Summary Writing

What is a Summary?

•A summary is the concise and logical form of the original passage, written in your very own words

Paraphrase vs. Summary

•A paraphrase contains most or all points of the original text

•A summary mentions only the main points of the original text

•A summary is approximately 20-30% in length of the original

How to Write a

Summary

•Read the passage carefully

•Identify the author’s main points to see what is important. Disregard minor details

•The main points are usually in

•What/where/when/why/who/how of the matter

•Write a one-sentence summary of each phase of thought. Do paraphrase.

•Put together all summaries into one

•Eliminate repetition

•Add transitional words to give the summary coherence

•Check the correctness and completeness against the original passage

From Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum, by L. Behrens and L. Rosen.

•Do not include your opinion, evaluation, or interpretation

•The summary should be a fair & objective restatement of the original passage

Be Aware

Sample Summary Even though we spend a fortune on space exploration, we still know very little about the deep sea on our own planet. Water pressure makes deep-sea exploration very difficult but we know there are many unknown life forms there and instruments suggest the presence of huge creatures. Space exploration is best done by machines but deep-sea exploration needs to be done by people, using both ships and submersibles. Marine exploration can help us understand the origins of life as well as to develop new medicines and sources of food and energy.

Let’s Practice

Archaeologists learn about the past by studying things ancient people left behind. The people can be grouped by the technology they used: Stone Age people used stone tools; Bronze Age people first made metal tools. A painting or carving may show people in arts. That's technology. Scraps of material are clues to how people used technology to make clothing. And written journals tell how people used technology to make medicines from plants.

Source - education.com

What’s the Main Point?

•Main points are usually written in the topic sentence

•A topic sentence is usually the first sentence of the paragraph [Usually, not always]

•The rest is details, which explain, develop or illustrate the main point

Main Point vs. Detail

Main point

Detail

Detail

Detail

Archaeologists learn about the past by studying things ancient people left behind

The people can be grouped by the technology they used

Stone Age people used stone tools; Bronze Age people first made metal tools

Scraps of material are clues to how people used technology to make clothing

And written journals tell how people used technology to make medicines from plants

Now What?

•Identify the main point

•Put important details together, and leave out minor ones

•Paraphrase

Summary

•Scientists find evidence of how people used different technologies at different times in history to make tools, clothing, and medicines.

Read, Write, Rewrite

•A paragraph must be coherent

•Start with the topic sentence

•Follow with supporting ideas

•Reread and revise so that the paragraph sounds logical