KINS 2215: Biomechanics

What is a summary?

A summary is a shortened version of an original text. It includes the thesis and major supporting points of the original, and should reveal the relationship between the major points and the thesis. It may be any length, from 25% of the original to one sentence. Make sure you know what length your teacher expects.

How do you prepare to summarize?

1. Ask yourself what the topic of the text is. The topic is a word or phrase that says what the text is about. Try to be as specific as possible about the topic.
2. Ask yourself the purpose of the text. Does it tell a story (narrate)? Inform? Persuade or raise readers' awareness of an issue?
3. Look for the thesis (what the author is saying about the topic). Look first in the introduction, then in the conclusion to see if the author has written an explicit statement of thesis. Write the thesis in your own words (and make sure it matches your sense of the author's purpose). The thesis must be a complete sentence - it is impossible to write a thesis in a phrase alone.
4. Look for the major divisions of the text. In your own words, summarize each division in one sentence. (That may mean summarizing each paragraph, but often several paragraphs go together).
5. Work with the sentences you have created (you may leave some out) to produce a summary. Make sure you reveal the relationships between the ideas. For example, are some of the ideas reasons for a result stated in the thesis? Or vice versa? Are there contrasts or comparisons between some of the ideas?

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For this assignment, as long as you are only referring to the article you're summarizing, you do not need to create any citations.

However, if you decide you need to incorporate additional sources for your presentation, you will need to cite those sources using APA style.