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How to Write a Summary

Last Updated: July 26, 2024 Approved

Sample Summaries

Reviewing the piece, writing the summary in your own words, revising your draft into a coherent summary, expert q&a.

This article was co-authored by Richard Perkins . 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. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 26 testimonials and 89% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 1,833,065 times.

Writing a summary is a great way to process the information you read, whether it’s an article or a book. If you’re assigned a summary in school, the best way to approach it is by reviewing the piece you’re summarizing. Read it thoroughly and take notes on the major points you want to include in your summary. When you get to writing your summary, rely on your memory first to make sure the summary is in your own words. Then, revise it to ensure that your writing is clear and the grammar, punctuation, and spelling are all perfect.

How do you write a good summary?

Start by reviewing the piece and identifying what the major points of it are. Highlight the author and the name of their work first, and then try to recall all of the major plot points from memory. Tighten up your draft by ensuring that your content is in chronological order, and by checking for errors or repetition.

• The author might also state their thesis more plainly by saying something like "my argument is...." or I believe...
• In a fiction piece, the author will more likely emphasize themes. So if you notice that love - discussions or descriptions of it, for example - come up a lot, one of the main points of the piece is probably love.

• To put something in your own words, write it down as if you were explaining or describing it to a friend. In that case, you wouldn't just read what the author wrote. Do the same when you're writing down the major points in your own words.

• For fiction pieces, this means avoiding rewriting every single thing that happens in the piece. Focus instead on the major plot points and the main motivator for those points. Don't include everything that happens to the character along the way.

• For example, you can start with something like “George Shaw’s '‘Pygmalion’' is a play that addresses issues of class and culture in early twentieth-century England.”

• If you absolutely must use the original author’s words, put them in quotation marks. This tells your reader those words aren’t yours. Not doing this is academic plagiarism, and it can get you in a lot of trouble.
• Make sure you format the quote correctly!

• For example, you might think that Hamlet spends a lot of time thinking and not a lot of time acting. You can say something like, "Hamlet is a man of thought, rather than action," instead of saying, "Why doesn't Hamlet do something once in a while?"

• In fiction pieces, you can say something like "Shakespeare's Hamlet then spends a lot of time brooding on the castle ramparts." This tells your reader you're talking about Shakespeare's play, not inventing your own story.

• For example, in a summary of an article about the cause of the American Revolution, you might have a paragraph that summarizes the author's arguments about taxes, and another about religious freedom. You can say something like, "Although some colonists believed that taxes should entitle them to representation in Parliament, the author also argues that other colonists supported the Revolution because they believed they were entitled to representation in heaven on their own terms."

• Don't use spell-checker for spelling errors. It will catch if you spell something wrong, but not if you use the wrong spelling of a word. For example, it won't catch that you used "there" when you meant "their."

• Generally, a summary should be around one quarter the length of the original piece. So if the original piece is 4 pages long, your summary should be no more than 1 page. [13] X Research source

• Not only should they be comparing your work for accuracy, ask them to read it for flow and summation. They should be able understand what happened in the article or story by reading your summary alone. Don't hesitate to ask for criticism; then weigh those criticisms and make valid changes.

• If you notice an author has made the same point multiple times, though, it’s a good indicator that this is an important point, and it should definitely be in your summary. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

Tips from our Readers

• Start your summary out with where the story takes place, or something that is on the first page or in the first chapter.
• Look at the chapter title of the book.This might help summarize the chapter as you start working on your summary.

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://teacher.scholastic.com/reading/bestpractices/comprehension/authorsmainidea.pdf
• ↑ Richard Perkins. Writing Coach & Academic English Coordinator. Expert Interview. 1 September 2021.
• ↑ http://utminers.utep.edu/omwilliamson/engl0310/summaryhints.htm
• ↑ https://public.wsu.edu/~mejia/Summary.htm
• ↑ http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/rwc/handouts/the-writing-process-1/invention/Guidelines-for-Writing-a-Summary

About This Article

Before you write a summary, read the piece you’re summarizing, then make notes on what you think the main point and major supporting arguments are. When you’re ready to draft your summary, start with the author and title, then use your own words to write what you think the author’s main point is in each section. Be sure to focus on what the author thinks and feels rather than what you do! Finally, reread your summary and check it for good spelling, punctuation, and grammar. For more suggestions from our reviewer about polishing your summary and improving transitions, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Write a Summary (Examples Included)

By Ashley Shaw

Have you ever recommended a book to someone and given them a quick overview? Then you’ve created a summary before!

Summarizing is a common part of everyday communication. It feels easy when you’re recounting what happened on your favorite show, but what do you do when the information gets a little more complex?

Written summaries come with their own set of challenges. You might ask yourself:

• What details are unnecessary?
• How do you put this in your own words without changing the meaning?
• How close can you get to the original without plagiarizing it?
• How long should it be?

The answers to these questions depend on the type of summary you are doing and why you are doing it.

A summary in an academic setting is different to a professional summary—and both of those are very different to summarizing a funny story you want to tell your friends.

One thing they all have in common is that you need to relay information in the clearest way possible to help your reader understand. We’ll look at some different forms of summary, and give you some tips on each.

Let’s get started!

What Is a Summary?

How do you write a summary, how do you write an academic summary, what are the four types of academic summaries, how do i write a professional summary, writing or telling a summary in personal situations, summarizing summaries.

A summary is a shorter version of a larger work. Summaries are used at some level in almost every writing task, from formal documents to personal messages.

When you write a summary, you have an audience that doesn’t know every single thing you know.

When you want them to understand your argument, topic, or stance, you may need to explain some things to catch them up.

Instead of having them read the article or hear every single detail of the story or event, you instead give them a brief overview of what they need to know.

Academic, professional, and personal summaries each require you to consider different things, but there are some key rules they all have in common.

Let’s go over a few general guides to writing a summary first.

1. A summary should always be shorter than the original work, usually considerably.

Even if your summary is the length of a full paper, you are likely summarizing a book or other significantly longer work.

2. A summary should tell the reader the highlights of what they need to know without giving them unnecessary details.

3. It should also include enough details to give a clear and honest picture.

For example, if you summarize an article that says “ The Office is the greatest television show of all time,” but don’t mention that they are specifically referring to sitcoms, then you changed the meaning of the article. That’s a problem! Similarly, if you write a summary of your job history and say you volunteered at a hospital for the last three years, but you don’t add that you only went twice in that time, it becomes a little dishonest.

4. Summaries shouldn’t contain personal opinion.

While in the longer work you are creating you might use opinion, within the summary itself, you should avoid all personal opinion. A summary is different than a review. In this moment, you aren’t saying what you think of the work you are summarizing, you are just giving your audience enough information to know what the work says or did.

Now that we have a good idea of what summaries are in general, let’s talk about some specific types of summary you will likely have to do at some point in your writing life.

An academic summary is one you will create for a class or in other academic writing. The exact elements you will need to include depend on the assignment itself.

However, when you’re asked for an academic summary, this usually this means one of five things, all of which are pretty similar:

• You need to do a presentation in which you talk about an article, book, or report.
• You write a summary paper in which the entire paper is a summary of a specific work.
• You summarize a class discussion, lesson, or reading in the form of personal notes or a discussion board post.
• You do something like an annotated bibliography where you write short summaries of multiple works in preparation of a longer assignment.
• You write quick summaries within the body of another assignment . For example, in an argumentative essay, you will likely need to have short summaries of the sources you use to explain their argument before getting into how the source helps you prove your point.

Regardless of what type of summary you are doing, though, there are a few steps you should always follow:

• Skim the work you are summarizing before you read it. Notice what stands out to you.
• Next, read it in depth . Do the same things stand out?
• Put the full text away and write in a few sentences what the main idea or point was.
• Go back and compare to make sure you didn’t forget anything.
• Expand on this to write and then edit your summary.

Each type of academic summary requires slightly different things. Let’s get down to details.

How Do I Write a Summary Paper?

Sometimes teachers assign something called a summary paper . In this, the entire thing is a summary of one article, book, story, or report.

To understand how to write this paper, let’s talk a little bit about the purpose of such an assignment.

A summary paper is usually given to help a teacher see how well a student understands a reading assignment, but also to help the student digest the reading. Sometimes, it can be difficult to understand things we read right away.

However, a good way to process the information is to put it in our own words. That is the point of a summary paper.

A summary paper is:

• A way to explain in our own words what happened in a paper, book, etc.
• A time to think about what was important in the paper, etc.
• A time to think about the meaning and purpose behind the paper, etc.

Here are some things that a summary paper is not:

• A review. Your thoughts and opinions on the thing you are summarizing don’t need to be here unless otherwise specified.
• A comparison. A comparison paper has a lot of summary in it, but it is different than a summary paper. In this, you are just saying what happened, but you aren’t saying places it could have been done differently.
• A paraphrase (though you might have a little paraphrasing in there). In the section on using summary in longer papers, I talk more about the difference between summaries, paraphrases, and quotes.

Because a summary paper is usually longer than other forms of summary, you will be able to chose more detail. However, it still needs to focus on the important events. Summary papers are usually shorter papers.

Let’s say you are writing a 3–4 page summary. You are likely summarizing a full book or an article or short story, which will be much longer than 3–4 pages.

Imagine that you are the author of the work, and your editor comes to you and says they love what you wrote, but they need it to be 3–4 pages instead.

How would you tell that story (argument, idea, etc.) in that length without losing the heart or intent behind it? That is what belongs in a summary paper.

How Do I Write Useful Academic Notes?

Sometimes, you need to write a summary for yourself in the form of notes or for your classmates in the form of a discussion post.

You might not think you need a specific approach for this. After all, only you are going to see it.

However, summarizing for yourself can sometimes be the most difficult type of summary. If you try to write down everything your teacher says, your hand will cramp and you’ll likely miss a lot.

Yet, transcribing doesn’t work because studies show that writing things down (not typing them) actually helps you remember them better.

So how do you find the balance between summarizing the lessons without leaving out important points?

There are some tips for this:

• If your professor writes it on the board, it is probably important.
• What points do your textbooks include when summarizing information? Use these as a guide.
• Write the highlight of every X amount of time, with X being the time you can go without missing anything or getting tired. This could be one point per minute, or three per five minutes, etc.

How Do I Create an Annotated Biography?

An annotated bibliography requires a very specific style of writing. Often, you will write these before a longer research paper . They will ask you to find a certain amount of articles and write a short annotation for each of them.

While an annotation is more than just a summary, it usually starts with a summary of the work. This will be about 2–3 sentences long. Because you don’t have a lot of room, you really have to think about what the most important thing the work says is.

This will basically ask you to explain the point of the article in these couple of sentences, so you should focus on the main point when expressing it.

Here is an example of a summary section within an annotation about this post:

“In this post, the author explains how to write a summary in different types of settings. She walks through academic, professional, and personal summaries. Ultimately, she claims that summaries should be short explanations that get the audience caught up on the topic without leaving out details that would change the meaning.”

Can I Write a Summary Within an Essay?

Perhaps the most common type of summary you will ever do is a short summary within a longer paper.

For example, if you have to write an argumentative essay, you will likely need to use sources to help support your argument.

However, there is a good chance that your readers won’t have read those same sources.

So, you need to give them enough detail to understand your topic without spending too much time explaining and not enough making your argument.

While this depends on exactly how you are using summary in your paper, often, a good amount of summary is the same amount you would put in an annotation.

Just a few sentences will allow the reader to get an idea of the work before moving on to specific parts of it that might help your argument.

What’s the Difference Between Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Using Quotes?

One important thing to recognize when using summaries in academic settings is that summaries are different than paraphrases or quotes.

A summary is broader and more general. A paraphrase, on the other hand, puts specific parts into your own words. A quote uses the exact words of the original. All of them, however, need to be cited.

Let’s look at an example:

Take these words by Thomas J. Watson:

”Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t as all. You can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.”

Let’s say I was told to write a summary, a paraphrase, and a quote about this statement. This is what it might look like:

Summary: Thomas J. Watson said that the key to success is actually to fail more often. (This is broad and doesn’t go into details about what he says, but it still gives him credit.)

Paraphrase: Thomas J. Watson, on asking if people would like his formula for success, said that the secret was to fail twice as much. He claimed that when you decide to learn from your mistakes instead of being disappointed by them, and when you start making a lot of them, you will actually find more success. (This includes most of the details, but it is in my own words, while still crediting the source.)

Quote: Thomas J. Watson said, ”Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.” (This is the exact words of the original with quotation marks and credit given.)

Avoiding Plagiarism

One of the hardest parts about summarizing someone else’s writing is avoiding plagiarism .

That’s why I have a few rules/tips for you when summarizing anything:

1. Always cite.

If you are talking about someone else’s work in any means, cite your source. If you are summarizing the entire work, all you probably need to do (depending on style guidelines) is say the author’s name. However, if you are summarizing a specific chapter or section, you should state that specifically. Finally, you should make sure to include it in your Work Cited or Reference page.

2. Change the wording.

Sometimes when people are summarizing or paraphrasing a work, they get too close to the original, and actually use the exact words. Unless you use quotation marks, this is plagiarism. However, a good way to avoid this is to hide the article while you are summarizing it. If you don’t have it in front of you, you are less likely to accidentally use the exact words. (However, after you are done, double check that you didn’t miss anything important or give wrong details.)

3. Use a plagiarism checker.

Of course, when you are writing any summary, especially academic summaries, it can be easy to cross the line into plagiarism. If this is a place where you struggle, then ProWritingAid can help.

Just use our Plagiarism Report . It’ll highlight any unoriginal text in your document so you can make sure you are citing everything correctly and summarizing in your own words.

Find out more about ProWritingAid plagiarism bundles.

Along with academic summaries, you might sometimes need to write professional summaries. Often, this means writing a summary about yourself that shows why you are qualified for a position or organization.

In this section, let’s talk about two types of professional summaries: a LinkedIn summary and a summary section within a resume.

How Do I Write My LinkedIn Bio?

LinkedIn is all about professional networking. It offers you a chance to share a brief glimpse of your professional qualifications in a paragraph or two.

This can then be sent to professional connections, or even found by them without you having to reach out. This can help you get a job or build your network.

Your summary is one of the first things a future employer might see about you, and how you write yours can make you stand out from the competition.

Here are some tips on writing a LinkedIn summary :

• Before you write it, think about what you want it to do . If you are looking for a job, what kind of job? What have you done in your past that would stand out to someone hiring for that position? That is what you will want to focus on in your summary.
• Be professional . Unlike many social media platforms, LinkedIn has a reputation for being more formal. Your summary should reflect that to some extent.
• Use keywords . Your summary is searchable, so using keywords that a recruiter might be searching for can help them find you.
• Focus on the start . LinkedIn shows the first 300 characters automatically, and then offers the viewer a chance to read more. Make that start so good that everyone wants to keep reading.
• Focus on accomplishments . Think of your life like a series of albums, and this is your speciality “Greatest Hits” album. What “songs” are you putting on it?

How Do I Summarize My Experience on a Resume?

Writing a professional summary for a resume is different than any other type of summary that you may have to do.

Recruiters go through a lot of resumes every day. They don’t have time to spend ages reading yours, which means you have to wow them quickly.

To do that, you might include a section at the top of your resume that acts almost as an elevator pitch: That one thing you might say to a recruiter to get them to want to talk to you if you only had a 30-second elevator ride.

If you don’t have a lot of experience, though, you might want to skip this section entirely and focus on playing up the experience you do have.

Outside of academic and personal summaries, you use summary a lot in your day-to-day life.

Whether it is telling a good piece of trivia you just learned or a funny story that happened to you, or even setting the stage in creative writing, you summarize all the time.

How you use summary can be an important consideration in whether people want to read your work (or listen to you talk).

Here are some things to think about when telling a story:

• Pick interesting details . Too many and your point will be lost. Not enough, and you didn’t paint the scene or give them a complete idea about what happened.
• Play into the emotions . When telling a story, you want more information than the bare minimum. You want your reader to get the emotion of the story. That requires a little bit more work to accomplish.
• Focus. A summary of one story can lead to another can lead to another. Think about storytellers that you know that go off on a tangent. They never seem to finish one story without telling 100 others!

To wrap up (and to demonstrate everything I just talked about), let’s summarize this post into its most essential parts:

A summary is a great way to quickly give your audience the information they need to understand the topic you are discussing without having to know every detail.

How you write a summary is different depending on what type of summary you are doing:

• An academic summary usually gets to the heart of an article, book, or journal, and it should highlight the main points in your own words. How long it should be depends on the type of assignment it is.
• A professional summary highlights you and your professional, academic, and volunteer history. It shows people in your professional network who you are and why they should hire you, work with you, use your talents, etc.

Being able to tell a good story is another form of summary. You want to tell engaging anecdotes and facts without boring your listeners. This is a skill that is developed over time.

Take your writing to the next level:

20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers

Whether you are writing a novel, essay, article, or email, good writing is an essential part of communicating your ideas., this guide contains the 20 most important writing tips and techniques from a wide range of professional writers..

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Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

Ashley Shaw

Ashley Shaw is a former editor and marketer/current PhD student and teacher. When she isn't studying con artists for her dissertation, she's thinking of new ways to help college students better understand and love the writing process. You can follow her on Twitter, or, if you prefer animal accounts, follow her rabbits, Audrey Hopbun and Fredra StaHare, on Instagram.

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Summary: Using it Wisely

What this handout is about.

Knowing how to summarize something you have read, seen, or heard is a valuable skill, one you have probably used in many writing assignments. It is important, though, to recognize when you must go beyond describing, explaining, and restating texts and offer a more complex analysis. This handout will help you distinguish between summary and analysis and avoid inappropriate summary in your academic writing.

Is summary a bad thing?

Not necessarily. But it’s important that your keep your assignment and your audience in mind as you write. If your assignment requires an argument with a thesis statement and supporting evidence—as many academic writing assignments do—then you should limit the amount of summary in your paper. You might use summary to provide background, set the stage, or illustrate supporting evidence, but keep it very brief: a few sentences should do the trick. Most of your paper should focus on your argument. (Our handout on argument will help you construct a good one.)

Writing a summary of what you know about your topic before you start drafting your actual paper can sometimes be helpful. If you are unfamiliar with the material you’re analyzing, you may need to summarize what you’ve read in order to understand your reading and get your thoughts in order. Once you figure out what you know about a subject, it’s easier to decide what you want to argue.

You may also want to try some other pre-writing activities that can help you develop your own analysis. Outlining, freewriting, and mapping make it easier to get your thoughts on the page. (Check out our handout on brainstorming for some suggested techniques.)

Why is it so tempting to stick with summary and skip analysis?

Many writers rely too heavily on summary because it is what they can most easily write. If you’re stalled by a difficult writing prompt, summarizing the plot of The Great Gatsby may be more appealing than staring at the computer for three hours and wondering what to say about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s use of color symbolism. After all, the plot is usually the easiest part of a work to understand. Something similar can happen even when what you are writing about has no plot: if you don’t really understand an author’s argument, it might seem easiest to just repeat what he or she said.

To write a more analytical paper, you may need to review the text or film you are writing about, with a focus on the elements that are relevant to your thesis. If possible, carefully consider your writing assignment before reading, viewing, or listening to the material about which you’ll be writing so that your encounter with the material will be more purposeful. (We offer a handout on reading towards writing .)

How do I know if I’m summarizing?

As you read through your essay, ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I stating something that would be obvious to a reader or viewer?
• Does my essay move through the plot, history, or author’s argument in chronological order, or in the exact same order the author used?
• Am I simply describing what happens, where it happens, or whom it happens to?

A “yes” to any of these questions may be a sign that you are summarizing. If you answer yes to the questions below, though, it is a sign that your paper may have more analysis (which is usually a good thing):

• Am I making an original argument about the text?
• Have I arranged my evidence around my own points, rather than just following the author’s or plot’s order?
• Am I explaining why or how an aspect of the text is significant?

Certain phrases are warning signs of summary. Keep an eye out for these:

• “[This essay] is about…”
• “[This book] is the story of…”
• “[This author] writes about…”
• “[This movie] is set in…”

Here’s an example of an introductory paragraph containing unnecessary summary. Sentences that summarize are in italics:

The Great Gatsby is the story of a mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby, who lives alone on an island in New York. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the book, but the narrator is Nick Carraway. Nick is Gatsby’s neighbor, and he chronicles the story of Gatsby and his circle of friends, beginning with his introduction to the strange man and ending with Gatsby’s tragic death. In the story, Nick describes his environment through various colors, including green, white, and grey. Whereas white and grey symbolize false purity and decay respectively, the color green offers a symbol of hope.

Here’s how you might change the paragraph to make it a more effective introduction:

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald provides readers with detailed descriptions of the area surrounding East Egg, New York. In fact, Nick Carraway’s narration describes the setting with as much detail as the characters in the book. Nick’s description of the colors in his environment presents the book’s themes, symbolizing significant aspects of the post-World War I era. Whereas white and grey symbolize the false purity and decay of the 1920s, the color green offers a symbol of hope.

This version of the paragraph mentions the book’s title, author, setting, and narrator so that the reader is reminded of the text. And that sounds a lot like summary—but the paragraph quickly moves on to the writer’s own main topic: the setting and its relationship to the main themes of the book. The paragraph then closes with the writer’s specific thesis about the symbolism of white, grey, and green.

How do I write more analytically?

Analysis requires breaking something—like a story, poem, play, theory, or argument—into parts so you can understand how those parts work together to make the whole. Ideally, you should begin to analyze a work as you read or view it instead of waiting until after you’re done—it may help you to jot down some notes as you read. Your notes can be about major themes or ideas you notice, as well as anything that intrigues, puzzles, excites, or irritates you. Remember, analytic writing goes beyond the obvious to discuss questions of how and why—so ask yourself those questions as you read.

The St. Martin’s Handbook (the bulleted material below is quoted from p. 38 of the fifth edition) encourages readers to take the following steps in order to analyze a text:

• Identify evidence that supports or illustrates the main point or theme as well as anything that seems to contradict it.
• Consider the relationship between the words and the visuals in the work. Are they well integrated, or are they sometimes at odds with one another? What functions do the visuals serve? To capture attention? To provide more detailed information or illustration? To appeal to readers’ emotions?
• Decide whether the sources used are trustworthy.
• Identify the work’s underlying assumptions about the subject, as well as any biases it reveals.

Once you have written a draft, some questions you might want to ask yourself about your writing are “What’s my point?” or “What am I arguing in this paper?” If you can’t answer these questions, then you haven’t gone beyond summarizing. You may also want to think about how much of your writing comes from your own ideas or arguments. If you’re only reporting someone else’s ideas, you probably aren’t offering an analysis.

What strategies can help me avoid excessive summary?

• Read the assignment (the prompt) as soon as you get it. Make sure to reread it before you start writing. Go back to your assignment often while you write. (Check out our handout on reading assignments ).
• Formulate an argument (including a good thesis) and be sure that your final draft is structured around it, including aspects of the plot, story, history, background, etc. only as evidence for your argument. (You can refer to our handout on constructing thesis statements ).
• Read critically—imagine having a dialogue with the work you are discussing. What parts do you agree with? What parts do you disagree with? What questions do you have about the work? Does it remind you of other works you’ve seen?
• Make sure you have clear topic sentences that make arguments in support of your thesis statement. (Read our handout on paragraph development if you want to work on writing strong paragraphs).
• Use two different highlighters to mark your paper. With one color, highlight areas of summary or description. With the other, highlight areas of analysis. For many college papers, it’s a good idea to have lots of analysis and minimal summary/description.
• Ask yourself: What part of the essay would be obvious to a reader/viewer of the work being discussed? What parts (words, sentences, paragraphs) of the essay could be deleted without loss? In most cases, your paper should focus on points that are essential and that will be interesting to people who have already read or seen the work you are writing about.

But I’m writing a review! Don’t I have to summarize?

That depends. If you’re writing a critique of a piece of literature, a film, or a dramatic performance, you don’t necessarily need to give away much of the plot. The point is to let readers decide whether they want to enjoy it for themselves. If you do summarize, keep your summary brief and to the point.

Instead of telling your readers that the play, book, or film was “boring,” “interesting,” or “really good,” tell them specifically what parts of the work you’re talking about. It’s also important that you go beyond adjectives and explain how the work achieved its effect (how was it interesting?) and why you think the author/director wanted the audience to react a certain way. (We have a special handout on writing reviews that offers more tips.)

If you’re writing a review of an academic book or article, it may be important for you to summarize the main ideas and give an overview of the organization so your readers can decide whether it is relevant to their specific research interests.

If you are unsure how much (if any) summary a particular assignment requires, ask your instructor for guidance.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Barnet, Sylvan. 2015. A Short Guide to Writing about Art , 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Corrigan, Timothy. 2014. A Short Guide to Writing About Film , 9th ed. New York: Pearson.

Lunsford, Andrea A. 2015. The St. Martin’s Handbook , 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Zinsser, William. 2001. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction , 6th ed. New York: Quill.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Everything You Need To Know About Writing a Summary

Wondering why summary writing is important? Knowing how to compose one is an essential skill not just for students but for anyone who wants to understand and communicate complex ideas clearly. In this post, we’ll provide five easy steps and more to teach you how to write a summary.

Table of Contents

What is a summary, how to write a summary in five easy steps, example of a summary, tips on writing a good summary.

Mastering the art of summary writing is crucial, but do you know why? Well, you might be surprised to learn that knowing how to craft one can help you become a better learner and communicator. If you have yet to sharpen this skill set, don’t worry. Below, we’ll go through five easy steps to write a good summary , complete with examples and tips.

Let’s begin!

A summary is a concise distillation of a larger body of work that briefly but thoroughly encapsulates its main ideas and essential points. It is designed to give the reader a clear understanding of the original project without needing to read it in full.  

Being able to restate in your own words what you’ve just read is a sign that you’ve truly absorbed and understood the information. In contrast, merely memorizing facts is not a good indication of comprehension. In other words, if you can’t concisely summarize something, you haven’t fully grasped the concept.

The word summary is a noun that refers to the “concise but comprehensive rewriting of an original body of work.”

• I had to write a summary of one of Mark Twain’s stories.

The verb form of this word is to summarize , which means “to provide a summary of something.”

• She missed the presentation, so I summarized it for her.

Now that we’ve reviewed what a summary entails, let’s get to the fun part: writing one!

Keep in mind that summaries can encompass a wide range of subjects, including books, articles, movies, meetings, and more. Also, a summarization isn’t necessarily always confined to writing; you can verbally summarize something, too. However, the steps below are designed to help you compose a written summary.

1. Read and take notes. 

First things first: Read or watch the original work you’ll be summarizing. While you do, take brief pauses and explain to yourself what you just read or watched. As the main ideas start becoming clear to you, take notes. This will make the writing process easier.

2. Start with an introductory sentence.

In academic and formal contexts, summaries typically begin with an introductory sentence that states the work’s title and author. This sets the stage for the reader by immediately identifying what is being discussed. However, if the work has already been identified, it may not be necessary to start with the title and author. For example, if you’re in a class that is currently discussing Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, then you may not need to include that information in the introduction.

3. Explain the main points.

Identify and elaborate on the main arguments or messages, and seek supporting evidence, topic sentences, or thesis statements .

It’s also a good idea to focus on the what, how, and why:

• What are the key ideas or events?
• How do they develop throughout the work?
• Why are they important to the work’s overall message?

Remember, be selective in what you include. Summaries are about the bigger picture, not the small details. 

4. Organize your summary to ensure a smooth flow.

Your summary should be coherent and easy to read. Therefore, you should use transition words to ensure logical progression from one idea to the next. It’s best to structure your summary similarly to the original work. Despite being a condensed version, it should still stand on its own as a cohesive piece of writing. In other words, ensure that there is a clear beginning, middle, and end.

5. Conclude by restating the author’s thesis. 

Finish your summary with a clear statement that effectively captures the author’s main argument or purpose. Keep in mind that the conclusion of a summary should not introduce new information but instead provide a sense of closure. This will leave the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the original text.

Imagine you’re taking a class on Shakespeare, and you’re assigned to write a one-paragraph summary of Romeo and Juliet. It should be similar to the following example:

“Romeo and Juliet” is a tragic play that tells the story of two young, star-crossed lovers. It begins with a street brawl between servants from the wealthy Montague and Capulet families and ends with two shocking deaths that ultimately reconcile a long-time feud. Romeo, a Montague, falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet, at a masquerade ball. Despite their families’ conflict, they marry in secret. After Romeo is banished for avenging the death of his friend, Juliet fakes her death to be with him. The plan goes awry, leading to Romeo and Juliet’s actual deaths. When the families learn of the tragic sequence of events, they decide to end their bitter feud once and for all.

It’s important to note that the length of the summary depends on the assignment’s instructions. It is possible to write a longer summary of Romeo and Juliet, if needed, by providing some more details and elaborating on the play’s themes.

How Long Should a Summary Be?

Some guidelines suggest that summaries should be 10%-30% of the original work, so it often depends on the complexity of the text and the intended purpose. If you’re writing a summary for school and are unsure how long it should be, ask your instructor for clarification.

As you work on your summary, keep the following tips in mind:

Take notes as you read.

We already mentioned this, but it’s worth reiterating. Taking notes as you read the original work is an easy way to simplify the summary writing process. The notes don’t have to be extensive; they just have to help you remember the important points.

Use your own words.

Don’t just copy and paste from the original work. Instead, analyze it and restate it. Imagine you and a friend just read an article. You understand it, but your friend doesn’t. You wouldn’t just reread it, hoping that a second reading would miraculously become clearer, right? No, you’d reword it. That’s precisely what you have to do when writing a summary.

Do not include opinions or interpretations.

A summary’s purpose is to restate the original text concisely. Avoid writing about your opinions or judgments about the work, and do not include elaborate interpretations.

Ensure proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

You can follow all the steps above and even ensure you abide by these tips. But if your summary is riddled with errors, it won’t be as effective. A simple way to ensure flawless spelling, grammar, and punctuation is to use LanguageTool as your personal writing assistant. Not only will it correct any mistakes, but it will also enhance your style. Plus, it supports more than thirty languages and dialects, so whether you’re writing in your native tongue or your second language, your instructors will be utterly impressed with your prose.

Go ahead and give it a try today!

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Summarizing

by jleemcga | Aug 18, 2023 | Resources for Students , Writing Resources

What is summarizing?

A summary of a text is a short overview of the main ideas written in your own words. While paraphrasing involves expressing specific ideas or details from a larger text in your own words, we generally summarize whole texts (whether it is an essay, article, chapter, book, et cetera). So, in order to ensure our summaries are not too wordy or confusing, we only cover the main ideas or argument presented within a whole text.

It’s best to summarize when you’re contextualizing a topic by letting your readers know about the current, ongoing conversation. By summarizing relevant sources, you’re providing your audience with an overview of what has already been said about this topic to help them understand how you’ll be adding to it. Summarizing material within your paper allows you to:

• Condense key ideas or arguments relevant to your paper
• Simplify the connection between a source and your own writing

How do I summarize?

To approach summarizing a source, try the following steps:

• First make sure you carefully read the original source material to understand it. Like paraphrasing, summarizing effectively requires an accurate understanding of the source material
• Identify all the main ideas from the text. It helps to look for the thesis or overall claim the author is presenting, as well as any important reasons they give to back their claim. Basically, you’re looking for why their argument is what it is
• When you begin your summary, you might use a TAG line. This stands for Title, Author, Genre and allows you to formally introduce the text before you summarize its ideas. An example of a TAG line is: In the article “Stuck on the Streets of San Francisco in a Driverless Car”, Cade Metz reports … TAG lines add a helpful framework for the summary
• Be sure not to include any specific examples, details, or evidence from the text. In summaries, we don’t describe the author’s examples (this would be like rewriting the entire text). Instead, we offer a map of the main idea and major points
• Once you finish writing your summary, check to make sure your summary concisely and accurately captures the author’s main ideas
• Remember to cite!

Examples of summarizing

Here is an example of a writer summarizing a main idea from the source Social Death: Racialized Rightlessness and the Criminalization of the Unprotected by Lisa Marie Cacho in their essay about a Salvadoran poet and her poetry’s relationship to reclaiming identity:

The ambiguity that is scored onto the bodies of Salvadoran migrants creates an impoverished sense of time and freedom by keeping these individuals indefinitely “temporary,” an ephemera that imposes a constant threat against safety and belonging for Salvadorans in the US. This weaponization of time also contributes to the condition of social death that Cacho describes as being prevalent for people of color, and particularly immigrants, in the US. According to Cacho, part of the criminalization of people of color within the US— not based on one’s behavior, but by their appearance— is heightened further by the notion of documentation. The rhetoric surrounding immigration in the US ultimately aims to invalidate those without documentation by using slurs like “illegal” (Cacho).

Note: The writer quotes some key terms, like “temporary” or “illegal” that the author emphasizes in the original source but describes the main ideas of the source in their own words. Note, too, that the summary focuses on the big-picture ideas of the source without mentioning examples that are too specific.

Things to keep in mind when summarizing

Some important things to remain mindful of while summarizing in your assignments are:

• There is no specified length for writing summaries; they may be a few sentences or a few paragraphs depending on your writing project. For most academic essays, a summary of a few sentences to a short paragraph is appropriate. Concision is key
• Do not include your opinions on the topic or the author’s ideas in your summary; your ideas are important, but summary is a genre of writing that requires objectivity
• Do not include specific details or examples from the text—just focus on the big picture ideas

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Home / Guides / Writing Guides / Parts of a Paper / How to Write a Summary

How to Write a Summary

Introduction.

In this lesson, you will learn how to summarize a text accurately.

Guide Overview

Summarizing.

• Tips for summarizing: introducing the main idea
• Tips for summarizing: transitions
• The final summary

A summary is a much shorter version of a text, with only the most essential information.

Below, you can read the main points from each section of the Scholastic News article  ​Running Into History :

• ​Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb was the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon.
• Gibb had to disguise herself as a man to participate in the race because people didn’t think women could run that far at the time.
• Gibb helped open the race to other women.

To turn this information into a summary, you will need to add a few things!​

Tips for Summarizing: Introducing the Main Idea

When you write your summary, it’s important to follow a few steps.

First, start your summary by identifying the title, author and type of text.

You should include the information above and a brief explanation of the author’s major point in the first sentence of your summary.

Example :  The Scholastic News article, “Running Into History,” explains how Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb changed the Boston Marathon.

Tips for Summarizing: Transitions

Have you ever read a text that was robotic and choppy? When that happens, the information is hard to follow and not very interesting! To avoid this, use transitions between the main points of your summary.

Look at the list of  ​Transitional Words and Phrases  from the University of Wisconsin. These can help your writing flow! Every few sentences, use summarizing language that reminds the reader that they are reading a summary. Summarizing transitions include “ The author claims… ” or “ The article explains… ”

The Final Summary

After adding in an introductory sentence and transitions to the main points of the text, the next step is to complete the summary .

Read the summary of the Scholastic News  ​art​icle  below. Notice how 8 paragraphs of text have been shortened into a one-paragraph summary!

The Scholastic News article, “Running Into History,” explains how Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb changed the Boston Marathon.Gibb was the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon. She had to disguise herself as a man to participate in the race because people didn’t think women could run that far at the time.  According to the article, Gibb’s success in the marathon helped to open the race up to other women.

In this lesson, you learned how to:

• summarize informational texts using main ideas and transitional words and phrases

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Narrative One: Personal Piece on a Significant Experience

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Writing Effective Summary and Response Essays

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A summary is a concise paraphrase of all the main ideas in an essay. It cites the author and the title (usually in the first sentence); it contains the essay's thesis and supporting ideas; it may use direct quotation of forceful or concise statements of the author's ideas; it will NOT usually cite the author's examples or supporting details unless they are central to the main idea. Most summaries present the major points in the order that the author made them and continually refer back to the article being summarized (i.e. "Damon argues that ..." or "Goodman also points out that ... "). The summary should take up no more than one-third the length of the work being summarized.

The Response:

A response is a critique or evaluation of the author's essay. Unlike the summary, it is composed of YOUR opinions in relation to the article being summarized. It examines ideas that you agree or disagree with and identifies the essay's strengths and weaknesses in reasoning and logic, in quality of supporting examples, and in organization and style. A good response is persuasive; therefore, it should cite facts, examples, and personal experience that either refutes or supports the article you're responding to, depending on your stance.

Two Typical Organizational Formats for Summary/Response Essays:

1. Present the summary in a block of paragraphs, followed by the response in a block:

Intro/thesis Summary (two to three paragraphs) Agreement (or disagreement) Disagreement (or agreement) Conclusion

Note: Some essays will incorporate both agreement and disagreement in a response, but this is not mandatory.

2. Introduce the essay with a short paragraph that includes your thesis. Then, each body paragraph summarizes one point and responds to it, and a conclusion wraps the essay up.

Intro/thesis Summary point one; agree/disagree Summary point two; agree/disagree Summary point three; agree/disagree Conclusion

• How to Write a Summary

Proficient students understand that  summarizing , identifying what is most important and restating the text (or other media) in your own words, is an important tool for college success.

After all, if you really know a subject, you will be able to summarize it. If you cannot summarize a subject, even if you have memorized all the facts about it, you can be absolutely sure that you have not learned it. And, if you truly learn the subject, you will still be able to summarize it months or years from now.

Proficient students may monitor their understanding of a text by summarizing as they read. They understand that if they can write a one- or two-sentence summary of each paragraph after reading it, then that is a good sign that they have correctly understood it. If they can not summarize the main idea of the paragraph, they know that comprehension has broken down and they need to use fix-up strategies to repair understanding.

Summary Writing Format

• When writing a summary, remember that it should be in the form of a paragraph.
• A summary begins with an introductory sentence that states the text’s title, author and main point of the text as you see it.
• A summary is written in your own words.
• A summary contains only the ideas of the original text. Do not insert any of your own opinions, interpretations, deductions or comments into a summary.
• Identify in order the significant sub-claims the author uses to defend the main point.
• Copy word-for-word three separate passages from the essay that you think support and/or defend the main point of the essay as you see it.
• Cite each passage by first signaling the work and the author, put “quotation marks” around the passage you chose, and put the number of the paragraph where the passages can be found immediately after the passage.
• Using source material from the essay is important. Why? Because defending claims with source material is what you will be asked to do when writing papers for your college professors.
• Write a last sentence that “wraps” up your summary; often a simple rephrasing of the main point.

Example Summary Writing Format

In the essay Santa Ana , author Joan Didion’s main point is ( state main point ). According to Didion “… passage 1 …” (para.3). Didion also writes “… passage 2 …” (para.8). Finally, she states “… passage 3 …” (para. 12) Write a last sentence that “wraps” up your summary; often a simple rephrasing of the main point.

• Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : http://lumenlearning.com/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Authored by : Paul Powell. Provided by : Central Community College. Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Authored by : Elisabeth Ellington and Ronda Dorsey Neugebauer. Provided by : Chadron State College. Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Table of Contents

Instructor Resources (Access Requires Login)

• Overview of Instructor Resources

An Overview of the Writing Process

• Introduction to the Writing Process
• Introduction to Writing
• Your Role as a Learner
• What is an Essay?
• Reading to Write
• Defining the Writing Process
• Videos: Prewriting Techniques
• Thesis Statements
• Organizing an Essay
• Creating Paragraphs
• Conclusions
• Editing and Proofreading
• Matters of Grammar, Mechanics, and Style
• Peer Review Checklist
• Comparative Chart of Writing Strategies

Using Sources

• Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Avoiding Plagiarism
• Formatting the Works Cited Page (MLA)
• Citing Paraphrases and Summaries (APA)
• APA Citation Style, 6th edition: General Style Guidelines

Definition Essay

• Definitional Argument Essay
• How to Write a Definition Essay
• Critical Thinking
• Video: Thesis Explained
• Effective Thesis Statements
• Student Sample: Definition Essay

Narrative Essay

• Introduction to Narrative Essay
• Student Sample: Narrative Essay
• "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell
• "Sixty-nine Cents" by Gary Shteyngart
• Video: The Danger of a Single Story
• How to Write an Annotation
• Writing for Success: Narration

Illustration/Example Essay

• Introduction to Illustration/Example Essay
• "She's Your Basic L.O.L. in N.A.D" by Perri Klass
• "April & Paris" by David Sedaris
• Writing for Success: Illustration/Example
• Student Sample: Illustration/Example Essay

Compare/Contrast Essay

• Introduction to Compare/Contrast Essay
• "Disability" by Nancy Mairs
• "Friending, Ancient or Otherwise" by Alex Wright
• "A South African Storm" by Allison Howard
• Writing for Success: Compare/Contrast
• Student Sample: Compare/Contrast Essay

Cause-and-Effect Essay

• Introduction to Cause-and-Effect Essay
• "Cultural Baggage" by Barbara Ehrenreich
• "Women in Science" by K.C. Cole
• Writing for Success: Cause and Effect
• Student Sample: Cause-and-Effect Essay

Argument Essay

• Introduction to Argument Essay
• Rogerian Argument
• "The Case Against Torture," by Alisa Soloman
• "The Case for Torture" by Michael Levin
• How to Write a Summary by Paraphrasing Source Material
• Writing for Success: Argument
• Student Sample: Argument Essay
• Grammar/Mechanics Mini-lessons
• Mini-lesson: Subjects and Verbs, Irregular Verbs, Subject Verb Agreement
• Mini-lesson: Sentence Types
• Mini-lesson: Fragments I
• Mini-lesson: Run-ons and Comma Splices I
• Mini-lesson: Comma Usage
• Mini-lesson: Parallelism
• Mini-lesson: The Apostrophe
• Mini-lesson: Capital Letters
• Grammar Practice - Interactive Quizzes
• De Copia - Demonstration of the Variety of Language
• Style Exercise: Voice

Narrative Essay

How to write a summary.

Proficient students understand that  summarizing , identifying what is most important and restating the text (or other media) in your own words, is an important tool for college success.

After all, if you really know a subject, you will be able to summarize it. If you cannot summarize a subject, even if you have memorized all the facts about it, you can be absolutely sure that you have not learned it. And, if you truly learn the subject, you will still be able to summarize it months or years from now.

Proficient students may monitor their understanding of a text by summarizing as they read. They understand that if they can write a one- or two-sentence summary of each paragraph after reading it, then that is a good sign that they have correctly understood it. If they can not summarize the main idea of the paragraph, they know that comprehension has broken down and they need to use fix-up strategies to repair understanding.

Summary Writing Format

• When writing a summary, remember that it should be in the form of a paragraph.
• A summary begins with an introductory sentence that states the text’s title, author and main point of the text as you see it.
• A summary is written in your own words.
• A summary contains only the ideas of the original text. Do not insert any of your own opinions, interpretations, deductions or comments into a summary.
• Identify in order the significant sub-claims the author uses to defend the main point.
• Copy word-for-word three separate passages from the essay that you think support and/or defend the main point of the essay as you see it.
• Cite each passage by first signaling the work and the author, put “quotation marks” around the passage you chose, and put the number of the paragraph where the passages can be found immediately after the passage.
• Using source material from the essay is important. Why? Because defending claims with source material is what you will be asked to do when writing papers for your college professors.
• Write a last sentence that “wraps” up your summary; often a simple rephrasing of the main point.

Example Summary Writing Format

In the essay Santa Ana , author Joan Didion’s main point is ( state main point ). According to Didion “… passage 1 …” (para.3). Didion also writes “… passage 2 …” (para.8). Finally, she states “… passage 3 …” (para. 12) Write a last sentence that “wraps” up your summary; often a simple rephrasing of the main point.

• Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : http://lumenlearning.com/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Authored by : Paul Powell. Provided by : Central Community College. Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Authored by : Elisabeth Ellington and Ronda Dorsey Neugebauer. Provided by : Chadron State College. Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License : CC BY: Attribution

How to write a summary

Published March 31, 2021. Updated June 2, 2022.

Summary definition

A summary provides an overview of something produced by a writer.

Overview of summary writing

One should read the material multiple times before starting to write a summary. A quick initial read will help to identify the general argument and structure, positioning you to contextualize each part. Annotation can help you process and understand the whole. Making an outline of the text can help identify the argument and its construction. You should never substitute a summary for analysis. When you fully understand both the argument and its construction, you can start writing the summary. Start with the main idea or argument. Follow it with the major points that you have outlined either in the margins or on a separate piece of paper.

Worried about your writing? Submit your paper for a Chegg Writing essay check , or for an Expert Check proofreading . Both can help you find and fix potential writing issues.

What is a summary?

A summary provides an overview of something produced by another writer or by someone working in a different medium. It should address the work as a whole and have the appropriate citation or attribution. In addition, you need to paraphrase the text in your own words without ever borrowing (plagiarizing) the original author’s own. Finally, you must keep strictly to the original material, leaving the summary free of commentary or bias.

Most likely you will want to read the material multiple times.

• A quick initial read to help you to identify the general argument and structure, positioning you to contextualize each part
• An attentive read and annotation to help you process and understand the whole
• A final once-over in which you reverse outline the piece, writing the main point or function of each section in the margins

When you fully understand both the argument and its construction, you’re ready to write the summary. Start with the main idea or argument. Follow it with the major points that you’ve outlined either in the margins or on a separate piece of paper.

• Read the text multiple times and take careful notes.
• Outline the piece’s structure, the way the writer puts together their argument or report.
• Cover the whole thing.
• Paraphrase.
• Include proper attribution or citation.
• Go into the details.
• Reproduce general context or definitions you can assume your audience to know already.
• Copy whole phrases or sentences.
• Add your opinion of the piece.

When to write a summary

There are several reasons you might need to summarize someone else’s work. Summary can be useful—or even necessary—in all of the following contexts.

• You need to keep track of multiple arguments and texts in your own notes.
• Your teacher assigned the summary as an assignment. The purpose may be for you to demonstrate comprehension of an important idea or to engage with another paper’s construction in order to improve your own writing.
• You need to use the piece, as a whole, as evidence or context in a paper.
• You need to produce a literature review as part of a dissertation or similar project.

Be careful with these last two. They both require summary, but be sure that you summarize only what is necessary.

When to avoid summary

Summary becomes problematic when writers confuse it with or substitute it for analysis. Keep these two things distinct. In high school and college, most academic essay assignments call for argument and analysis.

How to identify summary

While it seems like this should be simple, sometimes summary masquerades as analysis. Particularly, when you are working on difficult material, the effort you put into basic comprehension can make paraphrase seem analytical when it’s not.

Here are some warning signs that your paper may have too much summary:

• You outline another essay’s argument rather than positioning yourself with regards to it.
• In literature papers, you describe setting, plot, or characters that would be familiar to someone who has read the book.
• Your paper is organized chronologically. You go through the plot or argument in the order that the writer presents it.
• You use the word “about.” (This story is about… This argument is about…)
• You describe established themes or symbols or identify literary devices instead of digging into any of these. Applying common labels doesn’t count as analysis.

How to shift into analysis

In analysis, you dig into material, looking for the how and why rather than the what. In an essay, you make an argument that pulls all of this analysis together. Here are a couple prompts that can help you shift towards analysis.

Interrogate the text

Assume a skeptical position in relationship to the text. Ask yourself:

• What is reliable information? What isn’t?
• What biases does it reveal or assumptions does it assume?
• If it makes an argument, where is that argument strong? Where is it weak?
• Are opinion and fact kept clearly separate?

While these questions clearly apply to other essays, you can also use them when it comes to the narrators or narrative voice of literary material.

Focus on points of tension

What thematic contrasts drive the work? For example, the text may be preoccupied with the relationship between appearance and reality. While identifying this tension isn’t enough, turning your attention to how and why these things come into conflict can often get you thinking in a more analytical direction.

You can also take this prompt in a more structural direction. If there are different forms, sections, or media, how do these interact? How do they interpret one another in unexpected ways?

Before you turn in that paper, don’t forget to cite your sources in APA format , MLA format , or a style of your choice.

Key takeaways

• A summary needs to provide a complete overview in your own words without adding any commentary or bias.
• You may want to read the piece multiple times.
• Making an outline of the text can help you identify the argument and its construction.
• You should never substitute summary for analysis. These are distinct modes that do different things.

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• How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples

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.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

McCombes, S. (2023, May 12). How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 3 September 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/working-sources/how-to-write-a-summary/

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Writing an article summary.

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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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• Last Updated: Mar 15, 2024 9:32 AM
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Home > Blog > Thesis Statement Essays Examples

Thesis Statement Essays Examples

• Smodin Editorial Team
• Updated: August 30, 2024
• General Guide About Content and Writing
• Step-by-Step Instructions for Writing

Writing an essay can seem challenging, but a solid thesis statement can make it easier. A thesis statement is a crucial part of any essay. It gives your reader a clear understanding of your main idea. The goal should be to deliver a strong, concise, yet compelling statement that immerses the reader in your writing. A strong thesis statement means a strong start to your essay !

We’ve developed this comprehensive guide to explore what makes a good thesis statement. We’ll discuss different thesis statement essay examples and show you steps on how to write a strong statement. Whether you’re writing a research paper, argumentative essay, or policy proposal, a solid thesis statement is key.

What Is a Thesis Statement?

To put it simply, a thesis statement summarizes your entire paper. It usually appears at the end of the first paragraph, known as the essay introduction. Your thesis should be specific, concise, and clear.

It should express one main idea and guide your writing. For example, if your paper explains climate change, your thesis might assert that “Climate change poses a significant threat to global ecosystems.”

How To Write a Thesis Statement: Example and What To Include

In this section, we include how to write a thesis statement with an example to help you out in the process. Below, we have listed some of the steps involved, while compiling a thesis statement.

Start With a Question

Every good thesis statement starts with a question. Think about what you want to explore or decide about your topic. For example, “Has the internet had a positive or negative impact on education?”

Write Your Initial Answer

After some research, write a simple, tentative answer to your question. This will guide your research and writing process. For example, “The internet has had a positive impact on education.”

Refine Your Thesis Statement

Your final thesis should ultimately tell the reader why you hold this position. You can elaborate and explain what they’ll learn from your essay and the key points of your argument.

For example, “The internet’s positive impact on education outweighs its negatives by providing easier access to information. Exposure to different perspectives and a flexible learning environment for students and teachers contributes to this”.

A Good Thesis Statement Example

A good thesis statement is concise, coherent, and contentious. It should clearly state your main idea and be backed up by specific evidence. Take a look at the following good thesis statement example:

“While many people believe climate change is a natural phenomenon, evidence shows that human activities significantly contribute to its acceleration.”

This statement is clear, concise, and debatable. It presents a strong position that can be supported with evidence.

Types of Thesis Statements

Your thesis should match the type of essay you’re writing. Here are some examples of different types of thesis statements.

Argumentative Thesis Statement

In an argumentative essay , your thesis should take a strong position.

For example:

“The government should implement stricter regulations on carbon emissions to combat climate change.”

An argumentative paper makes a clear, debatable claim that requires evidence and reasoning. This thesis presents a clear argument that will be supported with evidence throughout the essay.

Expository Thesis Statement

In an expository essay , your thesis should explain the facts of a topic or process.

“The invention of braille improved the lives of blind people by allowing them to read and write independently.”

This statement explains the impact of braille without taking a position.

Thesis Statement Essay Examples for Different Types of Papers

Let’s look at some thesis statement essay examples to understand how to craft one effectively.

Example 1: Argumentative Paper

Topic: The impact of surveillance on society

Thesis statement: “Although surveillance is often viewed negatively, its positive effects on public safety outweigh its downsides.”

This thesis presents a clear argument that will be supported with evidence throughout the essay.

Example 2: Expository Paper

Topic: The history of the internet

Thesis statement: “The internet revolutionized communication by allowing instant access to information and connecting people globally.”

This statement explains how the internet has changed communication without presenting an argument.

In both examples, the thesis statements are clear and concise, and provide a roadmap for the essay.

Example 3: Analytical Paper

Topic: The impact of social media on mental health

Thesis statement: “Social media influences mental health by increasing anxiety, promoting unrealistic body images, and enhancing social connections.”

An analytical thesis statement breaks down an idea into parts to examine and interpret. This example shows the impact of social media into specific components for detailed analysis. An analytical paper breaks complex subjects into components for detailed examination and analysis.

Characteristics of a Good Thesis Statement

An effective thesis statement is the backbone of a well-structured essay. Thesis statement examples help illustrate the differences between strong and weak thesis statements. Here are the essential characteristics of a good thesis statement.

Concise Summary

The best thesis statements should be brief and to the point. Avoid unnecessary words. For instance, instead of saying, “In this essay, I will discuss the reasons why climate change is a critical issue that needs urgent attention,” you can say, “Climate change demands urgent attention due to its severe impact on global ecosystems.” This keeps your thesis clear and focused.

The aim is to bring the statement to the concluding point as effectively as possible.

Specific Evidence

In academic writing, your thesis statement should be backed up by specific evidence. It should not just make a claim but also provide a hint of the evidence that supports it. For example, “Human activities, such as deforestation and fossil fuel consumption, significantly contribute to climate change,” indicates that the essay will discuss these specific activities.

A strong thesis statement clearly states your main idea. It should convey the central point of your essay in a way that is easy to understand. For example, “Renewable energy sources are essential for reducing carbon emissions and combating climate change,” clearly states the essay’s main idea.

3 Common Mistakes to Avoid

According to the Guardian , teachers are observing that students are continuously having issues with writing essays. This may be due to various reasons like a lack of foundational skills in writing or the likelihood of them making specific mistakes when compiling their essays and thesis statements.

Below we have listed some of the common errors students can make when writing a thesis statement for their paper.

1. Being Too Broad

A thesis statement that is too broad lacks focus and fails to provide a clear argument. For example: “Climate change is bad,” is too broad. Instead, narrow your focus to something more specific, like, “Climate change significantly impacts coastal cities by increasing the frequency of flooding.”

2. Not Getting Into Specifics

A vague thesis statement doesn’t give specific details, making it difficult for the reader to understand your argument. For example, “Climate change affects the environment,” is too vague. A more precise thesis would be, “Climate change accelerates the melting of polar ice caps, leading to rising sea levels.”

3. Just Stating a Fact

In a great research paper, a thesis statement that states a fact rather than an argument is not debatable. For example, “Climate change exists,” is a statement of fact and not arguable. A more debatable thesis would be, “Immediate action is required to mitigate climate change impacts on future generations.”

How To Strengthen a Weak Thesis Statement

If your thesis statement is weak, here is how you can strengthen it:

• Contextualize your topic: Understand the broader context of your topic. This helps in narrowing down the focus and making it more specific.
• Make it arguable: Ensure your thesis is something that can be debated. A strong thesis often takes a clear stance on an issue.
• Support with evidence: Be prepared to back up your thesis with specific evidence. This adds credibility and strength to your statement.

Example of a Weak Thesis

A weak thesis statement, such as “The internet is useful,” is too general and lacks specificity. It doesn’t provide any direction for the essay, leaving readers unclear about what the essay will address. A weak thesis statement:

• Lacks focus: The statement “The internet is useful” doesn’t specify how or why the internet is useful. This lack of focus can confuse readers and make it challenging to develop supporting arguments.
• Is not honing in on a specific topic: This thesis is overly broad, covering too many potential topics without honing in on a specific aspect.
• Doesn’t leave room for a debate: It doesn’t present a debatable claim. A strong thesis should make a claim that others might dispute, providing a basis for argumentation and discussion.

For instance, an essay based on the weak thesis “The internet is useful” could meander through various topics like online shopping, social media, and research, without a clear structure or argument. This makes it difficult for readers to grasp the main point or purpose of the essay.

Example of a Strong Thesis

A strong thesis statement, like “The internet is useful for education because it provides access to a wealth of information and resources,” is specific and provides a clear argument supported by evidence. It also indicates what the essay will discuss, which helps guide the reader.

Therefore, a strong thesis statement should:

• Have a clear focus: This thesis specifies that the essay will focus on the educational benefits of the internet. This clarity helps readers understand the essay’s purpose from the beginning.
• Be to the point: The thesis mentions “access to a wealth of information and resources.” So, it provides a specific angle on how the internet is useful, which helps to narrow the scope of the essay.
• Include a debatable claim: The statement makes a claim that could be argued. It posits that the internet is beneficial for education. But, it also implies that there are specific ways in which this is true. Thus, the statement opens the door for discussion and analysis.
• Guide the essay: This strong thesis provides a roadmap for the essay. It suggests that the following paragraphs will explore how the internet facilitates education through information access and resource availability.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is included in a thesis statement.

A thesis statement is a sentence that summarizes the main point of your essay. It usually appears at the end of the first paragraph.

Can a thesis statement be more than one sentence?

Ideally, a thesis statement should be one or two sentences long.

Where should I place my thesis statement?

Your thesis statement should be at the end of the first paragraph, known as the essay introduction.

Improve Your Thesis Statements With Smodin.io

A good thesis statement is the backbone of your essay. It guides your writing and tells your reader what to expect. By following the steps we’ve outlined in these examples, you can write a strong thesis statement.

Ready to improve your writing skills and create compelling essays? Enhance your writing with Smodin’s AI writing tool. Whether you’re writing a research paper or an argumentative essay, Smodin can help you craft a strong thesis statement. Join us now at Smodin.io and take your writing to the next level.

• Essay Editor

How to Write a Response Paper: A Step-by-Step Guide with Examples

In academic settings, teachers often ask students to write response essays. These essays require you to think carefully about things you've read, watched, or listened to. Writing a good response essay means organizing your thoughts and explaining them clearly.

This guide will help you write a strong response essay. We'll go through each step, from understanding why you're writing to giving real examples. By the end, you'll know how to share your thoughts on any topic you're given.

What Is a Response Paper?

A response paper is a type of schoolwork where you share what you think and feel about a certain topic or idea. It's different from just summarizing a book or movie. In a response paper, you dig deeper into your own thoughts and reactions.

The main parts of a response paper are:

• Summing up ideas from what you read or saw
• Telling what you think about those ideas
• Connecting the topic to your own life or to bigger issues

Why Write a Response Essay?

Writing response essays helps you grow as a student and thinker. When you write these essays, you learn to look carefully at what others say and form your own opinions. Response essays also teach you to explain your ideas clearly, which is important in many jobs. They push you to think about why you agree or disagree with something instead of just accepting what you read or hear. By writing response essays, you become better at understanding complex topics and seeing different points of view. This can help you make smarter decisions and have more interesting conversations with others.

Response Paper Types

There are different kinds of response papers, depending on the assignment and material:

• Responses to books or poems
• Thoughts on movies, documentaries, or news articles
• Looking at research papers or scientific theories
• Connecting course materials to your own experiences
• Examining arguments in scholarly or journalistic pieces
• Writing about a lecture or show you went to
• Sharing your take on a painting, sculpture, or other artwork

Each type is different, but they all follow the same basic rules.

How to Start a Response Essay

Starting your response essay can be the hardest part. Here's how to begin:

• Read or observe the thing you're responding to carefully. Take notes on important points and your first thoughts.
• Come up with your main idea or argument.
• Draft a plan for your essay to keep your thoughts in order.
• A hook to grab the reader's attention
• A quick explanation of what you're responding to
• Your main idea

Here's an example of how to start a response essay:

"In 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author presents a haunting portrayal of mental health treatment in the 19th century. The story makes you think about old-fashioned ideas and asks important questions about what it means to be sane and how important it is to express yourself. As I read Gilman's story, I found myself feeling uncomfortable but also very interested in what it means for how we talk about mental health and gender roles today."

Writing Your Response Paper

When you write your response paper, use this structure:

• Introduction: Tell readers what you're responding to. 
• Summary: Briefly explain the main points of what you read or watched. 
• Analysis: Look at what's good and not so good about the material. 
• Personal response: Share what you think and feel about it. 
• Conclusion: Sum up your main ideas and say your main point again.

Use examples from what you read to back up what you say. For instance:

"Gilman describes the wallpaper as 'repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering, unclean yellow.' This shows how the main character's mind is deteriorating and helps us see her growing obsession and worry."

Make sure you don't just summarize. Your own thoughts should be the most important part, backed up by details from what you read.

Response Essay Example

Here's a short response essay example about George Orwell's book "1984":

George Orwell's book "1984" shows a scary future where the government controls everything. The story makes people think about what could happen if those in power get too strong and start manipulating what's true. Even though it was written a while ago, many readers resonate with it today.

The main character, Winston Smith, fights to be himself in a world that wants everyone to be the same. He falls in love with Julia when he's not allowed to and he tries to join others who want to change things. This shows how people want to be free and connect with others, even in the toughest of circumstances.

Orwell's idea of "doublethink" — believing in two opposite things simultaneously — is really important today. We hear about "alternative facts" and see a lot of false information. This makes us think hard about what we read and hear and who we should trust.

Personally, I found "1984" to be a profound and unsettling read. The parallels between Orwell's fictional world and certain aspects of our modern society are striking. This book made me realize how important it is to have privacy and to be able to think for ourselves. It also shows how dangerous it is when any group, whether it's the government or a corporate entity, has too much control over information.

To sum up, "1984" is a powerful book that makes readers question people in charge, care about their privacy and fight to keep the truth and freedom for each person.

This example shows how to mix summary, analysis, and personal thoughts in a clear, interesting way.

Key Points to Remember

To write an exceptional response paper, you need to:

• Understand what you're responding to
• Clearly explain your own thoughts and reactions
• Balance summary, analysis, and your own ideas
• Use examples to support what you say
• Keep your essay organized from start to finish

Remember, the goal is to show that you've thought hard about the material and can think critically about it. If you follow these steps and practice a lot, you'll get better at writing response essays.

Aithor's writing tools can assist you throughout the process of writing your response essay, from generating ideas to polishing your final draft. With practice and the right tools, you'll be crafting insightful, well-structured written responses in no time.

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Bypass AI Detectors to Create High-Quality Texts

With the rise in AI-generated content, students often inquire how they can get it to be less detectable. With the kind of advanced tools that can detect AI content, the error rate remains too high. In such a case, you need to know how to bypass detection with AI while at the same time ensuring that your text quality remains top-notch. I will share my personal tips on how to craft and refine the content such that it stands out for being excellent.

Part I: Generating High-Quality AI Content to Fool AI Detectors

Before jumping into the fray, one has to know what your needs are. In case you are slandered by AI cheating, you can skip this section and go directly to Part III. If all you want to do is to humanize AI without any care about the quality, you can proceed to Part II. Otherwise, if you want to avoid AI detection and at the same time make sure of high-quality content, then you had better read carefully.

First off, you should generate quality AI content from the very start. It's a well-written AI text that shall set the basis for an effective output. Even if latterly you use humanizer tools to fine-tune or paraphrase, it is essential that you have quality content from the get-go.

Following are some of the tips that will help you generate excellent AI text:

1. Train AI Model in Your Voice: Customize the AI model to reflect your unique style, be it academic, authoritative, bold, sarcastic, or casual. This would help to set the text right with the tone for which you are writing. If you're writing casually, train the AI accordingly.

2. Clearly Defined Objectives: Be very clear as to who the audience is, what are your goals, what is your voice, and tone. Knowing whom you are writing to and what precisely you would want to drive home aids the AI in generating relevant and effective content. For example, if targeting an academic audience, set the AI to produce formal, well-researched content.

3. Make use of AI-resilient writing prompts: Design probes that make AI produce less predictable text. Avoid plagiarism by making sure that your prompts are unique and not copied at all from other sources.

4. Style Aligned with Your Writing: Provide the AI with examples of your earlier writing to help it match your style and tone. All this aligns very well to enhance consistency and authenticity of content.

5. Iterate: The AI should be fine-tuned with the addition of more prompts and data to continuously refine its output. Iteration will perfect the text and increase its quality.

By putting attention on these elements, you make sure that your AI content quality is not only good but also in a position to bypass detection.

Part II: Utilize AI Tools to Bypass AI Detection

Humanizing AI tools are those that fine-tune the output to make it even less easily detected by automated detection systems. They make adjustments so that the text sounds more human-like and nature-sounding, effectively covering up its AI origin. It does this through rewording and adjusting sentence structures while improving readability.

I will give you two major tools that can help you bypass AI detection: Humanize AI and QuillBot. Both have unique features, and the use case would depend on what you really want to use it for; one might turn out more beneficial than another.

Here is how to use Humanize.AI with Quillbot to bypass AI detection and improve the quality of the content that AI generates.

Getting started with Humanize.AI

Step 1: Open the Website

Get to the Humanize.AI official website.

Step 2: Paste the Text

Paste your AI-generated content onto the text box that appears on the Humanize.AI landing page.

Step 3: Select Settings

Select the level of humanization you intend to. Most of the time, basic adjustments versus more intense changes which will make the text sound natural can be chosen.

Step 4: Process the Text:

Click the button to start humanization. The tool will then work on tweaking the sentence structures, word choice, and general tone.

Step 5: Review and Copy

Using QuillBot

Step 1: Access to the Website:

Open the QuillBot website.

Step 2: Choose a Mode:

QuillBot has different modes, such as Standard, Fluency, Formal, Creative, etc. Choose the mode that best suites your content requirement.

For basic paraphrasing, the Standard mode usually works fine. If you need more advanced changes, use either Creative or Formal modes.

Step 3: Input Text:

Paste your AI content in the text box.

Step 4: Paraphrase:

Click the "Paraphrase" button. QuillBot will then process the text to give a rephrased version.

If you are using the Free Version, you might have very few options. To make more profound changes to advanced attributes that include even a grammar check, switch over to the Premium Version.

Step 5: Replace Synonyms and Tone:

QuillBot has an adjustment for synonyms, too, that helps adjust the result even better. You can choose synonyms one by one and alter according to how you want it to appear and sound.

Step 6: Read and Refine:

Finally, paraphrase and read the output cautiously. Check that the content still conveys your message and the tone is per your target.

You are able to further polish the text by running it through the QuillBot grammar checker.

Step 7: Copy and Use:

Finally, when satisfied with the paraphrased content, you may copy and use it at will. The Premium Version offers direct download choices for the text, too.

Comparison and Suggestions

For Basic Paraphrasing and Readability Improvement:

Humanize AI: Ideal for users who need a quick and straightforward tool to make AI-generated text less detectable without requiring advanced features.

QuillBot Free Version: Suitable for those who need basic paraphrasing and don’t require extensive rewriting capabilities.

For Advanced Paraphrasing and Comprehensive Writing Assistance:

QuillBot Premium Version: Recommended for users who require unlimited paraphrasing capabilities and additional tools like grammar checks. This version is particularly useful for those who need robust features to create high-quality, human-like text.

Part III: Generating Grammar-Free and Undetectable Content

Even after using humanizer AI tools to get past detection, your text may need further refinement to be not only undetectable but also polished and clear. Here are the essential tips for improving your content:

1. Tips for Polishing Texts That Have Already Bypassed AI Detectors

1.1 proofread for grammar and clarity:.

Even if your text passes through AI detection, it is also important to correct further any remaining grammar mistakes or awkward phrasing. For this, WPS Office's AI tools do an excellent job, having several useful features:

Spell Check: WPS Office does support a lot of file types, for example,.pdf and .docx. It helps one catch and correct errors in whatever format. This tool scans your text for spelling mistakes and allows you to make corrections with a few clicks.

WPS AI Chatbot: It doesn't just correct grammatical errors alone; besides that, it explains to its user why he or she would have fallen into a certain grammar error and, therefore, goes further into assisting the person to avoid such mistakes in the future. This is important in learning how to better write.

WPS Parallel Translate: This shall be expounded further later, but in essence, the feature puts depth and variety into your text, maximizing its quality without flagging the AI detectors.

1.2 Check for Consistency in Tone and Style:

While proofreading, ensure that your tone and style are uniform throughout the content. Such consistency lining improves readability, making the text seem far more natural.

1.3 Simplify Complex Sentences:

The more complex the sentences, the more they should be broken down into easily digestible ones. This improves readability and reduces the possibility of your text being flagged as AI.

2. Tips for Avoiding AI-like Writing Style

Be sure to use nuanced language. Add idioms, cultural references, and under- and overtones. Introduce small imperfections. A small mistake makes your content less suspiciously perfect. Always use active voice; it is more engaging and doesn't sound like AI at all. Excessive jargon should be avoided. Basic language helps circumvent detections.

Be Unpredictable: Try to jumble the structure of your sentences. Include unique ideas in your content, and keep it nimble.

Casual Style: Engage in a conversational style so that the content sounds human.

Personal Storytelling: Weaving in personal anecdotes makes the content relatable and it will not trigger the alarm.

By following these steps, you will then have created content that is undetectable and of high quality.

Bonus Tips: Amplify Your Content with Translated Texts

These are the translated texts that just do the trick when one is stuck for ideas or in dire need of an essay boost in depth. From my experience, I can confidently say it is worthwhile to take advantage of parallel translation in WPS Office. Not just some ordinary translation tool, it is so resourceful that inaccuracy and user-friendliness cannot be compared with other tools.

Why WPS Office?

Parallel Translation: WPS allows one to open the original text alongside the translated version. This makes it much easier to understand and adapt content in languages you're not familiar with. This feature is remarkably accurate in capturing subtleties that other tools often miss.

User-Friendly Interface: The operating surface is intuitive, thus helping you to translate, read, and edit texts easily. Working on any documents—from English to Chinese or Spanish, WPS has got it covered.

Maximize Your Content with Summarizer and Chat PDF

Apart from the translation function, WPS Office has a Summarizer that condenses long documents into key points; this is very good for when you want to understand quickly the gist of translated content or get inspiration from original texts.

Another such useful tool is the Chat PDF, which enables a user to discuss the content in a PDF document by asking questions to create ideas or clarify complex information. Whether you are translating or creating from scratch, Chat PDF opens the doors to deeper insights.

How to Use WPS Office’s Parallel Translation and More

Step 1: Open your document: Open WPS Office and open the document you would like to translate.

Step 2: Activate Parallel Translation: After choosing for the translation tab, click on "Parallel Translation." This will have the original text appear next to the translated version.

Step 3: Summarize Key Points: Use the Summarizer to reduce your document to main ideas.

Step 4: Engage with PDFs: Engage the PDF chat while working on an assignment, asking questions or diving deep.

By incorporating these features, you can effortlessly amplify your humanized or original content, ensuring it’s rich in detail and free of AI detection flags. With WPS Office, not only can you translate with precision, but you can also refine and expand your ideas, making it a superior choice for creating high-quality, undetectable text.

Q1: How can I ensure that my AI-generated content is high-quality?

First and foremost, make sure that the goals are very clear and the prompts provided are detailed. After developing the content, proofread it for grammar and clarity. Proper editing with tools like WPS Office improves the quality of writing; later, polish it so that it remains engaging to the audiences.

Q2: Are there more tips to avoid human writing being flagged out as AI?

1. Use natural, nuanced language away from over-polished text.

2. Add minor imperfections to make it feel human.

3. Lean into active voice and avoid excessive jargon.

4. Integrate surprising elements or personal anecdotes.

5. Keep the writing interesting by mixing the structure of your sentences.

In this article, I told you how to effectively bypass Ai detectors when creating smooth content. I have applied the importance of working with well-crafted Ai text at the beginning, including the use of tools like Humanize Ai and Quillbot to avoid detection. I have also outlined how the superior grammar and style features in WPS Office will enhance your text. Following these points can guarantee undetectable content that is professionally done.

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15 years of office industry experience, tech lover and copywriter. Follow me for product reviews, comparisons, and recommendations for new apps and software.