4b. Summarise

4b. Summarise#

Introduction#

If you have decided to close read or are reading a source that is highly relevant for your project, a summary can help you use the source in the future. While you may have already done some note-taking while close reading your sources, a summary differs in that it is usually a bit more structured and helps you recognise the key points of a source later. A summary can also help you understand and evaluate a source better. The basic steps of this process include the following:

Step 1

Identify Basic Components
Identify the important parts of a source

Step 2

Choose a Summary Format
Choose a format that works for you

Step 1: Identify Basic Components#

A summary of a text helps you to process the source, as well as being able to relocate it later. There are many ways you can approach summarising a source, but there are elements you should always include:

  • Bibliographical information. For example, author, publication, year. All the details you need to include to relocate the source later in your project.

  • Topic / Research Question

  • Methods used

  • Main results

  • Connection to previous studies

  • Limitations of the study

  • Implications of the findings

As you read through your article, underline and take note of these different parts. You can subsequently organise these initial parts in a format that works well for you to summarise. (Trent University, n.d.; Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, n.d.).

Step 2: Choose a summary format#

Summaries can come in many formats. Depending on your purpose they can be more or less elaborate. Watch this overview of different types of summaries you could use as you are processing a source

Making a mindmap can be helpful to summarize selected articles for your research. If you make a proper mindmap you are able to recall the contents of the articles you read before. It takes a few steps to build a mindmap.

  1. Read the articles closely. Underline important sentences and put circles around keywords.

  2. Determine the structure of the articles: are there chapters and paragraphs? When an article is well-structured, you can use the structure for setting up the branches of the mind map.

  3. Take a sheet of paper and start with putting the topic of your research in the centre of the sheet.

  4. Branching: start by drawing the main branches and branch them further. For the main branches use the chapters (topics) of the articles. For secondary branches use the paragraphs (sub-topics). Develop the secondary branches further by adding even smaller branches. These branches contain details and examples. While branching remember that it is important to use keywords instead of sentences. The keywords in the main branches are usually more abstract and can be common to several articles. In the secondary branches the keywords are more concrete and can differ from one article to another and complete each other. But put in everything that you have underlined while reading the articles.

  5. Work with a few different coloured pens to give each branch its own colour. This way you associate the branch with the colour and remember the information more easily. Use visual elements like drawings or symbols to replace text. Use arrows to connect different sub-topics with each other. Frames or clouds can quickly show what’s important.

  6. It is important to get a complete picture of the essence of your research topic. Ask yourself a few questions: does the mind map gives a complete overview? Do the keywords make sense? Make some changes if necessary.

  7. If you want to find out you made a clear mind map, look at it at a later time and see how much of the articles you can recall. If you do not remember that much, maybe you didn’t use the right keywords or some connections are missing. Try to find out what went wrong, so you won’t make the same mistakes again next time you make a mind map.

see also: How to Mind Map with Tony Buzan

It can be helpful to create a literature matrix while you are reading your sources and taking notes. A literature matrix is a schematic overview that outlines specific aspects of the literature. This can already be helpful in comparing different sources. You can adapt this overview to include and compare for example the different topics sources address, or specific methods or models they use. An example can be found below:

Sub-topic or theme

Source 1

Source 2

Source 3

etc.

Theme 1 (for example main topic)

relevant information from source 1

relevant information from source 2

relevant information from source 3

…

Theme 2 (for example: methods used)

relevant information from source 1

…

…

…

Theme 3 (for example: main results)

relevant information from source 1

…

…

…

Theme 4 (for example: limitations of the study)

relevant information from source 1

…

…

…

Want to learn more about how to create this type of summary? Have a look at this guide (Bernhardt, n.d.).

A short summary is the most common way to summarise your sources. This should at least include the following:

  • Bibliographical information. For example, author, publication, year. All the details you need to include to relocate the source later in your project.

  • Topic / Research Question

  • Methods used

  • Main results

  • Connection to previous studies

  • Limitations of the study

  • Implications of the findings

  • Things that are still unclear for you (specific terms, concepts). Useful for additional reading of other sources (Trent University, n.d.)

If you want to read more about how to write this type of summary, consult this guide from Trent University for further reading

You can use a tool like Miro, Powerpoint or Canva to summarise your sources. For example, put the most relevant papers in a Powerpoint presentation, using only 1 slide per paper. Include a screenshot of the first page, bibliographical information and representative key results. These visual presentations are a nice way to discuss them with your supervisor, and to help you condense the main points and your opinions about the source.

Annotated Bibliographies are more elaborate overviews of your sources where each source is accompanied by three things:

  1. Bibliographic information of the source

  2. A summary of the information in the source (much like in the short summary)

  3. Evaluation of the contents of the source

  4. Evaluation of the relevance of the source to your project (Excelsior Online Writing Lab, 2025a, 2025b).

This type of summary can be very helpful to engage critically with the sources in your project. Want to learn more about how to create this type of summary? Visit the website from the Excelsior University Online Writing Lab for more tips.

About AI

While AI can provide you with summaries, we recommend you do the summarising yourself. It helps you to understand and process your sources better. Moreover, AI tools are prone to errors when analysing and summarising texts.

References#