Writers often confuse summary and analysis when writing a paper. Misunderstanding the difference often results in a writer summarizing content when the essay requires analyzing the content, or vice versa. It is common for student writers to gravitate toward summary because they lack experience in interpreting a text or asserting their own opinions, whereas a summary is something they may have more experience with. Follow these tips to learn the difference.

Summary: What Is Being Said?

The purpose of a summary is to convey information in a condensed form. When a writer summarizes a text in an essay, the focus should be on what the text’s author is saying. A writer might summarize material from outside sources, or they might summarize major points that have been discussed already in the essay. A summary of the essay’s major points is a useful way to remind the reader of or to draw attention to particularly important points.

Useful Steps for Constructing a Strong Summary

• To get started, ask questions about the text.
• What does it say?
• What is the central message or thesis?
• What is the context or relevant background of the piece?
• Begin writing by summarizing each section of the text (this could be a paragraph or a series of paragraphs) into a single sentence. 
• Go back to the section of the text being summarized, and identify any pertinent details that have not been addressed. Add additional phrases or sentences that include what the initial summary sentences omitted, but don’t include details that are not needed for the reader to understand the material. 
• Review the sentences that have been composed, and revise them for cohesiveness. This might include changing the order of the information provided, adding transitional words or phrases for clarity and flow, or removing extraneous language. 
• Reference source material one last time, and then read the summary again. Determine if anything is missing or out of place.

Analysis: How Is It Being Said?

Analyzing material requires writers to express their own thoughts, opinions, and interpretations of the material. The key to successfully analyzing material is to focus on the way a writer communicates information: How is it being said? The purpose of analysis is to offer something new to the conversation—not just a summary of what has already been said. Many writers are hesitant to contribute their own ideas about a subject or debate; they may feel underqualified or lack confidence in the validity of their perspective. This is why many writers avoid analysis and resist moving beyond summary. If a writer has been asked to write an analysis, though, the instructor is asking for an opinion, interpretation, or judgment.

Useful Questions for Generating an Analysis

• Consider why the text is important. What purpose does it fulfill?
  (“Oh yeah? So what?”)
• How does the text show that it is important and that it achieves its purpose? 
• Does the author use a particular structure or sequence in their writing to demonstrate that the text is important?
• Does the author use the rhetorical situation to support the argument that the text has achieved its purpose? 
• Does the author aim the text at an intended audience?
• Where is the author drawing connections? Were they easy to follow, or did the reader miss them the first time the text was read?
• Was the author’s argument effective? Did it miss its target?
• Would the intended audience be convinced or have doubts?

Example

The following paragraph is an example of a student paper that uses both summary AND analysis to make a point. 

In the article “Dolphin Migration Patterns,” Roger argues that dolphins’ territorial patterns are being affected by global climate change. Specifically, Roger points to information collected from multiple studies, conducted in the Indian Ocean, that reveal definite decreases in dolphin sightings in areas where they have typically been sighted (SUMMARY).

Roger performed a meta-analysis of previous scientific studies; this lends credibility to his argument. However, these studies were concentrated in a small area, and the climate records were not collected using the same methods. He argues effectively that global dolphin territorial patterns are changing, but his research does not show that the variations were caused by climate change (ANALYSIS). 

Notice that the author of this paragraph does not summarize the entire article; rather, there is just enough summary of the article’s contents to support the next statements, which explain why and how the argument made in the original statement is credible. The writer also explains why the research might not have gone far enough to fully support all of the claims made in the piece. Analysis requires writers to think critically about the meaning of the text by pointing out both the flaws and the successes of a text, using the “what” from the summary to show “how” the author did—or did not—achieve the goal of the text.