Summary Skills

Why summarize?

Reading Comprehension The best way to understand any text is to condense it into its main points. Before you can summarize, you must understand the information that you are condensing.

Research Paper Summarizing is important when you need to condense ideas from sources (e.g., books, articles, websites) for a research paper.

Summary & Analysis Summary and analysis assignments require you to express and analyze the main ideas of a text.

Summary A condensed version of text that only includes the main ideas. It may consist of a single word a single phrase several sentences and/or several paragraphs

Summaries Should be written in your own words Should match the tone of the original text Should make specific reference to the author and/or title and the page(s) of the text Should not include any of your opinions

Steps to Summarizing

Before you read the text… Preview Title A title usually condenses the main idea of the article. Subtitle The subtitle, caption, or any other words in large print under or next to the title may highlight important ideas . Headings and Subheadings Headings and subheadings break down the article into sections that relate to the author’s main idea. First and last several paragraphs The first and last several paragraphs often introduce and conclude the author’s argument or main point Other Items Bold-faced words, pictures, charts, or diagrams can “illustrate” main ideas.

Read Read once through without stopping. Do not focus on the details during your first reading. Just try to understand the main idea.

Evaluate Carefully read the text a second time. Use the surrounding context to understand words that are unfamiliar. Or use a dictionary! Look for definitions, examples, lists, tables, and graphs, which indicate key terms. Underline important ideas. Circle key terms. Note the main idea of each paragraph. Find the author’s main point or argument of the whole entire text. Evaluate

Look over the ideas you’ve underlined or highlighted. Consider headings and paragraphs in particular when looking at different key ideas. Rewrite key phrases from these ideas, word for word, using quotation marks (you may wish to consolidate before you do this! A common mistake is too highlight too much). Leave lines below each idea you’ve written down. From these cited phrases, reword each idea in your own words. Make a list of key words (the ones you circled, and others you feel are extremely important in gaining meaning of the article)., in the order they appear in the article. Then, cross out the original words—those that you wrote in quotation marks. You will not use these in your summary. Key Ideas and Key Words

Organize Start the summary with the title and author of the work. Write the author’s main point or argument in your own words. Write the remaining important ideas in your own words. Do not include examples, statistics, specific details, and quotations, if possible. Write the article’s conclusion in your own words. Organize the summary similar to the original text’s organization. Organize

Make sure that the summary is no more than 20% of the original (in general. For current events, you’ll do one page summaries, technically considered a “paraphrase” or longer summary). Do not use technical words from the original; use your own words as much as possible. Do not include too many details from the original. Do not plagiarize. Cite author and page numbers Proofread. Check List

Credits Works Cited Baez, Joan. Excerpt from And a Voice to Sing With. Inlandia. Ed. Gayle Wattawa. Berkely: Heyday, 2006. 201-04. Drucker, Phil. “How to Summarize.” Advanced Technical Writing. 2006. University of Idaho. 4 Mar. 2008 <http://www.class.uidaho.edu/adv_tech_wrt/resources/ general/how_to_summarize.htm>. Folwer, H. Ramsey and Jane E. Aaron. The Little, Brown Handbook. 10th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. Langan, John. College Writing Skills. 7th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2008. Wehmeyer, David. “Summary Writing.” Wisconsin Online Resource Center. 2007. 4 Mar. 2008 <http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/index_tj.asp?objID=TRG2603>.