summarize-a-journal-article

name	summarize-a-journal-article
category	school
description	Summarize a journal article by preserving its question, method, sample, findings, uncertainty, limitations, and contribution. Use when a reader needs an accurate compact account of a study.

summarize-a-journal-article

Compress the article without upgrading its claims.

When to use

• Use for literature reviews, reading notes, briefings, or study guides.
• Do not infer causality, generalizability, or certainty beyond the article’s design and evidence.

Preconditions

• Obtain the complete article, citation, supplementary material where relevant, and any correction or retraction notice.

Procedure

1. Record citation, version, publication type, and correction status.
2. Identify the research question, theoretical frame, method, setting, sample, comparison, and measures.
3. Extract primary results with direction, magnitude, uncertainty, and stated robustness.
4. Separate author interpretation from measured findings.
5. Record limitations, missing groups, conflicts, funding, and data or code availability.
6. Write a compact summary in question-method-findings-limits-contribution order.
7. Compare every sentence to the source and add page or section references.

Failure plan

• If only an abstract is available, label the summary abstract-only.
• If statistical meaning is unclear, preserve the reported result and seek qualified review.

Worked example

A summary of a cohort study states the observed association and confidence interval, describes selection limits, and does not call the exposure a cause.

Done

• An article-summary document records the citation, question, method, sample, findings, uncertainty, limitations, and contribution
• Source, correction, page-reference, causal-language, conflict, and abstract-only checks verify accuracy