What should appear in a summary

Proficient students understand that summarizing , identifying what is most important and restating the text in your own words, is an important tool for college success. After all, if you really know a subject, you will be able to summarize it. If you cannot summarize a subject, even if you have memorized all the facts about it, you can be absolutely sure that you have not learned it. And, if you truly learn the subject, you will still be able to summarize it months or years from now.

Proficient students may monitor their understanding of a text by summarizing as they read. They understand that if they can write a one- or two-sentence summary of each paragraph after reading it, then that is a good sign that they have correctly understood it.

If they can not summarize the main idea of the paragraph, they know that comprehension has broken down and they need to use fix-up strategies to repair understanding. Since writing a summary consists of omitting minor information, it will always be shorter than the original text. Skip to main content. Module 4: Reading to Understand. Words that are repeated several times are likely to be keywords. Transition words can help understanding of the overall structure of a passage. List or cluster the main idea of the whole piece, the main supporting ideas, and the main evidence for each idea.

Use of the same keywords or technical expressions is probably unavoidable. However, be careful to express the ideas in your own way, using your own vocabulary and expressions as much as possible, rather than copying or just rearranging.

Do not include too much detail. Part II What is a good summary? A good summary should give an objective outline of the whole piece of writing.

It should answer basic questions about the original text such as "Who did what, where, and when? It should not be a paraphrase of the whole text using your own words. A reference should be made to the original piece either in the title "A Summary of You should not give your own ideas or criticisms as part of the summary.

However, if you want to comment on a piece of writing it is usual to begin by summarizing it as objectively as possible. A good summary should not include selected examples, details, or information which are not relevant to the piece of writing taken as a whole.

A good summary of an essay should probably include the main idea of each paragraph, and the main evidence supporting that idea, unless it is not relevant to the article or essay as a whole. A summary does not need a conclusion, but if the original ends with a message to the reader this should not be left out. A good summary of a chapter should probably include the main idea of each group of paragraphs or each section; a good summary of a book should probably include the main idea of each chapter, or perhaps the main idea of each section of each chapter.

A good summary may use key words from the original text but should not contain whole phrases or sentences from the original unless quotation marks are used. Quotations should only be made if there is a reason for using the original words, for example because the choice of words is significant, or because the original is so well expressed. Rearranging the words used in the original, or keeping the same structure but just substituting different words is not enough. You will almost always begin a summary with an introduction to the author, article, and publication so the reader knows what we are about to read.

This information will appear again in your bibliography, but is also useful here so the reader can follow the conversation happening in your paper. You will want to provide it in both places.

He notes that some technologies, such as cochlear implants, are already accomplishing a version of this for people who do not have full access to one of the five senses. In much of the article, though, he seems more interested in how technology might expand the ways in which we sense things.

Some of these technologies are based in senses that can be seen in nature, such as echolocation, and others seem more deeply rooted in science fiction. However, all of the examples he gives consider how adding new senses to the ones we already experience might change how we perceive the world around us. Again, this will look a little different depending on the purpose of the summary work you are doing. What are the key points the author makes about each of those big-picture main ideas? Depending on the kind of text you are summarizing, you may want to note how the main ideas are supported although, again, be careful to avoid making your own opinion about those supporting sources known.

When you are summarizing with an end goal that is broader than just summary, the body of your summary will still present the idea from the original text that is relevant to the point you are making condensed and in your own words. Since it is much more common to summarize just a single idea or point from a text in this type of summarizing rather than all of its main points , it is important to make sure you understand the larger points of the original text.

For example, you might find that an article provides an example that opposes its main point in order to demonstrate the range of conversations happening on the topic it covers. This is the place to put those. This is also a good place to state or restate the things that are most important for your readers to remember after reading your summary. Skip to content Drafting. Why Summarize? You might summarize a section from a source, or even the whole source, when the ideas in that source are critical to an assignment you are working on and you feel they need to be included, but they would take up too much space in their original form.

For example, technical documents or in-depth studies might go into much, much more detail than you are likely to need to support a point you are making for a general audience. These are situations in which a summary might be a good option. Summarizing is also an excellent way to double-check that you understand a text—if you can summarize the ideas in it, you likely have a good grasp on the information it is presenting.

This can be helpful for school-related work, such as studying for an exam or researching a topic for a paper, but is also useful in daily life when you encounter texts on topics that are personally or professionally interesting to you.