what is research summary? structure of research summary. steps for writing an effective research summary tips for writing research summary by Ali Rehman

1. M. A. Rehman

2. ▪ A research summary is a type of paper designed to provide a brief
overview of a given study - typically, an article from a peer-reviewed
academic journal.
▪ It is a frequent type of task encountered in colleges and universities.
▪ It is important to teach students to properly interact with and
interpret scientific literature and in particular, academic papers,
which are the key way through which new ideas, theories, and
evidence are presented to experts in many fields of knowledge.
▪ A research summary typically preserves the structure/ sections of the
article it focuses on.

3. ▪ Following steps will allow you to go more efficiently through your
academic writing process:
✓ Skim the article
✓ Analyze and understand the topic and article.
✓ Make notes as you read
✓ Assemble a draft
✓ Find additional literature

4. STEPS FOR WRITING RESEARCH SUMMARY
▪ Skim the article in order to get a rough idea of the content covered
in each section and to understand the relative importance of content.
▪ For instance, how important different lines of evidence are.
▪ it helps you understand on which sections you should focus more
when reading in detail.

5. STEPS FOR WRITING RESEARCH SUMMARY
▪ Analyze and understand the topic and article. Writing a summary
of research paper involves becoming very familiar with the topic.
▪ Sometimes, it is impossible to understand the content without
learning about the current state of knowledge, as well as key
definitions, concepts, models.
▪ This is often performed while reading the literature review.
▪ As for the paper itself, understanding it means understanding
analysis questions, hypotheses, listed evidence, how strongly this
evidence supports the hypotheses, as well as analysis implications.
Keep in mind that only a deep understanding allows to efficiently
summarize content.

6. STEPS FOR WRITING RESEARCH SUMMARY
▪ Make notes as you read. You could highlight or summarize each
paragraph with a brief sentence that would record the key idea
delivered in it.
▪ However, be careful to not engage in extensive writing while still
reading.
▪ This is important because, while reading, you might realize that some
sections you initially considered important might actually be less
important compared to information that follows.
▪ As for underlining or highlighting – do these only with most
important evidence, otherwise, there is little use in “coloring”
everything without distinction.

7. STEPS FOR WRITING RESEARCH SUMMARY
▪ Assemble a draft by bringing together key evidence and notes from
each paragraph/ section. Make sure, all elements characteristic of a
research summary are covered.
▪ Find Additional literature for forming or supporting your critical
view (this is in case your critical view/ position is required), for
instance, judgments about limitations of the study or contradictory
evidence.

8. ▪ The research summary format resembles that found in the original paper
but it is just a concise version of it.
▪ Content from all sections should be covered/reflected, regardless of
whether corresponding headings are present or not.
▪ Key structural elements of any research summary are as follows:
o Title
o Abstract
o Introduction
o Methodology
o Result Section
o Discussion
o Conclusion
o References

9. STRUCTURE OF RESEARCH SUMMARY
▪ Title: It announces the exact topic / area of analysis and can even be
formulated to briefly announce key finding(s) or argument(s)
delivered.
▪ Abstract: This is a very concise and comprehensive description of
the study, present virtually in any academic article (the length varies
greatly, typically within 100-500 words). Unlike an academic article,
your research summary is expected to have a much shorter abstract.
▪ Introduction: This is an important part of any research summary
which provides necessary context (the literature review) that helps
introduce readers into the subject (by presenting the current state of
investigation, an important concept or definition, etc.). An
introduction typically lists investigation questions and hypotheses
advanced by authors, which are normally mentioned in detail in any
research summary.

10. STRUCTURE OF RESEARCH SUMMARY
▪ Methodology: Regardless of its location, this section details
experimental methods or data analysis methods used. In a research
summary, many of these details would have to be omitted, hence, it is
important to understand what is most important to mention.
▪ Result Section: This section lists in detail evidence obtained from all
experiments with some primary data analysis, conclusions,
observations, and primary interpretations being made. It is typically
the largest section of any analysis paper, hence, it has to be concisely
rewritten, which implies understanding which content is worth
omitting and which is worth leaving.
▪ Discussion: This is where results are being discussed. This section
contains interpretations of results, theoretical models explaining the
observed results, study strengths and especially limitations,
complementary future exploration to be undertaken, conclusions, etc.
All these are important elements that need to be conveyed in a
summary.

11. STRUCTURE OF RESEARCH SUMMARY
▪ Conclusion: In the original article, this section could be absent or
merged with “Discussion”. Specific research summary instructions
might require this to be a standalone section. In a conclusion,
hypotheses are revisited and validated or denied, based on how
convincing the evidence is (key lines of evidence could be
highlighted).
▪ References: This section is for mentioning those works that were
cited directly in your summary. One has to provide appropriate
citations at least for the original article. Mentioning other works
might be relevant when your critical opinion is also required.

12. ▪ Below is a checklist of useful research paper tips worth considering
when writing research summaries:
1. Make sure you are always aware of the bigger picture/
direction. You need to keep in mind a complete and coherent
picture of the story delivered by the original article. It might be
useful rereading it or scanning it quickly to remind yourself of the
declared goals, hypotheses, key evidence, and conclusions – this
awareness offers constant sense of direction, which ensures that no
written sentence is out of context. It is useful doing this even after
you have written a fourth, a third, or half of the paper (to make sure
no deviation happens).

13. TIPS FOR WRITING RESEARCH SUMMARY
2. Consider writing a detailed research outline before writing the
draft – it might be of great use when structuring your paper. A
research summary template is also very likely to help you structure
your paper.
3. Sketch the main elements of the conclusion before writing it.
This is because a conclusion has to do a number of things:
validate/invalidate hypotheses; enumerate key evidence
supporting or invalidating them, list potential implications; mention
the subject’s importance; mention study limitations and future
directions for research. In order to include them all, it is useful
having them written down and handy.

14. TIPS FOR WRITING RESEARCH SUMMARY
▪ Consider writing the introduction and discussion last. It makes
sense to first list hypotheses, goals, questions, key results. Latter,
information contained in introduction and discussion can be adapted
as needed (for instance, to match a preset word count limit). Apart
from this, follow a natural order.
▪ Include visuals – you could summarize a lot of text using graphs or
charts and improving readability.
▪ Be very careful about plagiarism. It is very tempting to “borrow”
or quote entire phrases from article, provided how well-written these
are, but you need to summarize your paper without plagiarizing at all
(forget entirely about copy-paste – it is only allowed to paraphrase
and even this should be done carefully). The best way to stay safe is
by formulating your own thoughts from scratch.

15. TIPS FOR WRITING RESEARCH SUMMARY
▪ Keep your word count in check. You don’t want your summary to be
as long as the original paper (just reformulated). In addition, you
might need to respect an imposed word count limit, which requires
being careful about how much you write for each section.
▪ Proofread your work, for grammar, spelling, wordiness, and
formatting issues (feel free to use our convert case tool to convert
case for titles, headings, subheadings, etc.).
▪ Watch your writing style – when summarizing content, it should be
impersonal, precise, and purely evidence-based. A personal
view/attitude should be provided only in the critical section (if
required).
▪ Ask a colleague to read your summary and test whether he/she
could understand everything without reading the article – this will
help ensure that you haven’t skipped some important content,
explanations, concepts, etc.