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

This short 7.25-minute listening lecture introduces the concept of fast fashion, it explains how Primark can buy and sell its garments so cheaply, it looks at Primark’s labour conditions and garment workers’ rights, and it discusses Primark’s carbon footprint. The listening test includes: open answer questions; multiple choice; true, false, not given and a gap fill summary .  ( Exampl e )  Level *** ** [B2/C1]  / Video [7.25] /  MP3 / PPT link in download  / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Tax Evasion

Tax e vasion:  reading & summary writing lesson  [new 2022].

This reading text is about tax evasion and tax avoidance. The writer discusses the methods some MNCs and rich individuals use to reduce or avoid paying tax and puts forward some suggestions to mitigate this issue. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers . .  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: Tax evasion & tax avoidance [new 2022]

This reading text is about tax evasion and tax avoidance. The writer discusses the methods some multinational corporations (MNCs) and rich individuals use to reduce or avoid paying tax and puts forward some suggestions to mitigate this issue. The reading test worksheet includes:  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

summary writing university level

TED Talk: In this short (12 minute) lecture, the speaker explains how MNCs use the ‘double Irish Dutch sandwich’ to significantly reduce their tax liabilities. He also explains why many corporations have left their home countries and have set up in London instead. The listening test consists of ten comprehension questions, six critical thinking questions and an answer key . Exampl e.  Level *** ** [B2/C1]  / Video [12.27] / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Video Games:  Reading & Summary Writing Lesson

The text discusses three serious health issues connected to playing video games. The text uses eight key sources to highlight gaming to be a future health concern . The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers. Example. Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: The impact of video games on health.

The text discusses three serious health issues connected to playing video games. The text uses eight key sources to highlight gaming to be a future health concern. The reading test worksheet tests  headings / T,F,NG / open answers / gap fill / information tables / reference words / vocabulary.  (see Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Your Brain on Video Games – Daphne Bavelier

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Topic: The World is Going to University (The Economist, 2015) . Two page text (Download from the Economist) – students read text, make notes of key ideas, relevant support & write a 250 word summary.  Then write a 150-word critical response. Lesson includes a plan, outline, main points & support, a model summary and model response [webpage] .     Example  Level  **** *  [ B2/C1]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

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The 4th industrial revolution ( industry 4.0) : reading & summary writing lesson [new for 2021].

The text provides an overview of the 4th industrial revolution (industry 4.0). It discusses the previous industrial revolutions and the opportunities and challenges of industry 4.0. The summary writing task consists of a note-taking worksheet, a summary writing task, critical thinking questions, sample notes, a sample summary and sample critical thinking answers .  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Reading Test: The 4th Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0)  [new for 2021]

The text provides an overview of the 4th industrial revolution (industry 4.0). It discusses the previous industrial revolutions and the opportunities and challenges of industry 4.0. The reading test includes: headings / T,F,NG / open answers / reference words / vocabulary / paraphrasing.  ( Example )  Level *** ** [ B2/C1 ]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP   /   INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

What is the  Fourth  Industrial Revolution?  (new for 2020)   –  Graeme Codrington

This lecture briefly highlights how the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Industrial Revolutions connect to the 4th Industrial revolution. It clearly explains what is and what isn’t the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The worksheet is based on note-taking followed by a gap-fill summary. Example. Level: ** ** * [B2/C1]  /   Video [10.39] / MP3 / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

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The ability to write an effective summary might be the most important writing skill a college student can possess. You need to be able to summarize before you can be successful at most of the other kinds of writing that will be demanded of you in college, and it is an important part of note taking, too. The links below will help you master the various kinds of summary writing that you may be called upon to complete in college.

An alternative purpose of the summary essay, one that is very commonplace in college, is a demonstration of comprehension:  teachers sometimes assign summary essays when they want to make sure that students fully understand an assigned source.  In this case, your essay does not substitute for the source, for the teacher has read the source, too.  Yet your essay will be written in the same way, with fidelity to the source. 

A summary essay should be organized so that others can understand the source or evaluate your comprehension of it.  The following format works well: 

a. The introduction (usually one paragraph) --     1.    Contains a one-sentence thesis statement that sums up the main point of the source.            This thesis statement is not your main point;  it is the main point of your source.                Usually, though, you have to write this statement rather than quote it from the source            text.  It is a one-sentence summary of the entire text that your essay summarizes.     2.    Also introduces the text to be summarized:             (i)  Gives the title of the source (following the citation guidelines of whatever style                  sheet you are using);             (ii)  Provides the name of the author of the source;             (ii)  Sometimes also provides pertinent background information about the author of                 the source or about the text to be summarized. The introduction should not offer your own opinions or evaluation of the text you are summarizing. 

b.   The body of a summary essay (one or more paragraphs):     This paraphrases and condenses the original piece.  In your summary, be sure that you--     1.     Include important data but omit minor points;     2.     Include one or more of the author’s examples or illustrations (these will bring your             summary to life);     3.     Do not include your own ideas, illustrations, metaphors, or interpretations.  Look              upon yourself as a summarizing machine;  you are simply repeating what the source              text says, in fewer words and in your own words.  But the fact that you are using              your own words does not mean that you are including your own ideas. 

c. There is customarily no conclusion to a summary essay. When you have summarized the source text, your summary essay is  finished.  Do not add your own concluding paragraph unless your teacher specifically tells you to. 

  • What do you like best about your peer's summary?  (Why?  How might he or she do more of it?)
  • Is it clear what is being summarized? (i.e.: Did your peer list the source, and cite it correctly?)
  • Is the thesis of the original essay clear in the summary? (Write out what you think that thesis is.)
  • If you have read the original source, did you identify the same thesis? (If not, how does it differ?)
  • Did your peer miss any key points from his or her summary? (If so, what are they?)
  • Did your peer include any of his own opinions in his or her summary? (If so, what are they?)
  • Did your peer include any unimportant details in his or her summary? (If so, what are they?)
  • Where there any points in the summary where you were lost because a transition was missing?  (If so, where and how might it be fixed?)
  • Where there any points where you were lost because some information seems to have been omitted?  (If so, where, and what seems to be missing?  Why do you think it might be important?)
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Thompson Rivers University

How to Write an Academic Summary

January 18, 2017

by Megan Webster

A summary is a shortened or condensed version of a reading.

  • Only includes the most important concepts or ideas.
  • Used to explain the content of the reading to someone who has not read it.
  • Written in your own words with a minimal use of direct quotes.

What do you need in a summary?

  • Did you report the author’s ideas accurately?
  • Did you include all the key points or main ideas?
  • Did you replicate the importance the author placed on certain ideas?
  • Did you write it in an easy-to-understand paragraph form?
  • Did you mostly use your own words and put all of the author’s words in quotation marks?

Reading for a Summary:

To write a summary, you need to understand the reading and its main ideas. This will include:

  • The thesis or overall main idea. If possible, paraphrase it in your own words.
  • The sections into which the paper is divided. Identify the sections or divisions that the author used to organize the work. This is similar to making an outline for the reading.
  • The support used to back up the author’s key points. Take note of what the author used to support his/her statements, e.g., the most important examples, arguments, statistics, expert opinion, etc.

Create an Outline:

Writing a summary is much easier to do from an outline, which will also provide you a writing plan for your summary.

  • At the top of the outline, write the thesis.
  • Make an outline of the supporting ideas you would like to include in the summary.

Two Types of Summaries:

  • The author’s name is mentioned throughout the text of your summary.
  • The author is only mentioned in brackets at the end of the summary.

Three Tips for Writing a Summary:

  • In the first sentence, identify the author, the title of the work, and the thesis statement.
  • Write in paragraph form with clear transitions between major points.
  • Organize the ideas in the same order as the original.

What to Avoid when Writing a Summary:

  • Repetition of similar ideas.
  • Minor details (e.g., examples, anecdotes, descriptions, statistics, and dialogue).
  • Direct quotes (unless there is no other way to give the information).
  • Digressions from the main points.
  • Your own personal opinions or comments on the subject.

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A  summary  is a short explanation of the main ideas in a text. Learning to summarize is a very important skill. When writing and responding to a text (essay, article, lecture, story, novel, or video), as you are often expected to do in college, you will be expected to summarize what you read, often in the introduction of each essay you write. It takes a careful reading of a text to write a good summary, and writing a good summary will illustrate your level of comprehension of a text.

When you write a summary, you are answering the question, “What was the essay (or article, or lecture, or story, or video) really about?” Summaries vary in length depending upon the purpose of the summary and/or scope of the specific assignment given. A general summary differs from a detailed summary in that fewer supporting details are stated. 

Summary Dos and Don'ts

  • Report the overall topic right away 
  • Begin with the name of the essay and the author
  • Write in present tense
  • Describe the main points covered in the text
  • Include supporting details as needed depending upon the length and depth of the summary desired
  • Mention any important conclusions drawn
  • Use reporting verbs (see list below) to show that these are the author's ideas, not yours

DO not (unless the assignment asks you to):

  • include your own opinion about the text 
  • include quotations from the original text
  • exceed half the length of the original text

Reporting Verbs

When writing a summary, it is very important to make it clear that you are describing the ideas in the text, not your own ideas. The use of reporting verbs shows that you are reporting on someone else's (the author's) ideas. Learn more about verbs . Below are some reporting verbs that you might use:

The article

  • addresses 
  • claims 
  • concluded with the idea
  • concluded by saying  

The researchers

  • report 

Examples of summaries

Summary of an article.

Below is an example summary of Michael Moore's article, "Why Doesn't GM Sell Crack?" 

Notice that the summary has the following strong aspects:

  • It begins with the title and author.
  • It is much shorter than the orginal.
  • It focuses on the most important parts of the argument
  • It uses reporting verbs
  • It remains objective 

In the article "Why Doesn't GM Sell Crack?" Michael Moore argues that companies need to be regulated so that they do not take actions that hurt the community or environment. He explains that many people believe that companies should have the right to do whatever will make the most money. However, he disagrees with this philosophy. He gives the example of selling crack, which would be very profitable for companies but bad for the consumers and community. This example shows how the government does make some laws to restrict companies and protect society. Moore points out that most Americans agree that a company should not be able to sell crack just to make a profit. Therefore, he argues, we might extend this reasoning to other harmful actions, such as polluting the environment or treating workers unfairly. Moore believes that companies should be restricted from committing actions that hurt society. 

Notice that the summary uses reporting verbs such as "argues" and "shows" to indicate that the viewpoint in the paragraph comes from Moore's article, not from the author of the summary. Also notice that the summary is objective; it does not give any opinion about Moore's argument but simply reports it as accurately as possible. Finally, notice that the summary covers the essay's main ideas, with a few brief supporting examples.

Summary of a Story

Below is an example summary of the Brother’s Grimm version of the story “Little Red Riding Hood.” While “Little Red Writing Hood” is not an argumentative/non-fiction work (the type you’ll most likely be expected to summarize in college) it is a story that most people know, making it a good story to summarize and provide as an example. Go to Wikipedia entry on "Little Red Riding Hood."

  • It focuses on the most important parts of the story rather than the details.

Summary of "Little Red Riding Hood"

The Brother’s Grimm version of the traditional tale “Little Red Riding Hood” is a story about a girl who wears a red riding hood and who is asked by her mother to take some food to her ailing grandmother who lives across the woods. Little Red Riding Hood, who is quite young, walks from her house, through the woods from her house to her grandmother’s house, carrying a basket of food. On the way to her grandmother’s house, she meets a wolf who asks her many questions about what she’s doing and where she’s going. After a bit, the wolf goes on his way, leaving Red Riding Hood to continue on her way alone. Once at her grandmother’s house, Little Red Riding Hood, notices that her grandmother looks different, that her eyes, ears, nose, and teeth are much bigger than she remembers. After a long conversation about the “grandmother’s appearance,” the wolf, who had eaten Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother and had dressed in her clothing, jumps from the bed and eats Little Red Riding Hood. At the very end of the story, a hunter comes by the grandmother’s house and cuts the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood from the wolf’s stomach and they are removed alive.

Notice this summary begins with the title of the story and the author and that the summary is much shorter than the original version of the story itself. Also notice that it is written in the present tense, as is necessary to do when writing about a text – even one that was read a long time ago and/or that was written in the past tense.

This summary does not go into a lot of detail; it only focuses on the plot (if this were a summary of an essay, it would focus on the essay’s main points rather than plot). The details in the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” that would be tempting to focus on, but unnecessary, are the lines of dialogue between Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf, regarding the wolf’s appearance: “’My grandma, what big eyes you have,’” said Little Red Riding Hood. ‘The better to see you with, my dear,’ responded the wolf.” To include details about the dialogue, and/or quotes from this part of the story, would be unnecessary, as they are not totally important to the plot, and can easily be summarized. Lastly, it’s important to notice the use of phrases like, “On the way to her grandmother’s house,” “After a long conversation with the wolf about the grandmother’s appearance,” and “At the very end of the story,” and recognize that these phrases are stand-ins for the kinds of details not necessary to include in a summary.

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Paraphrase and Summary

When should i paraphrase, and when should i summarize.

To paraphrase means to restate someone else’s ideas in your own language at roughly the same level of detail. To summarize means to reduce the most essential points of someone else’s work into a shorter form. Along with quotation, paraphrase and summary provide the main tools for integrating your sources into your papers. When choosing which to use, consider first your discipline and the type of writing in which you are engaged. For example, literature reviews in science reports rely almost exclusively on summary. Argumentative essays, by contrast, rely on all three tools.

Paraphrase and summary are indispensable in argumentative papers because they allow you to include other people’s ideas without cluttering up your paragraphs with quotations . These techniques help you take greater control of your essay. Consider using either tool when an idea from one of your sources is important to your essay but the wording is not. Space limitations may guide you in your choice. But above all, think about how much of the detail from your source is relevant to your argument. If your reader needs to know only the bare bones, then summarize.

Though paraphrase and summary are often preferable to quotation, do not rely too heavily on them, either. Your ideas are what matter most. Allow yourself the space to develop those ideas.

How do I paraphrase?

Whenever you paraphrase, remember these two points:

  • You must provide a reference.
  • The paraphrase must be in your own words. You must do more than merely substitute phrases here and there. You must also create your own sentence structures.

Finding new words for ideas that are already well expressed can be hard, but changing words should not be your chief aim anyway. Focus, rather, on filtering the ideas through your own understanding. The following strategy will make the job of paraphrasing a lot easier:

  • When you are at the note-taking stage, and you come across a passage that may be useful for your essay, do not copy the passage verbatim unless you think you will want to quote it.
  • If you think you will want to paraphrase the passage, make a note only of the author’s basic point (or points). You don’t even need to use full sentences.
  • In your note, you should already be translating the language of the original into your own words. What matters is that you capture the original idea.
  • Make sure to jot down the source as well as the page number so that you can make a proper reference later on.

When it comes time to write the paper, rely on your notes rather than on the author’s work. You will find it much easier to avoid borrowing from the original passage because you will not have seen it recently. Follow this simple sequence:

  • Convert the ideas from your notes into full sentences.
  • Provide a reference.
  • Go back to the original to ensure that (a) your paraphrase is accurate and (b) you have truly said things in your own words.

Let’s look at examples of illegitimate and legitimate paraphrase, using a passage from Oliver Sacks’ essay “An Anthropologist on Mars”:

The cause of autism has also been a matter of dispute. Its incidence is about one in a thousand, and it occurs throughout the world, its features remarkably consistent even in extremely different cultures. It is often not recognized in the first year of life, but tends to become obvious in the second or third year. Though Asperger regarded it as a biological defect of affective contact—innate, inborn, analogous to a physical or intellectual defect—Kanner tended to view it as a psychogenic disorder, a reflection of bad parenting, and most especially of a chillingly remote, often professional, "refrigerator mother." At this time, autism was often regarded as "defensive" in nature, or confused with childhood schizophrenia. A whole generation of parents—mothers, particularly—were made to feel guilty for the autism of their children.

What follows is an example of illegitimate paraphrase :

The cause of the condition autism has been disputed. It occurs in approximately one in a thousand children, and it exists in all parts of the world, its characteristics strikingly similar in vastly differing cultures. The condition is often not noticeable in the child’s first year, yet it becomes more apparent as the child reaches the age of two or three. Although Asperger saw the condition as a biological defect of the emotions that was inborn and therefore similar to a physical defect, Kanner saw it as psychological in origin, as reflecting poor parenting and particularly a frigidly distant mother. During this period, autism was often seen as a defence mechanism, or it was misdiagnosed as childhood schizophrenia. An entire generation of mothers and fathers (but especially mothers) were made to feel responsible for their offspring’s autism (Sacks 247-48).

Most of these sentences do little more than substitute one phrase for another. An additional problem with this passage is that the only citation occurs at the very end of the paragraph. The reader might be misled into thinking that the earlier sentences were not also based on Sacks.

The following represents a legitimate paraphrase of the original passage:

In "An Anthropologist on Mars," Sacks lists some of the known facts about autism. We know, for example, that the condition occurs in roughly one out of every thousand children. We also know that the characteristics of autism do not vary from one culture to the next. And we know that the condition is difficult to diagnose until the child has entered the second or third year of life. As Sacks points out, often a child who goes on to develop autism will show no sign of the condition at the age of one (247). Sacks observes, however, that researchers have had a hard time agreeing on the causes of autism. He sketches the diametrically opposed positions of Asperger and Kanner. On the one hand, Asperger saw the condition as representing a constitutional defect in the child's ability to make meaningful emotional contact with the external world. On the other hand, Kanner regarded autism as a consequence of harmful childrearing practices. For many years confusion about this condition reigned. One unfortunate consequence of this confusion, Sacks suggests, was the burden of guilt imposed on so many parents for their child's condition (247-48).

This paraphrase illustrates a few basic principles that can help you to paraphrase more effectively:

  • Refer explicitly to the author in your paraphrase. The passage above makes explicit right away that the ideas come from Sacks. Its indebtedness is signaled in a few strategic places. The single parenthetical note at the end of each paragraph is therefore all that is needed by way of citation. Referring to Sacks also strengthens the passage by clarifying the source of its ideas.
  • Don’t just paraphrase. Analyze. In the paraphrase of Sacks, the decision to split the original passage into two paragraphs adds an analytical dimension: the new passage doesn’t just reiterate his points but lays out the two-part structure of his argument.
  • Not all of the details from the original passage need to be included in the paraphrase.
  • You don't need to change every word. For the sake of clarity, keep essential terms the same (e.g., autism , culture , children ). However, avoid borrowing entire phrases (e.g., reflection of bad parenting ) unless they are part of the discourse of your field (e.g., psychogenic disorder ).

How do I summarize?

Summary moves much further than paraphrase from point-by-point translation. When you summarize a passage, you need first to absorb the meaning and then to capture in your own words the most important elements from the original passage. A summary is necessarily shorter than a paraphrase.

Here is a summary of the passage from "An Anthropologist on Mars":

In "An Anthropologist on Mars," Sacks notes that although there is little disagreement on the chief characteristics of autism, researchers have differed considerably on its causes. As he points out, Asperger saw the condition as an innate defect in the child's ability to connect with the external world, whereas Kanner regarded it as a consequence of harmful childrearing practices (247-48).

Written by Jerry Plotnick, Director, University College Writing Centre

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Summary Writing

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  • Updated on  
  • Nov 1, 2021

Summary Writing

If you are asked to highlight the gist of the play ‘Hamlet’ by Shakespeare , would you rather write the whole story of Shakespeare’s longest play, (29,551 words) or just jot down the main elements and call it a day? This is exactly what summary writing is. It involves retaining the essential information out of a comprehensive piece of writing. Summary writing is an important form of writing skills that will come in handy for students throughout their academic journey and even in competitive exams such as Bank exams , MBA exams , etc. This article provides you with the nitty-gritty of Summary Writing, tips to compose a good summary and more!

This Blog Includes:

What is summary writing, uses of summary writing, find the main idea, simplify the text, create a descriptive outline, write the summary, review your summary, qualities of a good summary, tips for a good summary.

Precis vs Summary: How are the Different?

In the simplest terms, summary writing is the brief overview of a written material that highlights its main ideas. The word “summary” comes from the Latin word, “summa” meaning “totality, gist”. A well-written and effective summary provides the key points to the reader in condensed form that gives them a quick glance of what the passage intends to portray. 

While writing a summary, you should keep in mind that it should give an accurate description of the content in your own words, without incorporating your own ideas and opinions. A summary should be written in concise form, without amending the crux of the theme and subject matter. 

Also Check Out:

  • Precis Writing Format, Rules, Examples, Worksheet PDF
  • Report Writing: Format, Tips, Topics & Examples
  • Message Writing: Class 6, 7, 8, Format, Questions, Topics

Summary Writing is very useful in developing certain skills that will be essential not only during school but also in future professional lives. It plays an essential role in the following aspects:

  • Critical Thinking Skills- Summary Writing compels the students to analyse and pick out the main ideas of the text and decide what key points should be included in the summary and what is irrelevant.
  • Writing skills – Drafting a summary involves writing in your own words, using your own vocabulary with correct grammar. This provides the students with a chance to practice their writing abilities and improve their writing skills.

It enables the students with the skill to take an extensive text and consolidate it into a shorter version that highlights only the main ideas, for a more concise understanding of the text. Following are some areas where Summary Writing can prove to be essential:

  • Assignments that involve summarizing a text can be given to students to ensure that they got a good grasp on the details of the text.
  • Teachers can formulate a lesson plan that begins with a summary of a chapter to provide students with the basic ideas and points before beginning the lecture. 
  • It can be used to give a gist of the description of a movie’s plot, or a brief synopsis of a novel.
  • Summary writing is also used to give an abstract of in-depth scientific reports and researches to give the gist of its content. 

How to Compose a Summary?

As already mentioned above several times, the most important thing to keep in mind while writing a summary is that it should be ‘a short and condensed version of a text, giving accurate description of the main points and ideas.’ Let us take a look at the steps needed in composing an effective summary:

In order to write a summary that demonstrates all the relevant points of the text, it is necessary to understand the main narrative of the passage. You should re-read the text several times to ensure that you haven’t missed any crucial details. This will allow you to highlight the major points that you want to communicate to the readers.

Break down the text into smaller divisions that point to the common topic. This will simplify the text and ensure that you can easily find the key points and do not overlook important details. Then, start by jotting down the sentences from each paragraph or section that supports the main thesis of the text.

While perusing through the text, try to highlight the key ideas that elaborate on the main ideas of the subject matter. Creating an outline will help you in composing a summary in a linear structure, without jumbling up irrelevant information.

After forming a rough outline of the text, start writing down your summary, keeping in mind that it should be concise. Combine all the main points and supporting sentences into a coherent whole. Summary should usually be 10-15% of the main text, so make sure to stay within the word limit. Keep the following points in mind while writing a summary;

  • It should have an introduction, the main body and a conclusion.
  • Add a suitable title for your summary that correlates with the content. 
  • Always use third person while writing a summary.
  • Use correct grammar and appropriate past tense.

Re-reading the final draft of your summary is a crucial step. Go through your summary several times to check for any spelling or grammatical mistakes. Make sure your sentences transition smoothly and flow in a way that the main idea of the text is easily conveyed. Rewrite paragraphs to make your writing clear and concise, and eliminate repetitious and complicated points. The final version of the summary should convey the exact same message of the text in a condensed manner.

The following are some attributes that describe a good summary;

  • Accurate and fair
  • Concise and Clear
  • Objective and Independent
  • Transitory and well-connected
  • Comprehensive and coherent 

There are certain pointers that can enhance your summary writing. Keep the following things in mind while writing a Summary;

  • It should be conveyed in such a way that the readers can get a clear picture and understand the material accurately.
  • It should be a brief and condensed version of the original. It should be shorter than the source. Eliminate redundancies and only add relevant information to keep your paragraph clear and concise.
  • It should be written objectively and in your own words. It should only contain the original author’s viewpoint. Do not add your own personal opinion. 

These were all essential aspects that must be kept in mind while writing a summary. Regular practice will surely help you ace your summary writing. If you are looking for creative writing courses , reach out to our experts at Leverage Edu who will find the best course that can equip you with the knowledge and skills. Sign up for a free session.

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The Purpose of Summaries

Ho'omana Nathan Horton and Paul Sims

When a writer sees “summary” as part of his or her instructions on how to write something, this can fill the writer with dread. The writer’s mind might begin to seem backlogged with questions, such as What is a summary? , Why do I need to do this? , What if I leave out something important? , and What if I plagiarize and don’t even realize it?

With the appropriate level of understanding and preparation, a writer needing to develop a summary can be better able to face such a task with greater confidence and skill.

What are some reasons why someone might want to summarize something?

  • Improve understanding (current self). When you summarize something, you are engaging a thought process which grants you the opportunity to internalize the subject undergoing summary and produce a work which helps you put the concepts into a shape which you can more readily comprehend because you did the work to make sense of it.
  • Create a concise version for future reference (future self). Especially when conducting research on a topic, you might not be able to keep every resource you need on hand at all times. An example of something like this is an annotated bibliography. Also, you may want to keep a record of sorts of the kinds of resources you’ll need for different research topics and directions. A summary for future reference can help you at some future point when you need to analyze a source for usefulness.
  • Show someone or some number of other people that you understand (others). There are times when you will need to demonstrate your ability to comprehend and communicate others’ ideas, such as in a complex research paper or when showing an instructor what you learned from different readings. How will each of these audiences affect the way that you write your summary? Audience is a paramount consideration in how one chooses to approach the development of a piece of writing. So, how do you go about dealing with the different audiences within these reasons we’ve mentioned: current self, future self, and others?

The Purpose of Summaries Copyright © 2020 by Ho'omana Nathan Horton and Paul Sims is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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A Guide to Writing an Effective Academic Summary

Table of Contents

To write a good academic summary , you must know what it entails.

Purposes of Academic Summary

Writing an academic summary serves several purposes, including assisting students with exams and preparing for a discussion. 

Therefore, students must be able to quickly grasp the structure of an article and reproduce the ideas in their own words. 

An academic summary may serve three purposes:

  • Explaining a text:  aims to investigate text types, main themes, and theoretical frameworks; focuses on general content (annotated bibliography).
  • Replacing a text:  extracts the most important (sub)themes (adding, removing, enhancing) sections of the text (exam preparation, reading report). 
  • The discussion of a text:  a critical report with a verified conclusion (review, essay, final paper, preparation for a group discussion)

 Effective Tips- Academic Summary

Writing an effective academic summary is much easier to do from an outline, providing you with a writing plan for your summary.

This guide will cover all of the key ingredients of your summary and give you a handy outline of what to do.

summary writing university level

Here are three tips for writing an effective academic Summary

  • Writing a summary is much easier to do from an outline, which will also provide you with a writing plan for your summary
  • Write your thesis at the top of the outline. Outline the supporting ideas you would like to include in the summary.
  • Outline the supporting ideas in summary. Whether it is an argumentative, descriptive or reflective paper, you will need to write an outline.
  • Include the author’s name, the work’s title, and the thesis statement in the first sentence.
  • Take the most from paragraphs with clear transitions between significant points.
  • Put the ideas together in the same order as the original.

Types of Academic Summary

  • Instances where the author’s name appears several times throughout the summary.
  • The author is only mentioned in brackets at the end of the summary.

Example of Formal Academic Summaries

An example of formal academic summaries would include a peer-reviewed journal article published in a reputable journal. 

The academic summary of the journal article would briefly introduce the topic, the authors, and the results of a study. It would also include a conclusion, next steps, and cited research and sources. 

You might also include a press release on the results of a study. It could also be a management thesis titled, for instance, ‘Doran’s Thesis: Building stable working relationships. 

Due to the length of standard academic texts, they are to be written as clearly and concisely as possible . 

An academic summary must be written in a language that follows the formal rules in English. It must also be easily understood by people unfamiliar with the original text.

It can be tricky to plan an excellent educational summary for an academic paper you have written, especially if you have a few hours. 

That is why you need to consider everything outlined in this guide when you are writing your academic summary. 

A Guide to Writing an Effective Academic Summary

Pam is an expert grammarian with years of experience teaching English, writing and ESL Grammar courses at the university level. She is enamored with all things language and fascinated with how we use words to shape our world.

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Typical College-level Writing Genres: Summary, Analysis, Synthesis

How to write a summary.

Summarizing consists of two important skills:

  • identifying the important material in the text, and
  • restating the text in your own words.

Since writing a summary consists of omitting minor information, it will always be shorter than the original text.

Photograph of two hands writing next to each other, holding black pens and wearing white gloves

  • A summary begins with an  introductory sentence  that states the text’s title, author and main thesis or subject.
  • A summary contains the main  thesis  (or main point of the text), restated in your own words.
  • A summary is  written in your own words . It contains few or no quotes.
  • A summary is  always shorter than the original text , often about 1/3 as long as the original.  It is the ultimate “fat-free” writing.  An article or paper may be summarized in a few sentences or a couple of paragraphs. A book may be summarized in an article or a short paper.  A very large book may be summarized in a smaller book.
  • A summary should  contain all the major points  of the original text, but should  ignore most of the fine details , examples, illustrations or explanations.
  • The backbone of any summary is formed by  critical information  (key names, dates, places, ideas, events, words and numbers). A summary must never rely on vague generalities.
  • If you quote anything from the original text, even an unusual word or a catchy phrase, you need to put whatever you quote in quotation marks (“”).
  • A summary must contain only the ideas of the original text.  Do not insert  any of  your own opinions, interpretations, deductions or comments  into a summary.
  • A summary, like any other writing, has to have a specific audience and purpose, and you must carefully write it to serve that audience and fulfill that specific purpose.
  • Writing a Summary. Authored by : Elisabeth Ellington and Ronda Dorsey Neugebauer. Provided by : Chadron State College. Located at : http://www.csc.edu/ . Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License : CC BY: Attribution
  • Image of two hands. Authored by : isado. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/4c9cZA . License : CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivatives

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Academic A Writing

Table of contents.

This text is designed to help university-bound ESL students at the intermediate mid level. The content covers the basics of standard American English essay writing and formatting.

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CC BY-NC : This work is released under a CC BY-NC license, which means that you are free to do with it as you please as long as you (1) properly attribute it and (2) do not use it for commercial gain.

The publisher BYU Open Learning Network does not have a physical location, but its primary support staff operate out of Provo, UT, USA.

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10+ Summary Writing Examples & Samples in PDF | DOC

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  • the conciseness of the general statements ,
  • the effectiveness of how it was written, and
  • the overall impact of the summary.

Technical Writing

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1. limit your sentences., 2. use logical reasoning., 3. avoid repetition of words., school summary writing.

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Importance of Summary Writing

More design, 5+ application writing examples, 5+ formal writing examples, 4+ book writing examples & samples, 4+ step basic guide on essay writing, tips for writing an effective essay, dos and don’ts in writing a chapter summary, what is writing used for, what do you mean by writing skills, 11+ writing examples in pdf, 10+ report writing examples, 10+ essay writing examples, 10+ article writing examples & samples.

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How To Write A Summary

Barbara P

How to Write a Summary - Beginner’s Guide & Example

Published on: Jul 31, 2022

Last updated on: Jan 26, 2023

How to Write a Summary

On This Page On This Page

Writing a summary demonstrates that you have clearly understood the text, and now you can communicate that understanding to your readers. However, summary writing is not an easy task. In fact, it is quite a difficult academic skill to learn. As with any other skill, especially for writing, students explicitly need to learn this skill.

If you want to learn how to write a perfect summary, read this blog and understand the steps required for creating a perfect one.

What is Summary Writing?

A summary is the condensed version of an original text. It is about identifying the most important text and restating it into your own words. Writing a summary is a great way to process what you read, whether it’s a book or an article.

For writing a good summary, the best approach to this task is to review the piece you are analyzing a couple of times. If you understand the subject, you will be able to summarize it easily. However, if you can not summarize a subject, it clearly means you have not learned it well.

If you are writing a summary for the first time, several questions might stick to your mind, such as:

  • How long should a summary be?
  • How to write a summary of an article?
  • How many sentences are in summary?
  • What is a one-page summary?
  • What is the sentence summary?
  • What should a summary include? Etc.

Keep reading the blog until the end to know the answers to these questions.

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How to Write a Summary?

Writing a perfect summary is not an easy task. You need to be well-versed with both supporting arguments and main ideas.

Let’s delve into the steps of writing an appropriate summary.

1. Read the Original Piece

The first and most important step to a well-crafted and good summary is to read the original text. Focus on reading the text at least 2 times and do not take notes at this point. The goal here is to become familiar with the text and understand the author’s writing style and tone.

Reading the text before the writing process will help you grasp the main idea of the work without going into specific details.

2. Understand the Main Idea

Once you are done reading the original text, take time to absorb what you have read. Identify the central point of the text and understand how the author has written the sequence of events. Keep in mind the 5Ws (what, who, when, why, and where) of the story to identify the main elements in the text.

3. Reread and Take Notes

Now comes the stage of active reading. Here, you will have to read the story once again and note down the major points to include in your summary. Highlight the topic sentences, plot points, important quotes, and major events. Also, note down the points that you find difficult to understand.

4. Organize Your Notes

After reading and taking notes, it is time to organize them. Take your time and find a way to organize the notes, as it will become a reference when you begin the actual writing process. Don’t forget to elaborate on the noted information and clarify any point difficult to understand.

5. Craft a Thesis Statement

The important factor to a great summary is to develop a good thesis statement. A one-sentence claim is often written in the introductory paragraph to demonstrate your understanding of the original text.

The thesis statement is important to include, especially if you are writing a book summary. It identifies the text’s main idea of the text for  writing a thesis statement  that will highlight the main argument.

6. Write a Short Paragraph Summary

The thesis statement can be used as the first sentence of your summary, and the other supporting points will go into the body paragraphs. Don’t forget to include some transition words to maintain the effective flow of information in your summary.

Make sure your summary includes all the major supporting ideas into a final version that should be complete and coherent throughout.

7. Revise Your Summary

Once you are done with the writing, it is important to edit your work. Reread your summary several times and make changes along the way. You can also ask someone else to read your work and provide you feedback. Make changes in your summary according to the provided feedback to come up with an effective piece of writing.

Here is a sample of a detailed guide with a summary worksheet that will help you write a perfect summary.

Sample of Writing a Summary

Examples of Writing a Summary

If you have been assigned to write a summary and have no idea where to start, check out the summary examples below. Read these examples written by an expert writer to understand the whole summary writing process better.

Example of Writing a Summary of a Chapter

Example of Writing a Summary of an Article

Example of Writing a Summary of a Research Paper

Example of Writing a Summary of a Story

Example of Writing a Summary of a Book

Example of Writing a Summary of a Paragraph

Tough Essay Due? Hire Tough Writers!

Tips on How to Write a Summary

Here are some important tips from experts that you can keep in mind to come up with a great summary.

  • The length of a summary can range from two sentences to even several pages. In any case, write complete sentences to describe the main points of the author.
  • To summarize the author’s argument, use the present tense.
  • Do not include information that is not in the original text. Also, do not include your own opinion or ideas.
  • It is important to refer to several source materials, especially for research summaries. So, information can be considered to present and explain the main idea to a number of references discussing the same subject.
  • If you are using the author’s original words, don’t forget to put quotation marks to show that the quoted information does not belong to you.

Writing a summary can be difficult, but following these guidelines will help you get through the process. If you need help, consult the best  writing services .

We at  MyPerfectWords.com  provide custom papers according to the specified format and requirements. We know the importance of remarkable literary pieces when it comes to English coursework. 

So, what are you waiting for!

Get in touch with our customer support team for more details and hire a  professional writer  now.

Frequently Asked Question

What are the 3 characteristics of a summary.

The three characteristics of a summary are:

  • Conciseness
  • Objectivity

How long is a summary?

A summary is a quick and easy way to condense what you’ve written for readers. They can be as short or long as 1/3rd of the original length, depending on how much information needs.

Barbara P (Literature, Marketing)

Dr. Barbara is a highly experienced writer and author who holds a Ph.D. degree in public health from an Ivy League school. She has worked in the medical field for many years, conducting extensive research on various health topics. Her writing has been featured in several top-tier publications.

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View reflections from the Tar Heel Bus Tour

In this video recap, find out more about a couple of special stops on the two-pronged tour of the state.

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Carolina leadership hit the road in October for the annual Tar Heel Bus Tour. With two buses covering both the east and west portions of North Carolina and with stops in 19 counties, the Tar Heel Bus Tour exhibits the University’s commitment to serving all North Carolinians.

The stops span from mountains to coast and include the western North Carolina town of Canton and Whiteville in eastern North Carolina, where bus tour participants get a chance to see some of the work Carolina is doing first-hand.

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How Years of Israeli Failures on Hamas Led to a Devastating Attack

Israeli officials completely underestimated the magnitude of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, shattering the country’s once invincible sense of security.

Before the attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top Israeli security officials believed the greatest threats to Israel were Iran and Hezbollah. Credit... Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times

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Ronen Bergman

By Ronen Bergman ,  Mark Mazzetti and Maria Abi-Habib

Ronen Bergman reported from Tel Aviv and the Gaza-Israel border, Mark Mazzetti from Washington and Maria Abi-Habib from London.

  • Published Oct. 29, 2023 Updated Nov. 1, 2023

It was 3 a.m. on Oct. 7, and Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s domestic security service, still could not determine if what he was seeing was just another Hamas military exercise.

At the headquarters of his service, Shin Bet, officials had spent hours monitoring Hamas activity in the Gaza Strip, which was unusually active for the middle of the night. Israeli intelligence and national security officials, who had convinced themselves that Hamas had no interest in going to war, initially assumed it was just a nighttime exercise.

Their judgment that night might have been different had they been listening to traffic on the hand-held radios of Hamas militants. But Unit 8200, Israel’s signals intelligence agency, had stopped eavesdropping on those networks a year earlier because they saw it as a waste of effort.

As time passed that night, Mr. Bar thought that Hamas might attempt a small-scale assault. He discussed his concerns with Israel’s top generals and ordered the “Tequila” team — a group of elite counterterrorism forces — to deploy to Israel’s southern border.

Until nearly the start of the attack, nobody believed the situation was serious enough to wake up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to three Israeli defense officials.

Within hours, the Tequila troops were embroiled in a battle with thousands of Hamas gunmen who penetrated Israel’s vaunted border fence, sped in trucks and on motorbikes into southern Israel and attacked villages and military bases.

The most powerful military force in the Middle East had not only completely underestimated the magnitude of the attack, it had totally failed in its intelligence-gathering efforts, mostly due to hubris and the mistaken assumption that Hamas was a threat contained.

Despite Israel’s sophisticated technological prowess in espionage, Hamas gunmen had undergone extensive training for the assault, virtually undetected for at least a year. The fighters, who were divided into different units with specific goals, had meticulous information on Israel’s military bases and the layout of kibbutzim.

The country’s once invincible sense of security was shattered.

More than 1,400 people were killed, including many women, children and old people who were murdered systematically and brutally. Hundreds are held hostage or are still missing. Israel has responded with a ferocious bombardment campaign on Gaza, killing more than 8,000 Palestinians and wounding thousands more, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The Israeli military on Sunday signaled a heavier assault on Gaza, saying it had expanded its ground incursion overnight.

Among a group of children in an open urban space, one child holds a smaller one while looking up. The others are also looking up or running.

Israeli officials have promised a full investigation into what went wrong.

Even before that inquiry, it is clear the attacks were possible because of a cascade of failures over recent years — not hours, days or weeks. A New York Times examination, based on dozens of interviews with Israeli, Arab, European and American officials, as well as a review of Israeli government documents and evidence collected since the Oct. 7 raid, shows that:

Israeli security officials spent months trying to warn Mr. Netanyahu that the political turmoil caused by his domestic policies was weakening the country’s security and emboldening Israel’s enemies. The prime minister continued to push those policies. On one day in July he even refused to meet a senior general who came to deliver a threat warning based on classified intelligence, according to Israeli officials.

Israeli officials misjudged the threat posed by Hamas for years, and more critically in the run-up to the attack. The official assessment of Israeli military intelligence and the National Security Council since May 2021 was that Hamas had no interest in launching an attack from Gaza that might invite a devastating response from Israel, according to five people familiar with the assessments who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details. Instead, Israeli intelligence assessed that Hamas was trying to foment violence against Israelis in the West Bank, which is controlled by its rival, the Palestinian Authority.

The belief by Mr. Netanyahu and top Israeli security officials that Iran and Hezbollah, its most powerful proxy force, presented the gravest threat to Israel diverted attention and resources away from countering Hamas. In late September, senior Israeli officials told The Times they were concerned that Israel might be attacked in the coming weeks or months on several fronts by Iran-backed militia groups, but made no mention of Hamas initiating a war with Israel from the Gaza Strip.

American spy agencies in recent years had largely stopped collecting intelligence on Hamas and its plans, believing the group was a regional threat that Israel was managing.

Overall, arrogance among Israeli political and security officials convinced them that the country’s military and technological superiority to Hamas would keep the terrorist group in check.

“They were able to trick our collection, our analysis, our conclusions and our strategic understanding,” Eyal Hulata, Israel’s national security adviser from 2021 until early this year, said during a discussion last week in Washington sponsored by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank.

“I don’t think there was anyone who was involved with affairs with Gaza that shouldn’t ask themselves how and where they were also part of this massive failure,” he added.

Many senior officials have accepted responsibility, but Mr. Netanyahu has not. At 1 a.m. Sunday in Israel, after his office was asked for comment on this article, he posted a message on X, formerly Twitter, that repeated remarks he made to The New York Times and blame d the military and intelligence services for failing to provide him with any warning on Hamas.

“Under no circumstances and at no stage was Prime Minister Netanyahu warned of war intentions on the part of Hamas,” the post read in Hebrew. “On the contrary, the assessment of the entire security echelon, including the head of military intelligence and the head of Shin Bet, was that Hamas was deterred and was seeking an arrangement.”

In the resulting furor, Benny Gantz, a member of his war cabinet, publicly rebuked Mr. Netanyahu, saying that “leadership means displaying responsibility,” and urged the prime minister to retract the post. It was later deleted, and Mr. Netanyahu apologized in a new one.

On Sunday, Shin Bet promised a thorough investigation after the war. The I.D.F. declined to comment.

The last time Israelis’ collective belief in their country’s security was similarly devastated was 50 years earlier, at the start of the Yom Kippur War, when Israel was caught off guard by an assault by Egyptian and Syrian forces. In an echo of that attack, Hamas succeeded because Israeli officials made many of the same mistakes that were made in 1973.

The Yom Kippur War was “a classic example of how intelligence fails when the policy and intelligence communities build a feedback loop that reinforces their prejudices and blinds them to changes in the threat environment,” Bruce Riedel, a former top Middle East analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, wrote in a 2017 research paper about the 1973 war.

In an interview this month, Mr. Riedel said that Mr. Netanyahu was reaping the consequences of focusing on Iran as the existential threat to Israel while largely ignoring an enemy in his backyard.

“Bibi’s message to Israelis has been that the real threat is Iran,” he said, using Mr. Netanyahu’s nickname. “That with the occupation of the West Bank and the siege of Gaza, the Palestinian issue is no longer a threat to Israel’s security. All of those assumptions were shattered on Oct. 7.”

Ignored Warnings

On July 24, two senior Israeli generals arrived at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, to deliver urgent warnings to Israeli lawmakers, according to three Israeli defense officials.

The Knesset was scheduled that day to give final approval to one of Mr. Netanyahu’s attempts to curb the power of Israel’s judiciary — an effort that had convulsed Israeli society, ignited massive street protests and led to large-scale resignations from the military reserves.

A growing portion of the Air Force’s operational pilots was threatening to refuse to report to duty if the legislation passed.

In the briefcase of one of the generals, Aharon Haliva, the head of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Military Intelligence Directorate, were highly classified documents detailing a judgment by intelligence officials that the political turmoil was emboldening Israel’s enemies. One document stated that the leaders of what Israeli officials call the “axis of resistance” — Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad — believed this was a moment of Israeli weakness and a time to strike.

Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, according to one of the documents, said that it was necessary to prepare for a major war.

General Haliva was ready to tell the coalition leaders that the political turmoil was creating an opportunity for Israel’s enemies to attack, particularly if there were more resignations in the military. Only two members of the Knesset came to hear his briefing.

The legislation passed overwhelmingly.

Separately, Gen. Herzi Halevi, the military’s chief of staff, tried to deliver the same warnings to Mr. Netanyahu. The prime minister refused to meet him, the officials said. Mr. Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment about this meeting.

The generals’ warnings were in large part based on a series of provocations on Israel’s northern border.

In February and March, Hezbollah had sent explosive-laden drones toward Israeli gas rigs. In March, a militant climbed over the border fence from Lebanon into Israel, carrying several powerful bombs, weapons, phones and an electric bike on which he traveled to a major northern intersection. He then used a powerful charge, apparently trying to blow up a bus.

On May 21, Hezbollah staged for apparently the first time war games at one of its training sites in Aaramta in south Lebanon. Hezbollah launched rockets and flew drones that dropped explosives on a simulated Israeli town.

Israeli officials believed that Hezbollah was leading the planning for a coordinated attack against Israel, but not one that would prompt an all-out war.

The officials’ concerns grew through August and September, and General Halevi went public with his concerns.

“We must be more prepared than ever for a multi-arena and extensive military conflict,” he said at a military ceremony on Sept. 11 , just weeks before the attack.

Mr. Netanyahu’s allies went on Israeli television and condemned General Halevi for sowing panic.

In a series of meetings, Shin Bet gave similar warnings to senior Israeli officials as General Halevi. Eventually, Mr. Bar also went public.

“From the investigations we are doing we can say today that the political instability and the growing division are a shot of encouragement to the countries of the axis of evil, the terrorist organizations and the individual threats,” Mr. Bar said in a speech .

Mr. Netanyahu’s government also ignored warnings from Israel’s neighbors. As the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, Jordan has traditionally been an important mediator between Palestinians and Israel’s government on the Aqsa Mosque compound, the third most holy site in Islam. The mosque compound has seen repeated raids by Israeli forces over the years, and Hamas has said that it launched this month’s attack in part as retaliation for those acts.

But Jordan found that when Mr. Netanyahu formed a government late last year, the most far right in recent history, it was less receptive to their warnings that the incidents at the Aqsa Mosque compound was stirring up sentiment inside Palestinian territories that could boil over into violence, according to two Arab officials with knowledge of the relationship.

The Wrong Focus

While security and intelligence officials were right about a coming attack, their intense focus on Hezbollah and Iran had a tragic effect: Far less attention was paid to the threats from Gaza. Since Israel’s withdrawal in 2005 and Hamas’s evolution from a purely guerrilla organization into the governing power of Gaza in 2007, Hamas had only periodic skirmishes with the Israeli military.

Under four different prime ministers, Israel repeatedly decided that reoccupying Gaza and crushing Hamas would cost too many lives and do too much damage to Israel’s international reputation.

Israel knew that Hamas, which Iran supports with funding, training and weapons, was growing stronger over time. But officials thought they could contain Hamas with an extensive network of human spies, sophisticated surveillance tools that would deliver early warnings of an attack and border fortifications to deter a Hamas ground assault. They also relied on the Iron Dome air defense system for intercepting rockets and missiles launched from Gaza.

The strategy, confirmed by multiple Israeli officials, bore some fruit. Over the years, Israel’s investment in penetrating Hamas’s inner circle in Gaza allowed Israel to uncover the group’s attack plans and occasionally led to assassinations of Hamas leaders.

Strengthening Hamas

Publicly, Mr. Netanyahu used blunt rhetoric about Hamas. His election slogan in 2008 was “Strong Against Hamas,” and in one campaign video at the time he pledged: “We will not stop the I.D.F. We will finish the job. We will topple the terror regime of Hamas.”

Over time, however, he came to see Hamas as a way to balance power against the Palestinian Authority, which has administrative control over the West Bank and has long sought a peace agreement in Israel in exchange for a Palestinian state.

Mr. Netanyahu told aides over the years that a feeble Palestinian Authority lowered the pressure on him to make concessions to Palestinians in negotiations, according to several former Israeli officials and people close to Mr. Netanyahu. An official in Mr. Netanyahu’s office, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, denied this had been the prime minister’s policy.

But there is no question that Israeli officials viewed Hamas as a regional threat, not a global terrorist organization like Hezbollah or the Islamic State. This view was shared in Washington, and American intelligence agencies dedicated few resources to collecting information on the group.

Some parts of the American government even believed that Hamas operatives could be recruited as sources of information about terrorist groups considered more urgent priorities in Washington.

Jonathan Schanzer, a former Treasury Department official and now the senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, recalled a meeting he had in 2015 with American intelligence and law enforcement officials about suspected Hamas operatives inside the United States.

During the meeting, he recalled, the officials told him they were trying to turn the Hamas operatives into “assets” in the fight against the Islamic State.

The Invincibility of the Wall

Israeli officials firmly believed that “The Barrier” — a nearly 40-mile-long reinforced concrete wall above and below ground, completed in 2021 — would hermetically seal off Gaza. There was also a surveillance system at the border based almost exclusively on cameras, sensors and remote-operated “sight-shooter” systems, four senior Israeli military officers told The Times.

Senior Israeli military officials believed that the combination of remote surveillance and machine-gun systems with the formidable wall would make it almost impossible to infiltrate Israel, and thus reduce the need for a large number of soldiers to be stationed at the bases.

But Hamas’s attack exposed the fragility of that technology. The group used explosive drones that damaged the cellular antennas and the remote firing systems that protected the fence between Gaza and Israel.

To get around Israel’s powerful surveillance technology, Hamas fighters also appeared to enforce strict discipline among the group’s ranks to not discuss its activities on mobile phones. This allowed them to pull off the attack without detection, one European official said.

The group most likely divided its fighters into smaller cells, each probably only trained for a specific objective. That way, the rank and file did not understand the scale of the attacks they were preparing for and could not give away the operation if caught, a European official said, based on his analysis of how the attack unfolded and from the videos the group disseminated from the operation.

Hamas may have learned such operational discipline from Hezbollah, which has long confused Israeli forces on the battlefield by dividing its fighters into smaller units of friends or relatives, according to Lebanese officials with ties to the group. If the fighters speak openly on cellphones to coordinate military operations, Lebanese officials with ties to the group said, part of their code is to speak in childhood memories — for example, asking to meet up in a field where they once played together.

Hamas claimed that 35 drones took part in the opening strike, including the Zawari, an explosive-laden drone.

“We started receiving messages that there was a raid on every reporting line,” testified one soldier, who was at the Gaza Division base on the day of the invasion, in a conversation with the “H amakom Hachi Ham Bagehinom” (“The Hottest Place in Hell”) website.

“On every reporting line, swarms of terrorists were coming in,” the soldier added. “The forces did not have time to come and stop it. There were swarms of terrorists, something psychotic, and we were simply told that our only choice was to take our feet and flee for our lives.”

In a conversation with military investigators two weeks after the attack, soldiers who survived the assault testified that the Hamas training was so precise that they damaged a row of cameras and communication systems so that “all our screens turned off in almost the exact same second.” The result of all this was a near total blindness on the morning of the attack.

After the fighting had stopped, Israeli soldiers found hand-held radios on the dead bodies of some of the Hamas militants — the same radios that Israeli intelligence officials had decided a year ago were no longer worth monitoring.

Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting from New York, and Eileen Sullivan from Washington.

Ronen Bergman is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, based in Tel Aviv. His latest book is “Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations,” published by Random House. More about Ronen Bergman

Mark Mazzetti is a Washington investigative correspondent, and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He is the author of "The Way of the Knife: the C.I.A, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth."  More about Mark Mazzetti

Maria Abi-Habib is an investigative correspondent based in Mexico City, covering Latin America. She previously reported from Afghanistan, across the Middle East and in India, where she covered South Asia. More about Maria Abi-Habib

Our Coverage of the Israel-Hamas War

Ground Incursion: The Israeli military appears  to have begun an invasion of the Gaza Strip . The operation, which is proceeding more slowly than expected , remains shrouded in secrecy .

Jabaliya Airstrike: An airstrike that Israel said was targeting Hamas militants caused widespread damage  in the densely populated neighborhood of Gaza, which is home to a large refugee camp. Hamas and hospital officials said numerous people were killed and wounded .

Hostages: Israel has said there are two main goals in the war: Destroy Hamas and free the hostages  held in Gaza. But are those goals compatible ?

In the West Bank: As the conflict continues, attacks by Israeli forces and settlers on Palestinians in the territory are surging , with at least 115 killed, more than 2,000 injured and nearly 1,000 others forcibly displaced from their homes, according to the U.N.

Hezbollah: After years of spoiling for a fight with Israel, the Shiite militant group is torn  between maintaining its credibility as a defender of the Palestinians and its hesitation to drag Lebanon into a full-scale war.

The Conflict’s   Global  Reach

A World of Fear: The Oct. 7 assault on Israel has awakened a repressed horror in Jewish populations  in Europe, now compounded by dismay at the way the world’s sympathy has rapidly shifted to the Palestinians in Gaza.

Poster Activism: In the weeks since the start of the conflict, fliers depicting the hostages have become ubiquitous. But in cities and on college campuses across the globe, anti-Israel protesters have been caught tearing them down .

Wrestling With Raw Emotions: The Argentine-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim founded the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin with the intention of bringing together students from across the Middle East. But the Israel-Hamas war is testing the young musicians’ ideals .

Biden Administration: After declaring its unambiguous support for Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks, the White House has become more critical of the country’s response , a shift that U.S. officials attribute to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

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summary writing university level

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summary writing university level

Academic A Writing

Table of contents.

This text is designed to help university-bound ESL students at the intermediate mid level. The content covers the basics of standard American English essay writing and formatting.

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summary writing university level

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  1. Summary Writing Examples

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COMMENTS

  1. PDF How To Write a Summary

    With thanks to: Swales, John M. and Christine B. Feat. Academic Writing for Graduate Students, Essential Tasks and Skills. Ann Arbor: U Michigan P, 1994. 105-130. Preparing to Write: To write a good summary it is important to thoroughly understand the material you are working with. Here are some preliminary steps in writing a summary. 1.

  2. Summary Skills

    (Written by AEUK, 2022) Summarising video A 9:30-minute video on how to summarise effectively using the 6-key stages of summarising. It also includes an example summary and two practice activities. How to write an effective academic summary Video Download Worksheet: This is the worksheet that accompanies the video: here

  3. Writing Article Summaries

    For argumentative articles, the summary identifies, explains, and analyses the thesis and supporting arguments; for empirical articles, the summary identifies, explains, and analyses the research questions, methods, findings, and implications of the study.

  4. How 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 When to write a summary

  5. Guidelines for Writing a Summary

    A good summary should be comprehensive, concise, coherent, and independent. These qualities are explained below: A summary must be comprehensive: You should isolate all the important points in the original passage and note them down in a list.

  6. How to Write a Summary

    Why? Because defending claims with source material is what you will be asked to do when writing papers for your college professors. Write a last sentence that "wraps" up your summary; often a simple rephrasing of the main point. Example Summary Writing Format In the essay Santa Ana, author Joan Didion's main point is ( state main point ).

  7. Exercise : Basic-level Paraphrase and Summary Writing

    Summary. Summarize the following text from the Voice of America website: "Many thousands of Chinese are studying at schools in the United States. And writer Liel Leibovitz says the students are following an example that began in the eighteen seventies. Mr. Leibovitz and writer Matthew Miller joined forces to tell the story of the students in ...

  8. Summarizing

    Summarizing. In many situations, you will not have to provide the level of detail that the original writer did. At such times, you should summarize, or remove minor details. Here's an example: Example: Overall, the first two quarters of 2008 have been profitable to the company. Nineteen of twenty departments report cutting costs at least ...

  9. Reading & Summary Writing Skills

    AEUK Academic Reading summaries have been specifically written for university reading tests. The texts are based around academic journals and the lesson includes key points with support and a model answer. Also includes a critical thinking worksheet. Reading to Summary Topics Click on any link to be taken to the download Summary Writing

  10. Resources for Writers: Summary Writing

    In the right hand column, summarize the point in the left column in a few sentences. This will help you get an overall picture of the argument through the outline, and a more detailed reminder of the content via the summaries. Summaries as part of essays. Most summary occurs as part of other essays--indeed, few essays use only one kind of writing.

  11. How to Write an Academic Summary

    January 18, 2017 by Megan Webster A summary is a shortened or condensed version of a reading. Only includes the most important concepts or ideas. Used to explain the content of the reading to someone who has not read it. Written in your own words with a minimal use of direct quotes. What do you need in a summary? Accuracy

  12. Reading & Writing Center

    Writing a Summary. A summary is a short explanation of the main ideas in a text.Learning to summarize is a very important skill. When writing and responding to a text (essay, article, lecture, story, novel, or video), as you are often expected to do in college, you will be expected to summarize what you read, often in the introduction of each essay you write.

  13. Paraphrase and Summary: University College Writing Handouts

    Paraphrase When should I paraphrase, and when should I summarize? To paraphrase means to restate someone else's ideas in your own language at roughly the same level of detail. To summarize means to reduce the most essential points of someone else's work into a shorter form.

  14. Summary Writing: Samples, Format, Tips, Skills

    Write the Summary. After forming a rough outline of the text, start writing down your summary, keeping in mind that it should be concise. Combine all the main points and supporting sentences into a coherent whole. Summary should usually be 10-15% of the main text, so make sure to stay within the word limit.

  15. The Purpose of Summaries

    With the appropriate level of understanding and preparation, a writer needing to develop a summary can be better able to face such a task with greater confidence and skill. What are some reasons why someone might want to summarize something? Improve understanding (current self).

  16. A Guide to Writing an Effective Academic Summary

    Here are three tips for writing an effective academic Summary. Writing a summary is much easier to do from an outline, which will also provide you with a writing plan for your summary. Write your thesis at the top of the outline. Outline the supporting ideas you would like to include in the summary. Outline the supporting ideas in summary.

  17. How to Write a Summary

    Summarizing consists of two important skills: identifying the important material in the text, and restating the text in your own words. Since writing a summary consists of omitting minor information, it will always be shorter than the original text. How to Write a Summary

  18. Academic A Writing

    This text is designed to help university-bound ESL students at the intermediate mid level. The content covers the basics of standard American English essay writing and formatting. ... Integrated Writing (Summary) 161. More Writing Skills 165. Punctuation 167. Simple Sentences 171. Compound Sentences 175.

  19. Less is More? How to Teach Summary Writing

    1 As a class, read a short selection. This can be either a short essay or part of one. It should be short enough that students can read it in the first part of your class session. Some suggestions are " short -short stories " or biographies of important people like Dr. Martin Luther King or other figures familiar to your class.

  20. Summary Writing Examples

    Size: 36 KB Download Sample Summary Writing thoughtco.com Details File Format DOC Size: 3 KB Download What Is Summary Writing? Summary writing is the act or the formal writing process of creating or making a conclusion using a few words to highlight the most important information of an essay, speech, or other address.

  21. Learn How to Write a Summary

    Published on: Jul 31, 2022 Last updated on: Jan 26, 2023 Writing a summary demonstrates that you have clearly understood the text, and now you can communicate that understanding to your readers. However, summary writing is not an easy task. In fact, it is quite a difficult academic skill to learn.

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    100% free: Generate unlimited summaries without paying a penny Accurate: Get a reliable and trustworthy summary of your original text without any errors No signup: Use it without giving up any personal data Secure: No summary data is stored, guaranteeing your privacy Speed: Get an accurate summary within seconds, thanks to AI Flexible: Adjust summary length to get more (or less) detailed summaries

  23. View reflections from the Tar Heel Bus Tour

    Press the play button above to watch the video. Carolina leadership hit the road in October for the annual Tar Heel Bus Tour. With two buses covering both the east and west portions of North Carolina and with 19 stops, the Tar Heel Bus Tour exhibits the University's commitment to serving all North Carolinians.

  24. How Years of Israeli Failures on Hamas Led to a Devastating Attack

    Israeli officials completely underestimated the magnitude of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, shattering the country's once invincible sense of security.

  25. Academic A Writing

    Complex Sentences Part 1. Complex Sentences Part 2. Using Academic Vocabulary. Glossary. This text is designed to help university-bound ESL students at the intermediate mid level. The content covers the basics of standard American English essay writing and formatting.