How to Summarize a Journal Article

Co-authored by Jamie Korsmo, PhD Candidate, English

Updated: July 4, 2019

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Summarizing a journal article is the process of presenting a focused overview of a completed

research study that is published in a peer-reviewed, scholarly source. A journal article
summary provides potential readers with a short descriptive commentary, giving them some
insight into the article's focus. Writing and summarizing a journal article is a common task
for college students and research assistants alike. With a little practice, you can learn to read
the article effectively with an eye for summary, plan a successful summary, and write it to
completion.

1 Read the abstract. Abstracts are short paragraphs written by the author to summarize
research articles. Abstracts are usually included in most academic journals and are generally
no more than 100-200 words. The abstract provides a short summary of the content of the
journal article, providing you with important highlights of the research study.

 The purpose of an abstract is to allow researchers to quickly scan a journal and see if
specific research articles are applicable to the work they are doing. If you're collecting
research on immune system responses in rodents, you'll be able to know in 100 words
not only whether or not the research is in your field, but whether the conclusions back
up your own findings, or differ from it.
 Remember that an abstract and an article summary are two different things, so an
article summary that looks just like the abstract is a poor summary.[1] An abstract is
highly condensed and cannot provide the same level of detail regarding the research
and its conclusions that a summary can

2 Understand the context of the research. Make sure you know what specifically the
authors will be discussing or analyzing, why the research or the topic matters, whether or not
the article is written in response to another article on the topic, etc. By doing this, you'll learn
what arguments, quotes, and data to pick out and analyze in your summary.

3 Skip to the conclusion. Skip ahead to the conclusion and find out where the proposed
research ends up to learn more about the topic and to understand where the complicated
outlines and arguments will be leading. It's much easier to comprehend the information if you
read the researchers' conclusions first.

 You still need to go back and actually read the article after coming to the conclusion,
but only if the research is still applicable. If you're collecting research, you may not
 need to digest another source that backs up your own if you're looking for some
dissenting opinions.

4 Identify the main argument or position of the article. To avoid having to read through
the whole thing twice to remind yourself of the main idea, make sure you get it right the first
time. Take notes as you read and highlight or underline main ideas.

 Pay special attention to the beginning paragraph or two of the article. This is where
the author will most likely lay out their thesis for the entire article. Figure out what
the thesis is and determine the main argument or idea that the author or authors are
trying to prove with the research.
o Look for words like hypothesis, results, typically, generally, or clearly to give
you hints about which sentence is the thesis.
 Underline, highlight, or rewrite the main argument of the research in the margins.
Keep yourself focused on this main point, so you'll be able to connect the rest of the
article back to that idea and see how it works together.
 In the humanities, it's sometimes more difficult to get a clear and concise thesis for an
article because they are often about complex, abstract ideas (like class in post-modern
poetics, or feminist film, for example). If it's unclear, try to articulate it for yourself,
as best as you can understand the author's ideas and what they're attempting to prove
with their analysis.

5 Scan the argument. Continue reading through the various segments of the journal article,
highlighting main points discussed by the authors. Focus on key concepts and ideas that have
been proposed, trying to connect them back to that main idea the authors have put forward in
the beginning of the article.

 Different areas of focus within a journal article will usually be marked with sub-
section titles that target a specific step or development during the course of the
research study. The titles for these sub-sections are usually bold and in a larger font
than the remaining text.
 Keep in mind that academic journals are often dry reading. Is it absolutely necessary
to read through the author's 500 word proof of the formulas used in the glycerine
solution fed to the frogs in the research study? Maybe, but probably not. It's usually
not essential to read research articles word-for-word, as long as you're picking out the
main idea, and why the content is there in the first place.