Summarising

A summary is a short and concise representation of the main points, ideas, concepts, facts or statements of a text written in your own words. Unlike a paraphrase, which is generally of a similar length to the original text, a summary is much shorter.

When either summarising or paraphrasing, you should not alter:

• the author's original idea(s)
• the degree of certainty with which the ideas are expressed.

Referencing

Summaries need to be referenced. Whether you have summarised or paraphrased an author's words, thoughts, ideas etc, a citation to the original source of the words, thoughts, ideas etc must be provided.

Further information

Paraphrasing

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How to summarise