Academic Summary

This strategy requires proficiency in both reading and writing. Our students must be able to read analytically and write concisely. We must teach our students how to write academic summaries in our individual disciplines so that they are ready for college level writing tasks and the world of work, where writing critically and concisely is the expectation.

Take a few minutes to explore the different teaching and learning tools on this page. The "Literacy TA Process" and "School-wide" sections provide important details about how to teach the strategy. And the "Strategy Slides" can be used to learn more about "Academic Summary" and/ or to teach students about the strategy. Once you are familiar with the content, think about how you might use the different elements provided on this page to enhance literacy instruction.

Assessing the Skill

When assessing students' ability to write academic summaries, teachers could...

• assign a template writing exercise that measures students' summary skills. 
• ask students to list what is included in an academic summary.
• develop a formal writing prompt and ask students to respond to the prompt without a template.
• use the assessment tool below to monitor and evaluate students' knowledge of "Academic Summary."
• ask students to reflect on what they know about writing academic summaries. Then, allow students to share their ideas with the whole class.

Assessing Content Knowledge

Once we have taught students how to write academic summaries, we should evaluate how this skill improves their understanding of critical course concepts. When assessing students' knowledge of the content, teachers could...

• craft short answer prompts that ask students to articulate--in writing--the main ideas in a text.
• assign take-home or in-class writing assignments that require students to incorporate all elements and features of an academic summary.   
• ask students to summarize source material in order to support, argue, or challenge an idea central to the course objectives. 

Developing a Writing Purpose

When teaching students "Academic Summary," start with a small list of skill-based and content-based learning objectives. These learning objectives will help guide our decisions. The objectives should also lead us to the type of summary writing we want our students to do. Consider the different types of summary writing that happens in the following four content areas.

Teachers should use their learning objectives and the above list of writing types to help develop a clear purpose for summary writing. A clear writing purpose should answer the following questions: What are we writing? Why are we engaged in this type of writing? And, How will students be evaluated?  

Pacing and Supporting the Lesson

To write a competent summary, students must master a number of reading and writing skills. It is critical that we use large amounts of class time to explicitly teach students how to do this very important work.

First, we must teach students how to read with purpose. Students must learn how to read deeply to understand both what a text says and what it does. Before writing an academic summary students should...

• mark the text--identifying and isolating essential ideas in the text.
• chart the text--analyzing the text structure to better understand how the author creates meaning.
• wirte in the marings (when necessary)--clarifing ideas and making connections in order to improve comprehension.

Second, we need to teach students how to write with purpose. Students need to learn what it means to write an abstract in science or an argument analysis in social science. There are expectations for content and structure for both types of summary. Writing conventions and mechanics are also different for each discipline. Students need to learn these expectations and conventions so that they are able to write competent summaries across the content areas.

Learning the Skill

Here are a few ways to introduce "Academic Summary."

• Explain to students that summary writing is a fundamental skill in school. Students will be asked to summarize all sorts of information across content areas. Students will need to know how to accurately and concisely account for information that is written, spoken, or learned by experience or demonstration.
• Start slow. Focus on one type of summary and scaffold all the skills the students need to know in order to write successfully. 
• Bring in sample or model texts that students can read and analyze.
• Use the templates provided here or create templates of your own to help students craft competent summaries.
• Allow students to work together as they learn how to write the summary.
• Increase opportunities for students to practice summarizing information.

Developing the Skill

As students develop their ability to write academic summaries, consider using the following strategies.

• Have students write summaries using online discussion boards and student generated websites.
• Create ways for students to share their summaries with other students in the class.
• Have students write lengthier summaries as they develop proficiency.
• Increase the complexity of the writing task as students learn basic summary skills--asking them to do more with each summary.
• Remove scaffolds like templates and sentence starters as a way to push students to the next level of proficiency.

Mastering the Skill

Mastery of any skill takes time, lots of practice, and a solid understanding of the strategy. Consider applying some of the following approaches when developing students' mastery of "Academic Summary."

• Assign new variations of the summary they have learned or introduce new types of summary writing tasks.
• Expect students to write more in a shorter period of time.
• Revisit summary writing across the content areas. We could ask, "What does summary writing look like in each discipline? Are there similarities across content? What are the different expectations for this type of academic work?" 
• Have students assess their own summaries using LiteracyTA's Assessment Tool or another type of rubric.  
• Challenge students by removing scaffolds when appropriate. 

School Wide

In order to make a strategy transferable through a department and across a school, the name of the strategy must stay the same and it must be implemented and talked about in the same way. Although reading purposes may change from class to class, unit to unit, the work behind a strategy must be predictable and consistent for our students. When a set of effective literacy strategies are implemented throughout the school day, students gain a deep knowledge of how to use the strategy, when to use it, and most importantly, why to use it. The goal for school-wide literacy, therefore, is to develop students' mastery of a select set of strategies so that they can independently and strategically employ them in rigorous academic and professional environments.

English Description

"Academic Summary" is a critical skill for our students. All content areas require students to accurately summarize both written and spoken texts. In the English classroom, students summarize...

• short story plot structure.
• authors' arguments.
• authors' philosophies.
• authors' use of evidence.
• themes in a story.

It's important to note that writing academic summaries requires a deep analysis of the text itself. Students must read beyond the information on the page and carefully consider how the text is constructed and how the structure impacts meaning. There are a variety of student handouts on this page to help students write proficient summaries.

Math Description

"Academic Summary" is a critical skill for our students. All content areas require students to accurately summarize both written and spoken texts. In the math classroom, students summarize...

• steps in a process
• information presented in graphs and charts.

It's important to note that writing academic summaries requires a deep analysis of the text itself. Students must read beyond the information on the page and carefully consider how the text is constructed and how the structure impacts meaning. There are a variety of student handouts on this page to help students write proficient summaries.

Science Description

"Academic Summary" is a critical skill for our students. All content areas require students to accurately summarize both written and spoken texts. In the science classroom, students summarize...

• case studies.
• experiments.
• a process (for example, how a scientist came to know what he knows).
• theories and hypotheses.
• information presented in graphs and charts.

It's important to note that writing academic summaries requires a deep analysis of the text itself. Students must read beyond the information on the page and carefully consider how the text is constructed and how the structure impacts meaning. There are a variety of student handouts on this page to help students write proficient summaries.

Social Science Description

"Academic Summary" is a critical skill for our students. All content areas require students to accurately summarize both written and spoken texts. In the social science classroom, students summarize...

• historical events and issues.
• authors' arguments.
• authors' philosophies.
• authors' use of evidence.

It's important to note that writing academic summaries requires a deep analysis of the text itself. Students must read beyond the information on the page and carefully consider how the text is constructed and how the structure impacts meaning. There are a variety of student handouts on this page to help students write proficient summaries.

Standardized Exams Description

"Academic Summary" is a critical skill for standardized exams. Although students may not have enough time to do a deep reading of every text, they will be able to recognize structural features while they quickly read through the passages. If we teach our students about text structure, they will have a greater understanding of how ideas are put together, and as a result, students will be more aware of their decisions when they sit down to write their own papers.