How can you write a journal article summary without making mistakes?

Abstract is the first thing you read to understand if the paper is relevant for you or not. Also, to find the limitations of the study, check Methods and then Discussion before Limitations. Usually most limitations come from methodology. If you are a beginner, a way to find your research topic is to find the articles which have 'Further Research' section. This section gives you great insights on how to add value to the literature, in scientifically backed fashion.

Contextualizing the summary may be important for some audiences, especially readers who are interested in the value of the article within the scholarly literature on the topic. Academics are also interested in the straightforward, standard components of the summary such as the purpose, methodology, findings and limitations.

Pre-read. That is pay attention to all the details that places article in context in a quick read before reading the article carefully. Example: author information, place, time period of data collection, stated theoretical approach in the abstract, method, etc.

To write a flawless journal article summary, start by reading the article thoroughly, paying close attention to the main argument, methodology, findings, and conclusion. Take notes as you go, focusing on key points rather than details to avoid overloading your summary. Once you have a solid grasp of the article, draft a concise outline to organize your thoughts logically. Use your own words to rephrase the content, steering clear of the article’s exact language to avoid unintentional plagiarism. Aim to keep your summary brief but comprehensive, highlighting only the core points. Finally, review your summary carefully to ensure accuracy, coherence, and clarity. Reading it out loud can help spot awkward phrasing or missed details.

Exactly. Reading is extremely important. Most of the people do not read it and try to write the summary by taking the important points which generate a low quality summary. Reading is the 60% job while writing a summary for a journal.

Only reading the article fully help u you to get to the essence of the article: central theme of the message intended to be conveyed, the larger context taken into consideration, data source & its credibility, diversity of views considered, intended audience, gaps / diversity of perspectives. These I believe are what should go into review of article

Reading the article takes more time than you might think. You should look up every word/phrase you don’t know well. If the article is critical to your work, you may also need to read the articles cited as the basis of their work.

10-pointers to check - Journal Article Summary 1. Read Carefully: Thoroughly read the article to understand its main points. 2. Take Notes: Jot down key findings, arguments, and evidence as you read. 3. Paraphrase: Write the summary in your own words, avoiding direct copying. 4. Be Concise: Focus on essential information and omit minor details. 5. Avoid Opinions: Keep the summary objective, excluding personal views. 6. Cite Properly: When including quotes or data, use correct citations. 7. Edit & Proofread: Check for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. 8. Seek Feedback: Have someone review your summary for clarity and accuracy. 9. Adhere to Guidelines: Follow formatting and word count requirements. 10. Check for Plagiarism.

Though the title, the abstract, the introduction, discussion and the conclusion can be seen as very crucial in drafting a good executive journal summary, there is something seemingly tiny that should be paid closer attention to, namely the KEYWORDS. Keywords represent the "key" concepts covered in the article and are an effective tool to help search engines find relevant papers. If database search engines can find your journal manuscript, readers will be able to find it too. This actually increases the number of people reading your manuscript, and likely leading to more and more citations of your article. Besides, if you touch upon the key concepts elucidated in the article, you are safe in having covered it all.

Serving as the core component, abstract is commonly the first thing you actually read in almost all journal articles. One can easily identify the setting of a study to help determine its context relatedness. Besides, an abstract typically comprises its significant discoveries, which can be very helpful for scholars who are seeking support or even argumentative knowledge to their literature reviews. All in all, abstract does serve a great purpose of telling the readers if they are referring to the right one.

Highlight the context or setting of your study in the very beginning. This will ease the potential scholars from sourcing the right article to read. In addition, it helps to reduce the burden of journal editors, especially in looking for the most suitable reviewers.

Identifying the audience is a major key to a successful writing. If the audience has limited knowledge of the intended topic, then a more clear yet simple, description may be needed.

It's curious how scientists are trained to express their ideas in highly complex language yet often struggle to convey the same concepts in simple, accessible terms for the general public. As professionals in the field, it's crucial for us to be adept in both intricate scientific writing and crafting clear, easy-to-read documents or white papers. If you're able to explain your scientific findings in a way that a primary school student can understand, you've reached a remarkable level of mastery in communication!

Very true. The type of summary determines the style of the summary. Same is true for even non scientific articles. Summaries could be Political, geographic, poetic, prose and also scientific research findings.

True. Important to identify the purpose and intent behind summarising. However, always important to never undermine the intelligence of your reader.

One tip here would be to read a couple of more articles belonging to the same writing style of the journal you are supposed to contribute to. This way, you will gain better and more insights into what is usually being accepted by this or that very publisher and which writing style to follow while drafting your piece, ranging from high-flown academic writing style, popular science, business language to conversational style.

Understanding the intended audience help you use the proper register and language to support their understanding; to be not too simple or not too advanced for the audience.

Once the purpose or audience of the summary is clear, and you have read the abstract, you will know which part of the research paper should be your focus in the summary. Though summaries are normally shorter in length, the majority of the piece should relate to the audience’s interest. If the professor is requesting information on different types of data collection, then the summary may focus on how and why the researcher chose questionnaires instead of a group interview. If the findings support your position in an essay, then the focal point of the summary would be the results and why the study is credible (steps taken to limit the bias).

Make sure your summary "summarises" the objectives, hypotheses, method, findings and other key aspects of your research. Remember, that's what a summary is for. Make it readable, meaningful so a reader interested in the topic wants to see your study as well as understands its relevance. Write, re-write, get a person who knows nothing about your study to read and share what they understood. That is an eye opener. Also, make sure you follow the general APA guidelines etc. That you will find many resources to help you with. Be patient with the time and effort you spend in summarizing. It is the essence, give it due regard and time. Best of luck.

The importance of audience and tone cannot be understated. Even within an academic setting, there can be differences in audience depending on the field. Jargon can help if your audience is mainly composed of individuals in the same field, or it can hurt if your audience is wider. Finding the right balance of technicality can really improve the impact.

In my opinion, this section is meant to be done after the completion of a manuscript writing. Generally, this serves as the core attractor for a journal article, whether it is for reviewers or readers (if it is considered for publication). Summarise the entire write up in accordance with the relevant sections, usually comprised of background or issue statement, purpose, methods utilised, key findings, lastly followed by conclusion and implications. Always avoid excessive usage of abbreviations and keep the words original.

One technique I find very useful is highlighting each paragraph in the paper then writing its main idea on the margin in one sentence only. Then, I can write a summary by condensing these margin notes.

Rereading the original text several times while preparing your own summary of it is always helpful. It's an iterative process.

In this case, if you write your summary in your own words, you will be engaging into a one-to-one communication with the readers, your audience, and through your communication you will transmit the already digested text interpretation in the hermeneutic circle, ranging from the whole, the source article, to the part, your summary, and just vice versa, from the part, namely your writing, to the whole, namely the article you are writing your summary about.

Write it as a story. A group of researchers, namely..... specialized in ..... recognized an issue associated within the scope of their field being ...... More specifically, they wanted to understand (Research Question). The matter is important because (the importance of the study). Previous research showed that (.....). To obtain an answer, they collected data about (.....) from (....) and applied (method) to (what the method does using the data). They found (main findings). The findings confirm/contradict existent literature that found that (......). The researchers concluded that (.....). Their study had limitations which were (....). They recommended (....) for future study.

I would link this to Step number 1. When you actively read you may build a structure and take points. Here you can revisit these points and start building on them in your own words. Working with extracted points and keywords will support you in finding your authentic voice to communicate the author's work.

The ultimate aim of the journal article is to convey the research findings to the co-scholars,academicians and other relevant group of people.Thus, it needs to be structured in a way that systematically open up the series of ideas.Here, quality always matters over quantity and author should keep this in mind before writing the summary.

Since a summary is a shorter version of a much longer piece of text, it is important to organise the main takeaways into a coherent narrative.

After having read the source article about which you are supposed to write your journal summary, on a piece of paper draft what are the key aspects that stroke your attention around which you are going to tie your writing. This will give you a clear-cut idea about the sequence of your paragraphs.

You can use the same structure as the article itself. Or you can use the following structure: The field of the study (from broad to specific). What problem/Question has this study addressed? Why is the problem important in the author's view? What other scholars had said about the problem? How did they address it? What results were found? How do the results compare to previous studies? What did the authors conclude, and what were the limitations of their study?

For a higher quality, always do proofreading on your own, since we humans are all endowed with a so-called "stream of consciousness", which helps us put our thoughts into paper and often while re-reading the text drafted by us, we sometimes come up with some better choices. Hence, it is highly advisable to do it twice or even thrice to avoid misspellings and repetitive thoughts. It can also be good to ask a trusted colleague or friend to read your writing for constructive feedback.

Tips from many years of practice. 1. Read it out loud (or use text to speech). It seems silly, but this will help you catch clunky expressions that seem acceptable on paper. 2. If your schedule allows, don’t write and proofread on the same day. Sometimes we read things as we intended to write them and miss the errors that are in the actual writing. 3. Have someone else (the best writer you can get) read it through. I prioritize writing skill and experience over specialization for proofreading.

It's also important to be as concise as possible. Exclude words or phrases that don't add meaning without oversimplifying points that are clearly nuanced. Each article presents a research question that the authors believe they have answered. The summary should distill this process into a short, easily understood message.

Here's some advice I find useful. Divide each paragraph into separate phrases. Then ask yourself the following question regarding each phrase: - what idea am I trying to convey through this phrase? - Does it go along with the article I am summarizing? - Is it consistent with what its paragraph is for? - Is it repeated elsewhere in the summary? - Can I reformulate it in a shorter way?

One thing that helps me with editing my own writing is to use a 'read aloud' tool so that I hear the words. (Sometimes when reading your own work, your brain can fill-in your intentions even if they're not there in the text).

It's important to summarise a text correctly without misinterpreting the tone or intention of the author. In case summaries are used as part of references in your writing on a related topic, it also helps to clearly state your analysis separately from the authors thoughts.

If you apply my previous advice for step 5, you won't even need to do this step as you would have already done it on a phrase-by-phrase basis.

A crucial aspect to remember, when you are proofreading and editing is stepping away from your writing for a while. Returning to it with fresh eyes allows you to catch errors that your brain may have subtly glossed over during prolonged focus. Our brains often aim to complete tasks swiftly, leading to oversight. Hence, setting your work aside and revisiting it after a break provides the perspective needed to spot errors you might have overlooked earlier.

Another crucial point to note is "Make use of unambiguous and concise language" It is important to ensure your writing employs a language that is both clear and concise. Aim for clarity by adopting a straightforward approach, avoiding excessive complexity and technical jargon. Utilize plain language that can be readily comprehended by a wide-ranging audience.

Some other ways one can consider 1. Read the first chapter and write the important points. Second chapter, third and so on... 2. Read your notes and try to bring up your own understanding with the references used in the journal. 3. Write a summary in your own words by stating the arguments and criticisms. 4. Give evidence by adding the references from your notes of the journal. 5. And voila, you'll have your summary ready.

Ask for Feedback: It is extremely helpful to get the summary and the article read by a college to identify strengths and areas to improve.

Excellent suggestions by all. May I add that in my view it is best to print off the article to proofread rather than to read it on your PC monitor. I have found that doing the latter may cause me to miss aspects of grammar and syntax, misspellings and how the finished piece sounds to a third party reader. I recently settled a piece for a young lawyer for publication by austlii. I reduced its length significantly and when doing my due diligence by looking up the cases he had cited I couldn’t find them. He sheepishly admitted that the whole piece I was settling was created using AI and the cases didn’t exist. He is a fine young man but I have insisted that in future, I don’t want to settle the creations of a robot.