how to summarize a research article in apa format

I have to summarize a whole article. How do I cite it, if my whole assignment is about that?

When you summarize someone else's information, especially if you will be spending a lot of time summarizing (for instance, your assignment is to summarize an article or a chapter in a book), it is important to introduce your source right away.

Example: Stineway and Harper conducted an excellent experiment in late 2009 that is only now coming to full fruition. Their article, Hamsters Texting at the Wheel covers a whole variety of insights in the the driving habits of hamsters. Of note...

You will note that the introduction above includes more than just the standard APA in-text citation which would look like this: (Stineway & Harper, 2009). When introducing a source, rather than citing it, that is OK.

As you write your summary, you will want to remind your reader, occasionally, that you are still summarizing. You can do this simply be referring back to the authors, the title of the article, or both. Remember, however, that anything that needs an APA in-text citation will need to refer to author and date.

Example: According to Stineway and Harper (2009), hamsters are the best rodent drivers there are. They indicated in their literature review that gerbils are too distractable to be safe and that guinea pigs were too slow-reacting.

Note: Since you asked, a single citation at the end of the summary will not meet reference requirements for APA or any other citation style.

For more information on introducing and citing sources, see http://rasmussen.libanswers.com/faq/32328

• Last Updated Jun 30, 2020
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• Answered By Kerry Louvier

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APA Referencing (APA 7th edition)

• Summarising/Paraphrasing
• Citations/Quotations and Abbreviations
• In-text citations
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Direct quotes should only be used sparingly in your work. It's generally better to put material into your own words, as this demonstrates your understanding of the material. Reserve direct quotes for particularly well written, striking content. To avoid plagiarism, it's also important to make sure that you do more than just make minor changes to the wording. 

To paraphrase or summarise without plagiarising:

• Note the key points from the resource;
• Without looking at the original material, write the idea in your own words;
• Review the original material to check you have conveyed the idea correctly
• Check that your writing does not use the same phrasing as the original source. Making minor changes to the material is not sufficient;
• Specialised subject terms do not need to be changed;
• If you cannot paraphrase, use a direct quote;
• Include both an  in-text citation and a reference list entry for each resource used.

Summarising

Summarising involves repeating the main ideas of a passage in your own words.  A summary concentrates on the important points rather than the details.

Original text

'... in order to learn consumers' views on beauty, Dove surveyed girls and women in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.  Some of the results were disturbing; for example, in Britain, more than half of those surveyed said their bodies "disgusted" them.  Six out of ten girls believed they would be happier if they were thinner, but actually fewer than two out of ten were in fact overweight.  Apparently, fashion's images of artificially curvaceous models and celebrities had wreaked not a little havoc on young self-concepts.'

Example of a summary  

Rath, Bay, Petrizzi and Gill (2015) report that the results of a survey by Dove of young girls and women in Britain indicate that many young girls have false ideas about whether they are overweight or not.  ​

Points to note :

There are different ways you can incorporate an in-text citation into your work. You can include the author's surname/s and the date in brackets at the end of a sentence or use the author's name/s  as part of your sentence.

Rath, P.M. , Bay, S.,   Petrizzi, R. &  Gill, P.  (2015). The why of the buy: Consumer behavior and fashion marketing (2nd ed.). Fairchild Books.

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is expressing what an author writes in another way. 

'An interesting aspect of plant growth is that new cells and tissues are formed all through the lifespan of of the plant, even in trees that may be a hundred or more years old" (Clarke & Lee, 2019)

Example of a paraphrase

As Clarke & Lee (2019) explain, old plants continue to grow new cells. 

Trees continue growing new cells throughout their entire life (Clarke & Lee, 2019).

Clarke, I. & Lee, H.. (2019). Name that flower (3rd ed). Melbourne University Press.

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Article Summaries, Reviews & Critiques

Writing an article summary.

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When writing a summary, the goal is to compose a concise and objective overview of the original article. The summary should focus only on the article's main ideas and important details that support those ideas.

Guidelines for summarizing an article:

• State the main ideas.
• Identify the most important details that support the main ideas.
• Summarize in your own words.
• Do not copy phrases or sentences unless they are being used as direct quotations.
• Express the underlying meaning of the article, but do not critique or analyze.
• The summary should be about one third the length of the original article. 

Your summary should include:

• Give an overview of the article, including the title and the name of the author.
• Provide a thesis statement that states the main idea of the article.
• Use the body paragraphs to explain the supporting ideas of your thesis statement.
• One-paragraph summary - one sentence per supporting detail, providing 1-2 examples for each.
• Multi-paragraph summary - one paragraph per supporting detail, providing 2-3 examples for each.
• Start each paragraph with a topic sentence.
• Use transitional words and phrases to connect ideas.
• Summarize your thesis statement and the underlying meaning of the article.

 Adapted from "Guidelines for Using In-Text Citations in a Summary (or Research Paper)" by Christine Bauer-Ramazani, 2020

Additional Resources

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How to Write a Summary - Guide & Examples  (from Scribbr.com)

Writing a Summary  (from The University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center)

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APA Style Guide 7th Edition

• Summary/Paraphrase
• About This Guide
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• Block Quote
• Indirect Quote
• Tables/Graphs/Images
• Personal Communications
• Book/E-book
• Journal Article
• Website/Webpage
• Social Media
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• Thesis and Dissertations
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• Student Paper Guidelines
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General Guidelines for Paraphrasing and Summarizing

• Paraphrasing is when you put a passage or idea from another work into your own words.
• A paraphrased passage is generally shorter and more condensed than the original.
• You can cite your information as part of the sentence (called a narrative citation) or at the end in parentheses (known as a parenthetical citation).
• Summarizing is very similar to paraphrasing in that it also involves putting someone else’s ideas into your own words in order to condense the material.
• A summary includes only the main points and/or ideas in a longer passage or entire work.    
• If you have two or more authors, use the word 'and' for narrative citations and the ampersand '&' for parenthetical citations. 
• If you have three or more authors, use 'et al.' after the first authors last name to indicated there are additional authors. 
• You only include the author/year from the article your are summarizing. You do not need to include page numbers or section identification. 
• If you are citing multiple works parenthetically, place the citations in alphabetical order separated by semicolons. 

Narrative Paraphrasing/Summarizing    

Single Author:  Simmons (2019) notes that teachers need to use clear body language including using good posture and eye contact when giving directions. 

Two Authors:  Orben and Przybylski (2019) determined that half of the participants in recent studies overestimated how much time they spend on the internet and a quarter of the participants underestimate it. 

Three or More Authors:   Larson et al. (2019) pointed out middle school students reported significant less time spent outdoors in nature and more time on screens than their parents reported they did.   

Parenthetical Paraphrasing/Summarizing  

Single Author:  Teachers need to use clear body language including using good posture and eye contact when giving directions (Simmons, 2019). 

Two Authors:   H alf of the  participants  in recent studies  overestimated  how much time they spend on the internet and a quarter of the participants underestimate it (Orben  &  Przybylski,  2019).

Three or More Authors:    Middle school students reported significant less time spent outdoors in nature and more time on screens than their parents reported they did  ( Larson et al., 2019).   

Parenthetical Summary With Multiple Sources 

Behavior-specific praise and adherence to schedule and routines are two classroom management practices that can increase academic engagement and improve classroom management (Collier-Meek et al., 2019; O’Hanley & Jones, 2020; Simmons, 2019).  

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Table of Contents

Ai, ethics & human agency, collaboration, information literacy, writing process, apa summary, how should a summarized passage or work be cited.

When summarizing a passage or work from another writer, briefly outline in your own original words the major ideas presented in the source material. As brevity is the key feature of a summary, it is essential to express the main concepts of the original passage in as concise a manner as possible. Consider using a summary—rather than a short or block quotation—when preserving the original wording of the source material is not necessary for the reader to understand the ideas under discussion.

Let’s look at an example of a cited summary:

Original text:  “In their everyday life, people generally assume that they see the world around them the way it really is. When camping in Colorado, hikers believe they see the horizon as dotted with snow-covered mountaintops. When laying on the beach in North Carolina, sunbathers believe they see pelicans flying above the breaking waves. And these people would nearly always be right. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine  not  believing that the sights and sounds delivered to conscious awareness by perceptual systems are accurate renderings of the outside world. It would be difficult to know how to act if one could not trust one’s senses to accurately report what the world outside is like” (Balcetis, 2010, p. 77). [2]

Summary:  In  Social Psychology of Visual Perception , Balcetis (2010) argues that because humans rely on the sensory information received from their body, they form preconceived beliefs about their surroundings that manifest as imaginary visual occurrences (p. 77). [2]

Note:  The summary maintains the ideas of the original passage while concisely expressing its main concepts. The original author is also cited properly.

How should multiple sources be cited in a single parenthetical reference?

If multiple works need to be cited in the same set of parentheses, simply arrange them in alphabetical order by the author’s last names, or the order in which they would be listed in the References page. Use a semicolon to separate each work from the next one.

Let’s look at an example of multiple authors being cited:

In the past thirty years, Parkinson’s disease has been written about extensively by recognized figures in the field (Dorros, 1989; Duvoisin, 1991; Hauser & Zesiewicz, 1996). [3][4][5]

Note:  This example includes the in-text citations of three works arranged in alphabetical order by authors’ names, separated by semi-colons, and enclosed in parentheses.

• Formatting In-text Citations (APA)

[1] Pender, K. (1998).  Digital colour in graphic design . Burlington, VT: Elsevier Science & Technology.

[2] Balcetis, E. (2010).  Social psychology of visual perception . Hoboken, NJ: Taylor & Francis.

[3] Dorros, S. (1989).  Parkinson’s: A patient’s view . Cabin John, MD: Seven Locks Press.

[4] Duvoisin, R. C. (1991).  Parkinson’s disease: A guide for patient and family . New York, NY: Raven Press.

[5] Hauser, R. A., & Zesiewicz, T. A. (1996).  Parkinson’s disease: Questions and answers . Coral Springs, FL: Merit.

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Getting Started With Library Research: Summarizing Research Articles & Annotated Bibliographies

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Writing An Article Summary

• Trent University - Writing Article Summaries An article summary is a short, focused paper about one scholarly article that is informed by a critical reading of that article.
• UCONN Writing Center: How to Summarize a Research Article A helpful 3-page guide.

APA 7th Edition Book

Annotated Bibliography Resources

• Purdue OWL - Annotated Bibliographies
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TIPS for Reading & Summarizing Research Articles with Professor Josiah Fehlauer

Annotated Bibliographies

Annotated bibliographies from Information Literacy by Elsa Loftis

Annotated Bibliography

What is an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually 150-200 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation . The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.  ( Source )

Why write an annotated bibliography?

Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. By reading and responding to a variety of sources on a topic, you'll start to see what the issues are, what people are arguing about, and you'll then be able to develop your own point of view.

Source: Purdue OWL

Annotated Bibliography - Example

Purdue Owl Annotated Bibliography Examples

Rules for the Annotated Bibliography

• The complete citation comes first followed by the analysis or summary (see example)
• The beginning of each citation entry uses a hanging indent, flush left
• After the first line of each citation, the rest of the entry is indented 1" from the left
• Generally summary/analysis should be about 150-200 words but follow your instructor's guidelines
• Summary/analysis does require in-text citation
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Tips on Summarizing

• Use your own words
• Include the key relevant elements of the original and keep it brief - you're just going for the original's essence
• Do not include your interpretation/analysis within the summary - make a clear distinction between your thoughts and someone else's
• Vary how you introduce or attribute your sources, like "according to..." or "so-and-so concludes that..." so your readers don't get bored
• Always include a citation

Polivy, J., & Herman, C. P. (2004). Sociocultural idealization of thin female body shapes: An introduction to the special issue on body image and eating disorders. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology , 23, 1-6. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.134.3.460

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APA Article Summary

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Think of an article summary in APA format as the formal version of telling your best friend about the great movie you saw last night or talking to your mom about the awesome book you just finished reading.  In each case you're relying on your insights as to what details are important, necessary and enticing to your audience.

An APA summary has four crucial components:

1. The original research article ( click here for an example ) - make sure you have the full-text of the article.

2. Your summary ( click here for an example ) of the orginal research article.

3. The APA citation of the original research article ( click here for example on page 2 ) .

4. An outside reader - use FM's Writing Center. Hours are listed below.

Need more tips and strategies for writing your summary? This link is a great place to start.

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

In-Text Citations: The Basics

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Note:  This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style  can be found here .

Reference citations in text are covered on pages 261-268 of the Publication Manual. What follows are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay.

Note:  On pages 117-118, the Publication Manual suggests that authors of research papers should use the past tense or present perfect tense for signal phrases that occur in the literature review and procedure descriptions (for example, Jones (1998)  found  or Jones (1998)  has found ...). Contexts other than traditionally-structured research writing may permit the simple present tense (for example, Jones (1998)  finds ).

APA Citation Basics

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

If you are referring to an idea from another work but  NOT  directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference.

On the other hand, if you are directly quoting or borrowing from another work, you should include the page number at the end of the parenthetical citation. Use the abbreviation “p.” (for one page) or “pp.” (for multiple pages) before listing the page number(s). Use an en dash for page ranges. For example, you might write (Jones, 1998, p. 199) or (Jones, 1998, pp. 199–201). This information is reiterated below.

Regardless of how they are referenced, all sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

In-text citation capitalization, quotes, and italics/underlining

• Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones.
• If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters long or greater within the title of a source:  Permanence and Change . Exceptions apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs:  Writing New Media ,  There Is Nothing Left to Lose .

( Note:  in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized:  Writing new media .)

• When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word:  Natural-Born Cyborgs .
• Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: "Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of Hitchcock's  Vertigo ."
• If the title of the work is italicized in your reference list, italicize it and use title case capitalization in the text:  The Closing of the American Mind ;  The Wizard of Oz ;  Friends .
• If the title of the work is not italicized in your reference list, use double quotation marks and title case capitalization (even though the reference list uses sentence case): "Multimedia Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds;" "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry."

Short quotations

If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and page number for the reference (preceded by "p." for a single page and “pp.” for a span of multiple pages, with the page numbers separated by an en dash).

You can introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

If you do not include the author’s name in the text of the sentence, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.

Long quotations

Place direct quotations that are 40 words or longer in a free-standing block of typewritten lines and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout, but do not add an extra blank line before or after it. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.

Because block quotation formatting is difficult for us to replicate in the OWL's content management system, we have simply provided a screenshot of a generic example below.

Formatting example for block quotations in APA 7 style.

Quotations from sources without pages

Direct quotations from sources that do not contain pages should not reference a page number. Instead, you may reference another logical identifying element: a paragraph, a chapter number, a section number, a table number, or something else. Older works (like religious texts) can also incorporate special location identifiers like verse numbers. In short: pick a substitute for page numbers that makes sense for your source.

Summary or paraphrase

If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference and may omit the page numbers. APA guidelines, however, do encourage including a page range for a summary or paraphrase when it will help the reader find the information in a longer work. 

How To Do In-Text Citations with Multiple Authors in APA Format

APA (or American Psychological Association) Style   was introduced in 1929 to establish a consistent style guide for scientific writing. It sought to make scientific works easier to read and understand. However, the style guidelines have expanded to include many disciplines, such as the humanities and health care.

The APA’s Publication Manual does not cover the general writing style rules in other editorial style guides, such as the MLA Handbook . APA Style seeks to create uniformity of common writing styles relevant to behavior and social sciences primarily.

Consistent formatting allows the reader to engage with the presented ideas rather than be distracted by the author’s personal formatting preferences. It also helps readers quickly review the document for references and sources to aid their research. Using APA Style keeps authors transparent by providing rules about citing their sources and giving credit for others’ ideas.

How to do in-text citations in APA

• Understanding “et. al.” usage in APA

Citing multiple authors in APA

• In-text citations for various author types in APA

Best practices and common mistakes

APA Style allows writers to credit and cite other works appropriately and avoid plagiarism through in-text citations. APA Style uses the author–date citation system, which requires notations to be included within the document to reference ideas, paraphrases and quotations from other bodies of work. Each in-text citation within the paper (or chart, footnote or figure) briefly identifies the cited work and guides the reader to a longer list of cited sources at the end of the document, called the reference list.

In-text citations can be written within a paper parenthetically or narratively. Both include the same information: the author’s last name and the publication date.

• Parenthetical citation : Great falls can be caused by sitting on tall walls (Dumpty, 1797).
• Narrative citation : Dumpty (1797) claims that great falls can be caused by sitting on tall walls.
• Reference list entry: Dumpty, Humpty (1797). Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall. Nursery Rhymes, 100.

APA Style requires citations to conform to a set of guidelines , which includes proper spelling of author names, consistency between the in-text citation information and its reference list entry and rules about crediting all facts and figures mentioned – especially those which are not common knowledge.

Understanding “et al.” usage in APA

Et al. is an abbreviation used to indicate multiple people. It’s the abbreviated version of “et alia,” a neutral plural version of “and others.” Most commonly, et al. indicates more than one contributor, such as multiple authors or editors, in a work.

In APA Style citations, et al. is used to indicate a cited work with three or more authors and serves as a way to condense the in-text citation to avoid confusion and unnecessary length. An APA in-text citation with three or more authors will include only the first author’s name plus “et al.” in every citation.

Citing multiple authors in APA Style is similar to MLA Style . For one or two authors, list the last name(s) followed by the year of publication. 

• One author: (Beyonce, 1997)
• Contributors: Daryl Hall and John Oates

To cite three or more authors using APA Style, use only the first author’s last name listed, plus “et al.” 

• Contributors: Earth, Wind and Fire

When two separate sources have the same abbreviated et al. form , spell out as many last names as needed to distinguish the sources from each other. It may include two last names followed by et al.

Similarly, when the first authors of separate sources share the same last name but have different initials, use their first initials in the in-text citations.

• Beyonce Knowles & Solange Knowles

In-text citation for various author types in APA

You may face a challenging situation where you must cite a group author , such as an institution or university, rather than a list of authors’ names. In this instance, you’ll list the group or organization.

• Group author: (Furman University, 2020)

If the group also has an abbreviation to its name, you may note the first and subsequent citations differently to be as concise as possible.

• Group author with abbreviation – 1st citation: (American Psychological Association [APA], 2024)
• Group author with abbreviation – 2nd citation : (APA, 2024)

The most common mistake when citing sources is forgetting to cite a source. One way to ensure you include all required sources is to document and manage your sources as you use their ideas within the document. This may mean you create the citations as you conduct your research, create your outline or type the final paper.

Some applications exist to help you manage and document citations, including EasyBib , Mendeley , EndNote and Zotero . Depending on your writing style, these applications can help you create citations, save your research sources, annotate documents and format references. 

Regarding best practices for in-text citations in APA Style, it’s good practice to proofread your citations and reference list together. When citing multiple authors, ensure all spellings are accurate and consistent throughout the document and reference list. Refer to the APA Style Publication Manual and other guideline reference documents to confirm your citing within the latest citation guidelines.

Giving credit to other authors who have shaped your research and ideas is incredibly important. You can do so without risking plagiarism accusations through in-text citations that are marked and referenced. Not only does it provide you with an honest and accurate reputation, but it also helps your readers gain more valuable knowledge from other sources.

Citing sources should not discourage you from sharing your knowledge within academic writing. Sooner or later, you’ll become a pro at in-text citations in APA style! The more you write, the more familiar you’ll become with the guidelines; you’ll no longer need to reference the style guides for help.

The perspectives and thoughts shared in the Furman Blog belong solely to the author and may not align with the official stance or policies of Furman University. All referenced sources were accurate as of the date of publication.

How To Do In-Text Citations in MLA Format: A Quick Guide for Students

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