1. Summary of Article (approximately 300+ words)
I would recommend beginning your summary with a paragraph that provides a broad overview of the article’s main
purpose. What is the article about? What is the context? What do the authors say is strong or weak in this topic area? What
do they say is missing or needs to be addressed? What is the “So what?” or why you should care about this article? What
do they propose to do in the article to address the issues they raise? This part of the summary can usually be developed by
reading the opening or introduction section of the article.
Next, in the second part of the summary section, provide a 12
paragraph summary of the article’s main points or
contributions. This part of the summary should not be a list of items or a lengthy detailed summary of all main points. For
example, if the authors in a particular article propose a 4step
process to address a certain problem and then discuss three
key success factors, list the 4 steps and provide a sentence explaining each step while also identifying and briefly
summarizing the 3 key success factors.
For most articles, this section will be ½ to ¾ of a page singlespaced.
2. Personal/Professional Takeaways (approximately 200+ words for each takeaway):
While the first requirement is required so that you can demonstrate you have read the article and can identify the major
contributions, the takeaway section is included to encourage students to think critically about the article and how it may or
may not affect them.
Unless otherwise noted, you should provide two takeaways from the article. What did you like about the article? What do
you find meaningful? What did you not like? What could the authors have done better? Are there parts of the article that you
believe you or your organization can apply at work? Are there examples from your own experiences that support,
demonstrate, or contradict points made in the article? Do you see a connection to an article, case, or assignment in another
OMBA class or previous Marketing Strategy module?
In the end, there are truly no “right” or “wrong” takeaways.” Instead, the key to performing well in this section is to clearly
state your takeaway in one or two sentences and then spend several more sentences explaining and supporting your
assertion or conclusion. Be specific in your analysis and avoid general statements that do not help support your position.
Also, while you will typically need to reference a point or section of the article to provide context for your takeaway, the
majority of the takeaway should be your analysis. Be careful not to spend a significant portion of the takeaway resummarizing
the article.
Given the expectations for each section, the overall length of an article summary does not typically exceed 1 ½ pages (or
700 words) singlespaced.
