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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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How to Write Article Summaries, Reviews & Critiques

Writing an article summary.

  • Writing an article REVIEW
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When writing a summary, the goal is to compose a concise and objective overview of the original article. The summary should focus only on the article's main ideas and important details that support those ideas.

Guidelines for summarizing an article:

  • State the main ideas.
  • Identify the most important details that support the main ideas.
  • Summarize in your own words.
  • Do not copy phrases or sentences unless they are being used as direct quotations.
  • Express the underlying meaning of the article, but do not critique or analyze.
  • The summary should be about one third the length of the original article. 

Your summary should include:

  • Give an overview of the article, including the title and the name of the author.
  • Provide a thesis statement that states the main idea of the article.
  • Use the body paragraphs to explain the supporting ideas of your thesis statement.
  • One-paragraph summary - one sentence per supporting detail, providing 1-2 examples for each.
  • Multi-paragraph summary - one paragraph per supporting detail, providing 2-3 examples for each.
  • Start each paragraph with a topic sentence.
  • Use transitional words and phrases to connect ideas.
  • Summarize your thesis statement and the underlying meaning of the article.

 Adapted from "Guidelines for Using In-Text Citations in a Summary (or Research Paper)" by Christine Bauer-Ramazani, 2020

Additional Resources

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How to Write a Summary - Guide & Examples  (from Scribbr.com)

Writing a Summary  (from The University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center)

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How to Summarize an Article

Last Updated: February 23, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Richard Perkins and by wikiHow staff writer, Danielle Blinka, MA, MPA . Richard Perkins is a Writing Coach, Academic English Coordinator, and the Founder of PLC Learning Center. With over 24 years of education experience, he gives teachers tools to teach writing to students and works with elementary to university level students to become proficient, confident writers. Richard is a fellow at the National Writing Project. As a teacher leader and consultant at California State University Long Beach's Global Education Project, Mr. Perkins creates and presents teacher workshops that integrate the U.N.'s 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the K-12 curriculum. He holds a BA in Communications and TV from The University of Southern California and an MEd from California State University Dominguez Hills. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 738,358 times.

You might summarize an article as part of an assignment or to better understand the author’s ideas. An article summary provides an overview of the author’s thesis, purpose, and main ideas. Before you start your summary, read the article several times and make notes in the margins. Then, write a first draft that summarizes the article effectively. Finally, get feedback on your article and make revisions to finalize it.

Reading the Article

  • If you have any questions, ask your instructor to get clarification.

Step 2 Scan the article to identify the main points.

  • Highlight or underline the thesis, research question, or purpose.
  • Mark the supporting points.
  • Highlight the section headings.
  • Note the method of study, if there is one.
  • Highlight the findings, conclusions, or results.

Step 3 Read the article 2-3 times to ensure you understand it.

  • If possible, read it aloud to help you process the information.
  • Reading the article several times will help you get a better understanding of the ideas. It’s difficult to fully understand an article on a first reading.

Step 4 Write notes in...

  • It’s okay to write short phrases and fragments rather than full sentences.

Tip: Making notes in your own words will help you avoid plagiarism once you sit down to write your summary.

Step 5 Write 1-sentence summaries of each section of the article.

  • You might write, “Lopez asserts that homework helps students retain more knowledge based on exam scores and self-reporting.”

Drafting a Summary

Step 1 Begin the introduction with an overview of the author and the article.

  • You might say, “Inez Lopez is a former high school educator who now teaches curriculum planning as a researching professor. Her article entitled “Homework Smarts: Why Kids Need Homework” discusses why students benefit from regular homework assignments. Lopez also differentiates between effective homework and busywork, which helps educators change their lessons for the better.”

Step 2 End the introduction with your thesis about the article’s main ideas.

  • For instance, you’d write, “Lopez argues homework is necessary to support in-class instruction because students retain more information, the class covers more curriculum, and students get more one-on-one attention in class.”

Step 3 Summarize each main point in a sentence for a short summary.

  • A short summary is 1 page or shorter. For a short summary, you’ll write either 1 long paragraph or an introduction, a body paragraph, and a conclusion.
  • Write, “According to Lopez, students who complete homework assignments for their core classes perform better academically.”

Tip: Summaries are usually about 1/3 of the length of the original article. You’ll only write a short summary if your original article was no longer than 3 pages long.

Step 4 Discuss each point in a body paragraph for a longer summary.

  • If your summary is longer than 1 page, it’s considered a longer summary.
  • You might write, “In her study, Lopez compared 2 different classrooms at the same high school, one that had homework and one that didn’t. Lopez asserts that students who completed homework assignments performed better academically.”

Step 5 Provide 2-3 supporting examples for each of the main points.

  • You might write, “To support her claims, Lopez explains that students who did their homework scored 40% higher on exams, participated in class at a higher rate than students who weren’t assigned homework, and completed academic units 30% faster than classes that didn’t do homework.”

Step 6 Explain the research methods if the author used any.

  • For instance, you’d write, “In her research, Lopez studied two classes at the same high school. Both classes had a similar demographic and socioeconomic makeup and were provided the same academic supports. The control classroom did not receive homework, while the experimental classroom did. Lopez tracked the students’ homework completion rate, assignment scores, class participation, and progress through the curricula. Additionally, she conducted short student surveys after each exam.”

Step 7 Describe the results and conclusions if the article is about research.

  • You could write, “Lopez collected data such as student scores, number of incidences of class participation, and rate of lesson progression. Additionally, she asked students to rate their confidence, understanding of the material, and readiness to move on to the next unit on a survey after each exam. Based on her data, Lopez concluded that students progress as much as 30% faster if they complete daily homework assignments. To improve academic performance, Lopez recommends that teachers in core subjects assign homework every night.”

Step 8 Conclude your summary by restating the thesis and its significance.

  • Write something like, “According to Lopez, students are able to retain information and progress rapidly if they’re required to do homework. Her work provides teachers with a tool to promote academic success and advice on how to use homework effectively to help students.”

Making Your Summary Effective

Step 1 Make sure your summary is about 1/3 of the length of the article.

  • Your summary doesn’t need to be exact in length. As long as it’s about 1/3 of the article’s length, it should be sufficient.

Variation: If your assignment sheet lists a different length, always do as your instructor asks. For instance, your instructor might give you a word count goal of 1,500 words. If this is the case, follow their instructions.

Step 2 Use author tags to attribute the ideas to the original author.

  • You’d write, "Lopez believes," "Lopez finds that," and "Lopez argues." It’s also okay to use pronouns. You might write, “She goes on to say,” “She further asserts,” or “She refutes this idea.”

Step 3 Avoid using direct quotations because they aren’t in your words.

Warning: Copying phrases or sentences from the original article is plagiarism. If you’re summarizing the article as part of an assignment, you will likely lose credit if you don’t restate the ideas in your own words.

Finalizing Your Summary

Step 1 Ask someone to read your paper and provide feedback.

  • For instance, ask your classmate, a writing tutor, or your teacher to give you feedback.

Step 2 Compare your summary to the assignment requirements.

  • You may want to do several rounds of revisions depending on the purpose of your assignment. If you’re writing this summary for a grade, make sure your final product is your best work.

Step 4 Proofread your summary to make sure it’s free of errors.

  • Ask someone else to proofread your paper for you if you can. Then, make changes if they spot any errors.

Step 5 Check the summary against the article to make sure it’s accurate.

  • Don’t include any of your own ideas, analysis, or opinions in a summary. Focus solely on the original author’s ideas.

Expert Q&A

Richard Perkins

  • Make sure you follow all of your instructor’s directions so you get full credit. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

how to write a summary for a journal article

  • Make sure you put all of the author’s ideas in your own words so you don’t accidentally plagiarize. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1

Sample Summaries

how to write a summary for a journal article

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Write

  • ↑ https://libguides.randolph.edu/summaries
  • ↑ Richard Perkins. Writing Coach & Academic English Coordinator. Expert Interview. 1 September 2021.
  • ↑ https://www.kibin.com/essay-writing-blog/how-to-summarize-an-article-the-smart-way/
  • ↑ https://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/how-guides/how-write-university/how-approach-any-assignment/writing-article-summaries
  • ↑ https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/introduction-structure/
  • ↑ https://otis.libguides.com/mla_citations/in-text
  • ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/revising-drafts/
  • ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/steps_for_revising.html

About This Article

Richard Perkins

To summarize an article, start by introducing the article title and the author’s full name so the reader knows what you’re referring to. Then, give a brief overview and explanation of the topic of the article, which will either be the author’s argument or the main premise of their research. Next, outline the points they use to back up their research, but avoid direct quotations to keep your summary brief. Finally, state the author’s conclusions before going back to make sure everything you stated in your summary matches up with the original article. For tips on how to use author tags to avoid plagiarizing in a summary, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Review a Journal Article

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For many kinds of assignments, like a  literature review , you may be asked to offer a critique or review of a journal article. This is an opportunity for you as a scholar to offer your  qualified opinion  and  evaluation  of how another scholar has composed their article, argument, and research. That means you will be expected to go beyond a simple  summary  of the article and evaluate it on a deeper level. As a college student, this might sound intimidating. However, as you engage with the research process, you are becoming immersed in a particular topic, and your insights about the way that topic is presented are valuable and can contribute to the overall conversation surrounding your topic.

IMPORTANT NOTE!!

Some disciplines, like Criminal Justice, may only want you to summarize the article without including your opinion or evaluation. If your assignment is to summarize the article only, please see our literature review handout.

Before getting started on the critique, it is important to review the article thoroughly and critically. To do this, we recommend take notes,  annotating , and reading the article several times before critiquing. As you read, be sure to note important items like the thesis, purpose, research questions, hypotheses, methods, evidence, key findings, major conclusions, tone, and publication information. Depending on your writing context, some of these items may not be applicable.

Questions to Consider

To evaluate a source, consider some of the following questions. They are broken down into different categories, but answering these questions will help you consider what areas to examine. With each category, we recommend identifying the strengths and weaknesses in each since that is a critical part of evaluation.

Evaluating Purpose and Argument

  • How well is the purpose made clear in the introduction through background/context and thesis?
  • How well does the abstract represent and summarize the article’s major points and argument?
  • How well does the objective of the experiment or of the observation fill a need for the field?
  • How well is the argument/purpose articulated and discussed throughout the body of the text?
  • How well does the discussion maintain cohesion?

Evaluating the Presentation/Organization of Information

  • How appropriate and clear is the title of the article?
  • Where could the author have benefited from expanding, condensing, or omitting ideas?
  • How clear are the author’s statements? Challenge ambiguous statements.
  • What underlying assumptions does the author have, and how does this affect the credibility or clarity of their article?
  • How objective is the author in his or her discussion of the topic?
  • How well does the organization fit the article’s purpose and articulate key goals?

Evaluating Methods

  • How appropriate are the study design and methods for the purposes of the study?
  • How detailed are the methods being described? Is the author leaving out important steps or considerations?
  • Have the procedures been presented in enough detail to enable the reader to duplicate them?

Evaluating Data

  • Scan and spot-check calculations. Are the statistical methods appropriate?
  • Do you find any content repeated or duplicated?
  • How many errors of fact and interpretation does the author include? (You can check on this by looking up the references the author cites).
  • What pertinent literature has the author cited, and have they used this literature appropriately?

Following, we have an example of a summary and an evaluation of a research article. Note that in most literature review contexts, the summary and evaluation would be much shorter. This extended example shows the different ways a student can critique and write about an article.

Chik, A. (2012). Digital gameplay for autonomous foreign language learning: Gamers’ and language teachers’ perspectives. In H. Reinders (ed.),  Digital games in language learning and teaching  (pp. 95-114). Eastbourne, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Be sure to include the full citation either in a reference page or near your evaluation if writing an  annotated bibliography .

In Chik’s article “Digital Gameplay for Autonomous Foreign Language Learning: Gamers’ and Teachers’ Perspectives”, she explores the ways in which “digital gamers manage gaming and gaming-related activities to assume autonomy in their foreign language learning,” (96) which is presented in contrast to how teachers view the “pedagogical potential” of gaming. The research was described as an “umbrella project” consisting of two parts. The first part examined 34 language teachers’ perspectives who had limited experience with gaming (only five stated they played games regularly) (99). Their data was recorded through a survey, class discussion, and a seven-day gaming trial done by six teachers who recorded their reflections through personal blog posts. The second part explored undergraduate gaming habits of ten Hong Kong students who were regular gamers. Their habits were recorded through language learning histories, videotaped gaming sessions, blog entries of gaming practices, group discussion sessions, stimulated recall sessions on gaming videos, interviews with other gamers, and posts from online discussion forums. The research shows that while students recognize the educational potential of games and have seen benefits of it in their lives, the instructors overall do not see the positive impacts of gaming on foreign language learning.

The summary includes the article’s purpose, methods, results, discussion, and citations when necessary.

This article did a good job representing the undergraduate gamers’ voices through extended quotes and stories. Particularly for the data collection of the undergraduate gamers, there were many opportunities for an in-depth examination of their gaming practices and histories. However, the representation of the teachers in this study was very uneven when compared to the students. Not only were teachers labeled as numbers while the students picked out their own pseudonyms, but also when viewing the data collection, the undergraduate students were more closely examined in comparison to the teachers in the study. While the students have fifteen extended quotes describing their experiences in their research section, the teachers only have two of these instances in their section, which shows just how imbalanced the study is when presenting instructor voices.

Some research methods, like the recorded gaming sessions, were only used with students whereas teachers were only asked to blog about their gaming experiences. This creates a richer narrative for the students while also failing to give instructors the chance to have more nuanced perspectives. This lack of nuance also stems from the emphasis of the non-gamer teachers over the gamer teachers. The non-gamer teachers’ perspectives provide a stark contrast to the undergraduate gamer experiences and fits neatly with the narrative of teachers not valuing gaming as an educational tool. However, the study mentioned five teachers that were regular gamers whose perspectives are left to a short section at the end of the presentation of the teachers’ results. This was an opportunity to give the teacher group a more complex story, and the opportunity was entirely missed.

Additionally, the context of this study was not entirely clear. The instructors were recruited through a master’s level course, but the content of the course and the institution’s background is not discussed. Understanding this context helps us understand the course’s purpose(s) and how those purposes may have influenced the ways in which these teachers interpreted and saw games. It was also unclear how Chik was connected to this masters’ class and to the students. Why these particular teachers and students were recruited was not explicitly defined and also has the potential to skew results in a particular direction.

Overall, I was inclined to agree with the idea that students can benefit from language acquisition through gaming while instructors may not see the instructional value, but I believe the way the research was conducted and portrayed in this article made it very difficult to support Chik’s specific findings.

Some professors like you to begin an evaluation with something positive but isn’t always necessary.

The evaluation is clearly organized and uses transitional phrases when moving to a new topic.

This evaluation includes a summative statement that gives the overall impression of the article at the end, but this can also be placed at the beginning of the evaluation.

This evaluation mainly discusses the representation of data and methods. However, other areas, like organization, are open to critique.

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  • Wrapping up scholarly articles

One strategy is to write down a quick summary of your understanding of the article right after you read it. This could be on a sticky note or in an email draft or a Word document, depending on what works best for you. Try writing down, in your own words:

  • What problem the researcher was approaching
  • What they did to study the problem
  • What they found

This might look something like:

[Researchers] studied [topic] by [method] and found that [results]. Limitations included [limitations of study]. The authors suggest future research on [questions raised].

Dwyer et. al studied how college students' perceive pizza delivery. They surveyed local pizzerias to determine the amount of pizza delivered to a large public university in the United States over an entire academic year and found that most of the orders were large (for campus events), indicating a decline in student excitement about pizza. Dwyer et. al did not gain any data directly from students, which is recommended for further research.

You might also want to include:

  • An important quote if necessary (including page numbers)
  • A short reflection of how this source fits in with your topic and your other sources (does it present a new or conflicting point of view? etc.)
  • A short reflection of how you might use it in your work (as background info, etc.)
  • A short evaluation (is the author credible? etc.)
  • The citation/reference

These notes are sometimes called " synthesis notes ." You can repeat this process with each source, and even build out an " annotated bibliography " if that works for you.

Consider reaching out to the SLCC Student Reading & Writing Center for more assistance.

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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.

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  • Five tips for developing useful literature summary tables for writing review articles
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  • http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0157-5319 Ahtisham Younas 1 , 2 ,
  • http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7839-8130 Parveen Ali 3 , 4
  • 1 Memorial University of Newfoundland , St John's , Newfoundland , Canada
  • 2 Swat College of Nursing , Pakistan
  • 3 School of Nursing and Midwifery , University of Sheffield , Sheffield , South Yorkshire , UK
  • 4 Sheffield University Interpersonal Violence Research Group , Sheffield University , Sheffield , UK
  • Correspondence to Ahtisham Younas, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John's, NL A1C 5C4, Canada; ay6133{at}mun.ca

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebnurs-2021-103417

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Introduction

Literature reviews offer a critical synthesis of empirical and theoretical literature to assess the strength of evidence, develop guidelines for practice and policymaking, and identify areas for future research. 1 It is often essential and usually the first task in any research endeavour, particularly in masters or doctoral level education. For effective data extraction and rigorous synthesis in reviews, the use of literature summary tables is of utmost importance. A literature summary table provides a synopsis of an included article. It succinctly presents its purpose, methods, findings and other relevant information pertinent to the review. The aim of developing these literature summary tables is to provide the reader with the information at one glance. Since there are multiple types of reviews (eg, systematic, integrative, scoping, critical and mixed methods) with distinct purposes and techniques, 2 there could be various approaches for developing literature summary tables making it a complex task specialty for the novice researchers or reviewers. Here, we offer five tips for authors of the review articles, relevant to all types of reviews, for creating useful and relevant literature summary tables. We also provide examples from our published reviews to illustrate how useful literature summary tables can be developed and what sort of information should be provided.

Tip 1: provide detailed information about frameworks and methods

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Tabular literature summaries from a scoping review. Source: Rasheed et al . 3

The provision of information about conceptual and theoretical frameworks and methods is useful for several reasons. First, in quantitative (reviews synthesising the results of quantitative studies) and mixed reviews (reviews synthesising the results of both qualitative and quantitative studies to address a mixed review question), it allows the readers to assess the congruence of the core findings and methods with the adapted framework and tested assumptions. In qualitative reviews (reviews synthesising results of qualitative studies), this information is beneficial for readers to recognise the underlying philosophical and paradigmatic stance of the authors of the included articles. For example, imagine the authors of an article, included in a review, used phenomenological inquiry for their research. In that case, the review authors and the readers of the review need to know what kind of (transcendental or hermeneutic) philosophical stance guided the inquiry. Review authors should, therefore, include the philosophical stance in their literature summary for the particular article. Second, information about frameworks and methods enables review authors and readers to judge the quality of the research, which allows for discerning the strengths and limitations of the article. For example, if authors of an included article intended to develop a new scale and test its psychometric properties. To achieve this aim, they used a convenience sample of 150 participants and performed exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the same sample. Such an approach would indicate a flawed methodology because EFA and CFA should not be conducted on the same sample. The review authors must include this information in their summary table. Omitting this information from a summary could lead to the inclusion of a flawed article in the review, thereby jeopardising the review’s rigour.

Tip 2: include strengths and limitations for each article

Critical appraisal of individual articles included in a review is crucial for increasing the rigour of the review. Despite using various templates for critical appraisal, authors often do not provide detailed information about each reviewed article’s strengths and limitations. Merely noting the quality score based on standardised critical appraisal templates is not adequate because the readers should be able to identify the reasons for assigning a weak or moderate rating. Many recent critical appraisal checklists (eg, Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool) discourage review authors from assigning a quality score and recommend noting the main strengths and limitations of included studies. It is also vital that methodological and conceptual limitations and strengths of the articles included in the review are provided because not all review articles include empirical research papers. Rather some review synthesises the theoretical aspects of articles. Providing information about conceptual limitations is also important for readers to judge the quality of foundations of the research. For example, if you included a mixed-methods study in the review, reporting the methodological and conceptual limitations about ‘integration’ is critical for evaluating the study’s strength. Suppose the authors only collected qualitative and quantitative data and did not state the intent and timing of integration. In that case, the strength of the study is weak. Integration only occurred at the levels of data collection. However, integration may not have occurred at the analysis, interpretation and reporting levels.

Tip 3: write conceptual contribution of each reviewed article

While reading and evaluating review papers, we have observed that many review authors only provide core results of the article included in a review and do not explain the conceptual contribution offered by the included article. We refer to conceptual contribution as a description of how the article’s key results contribute towards the development of potential codes, themes or subthemes, or emerging patterns that are reported as the review findings. For example, the authors of a review article noted that one of the research articles included in their review demonstrated the usefulness of case studies and reflective logs as strategies for fostering compassion in nursing students. The conceptual contribution of this research article could be that experiential learning is one way to teach compassion to nursing students, as supported by case studies and reflective logs. This conceptual contribution of the article should be mentioned in the literature summary table. Delineating each reviewed article’s conceptual contribution is particularly beneficial in qualitative reviews, mixed-methods reviews, and critical reviews that often focus on developing models and describing or explaining various phenomena. Figure 2 offers an example of a literature summary table. 4

Tabular literature summaries from a critical review. Source: Younas and Maddigan. 4

Tip 4: compose potential themes from each article during summary writing

While developing literature summary tables, many authors use themes or subthemes reported in the given articles as the key results of their own review. Such an approach prevents the review authors from understanding the article’s conceptual contribution, developing rigorous synthesis and drawing reasonable interpretations of results from an individual article. Ultimately, it affects the generation of novel review findings. For example, one of the articles about women’s healthcare-seeking behaviours in developing countries reported a theme ‘social-cultural determinants of health as precursors of delays’. Instead of using this theme as one of the review findings, the reviewers should read and interpret beyond the given description in an article, compare and contrast themes, findings from one article with findings and themes from another article to find similarities and differences and to understand and explain bigger picture for their readers. Therefore, while developing literature summary tables, think twice before using the predeveloped themes. Including your themes in the summary tables (see figure 1 ) demonstrates to the readers that a robust method of data extraction and synthesis has been followed.

Tip 5: create your personalised template for literature summaries

Often templates are available for data extraction and development of literature summary tables. The available templates may be in the form of a table, chart or a structured framework that extracts some essential information about every article. The commonly used information may include authors, purpose, methods, key results and quality scores. While extracting all relevant information is important, such templates should be tailored to meet the needs of the individuals’ review. For example, for a review about the effectiveness of healthcare interventions, a literature summary table must include information about the intervention, its type, content timing, duration, setting, effectiveness, negative consequences, and receivers and implementers’ experiences of its usage. Similarly, literature summary tables for articles included in a meta-synthesis must include information about the participants’ characteristics, research context and conceptual contribution of each reviewed article so as to help the reader make an informed decision about the usefulness or lack of usefulness of the individual article in the review and the whole review.

In conclusion, narrative or systematic reviews are almost always conducted as a part of any educational project (thesis or dissertation) or academic or clinical research. Literature reviews are the foundation of research on a given topic. Robust and high-quality reviews play an instrumental role in guiding research, practice and policymaking. However, the quality of reviews is also contingent on rigorous data extraction and synthesis, which require developing literature summaries. We have outlined five tips that could enhance the quality of the data extraction and synthesis process by developing useful literature summaries.

  • Aromataris E ,
  • Rasheed SP ,

Twitter @Ahtisham04, @parveenazamali

Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests None declared.

Patient consent for publication Not required.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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How to Summarize an Article More Effectively (Using AI)

How to Summarize an Article More Effectively (Using AI)

Table of contents

how to write a summary for a journal article

Dana Nicole

Experts like TED Talk speakers are experienced in taking vast topics and condensing them into brief talks.

Nowadays, you can summarize texts even faster using AI technology.

It doesn't matter if the topic is as complex as neuroscience and interstellar travel, using the right tools and methodology you can distill large amounts of information into a scannable summary.

In this article, I will share three tools that have completely transformed how I research and summarize articles:

  • A  summarization tool that uses AI to produce a reliable summary of the article.
  • Three quick-round reading sessions to get the information summary structured in your head.
  • A writing method that guarantees your summary stays plagiarism-free.
Free AI Summarizer > Free AI Summarizer >

How to summarize any article in six easy steps

TED has three simple principles for scripting talks:

  • Focus on one major idea
  • Make sure the script has a structure
  • Ensure each point has a purpose and speaks to your audience

Keeping these principles in mind, we can follow a solid six-step framework to summarize articles.

Step 1: Start summarizing by knowing who you are writing for

Shayla Price, founder of PrimoStats , describes the biggest mistake people make when writing article summaries is that they don’t write for a specific person:

“Writers forget to add details that matter to their specific audience. Article summaries must adjust based on your target audience's goals and concerns. Answer the question: What should my audience do with this new information? ” - Shayla Price

To define your audience, read the article’s abstract for a general understanding of what’s inside. While reading the abstract, think about who will read your summary:

  • What’s their level of understanding on the subject?
  • What information would they find useful?
  • What information is irrelevant?

For example, a summary for an article talking about color psychology can have different audiences that require different information:

  • A team lead at a marketing agency might want information about color psychology relating to buyer behavior
  • An instructor grading a paper you’re writing might want information proving or disproving the thesis for your paper
  • Readers of a graphic design blog might want information discussing the validity of color psychology

After setting your audience, you’ll know which information is pertinent for your summary. 

Step 2: Read the article three times

TED speakers don’t hop on stage without a deep understanding of the topic they’re presenting, and you can’t write a summary without one either. 

A quick pass through your article won’t cut it, but luckily, you don’t need to read it ten times either. Three rounds is plenty. 

First round

Consider your first round your passive round. This round is equivalent to laying on a beach with your favorite book. No critical thinking. No re-reading passages over and over to understand them. Your goal is to get the gist of what’s going on within the pages of the article—that’s all.

Second round (PDF summarization example)

Time to start active reading. Highlight important concepts and leave questions in the margins for concepts you don’t understand. 

how to write a summary for a journal article

A symbol legend can also be helpful to organize your thoughts, like color-coding your highlights or using symbols to denote key points.

how to write a summary for a journal article

But be careful you aren’t mindlessly highlighting as you read through the text, otherwise you’ll end up too many highlights that don’t provide any value:

how to write a summary for a journal article

To help you highlight, upload the article to Wordtune via a PDF, a link to the report, or copy and paste the in the text.

how to write a summary for a journal article

With the highlighted article from Wordtune, I can quickly identify and review key points.

how to write a summary for a journal article

Third round

Finally, go through the article one last time and answer the questions you left in the margins. Answering remaining questions gives you a solid understanding of the paper so you’re well-equipped to summarize it.

Step 3: Summarize each page, without plagiarism

Time to write summaries for each page or, if it makes sense, each core section.

Page-level summaries ensure you don’t forget anything relevant when writing a summary for the entire article. 

When I uploaded a research paper to Wordtune, I got 31 brief summaries. I can copy those summaries and keep them in a separate document. That way, I know I won’t leave out any essential points when I go to write my own summary.  

how to write a summary for a journal article

If the summaries don’t fit the audience you intend to write for, you can click the “rewrite” button until you find one that’s suitable. Wordtune  will help you make sure you summarize the article without plagiarism , since the summarization is automatically paraphrased.

how to write a summary for a journal article

As you read through each of Wortune’s summaries, think back to your target audience. Save any summaries you think they’d find useful by copying or exporting them.

Step 4: Write your summary’s first draft

With Wordtune’s summaries and your marked-up article, it’s time to piece everything together. Again, we can take some direction from TED Talks. TED encourages speakers to have a structured script with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

To write a summary with a clear structure, I recommend using the Inverted Pyramid framework—a journalistic framework designed to take long stories and condense them into bite-sized bits.

  • Title of the research paper and author
  • Key findings
  • Methodology for research
  • Supporting research
  • Why your audience should care about the findings
  • Discuss any limitations
  • Review the findings 

How to summarize articles with the Inverted Pyramid framework 

Front load all essential information for your summary with the necessary data your reader needs to know. Include what the study was about (the hypothesis), citations (title of research paper and author), and key findings. 

As you’re writing, ask yourself, “ why would my audience find this information useful? ” If they wouldn’t find it useful, don’t include it.

Within the middle of your summary, include any details that support the points from above and expand on why your audience should care. This might be methodologies or supporting research mentioned throughout the article.

Finish off your summary by discussing any limitations within the research paper, and review the findings one last time so your reader walks away with a clear understanding of your summary.

Other tips for writing your summary

Keep it short.

TED Talks have an 18-minute time-limit. Any longer, and TED knows the audience may lose interest. Your summaries should have a limit, too. 

Charlene Burke , a business research professional and copywriter, who has 20 years of experience summarizing research papers, marketing research, and competitive intelligence reports says to keep your summary to 10% of the original text. Comb through your sentences and remove any that don’t add value or context to the main point. 

Cite and reference

Always reference the author and name of the paper within the first few sentences so your reader knows right away you’re summarizing an article, rather than coming up with the ideas yourself. 

If your summary is several paragraphs long, you can also include citations throughout , as a subtle reminder to the reader that again, the ideas you’re presenting aren’t yours.

Focus on one idea

If you present too many findings in your summary, your reader may get confused or you may weaken the research. To pick the one idea that matters most, revisit the audience you set for your summary and what matters to them. Make sure the idea you present in your summary aligns with the information they’ll find most relevant.

Step 5: Edit and polish

how to write a summary for a journal article

Every great writer’s secret weapon? A few rounds of editing . 

To start, make sure your summary doesn’t leave your reader longing for more. 

For example:

“Color psychology is a popular topic but it might not be creditable.”

This sentence leaves me with questions: Who is color psychology popular with? Why isn’t it creditable? 

We can improve this sentence by adding a bit more context:

“Color psychology is popular among graphic designers, but the subject lacks empirical evidence on how it affects buyers’ decisions.”

Afterwards, clean up your summary by fixing clunky sentences . For example:

  • Clunky : Although many studies place a focus on a person’s psychological, physiological, and behavioral responses to color, the findings of these studies are often based on small sample sizes and/or small sample groups.
  • Fixed : ”Most studies focus on psychological, physiological, and behavioral responses to color, but the findings are often based on small sample sizes.”

Using Wordtune , I rewrote the first sentence and it went from 33 words to 21. The second sentence gets to the point much faster and is easier to read.

Finally, fix any last-minute grammar or spelling mistakes. 

Step 6: Get someone else to read your summary

I call this step “the mom test” but you can call it whatever you’d like. Whenever I need to summarize something, I ask my mom to read through my work.

If she understands the main points without knowing about the topic, I know I’ve done a decent job. 

Have someone who isn’t familiar with the research paper read through your summary. Does it make sense to them? What unanswered questions do they have after reading it? If you need, go through one final round of edits.

Write article summaries faster with Wordtune

Summarizing articles doesn’t need to be a tedious task that takes hours to complete. Wordtune helps you fast-track the process so you can write compelling summaries in a fraction of the time. 

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Effective Steps to Summarize a Journal Article

Table of Contents

If you’re wondering how to summarize a journal article, you’re in luck. This post explores everything to know about the process.

1. Read the Article & Analyze the Content

Read the article carefully. Your paper should be a reflection of the article’s themes and ideas, as well as a synopsis of what was mentioned

in the article. It’s essential to understand the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the paper and what its major points are. Reading the article requires a strategic approach to get a gist of the journal.

Understand the Context by Reading the Abstract

The abstract is a summary of the journal article that highlights key points from the research study. They are short paragraphs summarizing research articles or journals, typically no more than 200 words.

Ensure that you understand what the author is trying to discuss or analyze and why the research is important. This can help you figure out the arguments, quotes, and statistics to include in your summary.

Skip Ahead to the Conclusion

Get to the conclusion and find out where the proposed research will end. Learn more about the topic and see where the complicated outlines and arguments lead. Reading the researchers’ conclusions first makes it easier to absorb the facts.

how to write a summary for a journal article

Determine the Main Argument of the Article

It’s best to take notes, underline, or highlight the key points on the first go to avoid reading through the whole content again.

Pay attention to the first couple of paragraphs because this is most likely where the author will speak out their overall thesis. Determine the significant argument or notion that the author attempts to prove through their research.

Scan the Argument & Take Notes

Concentrate on the essential concepts and ideas proposed and relate them to the fundamental notion presented at the start of the essay.

When conducting research and gathering data from academic journals, efficiency is crucial. So, actively read the content and take notes as you read each section of the journal.

2. Create a Draft & Write the Summary

A journal article summary is like any other summary that gives the reader a quick overview of the study . It is easier to discuss a subject thoroughly and briefly if you have a good understanding of it.

To write a compelling summary, you need to determine the critical information and simplify it for the readers. The following tips will assist you in learning how to summarize a journal paper without sacrificing details.

Keep an objective tone & avoid personal pronouns

Striking a formal tone in academic writing is important. So, avoid personal pronouns and keep an objective tone in your summary. While summarizing a journal article, keep in mind that you’re not criticizing the content but overviewing it.

Start with the research question

The beginning of the article usually mentions the emphasis of the research study and the objective of performing the research.

This is where you should start your summary by picking up the research question. Describe the point the author is trying to make with their research in your own words.

Discuss the research methodology and findings

You must discuss the techniques and methodologies employed throughout the study.

Essentially, you need to outline how the authors or researchers arrived at their conclusions based on the firsthand investigation or data collection.

Don’t forget to mention the results achieved by the author. Make sure your summary includes the research question, the results, and the methods used to attain those results.

Connect the major points of the article

The objective of the summary is to give the reader a quick overview of the authors’ main ideas. It’s crucial to show how the relationships between the authors’ thoughts develop throughout the article summary.

You must explain the arguments in your own words. You need to fill the gap and assumptions to clarify and summarize the research to the readers.

Don’t make your own conclusions

Make sure not to draw your conclusions when summarizing a journal article. The idea of a summary is to briefly explain the writers’ ideas rather than to offer your additions and views.

Unless specifically indicated as part of the assignment, a summary of an article should not present your interpretations of the data.

A journal article summary is an effective and essential way to communicate research findings and transfer learning. Effective summarization of a journal article can help provide context to the text.

However, understanding the article’s key results is only part of the process of summarization. The successful summarization process must also include familiarization with the article’s context and supporting evidence.

This article provides a comprehensive guide on how to summarize a journal article effectively and efficiently.

Effective Steps to Summarize a Journal Article

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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Judge orders Trump and companies to pay nearly $355 million in civil fraud trial

By Lauren del Valle , Kara Scannell , Jeremy Herb , Dan Berman and Elise Hammond , CNN

Key takeaways from the civil fraud trial ruling against Donald Trump

From CNN's Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell

 Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, February 16, in Palm Beach, Florida.

Judge Arthur Engoron hit Donald Trump with his biggest punishment to date on Friday, in a ruling that fined the former president $355 million for fraudulently inflating the values of his properties.

Engoron found Trump liable for fraud, conspiracy and issuing false financial statements and false business records, and he barred him from serving as director of a company in New York for three years. But while he stopped short of dissolving the Trump Organization altogether, Engoron issued a blistering  93-page opinion  that painted the former president as unremorseful and highly likely to commit fraud again.

Here are key takeaways from the decision:

  • The biggest fines yet against Trump: Engoron found that the defendants’ fraud saved them about $168 million in interest, fining Trump and his companies that amount. He also ruled that Trump and his companies were liable for $126 million in ill-gotten profits from the sale of the Old Post Office in Washington, DC, and that Trump and his companies were liable for $60 million in profits from the sale of Ferry Point in the Bronx. Engoron also wrote that Trump would be required for interest on those payments.
  • The judge gets the last word: Trump repeatedly attacked Engoron and the case throughout the 11-week trial on social media, outside the courtroom – and even to the judge’s face while he testified. On Friday, Engoron got the last word, painting Trump as a “pathological” fraudster who would not stop unless forced. The judge acknowledged that the sins Trump committed — which his lawyers frequently argued had no victim because banks were repaid and often eager to do business with Trump’s company — were not as serious as some crimes. But he faulted Trump and his co-defendants for a complete lack of contrition.
  • No corporate death penalty: The judge banned Trump from serving as an officer or director of a New York corporation for three years, but did not issue the so-called corporate death penalty. Engoron pulled back from a decision he issued a summary judgment in September dissolving Trump’s business certificates in finding that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for persistent and repeated fraud. But, the independent monitor installed last fall will stay in place for at least three years and an independent director of compliance should be put in place at the Trump Org. at the company’s expense, the ruling said.
  • Judge says Cohen told the truth: Engoron recapped Michael Cohen’s theatrical trial testimony, acknowledging the credibility issues with Trump’s former lawyer and fixer. But ultimately, Engoron said, he believed Cohen.
  • Trump’s adult sons banned for 2 years: Trump’s eldest sons – who’ve essentially run the Trump Organization since 2017 – are barred from serving as executives in New York for two years, according to Engoron’s order. The Trumps will have to navigate the two-year penalty as they sort out the future of the family-run real estate company.

Get up to speed on the ruling and more takeaways .

Trump will likely be forced to turn over full judgment amount of $355 million to move ahead with appeal

From Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell

Former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants will likely need to come up with the full judgment of $355 million  ordered by Judge Arthur Engoron Friday, with potentially more in interest, in order to move forward with an appeal, sources familiar with the matter have confirmed to CNN.

Those sources explained that this is the typical procedure required by the law, though some of the details, including the total amount to be frozen, could change. 

Trump and his lawyers said Friday they intend to appeal the decision.

That money will be held in an account pending the appellate process, which could take years to litigate.

The 9% interest Judge Engoron ordered Trump and his company to pay on the nearly $355 million judgment will continue to accrue until it’s paid per the order. 

Typically, the state requires a notice of appeal within 30 days of the judgment.

Fact check: Trump’s baseless claim that Biden and the Justice Department are behind his civil case

From CNN's Daniel Dale

In his remarks Friday evening, President Donald Trump claimed,  as he has before , that President Joe Biden was a hidden hand behind the civil fraud case in New York.

“All comes out of the DOJ, it all comes out of Biden,” Trump said. “It’s a witch hunt against his political opponent, the likes of which our country has never seen.” 

Facts First:  There is no basis for Trump’s claim that Biden or the Justice Department is behind the civil case. The case was brought by New York state Attorney General Letitia James – after an investigation  she began in 2019 , roughly two years before Biden became president. As Trump has repeatedly noted, James, a Democrat,  campaigned  in 2018 on a pledge to pursue Trump. Also, federal agencies do not have jurisdiction over state cases like this.

James filed the lawsuit that led to this trial  in September 2022  – about two months before Trump  launched his 2024 campaign .

Trump: We will appeal New York civil fraud ruling

From CNN staff

Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media on Friday.

In remarks from Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump slammed Judge Arthur Engoron, New York Attorney General Letitia James and vowed to appeal Friday's ruling that orders he and his companies pay nearly $355 million.

“It’s a very sad day for, in my opinion, the county," the former president said speaking from Palm Beach, Florida.

"We’ll appeal, we’ll be successful, I think,” Trump said

More on the ruling: The ruling in  the New York civil fraud case also says Trump will be  barred  from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in the state for three years, among other restrictions.

Earlier Friday, Trump called the ruling a sham on Truth Social.

CNN's Kate Sullivan contributed reporting to this post.

New York attorney general: The court ruled in favor of "every hard-working American who plays by the rules"

From CNN’s Samantha Beech

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks to the media on Friday, February 16.

Attorney General Letitia James celebrated today's civil fraud ruling in remarks from New York, saying the court ruled "in favor of every hard-working American who plays by the rules."

“Today justice has been served, today we proved that no one is above the law. No matter how rich, powerful, or politically connected you are, everyone must play by the same rules," the attorney general said.

James added, “Donald Trump may have authored the ‘Art of the Deal,’ but he perfected the art of the steal.”

"And so after 11 weeks of trial, we showed the staggering extent of his fraud, and exactly how Donald Trump and the other defendants deceived banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions for their own personal gain," she continued. "We proved just how much Donald Trump, his family and his company unjustly benefited from his fraud."

James said, “I want to be clear, white collar financial fraud is not a victimless crime. When the powerful break the law, and take more than their fair share, there are fewer resources available for working people, small businesses and families.”

The attorney general thanked those in her office who helped work on the case.

“The scale and the scope of Donald Trump’s fraud is staggering, and so to is his ego, and his belief that the rules do not apply to him. Today, we are holding Donald Trump accountable,” James said.

James did not take questions from reporters and departed the room directly after her remarks, which largely reflected the written statement issued by her office earlier Friday. 

Judge: Common excuse that "everybody does it" is all the more reason to be vigilant in enforcing rules

From CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Laura Dolan and Nicki Brown

Judge Arthur Engoron presides over closing arguments in January.

The New York judge criticized one of the defenses put up by Donald Trump’s lawyers in the civil fraud case, writing in his ruling that claiming “everybody does it” is no reason to get away with fraud.

In fact, Judge Arthur Engoron argued it’s all the reason to be more vigilant in actually enforcing the rules. 

“Here, despite the false financial statements, it is undisputed that defendants have made all required payments on time; the next group of lenders to receive bogus statements might not be so lucky. New York means business in combating business fraud," the judge said.

Known for his colorful writing, the judge also quoted an "ancient maxim" before saying the frauds at issue in this case "shock the conscience."

"As an ancient maxim has it, de minimis non curat lex, the law is not concerned with trifles. Neither is this Court," Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in his ruling. "But that is not what we have here." "The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience," the judge wrote.

Remember: Trump’s attorneys argued during the trial that the attorney general’s claims against Trump had no victims — the banks were paid back and were eager to do business with Trump.

But the attorney general argued, and the judge agreed, that the fraudulent loans Trump received at lower rates had an impact on the marketplace. Plus, the law used to bring the claims against Trump does not require there to be victims of fraud in a traditional sense. 

Does Trump have to pay the nearly $355 million judgment immediately? What we know

From CNN's Fredreka Schouten

Legal experts say former President Donald Trump is likely to use a bond, secured with his assets as collateral, as the first step in satisfying the judgment in the New York civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

On Friday, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his companies to pay nearly $355 million, which Trump has vowed to appeal.

Under a so-called appeal bond, Trump would put up a percentage of the judgment and a third-party company that is the guarantor “is on the hook for the full amount,” said Joshua Naftalis, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in New York.

“It’s not just the president: Anybody faced with this size of a judgment would probably go the appeal-bond route, because to put up that kind of money is enormous,” Naftalis said. “That could be his entire cash position.”

What Trump has available: It’s difficult to determine the full assets available to Trump, because his business is a privately held concern and does not regularly file reports with regulators. In a deposition taken last year as part of the case brought by James, the former president said his company had more than $400 million in available cash.

Adam Leitman Bailey, a real estate attorney in New York, said Trump likely would have to put up 10% of the judgment in cash, plus an additional fee. 

In January, a jury in a civil defamation case  ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million  to former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, on top of the $5 million verdict she had already won against him last year.

2-year ban on Trump’s adult sons leaves Trump Org leadership in question

From CNN’s Lauren del Valle

Eric Trump, left, and Donald Trump Jr. wait for their father to speak at the White House in 2020.

Donald Trump’s eldest sons — who’ve essentially run the Trump Organization since 2017 — are barred from serving as executives in New York for two years, according to Judge Arthur Engoron's order.

The Trumps will have to navigate the two-year penalty as they sort out the future of the family-run real estate company that also hasn’t filled the chief financial officer or controller positions vacated by former Trump Org. execs Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney.  

During closing arguments last month, Engoron questioned whether the attorney general presented any evidence that Trump’s eldest sons knew that there was fraud going on at the company — but ultimately found them liable for issuing false financial statements, falsifying business records, and conspiracy claims. 

The judge knocked Eric Trump’s credibility in his ruling, pointing out inconsistent testimony he gave at trial.  He “begrudgingly” conceded at trial that he actually knew about his father’s statements as early as 2013 “upon being confronted with copious documentary evidence conclusively demonstrating otherwise,” the judge wrote. 

Engoron also said Eric Trump unconvincingly tried to distance himself from some appraisals of Trump Org properties that offered a much lower valuation than reported on Donald Trump’s financial statements. 

More on the ruling: Eric and Donald Trump Jr. were both ordered to pay more than $4 million in disgorgement, or “ill-gotten” profits, they personally received from the 2022 sale of Trump’s hotel at the Old Post Office building in Washington DC. 

Ivanka Trump gets to keep her profits on the building sale because she was dismissed as a defendant in the case by an appeals court ahead of trial. But that didn’t stop Engoron from weighing in on her trial testimony, calling it “suspect.” 

Trump has been ordered to pay $438 million this year in fraud and defamation cases

From CNN's Jeremy Herb

President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference held at Mar-a-Lago on February 8, in Palm Beach, Florida.

Judge Arthur Engoron hit Donald Trump with his biggest punishment to date Friday, in a ruling that fined the former president nearly $355 million for fraudulently inflating the values of his properties.

The dollar amount dwarfed the verdict against Trump issued last month in the defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll — an $83 million judgment — hitting home just how much the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case threatens Trump’s business empire.

Engoron found Trump liable for fraud, conspiracy, issuing false financial statements, and falsifying business records, barring him from serving as director of a company in New York for three years.

While the judge pulled back from trying to dissolve the Trump Organization altogether, Engoron issued a blistering 93-page opinion that painted the former president as unremorseful and highly likely to commit fraud again.

"This Court finds that defendants are likely to continue their fraudulent ways unless the Court grants significant injunctive relief,” Engoron wrote. 

The judge also ruled that Trump will have to pay millions in interest on the judgement amount.

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  1. 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

  2. How to Summarize a Journal Article (with Pictures)

    1 Read the abstract. Abstracts are short paragraphs written by the author to summarize research articles. Abstracts are usually included in most academic journals and are generally no more than 100-200 words. The abstract provides a short summary of the content of the journal article, providing you with important highlights of the research study.

  3. PDF Summary and Analysis of Scientific Research Articles

    A well-written summary should cover three main points: why the research was done, what happened in the experiment, and what conclusions the author drew. Why was the research done? The first section of your summary should include all the important background information and context.

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    Gather information. Write the summary. Online research has become an essential step for any kind of writing. John Schnobrich/Unsplash 1. Find an Article There are many places that have journal articles, but sometimes it's hard to know if they are credible.

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    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.

  7. Writing an article SUMMARY

    Summarize in your own words. Do not copy phrases or sentences unless they are being used as direct quotations. Express the underlying meaning of the article, but do not critique or analyze. The summary should be about one third the length of the original article. Your summary should include: Introduction

  8. PDF Writing Article Summaries

    Article Summaries. ARTICLE SUMMARIES. Writing a summary requires you to read closely and paraphrase accurately for readers without access to the same article. The process below will help you write a concise, clearly organized summary. Because multiple scholars collaboratively write many journal articles, we use the word "authors.".

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    Summaries, like abstracts, follow the structure of the original article: Introduction (and Background), Methods, Results, and Discussion. They frequently require an APA citation. Summaries generally do not make use of direct quotes. DIRECTIONS: To compose your summary, follow prompts 1- 6. Use the questions after each prompt to guide your writing.

  10. PDF UFV ASC Summarizing a Scholarly Journal Article

    Read the abstract at the beginning of the article if there is one. The abstract is an even more concise summary of the article than the summary you will do. Read the article through once to capture the gists of the article, its main ideas.

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    Writing a summary or abstract teaches you how to condense information and how to read an article more effectively and with better understanding. Research articles usually contain these parts: Title/Author Information, Abstract, Introduction, Methodology, Result or Findings, Discussion or Conclusion, and References.

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    Write 1-sentence summaries of each section of the article. Read each section of the article, then stop and think about what the author is saying. Identify the main point and the supporting points for that section. Summarize the points in 1 sentence. Write your short summary in the margins near the section.

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    1. Identify the Main Idea or Topic The aim of an article is to convey a certain idea or topic through arguments and evidence. In a summary, you want to identify the main idea of the article and put this information into your own words. To do this, you must be willing to read the article several times.

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    OK. Plain language summaries (PLS) are becoming increasingly prevalent in the scientific literature as they have the potential to broaden the impact of scholarly articles by bringing them to the attention of a more general audience. In this blog, we aim to guide authors through the process of developing a PLS for a manuscript suitable for ...

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    As you read, be sure to note important items like the thesis, purpose, research questions, hypotheses, methods, evidence, key findings, major conclusions, tone, and publication information. Depending on your writing context, some of these items may not be applicable. Questions to Consider

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    a brief, structured overview of the study. To write a good summary, identify what information is important and condense that information for your reader. The better you understand a subject, the easier it is to explain it thoroughly and briefly. Write a first draft. Use the same order as in the article itself. The number of suggested sentences ...

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    One strategy is to write down a quick summary of your understanding of the article right after you read it. This could be on a sticky note or in an email draft or a Word document, depending on what works best for you. Try writing down, in your own words: What problem the researcher was approaching What they did to study the problem What they found

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

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    Tip 1: provide detailed information about frameworks and methods. Literature summary tables are not only meant to provide an overview of basic information (authors, country, purpose and findings) about included articles, but they should also provide detailed information about the theoretical and conceptual frameworks and the methods used in the included article.

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    Step 2: Read the article three times. TED speakers don't hop on stage without a deep understanding of the topic they're presenting, and you can't write a summary without one either. A quick pass through your article won't cut it, but luckily, you don't need to read it ten times either. Three rounds is plenty.

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  25. Live updates: Trump ordered to pay nearly $355 million in civil ...

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