Principles of an Academic SummaryThanks to Dr. Zerwin of Fairview High for these tips!

An academic summary should:

Summarize key ideas, as opposed to specific events

An academic summary should:

State the name of the author and the title of his/her work early in the summary.

An academic summary should:

Use author tags throughout to clearly establish that you are referring to the author’s ideas (as opposed to your own.

Example: “McCarthy suggests that…” or “Botstein argues that…” or “According to Nehrenberg…”

An academic summary should:

Remain objective throughout.

An academic summary should:

Be written in your own words (except for example given on next slide!)

An academic summary should:

Use brief quotes, where appropriate (a well-stated phrase that refers to the text’s main point, key words or phrases that you might refer to frequently).

Don’t just drop in a quote – be sure to introduce and analyze!