Summarizing

Introduction

Are you familiar with the phrase, the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else?

Writing a summary of a source is a very similar process to teaching someone the content–but in this
case, the student you’re teaching is yourself.

Summarizing–condensing someone else’s ideas and putting it into your own shortened form–allows you
to be sure that you’ve accurately captured the main idea of the text you’re reading.

How to Write Summary Statements

Use these processes to help you write summary statements:

Underline important information and write key words in margin.

Record ideas using a two-column note-taking system. Record questions you have about the text
concepts in the left column and answers you find in the reading in the right column.

Identify how concepts relate to what you already know.

Add examples and detail.

For retaining key ideas as you read, write a summary statement at the end of each paragraph or section.
For capturing the major ideas of the entire work, write a summary paragraph (or more) that describes
the entire text.

These summary statements will be very useful to draw from in the final step of the reading process,
reviewing.

For longer, overall summary projects that capture an entire reading, consider these guidelines for
writing a summary:
A summary should contain the main thesis or standpoint of the text, restated in your own words. (To do
this, first find the thesis statement in the original text.)

A summary is written in your own words. It contains few or no quotes.

A summary is always shorter than the original text, often about 1/3 as long as the original. It is the
ultimate fat-free writing. An article or paper may be summarized in a few sentences or a couple of
paragraphs. A book may be summarized in an article or a short paper. A very large book may be
summarized in a smaller book.

A summary should contain all the major points of the original text, and should ignore most of the fine
details, examples, illustrations or explanations.

The backbone of any summary is formed by crucial details (key names, dates, events, words and
numbers). A summary must never rely on vague generalities.

If you quote anything from the original text, even an unusual word or a catchy phrase, you need to put
whatever you quote in quotation marks (” “).

A summary must contain only the ideas of the original text. Do not insert any of your own opinions,
interpretations, deductions or comments into a summary.

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Summarizing

A summary is a synthesis of the key ideas of a piece of writing, restated in your own words – i.e.,
paraphrased. You may write a summary as a stand-alone assignment or as part of a longer paper.
Whenever you summarize, you must be careful not to copy the exact wording of the original source.

How do I summarize?

A good summary:

Identifies the writer of the original text.

Synthesizes the writer’s key ideas.

Presents the information neutrally.

Summaries can vary in length. Follow the directions given by your instructor for how long the summary
should be.

An example of summarizing:

Original text:

America has changed dramatically during recent years. Not only has the number of graduates in
traditional engineering disciplines such as mechanical, civil, electrical, chemical, and aeronautical
engineering declined, but in most of the premier American universities engineering curricula now
concentrate on and encourage largely the study of engineering science. As a result, there are declining
offerings in engineering subjects dealing with infrastructure, the environment, and related issues, and
greater concentration on high technology subjects, largely supporting increasingly complex scientific
developments. While the latter is important, it should not be at the expense of more traditional
engineering.

Rapidly developing economies such as China and India, as well as other industrial countries in Europe
and Asia, continue to encourage and advance the teaching of engineering. Both China and India,
respectively, graduate six and eight times as many traditional engineers as does the United States. Other
industrial countries at minimum maintain their output, while America suffers an increasingly serious
decline in the number of engineering graduates and a lack of well-educated engineers. (169 words)

(Source: Excerpted from Frankel, E.G. (2008, May/June) Change in education: The cost of sacrificing
fundamentals. MIT Faculty Newsletter, XX, 5, 13.)

One-paragraph Summary:

In a 2008 Faculty Newsletter article, “Change in Education: The cost of sacrificing fundamentals,” MIT
Professor Emeritus Ernst G. Frankel expresses his concerns regarding the current state of American
engineering education. He notes that the number of students focusing on traditional areas of
engineering has decreased while the number interested in the high-technology end of the field has
increased. Frankel points out that other industrial nations produce far more traditionally-trained
engineers than we do, and believes we have fallen seriously behind. (81 words)
Why is this a good summary?

The summary identifies the writer, the date of publication, and the source, and restates the key ideas
using original wording. The summary reports on the author’s point of view, but reports this neutrally.

One-line summary:

MIT Professor Emeritus Ernst G. Frankel (2008) has called for a return to a course of study that
emphasizes the traditional skills of engineering, noting that the number of American engineering
graduates with these skills has fallen sharply when compared to the number coming from other
countries. (47 words)

Why is this a good summary?

This one-line summary identifies the writer and synthesizes the key ideas. A short summary like this
might appear in the literature review of research paper in which the student gathers together the
findings or opinions of scholars on a given subject.

What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing?

Summarizing and paraphrasing are somewhat different. A paraphrase is about the same length as the
original source, while a summary is much shorter. Nevertheless, when you summarize, you must be
careful not to copy the exact wording of the original source. Follow the same rules as you would for
paraphrase.

https://integrity.mit.edu/handbook/academic-writing/summarizing

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Summarizing
Background

Summarizing teaches students how to take a large selection of text and reduce it to the main points for
more concise understanding. Upon reading a passage, summarizing helps students learn to determine
essential ideas and consolidate important details that support them. It is a technique that enables
students to focus on key words and phrases of an assigned text that are worth noting and remembering.

Benefits

Summarizing builds comprehension by helping to reduce confusion. Teachers train students to process
the information they read with the goal of breaking down content into succinct pieces. This strategy can
be used with the whole class, small groups, or as an individual assignment. Summarizing text by using
writing activities builds on prior knowledge, helps improve writing, and strengthens vocabulary skills.

Create and use the strategy

Pre-select and introduce the text to be used in the Summarizing technique. Decide whether to have
students use this strategy within one section, on one page, or with the entire book. Then, model the
process of sifting out extra verbiage and extraneous examples within the passage. Give your students
ample time and opportunities to practice.

Begin by reading OR have students listen to the text selection.

Ask students to write a summary of the target text based on the following framework questions:

What are the main ideas?

What are the crucial details necessary for supporting the ideas?

What information is irrelevant or unnecessary?

Guide students throughout the summary writing process. Have them use key words or phrases to
identify the main points from the text.

Encourage students to write successively shorter summaries, constantly refining their written piece until
only the most essential and relevant information remains.

What it looks like:

Sum It Up sheet*

Sum It Up directions*
Framed Paragraph: Lesson Closure*

* To view this file, you'll need a copy of Acrobat Reader. Most computers already have it installed. If
yours does not, you can download it now.

References

Jones, R. (2007). Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Summarizing. Retrieved 2008, January 29, from
http://www.readingquest.org/strat/summarize.html.

Guthrie, J. T. (2003). Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction: Practices of Teaching Reading for

Understanding. In C. Snow & A. Sweet (Eds.), Reading for Understanding: Implications of RAND Report
for Education (pp. 115-140). New York: Guilford.

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Summarizing

Background

Summarizing teaches students how to take a large selection of text and reduce it to the main points for
more concise understanding. Upon reading a passage, summarizing helps students learn to determine
essential ideas and consolidate important details that support them. It is a technique that enables
students to focus on key words and phrases of an assigned text that are worth noting and remembering.

Benefits

Summarizing builds comprehension by helping to reduce confusion. Teachers train students to process
the information they read with the goal of breaking down content into succinct pieces. This strategy can
be used with the whole class, small groups, or as an individual assignment. Summarizing text by using
writing activities builds on prior knowledge, helps improve writing, and strengthens vocabulary skills.

Create and use the strategy

Pre-select and introduce the text to be used in the Summarizing technique. Decide whether to have
students use this strategy within one section, on one page, or with the entire book. Then, model the
process of sifting out extra verbiage and extraneous examples within the passage. Give your students
ample time and opportunities to practice.

Begin by reading OR have students listen to the text selection.

Ask students to write a summary of the target text based on the following framework questions:

What are the main ideas?

What are the crucial details necessary for supporting the ideas?

What information is irrelevant or unnecessary?

Guide students throughout the summary writing process. Have them use key words or phrases to
identify the main points from the text.

Encourage students to write successively shorter summaries, constantly refining their written piece until
only the most essential and relevant information remains.

What it looks like:

Sum It Up sheet*

Sum It Up directions*

Framed Paragraph: Lesson Closure*

* To view this file, you'll need a copy of Acrobat Reader. Most computers already have it installed. If
yours does not, you can download it now.

References

Jones, R. (2007). Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Summarizing. Retrieved 2008, January 29, from
http://www.readingquest.org/strat/summarize.html.

Guthrie, J. T. (2003). Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction: Practices of Teaching Reading for

Understanding. In C. Snow & A. Sweet (Eds.), Reading for Understanding: Implications of RAND Report
for Education (pp. 115-140). New York: Guilford.

https://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-depts/slc/writing/sources/summarizing
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Summarizing

Written by Leora Freedman, English Language Learning, Arts & Science

Printable PDF Version

Fair-Use Policy

Summarizing a text, or distilling its essential concepts into a paragraph or two, is a useful study tool as
well as good writing practice. A summary has two aims: (1) to reproduce the overarching ideas in a text,
identifying the general concepts that run through the entire piece, and (2) to express these overarching
ideas using precise, specific language. When you summarize, you cannot rely on the language the author
has used to develop his or her points, and you must find a way to give an overview of these points
without your own sentences becoming too general. You must also make decisions about which concepts
to leave in and which to omit, taking into consideration your purposes in summarizing and also your
view of what is important in this text. Here are some methods for summarizing:First, prior to skimming,
use some of the previewing techniques.

Include the title and identify the author in your first sentence.

The first sentence or two of your summary should contain the author’s thesis, or central concept, stated
in your own words. This is the idea that runs through the entire text–the one you’d mention if someone
asked you: “What is this piece/article about?” Unlike student essays, the main idea in a primary
document or an academic article may not be stated in one location at the beginning. Instead, it may be
gradually developed throughout the piece or it may become fully apparent only at the end.

When summarizing a longer article, try to see how the various stages in the explanation or argument are
built up in groups of related paragraphs. Divide the article into sections if it isn’t done in the published
form. Then, write a sentence or two to cover the key ideas in each section.

Omit ideas that are not really central to the text. Don’t feel that you must reproduce the author’s exact
progression of thought. (On the other hand, be careful not to misrepresent ideas by omitting important
aspects of the author’s discussion).

In general, omit minor details and specific examples. (In some texts, an extended example may be a key
part of the argument, so you would want to mention it).

Avoid writing opinions or personal responses in your summaries (save these for active reading responses
or tutorial discussions).
Be careful not to plagiarize the author’s words. If you do use even a few of the author’s words, they
must appear in quotation marks. To avoid plagiarism, try writing the first draft of your summary without
looking back at the original text.

https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/researching/summarize/

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