Introduction

Throughout your academic career, it is very likely that you will be asked to write a summary. This is related to, but more extensive than, the summarizing discussed in the last chapter about how to incorporate outside material. Much like the summarizing described in the last chapter, a summary provides a shorter version of a text. However, while summarizing a text to support your own writing is typically only a few sentences, a summary is a standalone document which gives the reader a brief version of the original text. This may seem simple, but the way that you write a summary of a text depends on the purpose for writing the summary. In the following chapter, we will discuss the following elements of writing a successful summary:

● Reading and understanding texts
● The purpose of writing summaries
● The different types of summaries
● The moves of writing summaries
● Avoiding plagiarism when writing summaries