Here’s how you start writing your summary.
Example
What is Summarizing?
According to Buckley (2004), in her popular writing text
Fit to Print, summarizing is reducing text to one-third or
one-quarter its original size, clearly articulating the
author’s meaning, and retaining main ideas.
According to Diane Hacker (2008), in A Canadian
Writer’s Reference, explains that summarizing involves
stating a work’s thesis and main ideas “simply, briefly,
and accurately”.
From dictionaries, it is defined as taking a lot of
information and creating a condensed version that
covers the main points; and to express the most
important facts or ideas about something or someone in
a short and clear form.
From the definitions, take a look on the pool of words
and phrases:
Various techniques in summarizing a variety of
academic texts:
1. Read the work first to understand the author’s
intent.
2. One of the summarization techniques you can
do is to present information through facts, skills
and concept in visual formats.
3. To avoid difficulty, you need first to know the
main points and the supporting details.
4. You need to analyze the text to save time in
thinking what you will do.
5. Think what information you will put in your
summary.
6. One of the best things to do in auto
summarizing is restating the words into
different one.
7. You will fully understand what the document is
when you organize all ideas.
8. One of the things you can do is to write down all
information in a coherent and precise form.
9. You can also decide to represent information
through using dimensional constructions in
representing concepts, skills or facts.
10. Paraphrasing is one of the skills you can do in
writing a summary.
1: Japanese Rail Tunnel Due to an increase in traffic
between the various island which make up Japan,
and predictions of a continuing growth in train
travel, a rail tunnel was built to connect the islands
of Honshu and Hokkaido. The Seikan Tunnel in
Japan is today the longest tunnel in the world, with
a length of almost 54km. When the tunnel was
opened in 1988, all existing trains went through it.
However, newer Japanese bullet trains have never
used the tunnel because of the cost of extending
the high speed line through it. Consequently, the
train journey from Tokyo to Sapporo still takes about
ten hours. In contrast, the journey by air takes only
three and a half hours. This has combined with the
fall in the cost of flying, has meant that more people
travel by plane than train and the tunnel is not used
as much as forecasters had predicted.
 Increase in traffic
 connect Islands (Honshu & Hokkaido )
 Predictions and continuing growth
 The longest rail tunnel
 opened 1988
 54km
 Opened in 1988
 Bullet trains
 Never used tunnel
 Fall in the cost of flying
 Not used as much as forecasters predicted
Another 5 Easy Techniques in Summarizing Various
Academic Texts Technique
1: Somebody Wanted But So Then
“Somebody Wanted But So Then” is an excellent
summarizing strategy for stories. Each word
represents a key question related to the story's
essential elements:
 Somebody: Who is the story about?
 Wanted: What does the main character want?
 But: Identify a problem that the main character
encountered.
 So: How does the main character solve the
problem?
 Then: Tell how the story ends.
Here is an example of this strategy in action:
 Somebody: Little Red Riding Hood
 Wanted: She wanted to take cookies to her sick
grandmother.
 But: She encountered a wolf pretending to be her
grandmother.
 So: She ran away, crying for help.
 Then: A woodsman heard her and saved her from
the wolf.
After answering the questions, combine the
answers to form a summary:
Little Red Riding Hood wanted to take cookies to her
sick grandmother, but she encountered a wolf. He
got to her grandmother’s house first and pretended
to be the old woman. He was going to eat Little Red
Riding Hood, but she realized what he was doing
and ran away, crying for help. A woodsman heard
the girl’s cries and saved her from the wolf.
Technique 2: SAAC Method
The SAAC method is another useful technique for
summarizing any kind of text (story, article, speech,
etc). SAAC is an acronym for "State, Assign, Action,
Complete." Each word in the acronym refers to a
specific element that should be included in the
summary.
 State: name of the article, book, or story
 Assign: the name of the author
 Action: what the author is doing (example: tells,
explains)
 Complete: complete the sentence or summary
with keywords and important details.
This method is particularly helpful for students who
are learning the format of a summary and need
reminders to include the title and author's name.
However, SAAC does not include clear guidance
about which details to include, which some students
might find tricky. If you use SAAC with your
students, remind them of the types of details that
belong in a summary before instructing them to
work independently. Here is an example of SAAC in
action:
 State: The Boy Who Cried Wolf
 Assign: Aesop (a Greek storyteller)
 Action: tells
 Complete: what happens when a shepherd boy
repeatedly lies to the villagers about seeing a wolf
Use the four SAAC cues to write out a summary of
"The Boy Who Cried Wolf" in complete sentences:
The Boy Who Cried Wolf, by Aesop (a Greek
storyteller), tells what happens when a shepherd
boy repeatedly lies to the villagers about seeing a
wolf. After a while, they ignore his false cries. Then,
when a wolf really does attack, they don’t come to
help him.
Technique 3: 5 W's, 1 H
The 5 W's, 1 H strategy relies on six crucial
questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
These questions make it easy to identify the main
character, the important details, and the main idea.
 Who is the story about?
 What did they do?
 When did the action take place?
 Where did the story happen?
 Why did the main character do what he/she did?
 How did the main character do what he/she did?
Try this technique with a familiar fable such as "The
Tortoise and the Hare."
 Who? The tortoise
 What? He raced a quick, boastful hare and won.
 When? When isn’t specified in this story, so it’s
not important in this case.
 Where? An old country road
 Why? The tortoise was tired of hearing the hare
boast about his speed.
 How? The tortoise kept up his slow but steady
pace.
Then, use the answers to the 5 W's and 1 H to write
a summary of incomplete sentences.
Tortoise got tired of listening to Hare boast about
how fast he was, so he challenged Hare to a race.
Even though he was slower than Hare, Tortoise won
by keeping up his slow and steady pace when Hare
stopped to take a nap.
Technique 4: First, Then, Finally
The "First Then Finally" technique helps students
summarize events in chronological order. The three
words represent the beginning, main action, and
conclusion of a story, respectively:
 First. What happened first? Include the main
character and main event/action.
 Then. What key details took place during the
event/action?
 Finally. What were the results of the event/action?
Here is an example using "Goldilocks and the Three
Bears."
First, Goldilocks entered the bears' home while they
were gone. Then, she ate their food, sat in their
chairs, and slept in their beds. Finally, she woke up
to find the bears watching her, so she jumped up
and ran away.
Technique 5: Give Me the Gist
When someone asks for "the gist" of a story, they
want to know what the story is about. In other
words, they want a summary—not a retelling of
every detail. To introduce the gist method, explain
that summarizing is just like giving a friend the gist
of a story, and have your students tell each other
about their favorite books or movies in 15 seconds
or less. You can use the gist method as a fun, quick
way to practice summarizing on a regular basis.
When summarizing is useful?
Summarizing is useful in many types of writing and
at different points in the writing process.
Summarizing is used to support an argument,
provide context for a paper’s thesis, write literature
reviews, and annotate a bibliography. The benefit of
summarizing lies in showing the "big picture," which
allows the reader to contextualize what you are
saying. In addition to the advantages of
summarizing for the reader, as a writer you gain a
better sense of where you are going with your
writing, which parts need elaboration, and whether
you have comprehended the information you have
collected.
Directions: Following the techniques above,
summarize the texts by completing the sample
graphic organizer below.
Essay 1: Importance of Education
Education is a process that involves the transfer
of knowledge, habits and skills from one generation
to another through teaching, research and training.
It can be in a formal or informal setting. Formal
education involves institutionalized learning based
on a curriculum. In today’s society, education and
learning play an indispensable role in shaping the
lives of individuals and the society at large. The
most effective way of boosting economic growth,
reducing poverty and improving people’s health is
by investing in education.
sustainable environmental management
mechanisms. Education further alleviates poverty
through skills acquired in the learning process. Skills
such as carpentry, plumbing and masonry are
relevant in non-formal economies. One can acquire
these skills through technical and vocational
training.
Educated people are health conscious and live
longer than their counterparts because they engage
in healthy habits such as eating a balanced diet,
exercising regularly and going for medical check ups.
By investing in education, one will also be investing
in their health. Education serves to create room for
technological advancements in the field of medicine
and agriculture. Advanced technology used for
conducting surgery has replaced traditional
methods. This has seen an improvement in people’s
general health and an increased life expectancy.
Most developing countries have a low life
expectancy compared to developed countries. This
can be attributed to high illiteracy levels present in
developing countries. This translates to poor health
and poor eating habits.
In conclusion, education is the only means of
alleviating poverty, improving people’s health and
increasing economic growth. Improving literacy
levels in marginalized societies will go a long way in
improving human living standards. increase
economic security, create income opportunities and
improve livelihoods of the economically
disadvantaged by providing.

Human labor is essential for economic growth.

A highly educated labor force further stimulates
economic growth. Additionally, a highly educated
labor force can easily adapt to new working
environments and conditions. In view of that, it is
evident that education serves as the driving force
for innovation of new products and services.
Educated workers exchange ideas in the work place
and come up with new ideas that help in the growth
of the economy.

Education reduces poverty in a number of ways.

One way is by creating employment opportunities
for educated people. Through employment, one is
able to afford a decent living. Education helps to