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In the world of academia, it is common for an author to summarize the work of another author in order to introduce their own argument. This article explores when authors should summarize and what they should do if they decide to summarize.
Here’s what you should do if you’re summarizing someone else’s work:
Summarize the most important points of the other text, don’t include any minor details.
Include a citation at the end to identify where your summary came from (if it isn’t included in your own article) or that according to an authoritative source __ is true. Your reader will be able to consult this original author for more information on those points they find interesting and relevant. This also helps avoid plagiarism!
You may want to reference a few lines before and after these “important” sentences so readers can see how they connect with these ideas – but only summarize three one paragraph long paragraphs or less. You’ll want readers to consult the original text for more detail.
You can also summarize your own work if it’s too long and complex, but you’ll want to include a citation of where this summary came from at the end (if it isn’t in your article). This is called an “abstract.”
The following are some tips on summarizing someone else’s writing:
Summarize what they’ve written in as few sentences possible – don’t add any details or examples that weren’t included by the author themselves!
If you’re quoting another person directly, make sure you have their permission before doing so.
Include citations for each paragraph, sentence or word you quote from another writer. The citation should come at the end of each paragraph, sentence or word.
Discussion: What are some tips for summarizing someone else’s writing?
The following are some tips on how to summarize another person’s writing: -Summarize what they’ve written in as few sentences possible – don’t add any details or examples that weren’t included by the author themselves! You will be considered rude if you do so. If you’re quoting another person directly, make sure you have their permission before doing so. In addition, include citations for each paragraph, sentence or word you quote from another writer. The citation should come at the end of each paragraph, sentence or word.
Tip: Summarize what they’ve written in as few sentences possible – don’t add any details or examples that weren’t included by the author themselves! You will be considered rude if you do so. If you’re quoting another person directly, make sure you have their permission before doing so. In addition, include citations for each paragraph, sentence or word (e.g., “Quoting Smith” would go after a quotation from Smith).
Note: Citations can either follow a period (Smith) and before a comma (Jones, Smith and Jones) or after the sentence.
When authors summarize the work of others in their blog post, they typically should make sure that they have permission from whoever originally wrote it before doing so; include citations for each paragraph, sentence or word quoted about what was written; be brief when summarizing to avoid adding extra details not included by the original author themselves. If you’re quoting another person directly in your blog post without permission, always cite where you’ve obtained this information.
Might want to read some other guidelines on how to reference sources as well: [ref].
Smith is an expert in his field with many years of experience working within academia..
“The best way for me to summarize Smith’s work is to
quote him directly, and then provide the citations for each of his paragraphs.”
Smith.
“The best way for me to summarize Smith’s work is to quote him directly, and then provide the citations for each of his paragraphs.” -Smith.
Source: Dorr & Strakosch (2017). The Oxford Handbook of Scientific Writing [ref]. Editor(s): Joseph P. Dornbusch, Robert E. Clark II.. Section: “Summarizing Others’ Work,” pp. 365-367. Printed in 2017 by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Association for Higher Education.. [bibliographical reference]
