What is a Summary?
A summary is a shorter version of a longer work. It is a good way to see the main points of the work. To write a summary, you need to understand the main ideas in an article, essay, television show, or film and then write them down in a shorter form.
A summary is a shorter description of another work. It tells the reader what the work is about, and also shows the writer's understanding of it.
When to Write a Summary?
There are many reasons why you might have to summarize an article or other source. Here are some of them:
- Students can write a summary as a stand-alone assignment to show their understanding of a text.
- A summary is a good way to remember what you have read. You can write down your notes to help you.
- When writing a literature review, it is important to summarize the work of other researchers.
Summary Writing Format
There are two main types of summary writing, which depend on the length of the article or how long the original text is. The two types are detailed below.
Summary Writing Format for Shorter Text
This is a summary writing format for shorter texts that include 10 pages or less.
- Write a sentence summarizing each paragraph in one line each.
- Write a concluding sentence summarizing the whole of the text in a single line.
- It is often better to write a summary of a text in the form of a paragraph. In this way, the main points of each paragraph are summarized and the overall message of the text is conveyed cohesively. This approach can be especially helpful when there is a lot of information to cover.
- To complete the summary, you must first rearrange and rewrite the paragraph to make it clear and concise. The rewritten paragraph should eliminate repetition and relatively minor points, and provide transitions.
Summary Writing Format for Longer Text
This is the format for writing summaries of longer texts.
- The first step is to understand the text. This will help you see the text's main points and understand it better.
- You should summarize each section of your outline in a sentence or two.
- Summarize the whole article in a single sentence taking help from the thesis statement of the topic sentence.
- The summary of longer texts can exceed a single paragraph but still keep it brief.
- Towards the end, you need to rewrite and rearrange your paragraph(s) as needed to make your writing clear and concise. This includes eliminating relatively minor or repetitious points, providing transitions between ideas, and ensuring that each sentence provides a clear idea.
- You should include all the major points in your summary to create a cohesive piece of writing.
How to Write a Summary of an Article?
If you want to write a good summary, follow these steps:
1. Read the Article Carefully
You should read the article more than once so you can understand it well. It is often helpful to read it in three stages:
- Scan: Read the article quickly to get an overview or idea of what it is about.
- Read: As you read the article, make sure to take note of key points. Highlight important points so you can review them later.
- Skim: Make sure you understand the main points of the article and read any difficult or important passages again.
To make the most of your time with an article, try these simple tricks to understand it quickly and easily!
- To start, read the author's summary of their work. This is the abstract which gives you a short overview of what to expect from the article.
- When you are reading a piece of writing, it is important to pay attention to the headings and subheadings. They will tell you what each part of the text is about.
- When you compare the introduction and conclusion, you can see what the author wanted to say. The introduction explains the topic, and the conclusion wraps everything up.
2. Divide the Article into Sections
There are several ways to break down the text so that it is more manageable and easier to understand its sub-points. The text may be organized into clearly marked sections, usually including an introduction, methods, results, and discussion if it is a scientific paper.
Many articles and essays have a structure that is not based on sections. But they will usually have a series of points or themes that are discussed.
3. Identify the Key Points of Each Section
The article discusses several points that are important for understanding the argument or conclusion. The reader needs to be aware of these points in order to understand the article. So, identify such major elements in each section and mark them.
When writing a summary, you should not try to paraphrase every single paragraph. You should focus on extracting the key points and leaving out any background information or details that are not essential to understanding the article.
4. Write the Summary
To summarize an article, you should put the author’s thoughts in your own words. Do not copy and paste any part of it or even just one sentence - that's plagiarism! Just identify the significant findings and write them as if you had to write the paper.
5. Proofread to Make the Final Draft
We all know how hard it is to summarize an entire article in just a few sentences, but you should make sure that your summary accurately represents what was written.
It's also important not to miss any essential information from the original text but be careful not to use similar phrases or sentences from your source material. Do this without changing them up too much so it's still interesting!
Examples of Great Summaries
Here are some examples of summaries that will help you learn better.
Here is a sample of how to write a book summary:
How to Write a LinkedIn Summary
If you want to learn how to write a professional summary then go through this LinkedIn summary sample.
How to Write a Summary of a Paragraph
Thinking about how to write a summary of a passage? Check out this example.
Tips to Write an Impressive Summary
Here are some tips that will help ensure that you write an impressive summary:
- Focus on Author’s Objective: Remember to capture the main point or idea when summarizing a text.
- Write To The Point: Remember that a summary is a short, concise paragraph that summarizes the original text. This means you should include the most important points and leave out any unnecessary information.
- Be Relevant: When writing a summary, it is important to stick to the most relevant information from the text or media. You should remain unbiased and avoid including your opinions.
- Ensure Clarity: Make sure your writing flows together and is clear. Connect your sentences with transition words, and make sure your summary is clear.
A summary is a shortened, condensed version of an article that includes the main points and ideas. When writing a summary, it is important to be concise and to the point, while still maintaining the author's tone and style.
In this blog post, we've outlined the basics of how to write a summary as well as some tips for making your summaries more effective. Do follow these to write a summary that impresses your instructors.
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