Academic summary analysis: Reflecting on core aspects.

Broadly speaking, a summary could be defined as a concise description of the main points of any written or oral work (Reid, 1994; as cited in Pintos, 2008). However, summarizing is not as simple as it sounds to be, especially within academic fields. Core aspects such as audiences and purposes deserve special attention. Moreover, academic summaries should be structured following specific rules regarding text organization, i.e. the inclusion of an accurate introduction, a balanced body and an objective conclusion properly related to each other becomes essential. Hence, it is not just a question of identifying main ideas; rather, it is time to put paraphrasing and quoting techniques into practice as long as clear, neutral summaries are to be developed and plagiarism avoided.
After having analyzed an academic summary, it is possible to identify the use of a precise introductory phrase such as “[i]n he book The Process of Paragraph Writing, Reid (1994) describes (…)” (Pintos, 2008, p. 20) including the source, author and main idea. Furthermore, the inclusion of an appropriate second sentence clarifying the relevant characteristics of the idea presented before helps direct the reader towards a clear understanding of the topic being summarized. In addition, there is an accurate use of connectors that help the reader to identify the relation between ideas. For instance, “however” has been used with the purpose of expressing contrast; “moreover” to add new information; or, “that is to say” to clarify certain aspects that deserve being specified.
Regarding the structure of the summary mentioned above, the introduction and body can be clearly identified. On the contrary, the conclusion seems to be somehow confusing or not properly stated. That is to say, the absence of a specific connector or linking phrase showing the summary text is concluded leads the reader to think there is still something to be said. Hence, a sensation of incompleteness arises. In other words, the efficiency of an accurate introduction and a balanced body is hindered by the lack of a clear conclusion.
As stated before, two relevant issues need attentive devotion when sharing ideas with others: audiences and purposes. Considering the audience is someone who has not read a text depicting the role of academic writing in the field of professional growth before, and the purpose is to persuade that audience to read the rest of it, the three following single sentence summaries intend to be incentives to motivate readers to go through the whole text.
First of all, constructing knowledge should been seen as the major aim of writing within academic contexts. Secondly, writing academically requires the mastery of specific characteristics related to register, style, use of language, paraphrasing and quoting techniques, as well as types of genres. Lastly, contributing to society in academic settings demands the learning of specific, technical uses of the target language.
As the discussion above suggests, writing academic summaries is not just an act of making our voices heard without deliberation. On the contrary, careful thought must be given to understanding the ideas claimed by the author of the original text first. Then, audiences and purposes deserve special consideration. Once these last two aspects have been handled, time for organizing and elaborating the summary text arrives. All in all, to become effective and active participants of a community of teachers and researchers within an academic discourse context the requirements mentioned above should be met.



















Reference

Pintos, V. (2008) Unit 3: Academic writing. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Universidad CAECE. Retrieved September 2009, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=2730