Academic writing can be a daunting task. Don't worry; even the most experienced writer had to learn how to write. Start early to give yourself time to research and put your essay together. 

Each subject requires its own types of essays. The best instructions for how to start on a paper are found within your course outline or assignment instructions. Talk to your instructor if you are unsure.

If you would like some one-on-one help with your writing, you can make an appointment with a writing tutor.

• Read the original text as many times as necessary to understand it well. You cannot write a summary of the main points unless you understand the meaning of what you are reading.
• Once you understand the text, underline or highlight the important points. These are the ones that you think represent the main, or most important, ideas.
• Organize the paragraphs of your summary around the main ideas of the original text. Each paragraph should explain the idea adequately as well as demonstrating how this idea fits into the original text overall.
• Writing a thesis for a summary is different from other essays. Rather than come up with your own idea on the topic, instead you should identify what is the thesis of the original author’s. For example you may write something like this: “Suarez argues that, unless serious steps are taken immediately, public funding for education will continue to fall.”
• A summary should be mostly your own words. Think back to how you summarize a movie for a friend. You wouldn’t quote the entire film line by line. At the same time, some lines may be so important that they have to be included (e.g. “No, I am your father!” or “I see dead people.”). Likewise, a summary should only quote the most important lines from the text, relying on your own words to paraphrase the rest. Remember to cite all quotations.
• Remember that if you are summarizing an article in which the author has written a strong opinion or is trying to be persuasive, then you must show the author’s point of view in your summary. Your opinion or point of view, however, should not be included in a summary

1. Group the main ideas of your notes/research and their supporting ideas into categories. Be sure to keep your stance in mind when considering what makes each piece of evidence similar to others.
2. Select from among the ideas those which seem to work together.
3. Organize the main ideas and their supporting ideas into a logical pattern. These can later help form topic sentences for your supporting paragraphs.
4. Reduce the ideas to an outline based on how they work together.
5. Now, based on the outline of the ideas, generate a thesis which coordinates and encapsulates your ideas.
6. Review your main ideas in light of your thesis.
   1. Do they still seem to be in the right order?
   2. Are they all still needed?
   3. Are there any voids in your argument?
   4. Have you included all the necessary details and examples?
7. When you have all the necessary ideas in good order, decide what the linking words or ideas are between main and supporting ideas and between main idea groups. At this time you may decide that one or more main ideas should precede your statement of thesis as an introduction.
8. You are now ready to write. In fact, you have already done most of the work. Don't forget to include your citations as you link together your evidence.
9. Your main ideas should provide the topic sentences for your paragraphs. Your supporting ideas should develop your main ideas. When you have completely explored a main and supporting idea group move onto another paragraph and another main and supporting idea group.
10. When you have explored all of the ideas that you have collected, you are ready to comment on them in a reflective or analytical conclusion.