How to Summarize an Article: Tips for a Good Summary

Summarizing may seem like the easiest task ever, but anyone who has tried it will tell you it’s anything but. A good summary requires critical reading skills, knowledge of how to organize the material, and, most importantly, the ability to get rid of everything that isn’t essential.

You’d be surprised how many students and even instructors struggle with summarizing. Experts from EssayWriters regularly complete summaries precisely because they aren’t easy (or fun) to write, so many people prefer to leave them to professionals.

But if you’d like to try it yourself, we hope this guide will help you write a great summary, even if it involves some trial and error.

An article summary is a brief version of an article that covers the main idea and the most important supporting points. It gives the reader a picture of what the original text says without repeating every detail.

A proper summary uses fewer words and simpler phrasing to restate the core idea. The final version should be much shorter than the source material. A well-written summary is what helps readers decide if they want to read the full article.

If you are still unsure how to write an article summary, you can always ask EssayWriters for help.

The entire writing process becomes a lot more straightforward once you understand what it takes to summarize article.

You need a full picture of what the article is saying. Read it through without skipping anything so you know what to include and what to leave out. Follow these steps once you read the article:

• Highlight the key points
• Mark any ideas that are repeated or emphasized
• Note the author’s conclusions

Summarizing starts by figuring out the main point the author is trying to make. You have to pull that central idea and all the points that support it. Watch out for:

• The article’s core message
• Topic sentences that introduce new ideas
• Any data or examples that help explain the main argument

Now, rewrite those most important parts in your own words. Don't copy complete sentences; modify even the ones that you wrote that seem too close to the original. Your task is to explain the original message so that it sounds like something you would say normally. Break big ideas down and focus on what’s central to the author’s message.

A summary is certainly not the place for personal opinions. You're summarizing it, not analyzing, so simply state the main points neutrally to make your writing more reliable.

• Skip emotional or biased language
• Don’t include your interpretations
• Stick to the author’s tone

Go back and read your summary out loud once you've written it fully. A quick final read is necessary to make sure the summary does what it's supposed to. If anything seems confusing or you sense that it drags too much, smooth it out. At the end, your summary must:

• Capture the key points accurately
• Be short but not miss anything important
• Flow naturally from sentence to sentence
• Stay consistent with the original article

A few minor tweaks can go a long way as long as you focus on the right things. Follow these steps for a clean and accurate summary:

• Start with a one-sentence draft of the article’s core message. Boiling the article down to one sentence will help you stay on track.
• Don’t summarize paragraph by paragraph. Instead, combine similar ideas into one clear point.
• Take note of the tone and purpose of the author. The summary must have the same energy despite the different words.
• Use transitions. Phrases like "the article highlights” or “it concludes with” help guide the reader.
• Give yourself a soft word limit. For the majority of summaries, 100–200 words is sufficient to include all points without rambling on.

Professional essay writers on our platform can help you get started on your article summary so you end up with a paper you’ll be proud to submit.

Even if you fully understand the article, it's quite easy to fall into typical traps when you are in a hurry. Here is what you need to look out for when writing a summary of an article:

1. Overloading the summary with examples. One or two well-chosen examples are fine, but repeating every stat or quote from the article will weigh it down.
2. Mixing in outside knowledge. Don’t include anything that wasn’t actually in the article. Stick only to what the author presented.
3. Summarizing what you considered interesting rather than what the article covered. Your task is to represent the author's priorities, not your own.
4. Statements such as "the article discusses many things" or "lots of ideas are presented" don't tell us anything. Be specific.
5. Skipping the second draft. Even short summaries benefit from a quick rewrite.

If you’re trying to write a good summary of an article or simply want to become a better essay writer, here are a few things worth remembering: focus on the main idea and leave out the extras; use your own words, but make sure the meaning stays the same; keep it neutral; don’t insert your take on the topic; read it over once or twice to make sure it flows.

Still unsure how to write a summary of an article? EssayWriters can help you with everything from the first draft to the final revisions.