Summary Writing
What is a Summary?
 In a summary the reader…
– Pulls out and focuses on central or key ideas
– Uses key words or phrases
– Puts the text into their own words
– Organizes the text into a condensed version
– Includes information from beginning, middle and
end of the selection
What usually happens when you are
asked to summarize?
 Write down EVERYTHING (way too much)
 Write down next to NOTHING (not
enough)
 Copy word for word
 Include information from only part of the
selection
Why Write a Summary?
 Summaries help the reader …
-Score well on the WASL and on class
summarizing assignments
-Identify and remember the main ideas of a
selection
– Logically condense information into a
shorter version using their own words so
they can remember the information
Goals for Summary Lessons
Learn to write a summary that has a
summarizing statement and at least three main
events.
To learn a strategy for writing summarizing
statements
To be able to decide if an event is a main event
Writing a Summary Statement
Start your summary with a
summarizing statement
What can help you to make a summarizing
statement-
I + V+ FT= A summarizing
statement
I=
Introduce
 Answer these questionsWhat is the title?
What format is it written in (article, book, poem,
etc…)
Who is the author?
For example,
“Tell-Tale Heart”, a short story, by Edgar Allan
Poe….
V=
Verb
 Use a verb (action word)
Some to considerDescribes Explains Shows Tells Convinces
For example“Tell-Tale Heart”, a short story, by Edgar Allan
Poe…describes
FT=
Finishing thought
 The main thing that happens in the story (the
gist).
For example,
“Tell-Tale Heart”, a short story, by Edgar Allan
Poe describes the thoughts, actions and
motivations of a crazed but clever man who
murdered someone because of his eye and then
uncontrollably confessed his crime to the police.
Practice with a partner
 Find someone who read the same story as
you (“The Landlady” or “The Monkey’s
Paw”)
 Write a summarizing statement for that story
 Be sure to include all the parts:
– I  Introduce author and title
– V  Verb: describes, tells, persuades etc.
– FT  Finishing Thought… main ideas from the
beginning, middle and end
Examples from “The Monkey’s Paw”
Summarizing Statement
Yes or No?
 “The Monkey’s Paw”, a short story by W.W.
Jacobs, describes the eerie qualities of a
magical cursed paw given to the White
family.
 “The Monkey’s Paw”, W.W. Jacobs’s spooky
short story, describes a magical cursed
monkey’s paw that the White family uses to
make wishes with dire consequences.
 This story describes a creepy paw with
magical powers that makes the White
family’s wishes come true but in horrible
ways.
Examples from “The Landlady”
Summarizing Statement
Yes or No?
 Roald Dahl creeps his reader out in his short
story, “The Landlady” which describes a
young man moving to a new town, looking
for a place to stay.
 In Roald Dahl’s short, creepy story, “The
Landlady,” he describes how a landlady at a
Bed and Breakfast has only had two guests
and stuffs her pets and guests.
 “The Landlady,” a short story by Roald Dahl
describes how a landlady cons her naïve
guests, in particular Billy Weaver, into
staying at her Bed and Breakfast until it is
too late for them to escape her manipulative
hold.