Summary Writing

Prepared by
Shakila Akter
Lecturer, Department of English, FASS
 What is summarizing?
What is a summary?

• Summarizing means taking larger selections of text and

reducing them to their bare essentials: the gist, the key ideas,
the main points that are worth noting and remembering.
• Webster calls a summary the "general idea in brief form";
it is the distillation, condensation, or reduction of a larger
work into its primary notions.
• A summary is the condensed version of a larger text.
 To Summarize You Have To...

 Pull out main ideas

 Focus on key details
 Use key words and phrases
 Break down the larger ideas
 Write only to convey the gist
 Take concise but complete notes
 Answer the questions- Who? What? Where?
Why? When? How?
 Importance of Summarizing

Summarizing helps and teaches to-

 Focus on key words and phrases of an
assigned text
 Determine essential ideas and consolidate
important details that support them
 Take a large selection of text and integrate the
central ideas for more concise understanding
 Ignore irrelevant information
 Types of

Main Point Summary

Key Points Summary
Outline Summary
 Main Point Summary

 Gives most importance on the

"facts" of the text
 Identifies the title, author, and
main point or argument
 (When relevant) Can also
include the text's source (book,
essay, periodical, journal, etc.)
 Main Point Summary Cont…

 Uses author tags, such as "In her article, Ms. A states/

argues/explains/says/asks/suggests…“
 Might also use a quote from the text (rarely)
 Often used when writing academic papers as a way to
introduce the reader to a source and its central ideas-
the abstract
 Key Point Summary

• Almost similar to main point

summary, but includes the reasons
and evidence(key points) the
author uses to support the text's
main idea
• May use direct quotes, key words,
phrases, or sentences from the text
 Key Point Summary Cont…

• Used when it is necessary for the summary

writer to fully explain an author's idea to the
reader
• Full accounting and complete representation
of the author's entire set of ideas
• Used in argumentative writing using an
agree/disagree response model
 Outline Summary

• Mimics the structure of the text being summarized

• Includes the main points and argument in the same order
they appear in the original text (similar to paraphrasing)
• Used when the accompanying response is analytic, such
as an evaluation of the logic or evidence used in a text
 Steps of Summarizing
• Skim the text, note the subheadings, divide the text
into sections (if possible)
• Consider the purpose of writing the summary
• Try to determine the type of the text
• Read the full text, highlight important information and
take notes
• Write down the main points of each section in your
own words
• Write down the key points but not minor details
• Redo the process again, making changes as needed