There are various methods to writing a summary of a specific paper.  How you read the paper, the ideas you want to focus on, and how objective you want to be all play crucial roles when writing a summary.

When reading the paper it’s important to know the authors point of view and what kind of audience you want to be.  The two methods of reading a paper are referred to as reading for the grain and against the grain, reading for the grain means acting as the ideal audience for the writers purpose, to be for the idea that is being presented and maybe even thinking of supporting ideas to improve and build upon the idea presented by the author.  Reading against the grain is challenging the author.  For each idea presented you think of a counter or rebuttal, you want to challenge the author and think of all the angles the author doesn’t want the reader to notice.

After reading with and against the grain your next focus should be on the vocabulary that you use, there are many different approaches to the vocabulary but one should be aware of the differences between “The author presents” and “The author argues” making sure that you stay objective is the largest goal when writing a summary.