Summarizing

In order to use information from an article or book chapter, you need to thoroughly understand what it says. Summarizing is a way to “digest” the information and state the essential content clearly. A summary, also called a précis or an abstract, captures the core content of a piece of writing in one-third or less of the original word count. Use the checklist given below as a guide for completing your summaries.

Five Steps for Writing an Effective Summary

1. Read the original document actively.

• Read the title, introduction, headings and subheadings, conclusion, and other features designed to indicate the key points in the writing.
• Reread the writing, highlighting key ideas.
  • Note any signal words emphasizing importance, for example, crucial, vital, sign prominent, extraordinary. These words generally indicate the value the author has placed on the material.
  • Note any charts, boxed information, or lists as well as specific names, dates, distances, amounts, conditions, and statistics. These elements often represent a brief version of what the writer considers important.

2. Make a list of the key ideas you’ve identified.

• Express these ideas in your own words. Consult a dictionary for any word in the original that is unfamiliar to you so that you express its meaning correctly.
• Write these ideas out in complete sentence form.

3. Eliminate the least essential ideas from your preliminary list.

• Avoid more than one reference to the same point.
• Trim or discard lengthy examples and explanations.
• Cut any material taken from footnotes.

4. Use the sentences you have written to create a draft summary.

• Include enough information so that the summary makes sense for someone who has not read the original.
• Present the material in your summary in the same order as the original document.
• Unless instructed otherwise, don’t include your own opinion of the original.
• Provide transition wherever it is needed so that your draft seems like a coherent paragraph and not just a list of sentences.

5. Revise your draft summary.

• Make sure that the summary makes sense independent of the original.
• Make sure you have supplied sufficient transition.
• Make sure you have eliminated any of your own commentary of the original.
• Make sure you have eliminated any errors.

The OWL at Purdue provides helpful tips on summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/01/