If you’re telling a friend about a movie you’ve watched, do you include every detail from the movie? Probably not. After all, your friend could just watch the movie himself to get that information! Instead, you probably summarize the movie. In other words, you describe only the movie’s most important parts.
In a similar way, when you summarize the sources you found while researching, you don’t need to include every detail from the text. Instead, you should focus mostly on the information that addresses your thesis statement. This means that the majority of the information you find will likely be examples, explanations, evidence, studies, and/or statistics that reinforce your main ideas with supporting evidence.
Here is a thesis statement for a report about mushrooms:
Mushrooms are much weirder and more wonderful than most people imagine. Here are just a few of their unusual qualities: mushrooms are neither plants nor animals, they are a nutritious food source, they benefit plants and the soil, and they have applications in medicine and architecture.
Keeping the thesis in mind, read the section Introduction: Fungi—A Distinct Third Food Kingdom in the article “Mushrooms—Biologically Distinct and Nutritionally Unique.”
Next, read this summary of the article you just examined.
Mushrooms have been a food source for humans for centuries. Long considered part of the plant kingdom, mushrooms are actually not plants because they lack chlorophyll. Unlike animals, mushrooms do not ingest food. Surprisingly, they do contain chitin, a material found in crustaceans and insects. For these reasons and because of their cellular organization, mushrooms are members of an entirely different food kingdom—fungi.
Finally, identify ideas and details from the summary that could support the thesis statement in the middle of this page. Use the questions below to check your work.
Which idea from the thesis statement does the summary focus on?
- the nutritional benefits of mushrooms
- mushrooms as a unique life-form
- the medical applications of mushrooms
The summary discusses why mushrooms are neither plants nor animals.
The summary discusses why mushrooms are neither plants nor animals.
The summary discusses why mushrooms are neither plants nor animals.
What information that appears in the article is left out of the research summary?
- that the fat in mushrooms is not cholesterol, found in mammals
- how mushrooms are different from plants
- how mushrooms used to be considered a type of plant
Other organisms, not just mushrooms, have fats not found in mammals.
Other organisms, not just mushrooms, have fats not found in mammals.
Other organisms, not just mushrooms, have fats not found in mammals.
Why does the summary not include some of the information that appears in the article?
- because it is too difficult to understand
- because it is not interesting to people
- because it is not included in the thesis
Summaries should focus on information that addresses the thesis statement.
Summaries should focus on information that addresses the thesis statement.
Summaries should focus on information that addresses the thesis statement.
Why does the summary include the information that mushrooms contain chitin?
- It provides a detail showing how mushrooms are like plants.
- It provides a detail showing how mushrooms are like animals.
- It provides a detail showing that mushrooms are unlike plants or animals.
This information supports the part of the thesis that says mushrooms are neither plants nor animals, and it also supports the larger claim that mushrooms are weird and wonderful.
This information supports the part of the thesis that says mushrooms are neither plants nor animals, and it also supports the larger claim that mushrooms are weird and wonderful.
This information supports the part of the thesis that says mushrooms are neither plants nor animals, and it also supports the larger claim that mushrooms are weird and wonderful.
Summary
Questions answered correctly:
Questions answered incorrectly:
