This guide provides an overview of some formative writing skills that act as the foundation or basis of almost all evidence-based analytical writing assignments.
Evidence-based analytical writing (in the form of an essay or research paper) is one of the most common assignment types, requiring students to employ all the research, reasoning, and writing skills they have developed throughout the course of their study.
A summary is an objective, brief, and comprehensive restatement of the main ideas of a source (an article, a book, a film, etc.).
The primary function of a summary is to significantly and accurately condense the source.
Summaries can be found in many types of writing: annotated bibliographies, critical analysis essays, etc.
Step 1: Identify crucial information while reading or watching the source material
Some questions to guide you while you're reading:
Step 2: Consider how your summary will be organized
It's unlikely that you will be asked to write a stand-alone summary. Usually, you will have to write a summary as part of another writing assignment, such as a critical analysis.
If you are asked to write a stand-alone summary, your summary will usually consist of three parts:
The body of your summary will look different depending on the assignment.
If an assignment calls for a "summary of X", here are some ideas for your conclusion.
If an assignment calls for a "summary of X as part of Y", then discuss the summary you’ve just presented.
Step 3: Check for neutrality and fluidity
Ensure that you don't accidentally include your own opinion or interpretation into the summary. It doesn't matter if you agree, disagree, or have something to add on to the source, including your own opinion in a summary is not encouraged, as it may result in an inaccurate representation of the original source.
Make use of transitional phrases to signal different ideas in your summary. For example:
Smith’s comparative study (2017) found that …
Jones’s comprehensive review concluded that …
Brown’s (1998) model of X assumes three main …
Smith’s cross-country analysis (2017) showed that
See more examples of transitional phrases in the Academic Phrasebank.
This section contains elements from 1st Edition: A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing (No Longer Updated) by Melanie Gagich and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Paraphrasing is the process of restating the ideas in the original source in your own words, often involving replacing the words in the source materials with synonyms and at times, changing the grammatical structure.
While there is no universally agreed upon method of paraphrasing, the process usually involves these steps:
Step 1: Identify crucial information while reading or watching the source material
Example: The term class first came into wide use in the early 19th century, replacing such terms as rank and order as descriptions of the major hierarchical groupings in society. This usage reflected changes in the structure of western European societies after the industrial and political revolutions of the late 18th century. Feudal distinctions of rank were declining in importance, and the new social groups that were developing—the commercial and industrial capitalists and the urban working class in the new factories—were defined mainly in economic terms, either by the ownership of capital or, conversely, by dependence on wages.
(Cite)
Main ideas:
Step 2: Identify the pattern of organization and method of development
While there are many ways in which ideas can be developed, here are some common approaches:
For example: In the passage above, information is organized in a general to specific order.
Tip: Effective paraphrasing (and summarizing) might drastically change the original phrasing and wording of the source, but must reflect, if not retain the original pattern of organization and development so that the meaning does not get lost.
Step 3: Rewrite the original source using synonyms and a different grammatical structure
This usage reflected changes in the structure of western European societies after the industrial and political revolutions of the late 18th century.
→ This usage revealed a shift in the social fabric of western European countries after the industrial and political revolutions of the late 18th century.
→ As such, this usage reflected a shift in the social fabric of western European countries following the industrial and political revolutions of the late 18th century.
→ This usage, which followed the industrial and political revolutions of the late 18th century, revealed a shift in the social fabric of western European countries.
→ This usage revealed a shift in the social fabric of western European countries, following the late 18th century industrial and political revolutions.
To synthesize is to combine ideas from your readings and come to a conclusion about multiple sources on a topic. This conclusion is often a full and objective conclusion of multiple perspectives.
Synthesizing can be employed in different types of writing: multi-sourced critical analysis essays, literature reviews, etc.
Step 1: Determine the goal(s) for your discussion such as reviewing a topic or supporting an argument
For example: How to motivate people to make healthier food choices?
Step 2: Organize the discussion among the authors of your found researched materials:
All authors agree that junk food is damaging to people’s health. For example, Authors Doctor X and Doctor Z and Nurse-dietitian Y publish results of their researches to show that eating junk food causes obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other illnesses that drastically shorten lifespan.
Step 3: Continue to lead the discussion among the authors of your sources
Alerted by the appalling data about the damages inflicted by junk food consumption, researchers from the University of … conducted a survey. The majority of the respondents (XX%) admit that they are aware of the risks of relying on unhealthy food. However, XX% respond that this food is cheaper and so affordable. XX% also argue that this kind of food is convenient: easy to cook (“just heat and eat”), while XX% say their school-age children give preference to this kind of food compared to home-made choices. In response, Doctor X suggests…
Step 4: Provide comments and build logical guidance for your audience:
Analysis of processed food ingredients and its production technologies provided by Doctor Nutritionist N in his article “… … … “will make the survey respondents challenge and reconsider their priorities in food choices…”
Step 5: Summarize the most vivid of the authors’ examples and explanations (like here: link the illustrations to the above survey data you mentioned earlier):
To continue in the discussion: Pediatrician M and Children Psychologist K, in their article “… … … …” explain to parents their children’s preferences in food choices … In addition to this, Source N gives examples of activities organized by … in … (now, you summarize some of those examples and comment on them).
Step 6: Finally, draw your unique conclusion on the topic: in fact, the answer to your research question:
Over-all, Educational as well as behavior promoting activities in a family, at school, at work-place, and in a community will not only teach people to make healthier, daily food choices, but also give them clearer vision of the long term outcomes and benefits of such choices – benefits that will both improve their health and lower their monetary expenses.
This section is adapted from Appendix B: Additional Synthesis Examples by Svetlana Zhuravlova and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.