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How to write a research summary

A research summary is a required task during academic research, and sometimes, you might need to prepare one during an organization's research project.

Most people find a research summary challenging. You must condense complex research material into an informative, easy-to-understand article, usually with a minimum of 300-500 words.

This blog article will guide you through all the steps required to make writing your research summary easier. 

What is a Research Summary?

A  research summary  is a concise overview of a research paper or project. It is designed to provide the reader with essential research insights without reading the entire document. Research summaries are commonly required in academic settings and are fundamental in disseminating knowledge concisely.

The key components of a Research Summary

Objective writing.

It is crucial to maintain objectivity when writing a research summary. The summary should reflect the author's ideas and findings without including personal opinions. This requires the summarizer to convey the main points and intent of the original research accurately while remaining neutral.

Focus and Clarity

Determining the focus of the summary is a critical first step. It involves deciding whether to create a "global" summary, which covers all main ideas, or a "selective" summary, which focuses on specific aspects of the research. The summary should be clear, engaging, and concise, capturing the essence of the study in a brief format.

Essential Elements

A good summary should include the research's foundation, the theoretical framework, and a clear outline of the empirical findings. It should also identify any research gaps addressed by the study. The content should be well-organized, starting with a brief introduction to the topic and then discussing the research methods, results, and conclusions.

Tips for writing a compelling Research Summary

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

Considering the target audience 

The golden rule of writing is always to consider your target audience; a research summary is no exception. Why? Different people have different needs, and your paper should meet the needs and preferences of the target audience. Ask yourself, “Who am I writing for?” write down the answer, and you’ll find it easier to pinpoint research articles for the summary.

  • Being aware of the bigger picture

Remembering a complete and coherent picture of the story delivered by the original article is crucial. It might be helpful to reread or scan the content to remind yourself of the declared goals, hypotheses, key evidence, and conclusions—this awareness offers a constant sense of direction, which ensures that no written sentence is out of context.

  • Research outline

Consider writing a detailed research outline before writing a summary research draft. 

Sketch the main elements of the conclusion before writing it for several reasons:

  • Validate/invalidate hypotheses.
  • Enumerate key evidence supporting or invalidating them and list potential implications.
  • Mention the subject's importance.
  • Mention study limitations and future directions for research.

Consider writing the introduction and discussion last. It makes sense first to list hypotheses, goals, questions, and results. The information in the introduction and discussion can be adapted as needed (for instance, to match a word count limit). Additionally, based on written paragraphs, you can quickly generate your discussion with the help of a conclusion tool.

  • Visual representation 

it’s not just about writing a long text and analysis of some subject by using the information you find, both research and its summary need visuals for full effect. Sometimes, a simple diagram or graph can say much of the information you tried to convey. A common mistake students make is leaving visuals for the original file and omitting them in the summary. Feel free to include tables, figures, and other visual supplements to this paper too.

  • Avoiding plagiarism

It is very tempting to "borrow" or quote entire phrases from an article, provided how well-written these are. However, you need to summarize your paper without plagiarizing; only paraphrasing is allowed, and it's best to do it carefully. The best way to stay safe is by formulating your thoughts from scratch.

  • Keeping the word count in check

The general rule of thumb is that the summary should meet the criteria of no more than 10% of the number of pages in the original document. In most cases, it takes 2 and 4 pages.

The writing style  

When summarizing content, it should be impersonal, precise, and purely evidence-based. A personal view or an attitude should be provided only in the critical section.

Ask a colleague to read your summary and test whether they can understand everything without reading the article—this will help ensure that you haven't skipped any vital content, explanations, concepts, etc.

  • Using dedicated AI Tools

Leveraging tools like Wiseone can help by generating a thorough summary with key takeaways to remember, ensuring it remains concise and focused on the main ideas.

How to write a Research Summary

Once the requirements of the fundamentals for starting a research summary are satisfied, you can begin to write using the following format:

  • Why was the research done?  – A clear description of why the research was embarked on and the hypothesis being tested.
  • Who was surveyed?  – The research study should have details of the source of your information. If it was via a survey, you should document who the survey participants were and why they were selected.
  • What was the methodology?  – Discuss the methodology regarding what kind of survey method you adopted. Was it a face-to-face interview, a phone interview, or a focus group setting?
  • What were the key findings? - This is perhaps the most vital part of the process. What discoveries did you make after the testing? This part should be based on raw facts free from any personal bias.
  • Conclusion: What conclusions were drawn from the findings?
  • Takeaways and action points: This is where the views and perceptions can be reflected. Here, you can now share your recommendations or action points.
  • Identify the article's focal point: To grasp the content covered in the research paper, you can skim the article first to understand the essential part of the research paper. 
  • Analyze and understand the topic and article: Writing a research paper summary involves familiarizing yourself with the current state of knowledge, key definitions, concepts, and models. This information is often gleaned while reading the literature review. Please note that only a deep understanding ensures efficient and accurate content summarization.
  • Make notes as you read:  Highlight and summarize each paragraph as you read. You would further condense your notes to create a draft forming your research summary.

How to Structure Your Research Summary

  • Title  

The title announces the exact topic/area of analysis and can even be formulated to briefly announce key finding(s) or argument(s) delivered.

  • Abstract  

An abstract is a concise and comprehensive description of the study, present virtually in any academic article (the length varies greatly, typically within 100-500 words). Unlike a scholarly article, your research summary is expected to have a much shorter abstract.

  • Introduction  

The introduction is an essential part of any research summary, which provides the necessary context (the literature review) that helps introduce readers to the subject by presenting the current state of the investigation, an important concept or definition, etc. This section describes the subject's importance (or may not, for instance, when it is self-evident). Finally, an introduction typically lists investigation questions and hypotheses advanced by authors, which are usually mentioned in detail in any research summary (obviously, doing this is only possible after identifying these elements in the original paper).

  • Methodology

Regardless of location, this section details experimental or data analysis methods (e.g., experiments, surveys, sampling, or statistical analysis). Many of these details would have to be omitted in a research summary; hence, it is essential to understand what is most important to mention.

  • Results section –

This section lists evidence obtained from all experiments with some primary data analysis, conclusions, observations, and primary interpretations being made. It is typically the most significant section of any analysis paper, so it must be concisely rewritten, which implies understanding which content is worth omitting and keeping.

  • Discussion  

The discussion is where experts discuss results in the context of current knowledge. This section contains interpretations of results, theoretical models explaining the observed results, study strengths and limitations, complementary future exploration, conclusions, etc. All these are essential elements that need to be conveyed in summary.

  • Conclusion  

In the conclusion, hypotheses are revisited and validated or denied, based on how convincing the evidence is (key lines of evidence could be highlighted).

  • References  

References mention those cited works directly in your summary – obviously, one has to provide appropriate citations, at least for the original article (this often suffices). Mentioning other works might be relevant when your critical opinion is also required (supported with new unrelated evidence).

Writing a practical research summary involves a blend of comprehension, objectivity, and clarity. Focusing on the main ideas, maintaining neutrality, and organizing the summary effectively can create a valuable and insightful overview that serves the audience's needs, whether for academic purposes or general knowledge.

What is a research summary?

What are the key components of a research summaries.

Objectivity : Maintaining objectivity is crucial when writing a research summary. The summary should reflect the author's ideas and findings without including personal opinions. This requires conveying the main points and intent of the original research accurately while remaining neutral.

Clarity and focus: Determining the focus of the summary is a critical first step. It involves the decision to create either a "global" summary, which covers all main ideas, or a "selective" summary, which focuses on specific aspects of the research. The summary should be clear, engaging, and concise, capturing the essence of the study in a brief format.

Essential elements: A good research summary should include the research's foundation, the theoretical framework, and a clear outline of the empirical findings. It should also identify any research gaps addressed by the study. The content should be well-organized, starting with a brief introduction to the topic and then discussing the research methods, results, and conclusions.

What are the tips for writing a compelling research summary?

  • Thinking about the target audience 
  • Keeping the writing style in check

What is the structure of a research summary?

  • Introduction
  • Results section

In the conclusion, hypotheses are revisited and validated or denied based on how convincing the evidence is (key lines of evidence could be highlighted).

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Top ai tools for research in may 2024, 13 simple & effective ways to gain knowledge.

How to Write a Summary: Tips, Strategies and Best Practices

Harish M

Writing a summary requires a deep understanding of the original text and the ability to concisely restate its main ideas in your own words, highlighting the essence of the content. 

This process begins with crafting an organized paragraph that opens with an introductory sentence, clearly mentioning the text’s title, author, and central theme, steering clear of personal commentary to maintain the integrity of the summarized information.

In this blog, you will discover various strategies and best practices for summary writing, including ways to start a summary, summary steps, and the recommended length for a summary.

Purpose and Benefits of a Summary

Understanding the purpose of a summary is pivotal in grasping its significance in both academic and professional realms. Summaries serve multiple functions, each tailored to enhance comprehension, retention, and communication of key ideas. 

Here's a breakdown of the types of summary, core components and benefits of summary writing:

  • Academic Summaries : Used in scholarly contexts to condense research findings, theories, or literary works.
  • Executive Summaries : Often found in business settings, these provide a snapshot of reports or proposals, highlighting key points for decision-makers.
  • Abstracts : Common in scientific articles, abstracts offer a brief overview of research aims, methods, results, and conclusions ] .
  • Main Idea or Thesis : A summary must encapsulate the central theme or argument presented in the original text.
  • Essential Supporting Points : It should also highlight crucial supporting arguments or evidence that back the main idea.
  • Independence from Original Text : While a summary relies on the content of the source material, it should stand on its own, providing a clear and concise rendition of the original work.
  • Improves Comprehension : Summarizing forces the writer to distill complex ideas into simpler, more digestible formats, thereby enhancing understanding of the subject matter.
  • Facilitates Future Reference : A well-crafted summary serves as a handy reference tool, allowing quick recall of a text’s key points without the need to revisit the entire work.
  • Better Understanding : By summarizing, writers can showcase their grasp of the material, making it a valuable tool in educational settings to assess understanding.
  • Objective Representation : Unlike critiques or analyses, summaries aim to objectively convey the essence of a text, focusing solely on the author’s ideas without personal bias or interpretation.

Understanding these aspects of summary writing underscores its value in effectively communicating complex information. This skill, once honed, becomes an indispensable tool across various domains, from academia to industry, underscoring the importance of mastering the art of summary writing.

Steps to Deep Reading Before Summarizing

Before embarking on the task of summarizing, engaging in deep reading is essential to fully grasp the content and nuances of the text. 

Listed below are some of the benefits of deep reading

Deep Reading Benefits :

  • Deep reading is the mind's default mode for processing texts, allowing for deeper thinking and association with unique ideas.
  • It improves focus and teaches the brain to commit to one task at a time, which is essential in today’s world of information overflow.
  • Engaging deeply with a text provides more value, as immersion in the material follows the reader everywhere, encouraging positive action based on the information absorbed.

Here are the steps to ensure effective deep reading:

  • Initiate with Skimming and Active Reading :
  • Begin by skimming through the text to get a general idea of its main themes and structure.
  • Actively read the article or text, paying close attention to its presentation. This might involve rereading certain sections and keeping the purpose and intended audience in mind.
  • Divide the text into manageable sections. This helps in focusing on smaller parts of the text, making it easier to understand and summarize later.
  • Summarize each section individually while ensuring it aligns with the overall main idea of the text. This step is vital in understanding the content thoroughly before proceeding to write a summary.
  • Deep reading requires complete engagement with the text. Eliminate all distractions to immerse yourself fully in the material.
  • Understand every word in the writing, especially unfamiliar ones. This might require looking up meanings to ensure comprehensive understanding.
  • Read carefully and multiple times if needed, particularly the difficult parts, until they are fully understood.
  • Question the text and identify any discrepancies or mistakes, fostering a critical thinking approach.
  • Discuss insightful parts of the text with others. This can provide different perspectives and deepen understanding.
  • Attempt to rewrite what you've read. Successfully doing so indicates a deep comprehension of the material.
  • After a thorough initial reading, it's beneficial to give the article a deep re-read, highlighting passages that stand out.
  • Refine the highlights to make the author's ideas easier to understand and scrutinize their relevance to personal experiences and existing knowledge.
  • Write out high-level ideas by hand to further embed the new knowledge into the mind, and then explain these concepts in detail in a fresh document for a comprehensive understanding.

By adhering to these steps, readers can significantly enhance their understanding of the text, which is a crucial precursor to writing an effective summary. This deep engagement ensures that the summary captures the essence of the original text accurately and cohesively.

Crafting the Perfect Introductory Sentence

Crafting the perfect introductory sentence for a summary involves several key components that ensure clarity, conciseness, and a comprehensive understanding of the original text. Here's how to get started:

  • Title and Author : Always include the title of the text and the author's name in the introductory sentence. This provides immediate context to the reader.
  • Main Point : Clearly state the main point or thesis of the text as you understand it. This sets the stage for the rest of your summary.
  • Use Your Own Words : Avoid direct quotations; instead, paraphrase the author's main ideas in your own words to demonstrate your understanding and keep the summary original.
  • Start with the Source : Begin your summary by acknowledging the source material. This could be as simple as "In [Author's Name]'s [Title of the Text], the main argument focuses on...".
  • Incorporate a Reporting Verb : Use verbs like 'argues', 'claims', 'contends', or 'insists' to present the author's main ideas. This not only introduces the summary but also sets a scholarly tone.
  • Be Concise but Comprehensive : Your introductory sentence should capture the essence of the text in a nutshell, providing a snapshot of the author's thesis and the text's main theme.
  • For a novel: "In [Author's Name]'s novel, [Title], the story revolves around the central conflict faced by [main character], highlighting [main theme or journey]."  
  • For an academic article: "In the article '[Title]' by [Author's Name], published in [Year], the author contends that [main argument], supported by [key evidence]."  
  • For a scientific research paper: "The research paper '[Title]' by [Author's Name], focuses on [main research topic], where the author argues [main findings]."

By following these steps and structure, you can craft an introductory sentence that effectively sets the stage for your summary, providing your readers with a clear, concise, and comprehensive overview of the original text. 

Condensing Main Points with Precision

Condensing the main points of a text with precision involves a meticulous process of identifying, prioritizing, and articulating the essence of the original material. Here's how to approach this crucial step in summary writing:

  • Main Idea : Determine the central thesis or argument of the text. This is the backbone of your summary.
  • Supporting Points : Pinpoint the essential arguments or evidence that bolster the main idea. These should be included to provide a comprehensive overview.
  • Keywords : Spot keywords within the text as they often signal important concepts or themes.
  • Use Your Own Words : Paraphrase the author's ideas into your own language to demonstrate understanding and avoid plagiarism. Remember, a summary should significantly condense the original text while accurately representing its main points.
  • Structure : Present the main ideas in the order they appear in the original text, using transitional phrases for coherence. However, avoid creating an outline or merely listing the points as they occur.
  • Omissions : Exclude any examples, detailed evidence, or rhetorical questions used by the author. The goal is to distill the text to its most pivotal elements, not to replicate its detailed discussions.
  • Abbreviations and Symbols : Use abbreviations and symbols to note down key points. This helps in keeping your summary concise.
  • Mind Maps and Columns : For longer texts, consider organizing the main points using a mind map or columns. This visual organization can help in understanding how ideas connect and which details are most important.
  • Highlighting : Use colors and highlighting to differentiate between themes or categories of information. Writing small can also help in fitting more content on a single page.

In summary writing, the ability to discern and distill the essence of the text is paramount. By following these steps, writers can ensure that their summaries are both accurate and concise, providing readers with a clear and succinct overview of the original material without injecting personal opinion or unnecessary detail.

Ensuring Coherence and Smooth Transitions

Ensuring coherence and smooth transitions in writing is akin to creating a map for readers to follow, guiding them through the ideas presented in a logical and fluid manner. Here are strategies to achieve this:

  • Use of Transitional Words and Phrases : Incorporate words such as 'subsequently' and 'conversely,' or phrases like 'as a result' and 'in conclusion' to link ideas and signal logical connections between them.
  • Key Phrases Repetition : Pick up key phrases from the previous paragraph and incorporate them in the next. This creates an obvious progression for readers, making the text more accessible and easier to follow.
  • Transitional Paragraphs : After major sections, employ transitional paragraphs to pause, regroup, and indicate where you are in your argument. These paragraphs should summarize major points, relate the previous section to the thesis, and connect it to what will follow, enhancing the overall flow of the essay.
  • Avoid using personal pronouns such as 'I' or 'We', which can disrupt the objective tone of a summary.
  • Beware of poor transitions that can lead to choppy, jumpy, or disconnected writing. These hinder the reader's ability to follow the organization or train of thought.
  • Within Paragraphs : Use transitional words or phrases, or keywords from the preceding paragraph, to ensure connections are clear within a paragraph. This helps in joining ideas together in a sentence and sentences together in a paragraph.
  • Between Paragraphs : Highlight connections between corresponding paragraphs by referencing relevant material from previous paragraphs in the next. Writing transitions that specifically connect one paragraph to another enhances the effectiveness more than using generic transitions.

By employing these strategies, writers can significantly enhance the cohesiveness of their writing. Effective use of transitions not only aids in better understanding by the reader but also ensures a smooth flow of ideas, making the summary more engaging and easier to comprehend. 

Conclusion: Wrapping up Your Summary

Throughout this article, we've explored the nuanced skill of summary writing, offering readers a detailed guide on effectively condensing complex texts into clear, concise summaries. From understanding the foundational purpose and benefits of summaries in various contexts to mastering the art of crafting the perfect introductory sentence and ensuring coherence with smooth transitions, the guidance provided aims to enhance both academic and professional writing capabilities. Emphasizing the importance of using one's own words and maintaining objectivity, this article has underscored the critical skills required for precise and effective summary writing, making it an invaluable resource for individuals looking to refine their summarizing abilities.

What are the essential guidelines for creating a summary?

To craft an effective summary, you should:

  • Paraphrase the content using your own language.
  • Focus on the core ideas of the original material and keep it concise.
  • Refrain from incorporating your own interpretations or analyses; the summary should reflect the author's ideas, not yours.

How can I develop a strategy for summarizing a text?

Developing a summary strategy involves:

  • Thoroughly reading and understanding the text.
  • Taking notes on the central theme and key points that should be included.
  • Using the author's original keywords and considering how their ideas pertain to your own arguments in your work.

Can you outline the five steps involved in writing a summary?

Certainly! The five steps for summarizing are:

  • Read and comprehend the material you intend to summarize.
  • Highlight or underline significant sections of the text.
  • Jot down the primary arguments.
  • Include relevant supporting details.
  • Review your summary for accuracy and clarity.

What makes a summary both good and effective?

A good and effective summary should:

  • Start with an introductory sentence that mentions the text's title, author, and the main thesis as perceived by you.
  • Be composed in your own words, ensuring it's a paraphrase of the original.
  • Only encapsulate the original text's ideas without adding your personal opinions, interpretations, or commentary.

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research paper summary section wise

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How to Write a Research Paper Summary

Journal submission: Tips to submit better manuscripts | Paperpal

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

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

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

Table of Contents

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  • 2. Invest enough time to understand the topic deeply 

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

  • Mistakes to avoid while writing your research paper summary 

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

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

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

1. Determine the focus of your summary

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

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

2. Invest enough time to understand the topic deeply

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

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

3. Keep the summary crisp, brief and engaging

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

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

Mistakes to avoid while writing your research paper summary

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

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

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

Summarize your research paper with Paperpal

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

research paper summary section wise

How to summarize a research paper with Paperpal?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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How to Scan Through Millions of Articles and Still Cut Down on Your Reading Time — Why not do it with an AI-based article summarizer?

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Researcher 1: “It’s flooding articles every time I switch on my laptop!”

Researcher 2: “Why don’t you categorize your downloaded data?”

Researcher 1: “I have. But the amount of data is enormous. Where should I even start from?”

This conversation is not new to researchers who have begun collating scholarly research data. The information overload, although a boon in many ways, is also making it difficult to identify relevant data for your research paper . Despite having found all the necessary information, you are left perplexed as to which research paper should you prioritize to read. You can’t read all those 124 journal articles, 27 book chapters, 45 preprints, and 8 dissertation chapters that you downloaded. It would take forever! It will be much simpler if all these research papers are summarized section-wise. Let’s read through to find out how researchers can know which of the resources are relevant to their research topic and how they can optimize their time using a research article section-wise summarizer.

Table of Contents

The Difficulty in Manually Collating and Summarizing the Enormous Downloaded Research Data

In the literature reviewing process, it is imperative to tame large amounts of downloaded data from multiple sources and derive the greatest value with only relevant data. The collation and management of massive amounts of research information have to be a methodical approach. It helps in deriving insights and prioritizing papers to read for literature review . However, information overload has confounded researchers in their attempts to manage and analyze research data, let alone summarize the articles.

The secret to accurate research paper section-wise summarizing is capturing the key points. Summarizing each article manually is an arduous process. The first step to research paper summarizing is reading the papers thoroughly. However, how could you read all the research papers from start to end, pay attention to annotations, subheadings, and even references? Furthermore, key points aren’t always obvious. Hence, reading through each section separately to avoid missing key points is an overwhelming process. These challenges of section-wise summarizing of research papers manually continue. It requires a structured, well-planned collation, and summarizing of data based on their relevance to prioritize papers to read.

Apart from information overload, the problems that hinder a systematic approach to literature review are:

  • Selection bias: Resources should not be considered relevant only based on keywords.
  • Lack of comprehensiveness: This occurs due to ambiguity in understanding the research question and searching for information with incorrect or irrelevant terms.
  • Failure to test evidence of publication: This can result in misleading your conclusions.
  • Lack of transparency/replicability: Review replication is a central tenet of the scientific method. If the review methods are not transparent and cannot be replicated, they cannot be considered reliable.

How Can Researchers Decide and Prioritize the Literature to Read?

Reading the title cannot alone be a deciding factor for reading a paper. Generally, researchers will read the abstract, results, and conclusion to decide if the paper is worth further reading and relevant to their research topic. However, with data deluge , following the same practice in today’s time is both a time-consuming and strenuous effort.

Finding the right information from numerous downloaded resources continues to be a task. With being a time and effort-draining process, one can’t derive insights merely based on the abstract and conclusion of a paper. It is possible that a few key aspects, which can be relevant to your research topic are missed out in the abstract or conclusion. Hence, researchers could take the help of AI and explore new technologies to prioritize papers to read. A potential solution to this is if every section of a research paper is summarized emphasizing its key aspects. This will allow researchers to only read what’s relevant, save time, and most importantly, cite the right resources.

What Is a Research Article Section-wise Summarizer?

Generally, most (if not all) research papers are divided into 6 major sections, viz., abstract, introduction, methods and methodology, results, discussions, and conclusion. Each of these sections includes a piece of key information that is important to conduct a literature review. However, the surplus research data and the time constraint hinders the process of deciding which papers to read first that deem suitable for their research topic.

Whether or not an article must be read can be decided if the article’s key aspects and findings are auto-generated in section-wise summaries. This will ensure prioritizing of papers to read without the fear of missing out on important relevant information for literature review.

How Section-wise Article Summaries and Key Insights Speed up Critical Reading?

Literature search and review is a systematic approach to authentic and reliable research data. Critical reading plays an imperative role in examining and analyzing discovered resources. Reading each downloaded paper is a process that demands time and undivided attention. Moreover, it is bothersome to find that the paper you read is not even remotely related to your research topic.

In this case, rather than spending a lot of time in critical reading of each downloaded resource, researchers could resort to an AI-based tool that captures crucial aspects of research papers. Key assumptions, the novelty in findings, limitations of the research, etc. cannot be found only by reading the abstract and conclusion. Hence, an article summarizer, which does not only abridges a research paper but also creates section-wise summaries maintaining all key aspects of the paper is a solution to this.

Section-wise summary of an article forms the gist of each section of the paper. It helps users to analyze the data and correlate it to their research topic helping them to speed up their decision-making and paper prioritization process. Along with the section-wise summary feature, the key insights feature of the knowledge manager helps the user in capturing specific aspects of the whole paper without missing out on any section. This helps researchers in prioritizing papers to read as well as giving them a quick recap of the read papers.

Where to Find These Unique Features? Knowledge Manager- Surpassing the Limits of Reference Managers!

As science advances, so will the amount of literature. Hence, organizing this enormous amount of research data is humanly impossible; it requires an efficient and reliable AI-based tool such as the knowledge manager that not only saves and organizes downloaded resources but also goes beyond the conventional reference managers and helps researchers in prioritizing papers for critical reading.

Knowledge Manager will help researchers in the following ways:

  • Quick comprehension of downloaded resources
  • Deciding which papers to prioritize for critical reading
  • Citing relevant papers
  • Developing section-wise summaries without missing out on important details
  • Help capture crucial aspects of papers
  • Key insights for each paper for a quick recap

Are you still struggling to collate your research data and manage it? Or have no clue as to which literature to prioritize to read? Go beyond reference management and explore the Knowledge Manager to ease critical reading for literature review.

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  • How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples

How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples

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

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

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

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

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

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Table of contents

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Examples of article summaries

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

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

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

Citing the source you’re summarizing

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

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

APA Citation Generator MLA Citation Generator

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

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

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

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

Save yourself some time with the free summariser.

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

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

You might have to write a summary of a source:

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

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

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

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

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

Cite this Scribbr article

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

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

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Home » Chapter Summary & Overview – Writing Guide and Examples

Chapter Summary & Overview – Writing Guide and Examples

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Chapter Summary

Chapter Summary

Chapter summary is a brief overview of the key points or events covered in a specific chapter of a book, academic paper, or other written work. It typically includes a concise description of the main ideas, arguments, or themes explored in the chapter, as well as any important supporting details or evidence .

Chapter summaries are often used as study aids, providing readers with a quick way to review and understand the content of a particular section of a longer work. They may also be included as part of a book’s table of contents or used as a promotional tool to entice potential readers.

How to Write Chapter Summary

Writing a chapter summary involves condensing the content of a chapter into a shorter, more concise form while still retaining its essential meaning. Here are some steps to help you write a chapter summary:

  • Read the chapter carefully: Before summarizing a chapter, it is important to read it thoroughly to ensure that you understand the main ideas and points being made.
  • Identify the main ideas: Identify the main ideas and arguments that the chapter is presenting. These may be explicit, or they may be implicit and require some interpretation on your part.
  • Make notes: Take notes while reading to help you keep track of the main ideas and arguments. Write down key phrases, important quotes, and any examples or evidence that support the main points.
  • Create an outline : Once you have identified the main ideas and arguments, create an outline for your summary. This will help you organize your thoughts and ensure that you include all the important points.
  • Write the summary : Using your notes and outline, write a summary of the chapter. Start with a brief introduction that provides context for the chapter, then summarize the main ideas and arguments, and end with a conclusion that ties everything together.
  • Edit and revise: After you have written the summary, review it carefully to ensure that it is accurate and concise. Make any necessary edits or revisions to improve the clarity and readability of the summary.
  • Check for plagiarism : Finally, check your summary for plagiarism. Make sure that you have not copied any content directly from the chapter without proper citation.

Chapter Summary in Research Paper

In a Research Paper , a Chapter Summary is a brief description of the main points or findings covered in a particular chapter. The summary is typically included at the beginning or end of each chapter and serves as a guide for the reader to quickly understand the content of that chapter.

Here is an example of a chapter summary from a research paper on climate change:

Chapter 2: The Science of Climate Change

In this chapter, we provide an overview of the scientific consensus on climate change. We begin by discussing the greenhouse effect and the role of greenhouse gases in trapping heat in the atmosphere. We then review the evidence for climate change, including temperature records, sea level rise, and changes in the behavior of plants and animals. Finally, we examine the potential impacts of climate change on human society and the natural world. Overall, this chapter provides a foundation for understanding the scientific basis for climate change and the urgency of taking action to address this global challenge.

Chapter Summary in Thesis

In a Thesis , the Chapter Summary is a section that provides a brief overview of the main points covered in each chapter of the thesis. It is usually included at the beginning or end of each chapter and is intended to help the reader understand the key concepts and ideas presented in the chapter.

For example, in a thesis on computer science field, a chapter summary for a chapter on “Machine Learning Algorithms” might include:

Chapter 3: Machine Learning Algorithms

This chapter explores the use of machine learning algorithms in solving complex problems in computer science. We begin by discussing the basics of machine learning, including supervised and unsupervised learning, as well as different types of algorithms such as decision trees, neural networks, and support vector machines. We then present a case study on the application of machine learning algorithms in image recognition, demonstrating how these algorithms can improve accuracy and reduce error rates. Finally, we discuss the limitations and challenges of using machine learning algorithms, including issues of bias and overfitting. Overall, this chapter highlights the potential of machine learning algorithms to revolutionize the field of computer science and drive innovation in a wide range of industries.

Examples of Chapter Summary

Some Examples of Chapter Summary are as follows:

Research Title: “The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health: A Review of the Literature”

Chapter Summary:

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of the research problem, which is the impact of social media on mental health. It presents the purpose of the study, the research questions, and the methodology used to conduct the research.

Research Title : “The Effects of Exercise on Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults: A Meta-Analysis”

Chapter 2: Literature Review

This chapter reviews the existing literature on the effects of exercise on cognitive functioning in older adults. It provides an overview of the theoretical framework and previous research findings related to the topic. The chapter concludes with a summary of the research gaps and limitations.

Research Title: “The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Effectiveness: A Case Study of Successful Business Leaders”

Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter presents the research methodology used in the study, which is a case study approach. It describes the selection criteria for the participants and the data collection methods used. The chapter also provides a detailed explanation of the data analysis techniques used in the study.

Research Title: “Factors Influencing Employee Engagement in the Workplace: A Systematic Review”

Chapter 4: Results and Discussion

This chapter presents the findings of the systematic review on the factors influencing employee engagement in the workplace. It provides a detailed analysis of the results, including the strengths and limitations of the studies reviewed. The chapter also discusses the implications of the findings for practice and future research.

Purpose of Chapter Summary

Some Purposes of the Chapter Summary are as follows:

  • Comprehension : A chapter summary can help readers understand the main points of a chapter or book. It can help readers remember important details, keep track of the plot or argument, and connect the key ideas.
  • Review : A chapter summary can be a useful tool for reviewing the material covered in a chapter. It can help readers review the content quickly and efficiently, and it can also serve as a reference for future study.
  • Study aid: A chapter summary can be used as a study aid, especially for students who are preparing for exams or writing papers. It can help students organize their thoughts and focus on the most important information.
  • Teaching tool: A chapter summary can be a useful teaching tool for educators. It can help teachers introduce key concepts and ideas, facilitate class discussion, and assess student understanding.
  • Communication : A chapter summary can be used as a way to communicate the main ideas of a chapter or book to others. It can be used in presentations, reports, and other forms of communication to convey important information quickly and concisely.
  • Time-saving : A chapter summary can save time for busy readers who may not have the time to read an entire book or chapter in detail. By providing a brief overview of the main points, a chapter summary can help readers determine whether a book or chapter is worth further reading.
  • Accessibility : A chapter summary can make complex or technical information more accessible to a wider audience. It can help break down complex ideas into simpler terms and provide a clear and concise explanation of key concepts.
  • Analysis : A chapter summary can be used as a starting point for analysis and discussion. It can help readers identify themes, motifs, and other literary devices used in the chapter or book, and it can serve as a jumping-off point for further analysis.
  • Personal growth : A chapter summary can be used for personal growth and development. It can help readers gain new insights, learn new skills, and develop a deeper understanding of the world around them.

When to Write Chapter Summary

Chapter summaries are usually written after you have finished reading a chapter or a book. Writing a chapter summary can be useful for several reasons, including:

  • Retention : Summarizing a chapter helps you to better retain the information you have read.
  • Studying : Chapter summaries can be a useful study tool when preparing for exams or writing papers.
  • Review : When you need to review a book or chapter quickly, a summary can help you to refresh your memory.
  • Analysis : Summarizing a chapter can help you to identify the main themes and ideas of a book, which can be useful when analyzing it.

Advantages of Chapter Summary

Chapter summaries have several advantages:

  • Helps with retention : Summarizing the key points of a chapter can help you remember important information better. By condensing the information, you can identify the main ideas and focus on the most relevant points.
  • Saves time : Instead of re-reading the entire chapter when you need to review information, a summary can help you quickly refresh your memory. It can also save time during note-taking and studying.
  • Provides an overview : A summary can give you a quick overview of the chapter’s content and help you identify the main themes and ideas. This can help you understand the broader context of the material.
  • Helps with comprehension : Summarizing the content of a chapter can help you better understand the material. It can also help you identify any areas where you might need more clarification or further study.
  • Useful for review: Chapter summaries can be a useful review tool before exams or when writing papers. They can help you organize your thoughts and review key concepts and ideas.
  • Facilitates discussion: When working in a group, chapter summaries can help facilitate discussion and ensure that everyone is on the same page. It can also help to identify areas of confusion or disagreement.
  • Supports active reading : Creating a summary requires active reading, which means that you are engaging with the material and thinking critically about it. This can help you develop stronger reading and critical thinking skills.
  • Enables comparison : When reading multiple sources on a topic, creating summaries of each chapter can help you compare and contrast the information presented. This can help you identify differences and similarities in the arguments and ideas presented.
  • Helpful for long texts: In longer books or texts, chapter summaries can be especially helpful. They can help you break down the material into manageable chunks and make it easier to digest.

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How to Write a Summary of a Research Paper

Last Updated: July 10, 2020 References

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Hannah Madden . Hannah Madden is a writer, editor, and artist currently living in Portland, Oregon. In 2018, she graduated from Portland State University with a B.S. in Environmental Studies. Hannah enjoys writing articles about conservation, sustainability, and eco-friendly products. When she isn’t writing, you can find Hannah working on hand embroidery projects and listening to music. This article has been viewed 28,324 times.

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

Reading the Research Paper

Step 1 Figure out the focus of your summary.

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

Step 2 Scan through the article to pick out important information.

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

Step 3 Read the article fully 1 to 2 times.

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

Step 4 Underline or highlight important information.

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

Step 5 Take notes summarizing sections in your own words.

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

Including Relevant Information

Step 1 Aim to report the findings, not evaluate them.

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

Step 2 Keep your summary brief.

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

Step 3 State the research question and hypothesis.

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

Step 4 Describe the testing and analyzation methods.

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

Step 5 Talk about the results and how significant they were.

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

Step 6 Edit your summary for accuracy and flow.

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

Expert Q&A

  • Make sure you fully understand the paper before you start writing the summary. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0
  • Plagiarism can have serious consequences in the academic world, so make sure you’re writing your summary in your own words. [12] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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

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Research Paper Summary Generator – Online & Free Tool for Students

Use our research paper summarizer to shorten any text in 3 easy steps:

  • Enter the text you want to reduce.
  • Choose how long you want the summary to be.
  • Press the “summarize” button and get the new text.

Number of sentences in the summary:

Original ratio

100 % in your summary

There's no doubt that recapping is an essential skill for students. Most academic writings require you to summarize literature sources for background information, or you need to condense tons of materials a night before an exam. All this might take a lot of time and effort.

We created a research paper summarizer to help you sum up any academic text in a few clicks. Continue reading to learn more about the free summary writer, and don’t miss excellent tips on how to cut down words manually.

  • 🔧 When to Apply the Summarizer?
  • 🤔 How to Summarize?
  • 📝 Summary Examples
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🔗 References

🔧 summary of research paper online – application.

High school and college students often need to deal with long texts. Consider the most common situations in which our research paper summary generator might be helpful.

  • You don't have time for home reading. The summary generator can narrow the texts down to the main points and eliminate irrelevant details.
  • You need to summarize articles for literature analysis. The tool can help you identify the key ideas from literary sources and compare them easily.
  • You want to reword someone's ideas and create an original text. The summarizing tool helps narrow down the text without plagiarism .

🤔 How Do You Summarize a Research Paper?

Our tool is a great solution to summarize a research paper online. However, you should know the general summing-up rules to get the best results from the tool.

📝 Research Paper Summary Generator Examples

We used an online research paper summarizer to cut down two articles in a few easy clicks. Have a look at these examples!

Source: What Affects Rural Ecological Environment Governance Efficiency? Evidence from China

The research paper focuses on the influencing factors that impact the sustainable economic and social development of vast rural areas of China. According to the author, protecting the ecological environment has become crucial with rapid economic growth. This paper separately examines the influencing factors in the eastern, central, and western regions. The results show that the main factors that positively affect the efficiency of rural ecological environment governance are: the level of rural economic development, rural public participation, and the size of village committees. Conversely, environmental protection social organizations have a negative influence, preventing the productivity of rural ecological environment governance. In conclusion, the key issue in improving rural ecological environment governance in China is to create differentiated regional coordinated governance mechanisms.

Source: Is artificial intelligence better at assessing heart health?

The article discusses the use of AI in assessing and diagnosing cardiac function. The author believes this technology will be beneficial when deployed across the clinical system nationwide. The study provides the results of the experiment conducted in 2020 by Smidt Heart Institute and Stanford University. They developed one of the first AI technologies to assess cardiac function, specifically, left ventricular ejection fraction. The key findings are: Cardiologists agreed with the AI initial assessment more frequently. The physicians could not tell which evaluations were made by AI and which were made by professionals. The AI assistance saved cardiologists a lot of time. In conclusion, the author believes that this level of evidence offers clinicians extra assurance to adopt artificial intelligence more broadly to increase efficiency and quality.

🤩 5 Extra Tips to Summarize a Research Paper

Summarizing a research paper might be incredibly challenging. We recommend using our free research paper summary generator to save time on other tasks. Here are some additional tips to help you create an accurate summary:

  • Ensure you include the main ideas from all research paper parts : introduction , literature review, methods, and results.
  • To identify the main idea of the research paper, look for a hypothesis or a thesis statement .
  • Don't try to fit all the experiment's results and statistics in summary.
  • Always mention the author of the original paper to avoid plagiarism.
  • Don't add your personal opinion on the research paper you summarize.

❓ Research Paper Summarizer FAQ

❓ how to use the research paper summarizer.

Research paper summarizer is a free online tool that can summarize any paper in almost no time. The summarizer is available online and has a simple interface. You only need to copy and paste the original passage, choose the length of your summary, and click the "summarize" button.

❓ How to Write a Summary of a Research Paper?

You can summarize a research paper manually or with the help of a free research paper summary generator. Pay attention to the text's central idea expressed in the thesis statement to make an accurate summary. Ensure you carefully reflect on the author's main point and eliminate the less important details.

❓ How Long Is a Summary?

The length of a summary might vary depending on your goal. For example, if you summarize several sources for your literature review, it's better to keep them short. However, if you write an essay based on one article or book, you might want to provide a more extended summary.

  • Summary For Research Paper: How To Write - eLearning Industry
  • Summarizing a Research Article 1997-2006, University of Washington
  • How To Write a Summary in 8 Steps (With Examples) | Indeed.com
  • Thesis Statement - Writing Your Research Papers - SJSU Research Guides at San José State University Library
  • How to reduce word count without reducing content

IMAGES

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  2. One Page Research Summary

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  3. 6+ Chapter Summary Samples

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  4. (PDF) Research Article Summary

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  5. How to Write a Summary of a Research Paper

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  6. How to Write a Summary for a Research Paper Format & Example

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VIDEO

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  4. Sexual Health Online Class Research Paper Summary Submission

  5. Research Paper Summary: Leveraging large language models for predictive chemistry

  6. Research Paper Summary

COMMENTS

  1. How To Write A Research Summary

    However, a research summary and abstract are two very different things with individual purpose. To start with, a research summary is written at the end while the abstract comes at the beginning of a research paper. A research summary captures the essence of the paper at the end of your document. It focuses on your topic, methods, and findings.

  2. Research Summary

    The Structure of a Research Summary typically include: Introduction: This section provides a brief background of the research problem or question, explains the purpose of the study, and outlines the research objectives. Methodology: This section explains the research design, methods, and procedures used to conduct the study.

  3. Research Summary- Structure, Examples, and Writing tips

    A research summary is a type of paper designed to provide a brief overview of a given study - typically, an article from a peer-reviewed academic journal. It is a frequent type of task encountered in US colleges and universities, both in humanitarian and exact sciences, which is due to how important it is to teach students to properly interact ...

  4. PDF Summary and Analysis of Scientific Research Articles

    The analysis shows that you can evaluate the evidence presented in the research and explain why the research could be important. Summary. The summary portion of the paper should be written with enough detail so that a reader would not have to look at the original research to understand all the main points. At the same time, the summary section ...

  5. How to Write a Summary

    Table of contents. When to write a summary. Step 1: Read the text. Step 2: Break the text down into sections. Step 3: Identify the key points in each section. Step 4: Write the summary. Step 5: Check the summary against the article. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about summarizing.

  6. PDF How to Summarize a Research Article

    A research article usually has seven major sections: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, and References. The first thing you should do is to decide why you need to summarize the article. If the purpose of the summary is to take notes to later remind yourself about the article you may want to write a longer summary ...

  7. How to write a research summary

    Determining the focus of the summary is a critical first step. It involves deciding whether to create a "global" summary, which covers all main ideas, or a "selective" summary, which focuses on specific aspects of the research. The summary should be clear, engaging, and concise, capturing the essence of the study in a brief format.

  8. How to Summarize a Paper: Step-by-Step Guide

    A research paper summary is a short overview of a research paper. Generally, a research paper summary is about 300-400 words long, though with longer papers, they're usually no more than 10 percent the length of the original paper. Research paper summaries play an important role in academia.

  9. Research Paper Summary: How to Write a Summary of a Research ...

    A summary should be written objectively and in a way that covers the article in sufficient detail—accurately yet briefly—to allow a reader to quickly absorb its significance. 3.1 Do some groundwork. Skim the article to get a rough idea of each section and the significance of the content. Read the paper in more depth.

  10. How to Write a Research Paper Summary [Infographic]

    Creating an effective research paper summary requires finesse, precision, and the art of distilling complex information into bite-sized pieces of knowledge. Here's an infographic explaining the 3 key things you must keep in mind as you write a research paper summary. Paperpal is an AI academic writing assistant that can help researchers ...

  11. How to Write a Summary: Tips, Strategies and Best Practices

    Main Point: Clearly state the main point or thesis of the text as you understand it. This sets the stage for the rest of your summary. Use Your Own Words: Avoid direct quotations; instead, paraphrase the author's main ideas in your own words to demonstrate your understanding and keep the summary original.

  12. Guidelines for Writing a Summary

    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 ...

  13. How to Write a Research Paper Summary

    1. Determine the focus of your summary. Draft a research paper summary in minutes with Paperpal. Click here to start writing! 2. Invest enough time to understand the topic deeply. 3. Keep the summary crisp, brief and engaging. Use Paperpal to summarize your research paper.

  14. How to Scan Through Millions of Articles and Still Cut Down on Your

    Section-wise summary of an article forms the gist of each section of the paper. It helps users to analyze the data and correlate it to their research topic helping them to speed up their decision-making and paper prioritization process. Along with the section-wise summary feature, the key insights feature of the knowledge manager helps the user ...

  15. How to Write a Summary

    Table of contents. When to write a summary. Step 1: Read the text. Step 2: Break the text down into sections. Step 3: Identify the key points in each section. Step 4: Write the summary. Step 5: Check the summary against the article. Frequently asked questions.

  16. Research Paper

    The abstract is a brief summary of the research paper, typically ranging from 100 to 250 words. It should include the research question, the methods used, the key findings, and the implications of the results. ... The methods section of a research paper describes the research design, the sample selection, the data collection and analysis ...

  17. Chapter Summary & Overview

    Chapter summary is a brief overview of the key points or events covered in a specific chapter of a book, academic paper, or other written work. It typically includes a concise description of the main ideas, arguments, or themes explored in the chapter, as well as any important supporting details or evidence. Chapter summaries are often used as ...

  18. How to Summary a Research Paper: A Gentle Introduction

    Research Paper Summary(RPS) The RPS section has been structured as follows: (1) motivation, (2) contribution, (3) methodology, (4) Critique, and (5) Synthesis. Figure: Overview of the paper summary.

  19. Article Summarizer

    Scholarcy's AI summarization tool is designed to generate accurate, reliable article summaries. Our summarizer tool is trained to identify key terms, claims, and findings in academic papers. These insights are turned into digestible Summary Flashcards. Scroll in the box below to see the magic ⤸. The knowledge extraction and summarization ...

  20. How to Write a Research Paper

    Develop a thesis statement. Create a research paper outline. Write a first draft of the research paper. Write the introduction. Write a compelling body of text. Write the conclusion. The second draft. The revision process. Research paper checklist.

  21. Easy Ways to Write a Summary of a Research Paper: 11 Steps

    Some summaries can even be as short as one sentence. 3. State the research question and hypothesis. To begin your summary, start by summarizing what the authors aim to answer and what their hypothesis was. You can combine both the question and the hypothesis into one short sentence to open up your summary.

  22. Research Paper Summary Generator

    Use our research paper summarizer to shorten any text in 3 easy steps: Enter the text you want to reduce. Choose how long you want the summary to be. Press the "summarize" button and get the new text. 15,000 characters left. Number of sentences in the summary:

  23. How to Write the Methods Section of a Research Paper

    The methods section is a fundamental section of any paper since it typically discusses the 'what', 'how', 'which', and 'why' of the study, which is necessary to arrive at the final conclusions. In a research article, the introduction, which serves to set the foundation for comprehending the background and results is usually ...