Incorporating Your Summary

When you work with outside sources, it is important to understand both the required rules and the preferred styles for incorporating those sources into your own writing. Because summaries should be written in your own words, quotation marks are rarely needed. The only exception is if you have copied a few of the author’s exact words within your summary. Remember that it is always necessary to identify the author of the source and the page number (if available) any time you use someone else’s ideas.

In most cases, introduce a summary by naming the author, sometimes along with the title and date of the source, in a signal phrase or sentence. This alerts readers that another author’s ideas are coming up. In this example, the signal phrase is highlighted in yellow:

In early 2002, Time writer Margaret Carlson explained why a National ID card made sense. In her article, she describes an incident in which an elderly United States senator is nearly strip-searched before boarding an airplane because his artificial hip set off the metal detector in security. Many of us have witnessed such events ourselves or know someone who has.

Work Cited

Carlson, Margaret. “The Case for a National ID Card.” Time, 14 Jan. 2002, content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,193705,00.html.

The signal words are followed by the summary—the shortened description of the article. The summary is written in your own words and does not include quotation marks unless it includes some exact language from the article. Even though summaries rarely include direct quotes, they must be properly documented at the end of the paper. In this example, page numbers are not given because the source was accessed online. The summary and the MLA-style Works Cited entry are highlighted in orange:

In early 2002, Time writer Margaret Carlson explained why a National ID card made sense. In her article, she describes an incident in which an elderly United States senator is nearly strip searched before boarding an airplane because his artificial hip set off the metal detector in security. Many of us have witnessed such events ourselves or know someone who has.

Work Cited

Carlson, Margaret. “The Case for a National ID Card.” Time, 14 Jan. 2002, content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,193705,00.html.

Follow the summary with a connection to your own work. Show readers how the ideas of the summarized work relate to your own main point, or create a transition to previous or upcoming points. In this example, the connection is highlighted in green:

In early 2002, Time writer Margaret Carlson explained why a National ID card made sense. In her article, she describes an incident in which an elderly United States senator is nearly strip searched before boarding an airplane because his artificial hip set off the metal detector in security. Many of us have witnessed such events ourselves or know someone who has.

Work Cited

Carlson, Margaret. “The Case for a National ID Card.” Time, 14 Jan. 2002, content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,193705,00.html.