Composing A Solid Research Paper Summary: Simple Tips For College Students

One of the most important parts of a research paper is the summary. In order to come out in flying colours, your summary should not just be solid but brief and straight to the point. The summary is a condensation of the main content of your paper and as such, extreme care should be taken when writing the summary of any type of paper. This is why it is important to only write the summary of a paper after the main body of the work is completed. This way, you avoid the snare of introducing a new topic or issue that cannot be found in the body of your work.

Now you really want to know how to start composing that solid research paper summary. Listed below are a few simple tips to help you out. They are:

• Review the main work: This is the first step towards drafting your summary. Going through this process helps you to extract relevant ideas and thoughts. It is even easier to achieve this if the main body of your work is properly organized into sections and subsections. Your points should be reduced to the minimum so that you don’t end up with a longer than necessary summary.
• Utilize the extracted ideas and points: Just like the research paper itself, the summary should have a beginning, middle and finally, an end. Armed with the extracted points, introduce the topic being treated and your desire approach in addressing it. The mid summary shows the major points that will be used to either disapprove of certain perceptions or support your argument. Finally, the end of the summary tells your target readers the point your argument is leading up to. However, don’t spill all the beans in the summary otherwise, you will give out too much information and the readers might no longer have the zeal to read the whole research paper.
• Stay away from unfamiliar terms: The aim is to write a summary that is short and concise. Incorporating terms that require definition or are not familiar and needs to be further explained lengthens your summary. Choose simple and easily-understood terms.

Other helpful tips as you compose the summary for your paper is avoiding giving your opinions about your research paper in your summary. Don’t add information that is not relevant to the paper. Stick to the selected points and this way, you can successfully craft a brief but solid and concise paper.