How To Summarize
v What is a summary?
A summary is a shortened version of an original text. It includes the thesis and major
supporting points, and should reveal the relationship between the major points and the
thesis. In other words, a summary restates the author's main point, purpose, intent and
supporting details in your own words.
v What is the process of summary?
It is the process of gathering the main idea.
v How long is a Summary?
It may be any length, from 25-30 % of the original to one sentence.
v How to summarize?
There are several techniques to be used while summarizing a text and they all stress full
understanding of a text and require the reader to spot the main or major ideas in it. But
before we move any further, here are some useful tips about summarizing:
ü Restate, that is repeat the ideas of the source in different words and phrases
ü Do not add your own ideas, opinions or judgment of the arguments
ü Make it shorter than the source
v What you need?
1- A big, ugly, overwhelming text: to dissect and shrink.
2- A Hi-lighter: to locate the text’s important parts.
3- Paper: to write down the main point, purpose of the text, major points and
documentation information.
4- A ruthless, but respectful attitude: to conquer the mess.
v What is the Difference Between paraphrasing and summarizing?
ü To paraphrase means to express someone else's ideas in your own language. To
summarize means to distill only the most essential points of someone else's work.
ü Think about how much of the detail from your source is relevant. If all your reader needs
to know is the ‘bare bones’, then summarize.
Step 1: Topic
ü Locate the topic.
The topic is a word or phrase that says what the text is about.
ü Try to be as specific as possible about the topic.
ü Pick out the less important or repeated ideas from the story and eliminate them.
Step 2: Purpose
ü What is the purpose of the text?
ü Does it tell a story (narrate)? Inform? Persuade or raise readers' awareness of an issue?
ü Pick out important details that are necessary to the story.
Step 3: What is the Thesis?
ü Look for the thesis (what the author is saying about the topic).
ü Look first in the introduction, then in the conclusion; writers often write explicit thesis
statements.
ü Write the thesis in your own words (and make sure it matches your sense of the author's
purpose).
ü Highlight the important details using keywords.
Step4: Divisions in the Text
ü Look for the major divisions of the text. In your own words, summarize each division in
one sentence.
ü (That may mean summarizing each paragraph, but often several paragraphs go together).
ü Make a list of all major points.
Step5: Organizing Sentences
ü Work with the sentences you have created to produce a summary.
ü Be ruthless: a good summary is SUCCINCT (you may leave some information out -- as
long as it is ‘extraneous’)
ü Make sure you reveal the relationships between the ideas. Are there
contrasts or comparisons between some of the ideas?
REMEMBER
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Summaries are short restatements of a work's main points.
When writing a summary, be sure to record the work's major ideas.
Summaries condense a text's main ideas into a few concise sentences.
A summarized work is always much shorter than the original.
A summary of a work's thesis and supporting points should be written in your own words.
Tips
ü When summarizing, avoid examples, asides, analogies, and rhetorical strategies.
ü Only quote and paraphrase words and phrases that you feel you absolutely must to
reproduce exactly the author's or authors' full meaning.
ü Keep in mind that your summary must fairly represent the author's or authors' original
ideas.
Checklist
ü Reread your source until you fully understand it.
ü Write a one sentence restatement of the source's main idea without looking at the
source.
ü Use the text’s main idea as your summary's topic sentence.
ü Pull out the text’s main ideas.
ü Write the summary in your own words. Avoid looking at your source while writing
your summary.
ü If you must include some of the source's original words and phrases, quote and
paraphrase accurately.
ü Document the source's author, title, date of publication and any other important
citation information.
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