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How to Write a Summary (Examples Included)

Ashley Shaw

Have you ever recommended a book to someone and given them a quick overview? Then you’ve created a summary before!

Summarizing is a common part of everyday communication. It feels easy when you’re recounting what happened on your favorite show, but what do you do when the information gets a little more complex?

Written summaries come with their own set of challenges. You might ask yourself:

• What details are unnecessary?
• How do you put this in your own words without changing the meaning?
• How close can you get to the original without plagiarizing it?
• How long should it be?

The answers to these questions depend on the type of summary you are doing and why you are doing it.

A summary in an academic setting is different to a professional summary—and both of those are very different to summarizing a funny story you want to tell your friends.

One thing they all have in common is that you need to relay information in the clearest way possible to help your reader understand. We’ll look at some different forms of summary, and give you some tips on each.

Let’s get started!

What Is a Summary?

How do you write a summary, how do you write an academic summary, what are the four types of academic summaries, how do i write a professional summary, writing or telling a summary in personal situations, summarizing summaries.

A summary is a shorter version of a larger work. Summaries are used at some level in almost every writing task, from formal documents to personal messages.

When you write a summary, you have an audience that doesn’t know every single thing you know.

When you want them to understand your argument, topic, or stance, you may need to explain some things to catch them up.

Instead of having them read the article or hear every single detail of the story or event, you instead give them a brief overview of what they need to know.

Academic, professional, and personal summaries each require you to consider different things, but there are some key rules they all have in common.

Let’s go over a few general guides to writing a summary first.

1. A summary should always be shorter than the original work, usually considerably.

Even if your summary is the length of a full paper, you are likely summarizing a book or other significantly longer work.

2. A summary should tell the reader the highlights of what they need to know without giving them unnecessary details.

3. It should also include enough details to give a clear and honest picture.

For example, if you summarize an article that says “ The Office is the greatest television show of all time,” but don’t mention that they are specifically referring to sitcoms, then you changed the meaning of the article. That’s a problem! Similarly, if you write a summary of your job history and say you volunteered at a hospital for the last three years, but you don’t add that you only went twice in that time, it becomes a little dishonest.

4. Summaries shouldn’t contain personal opinion.

While in the longer work you are creating you might use opinion, within the summary itself, you should avoid all personal opinion. A summary is different than a review. In this moment, you aren’t saying what you think of the work you are summarizing, you are just giving your audience enough information to know what the work says or did.

Now that we have a good idea of what summaries are in general, let’s talk about some specific types of summary you will likely have to do at some point in your writing life.

An academic summary is one you will create for a class or in other academic writing. The exact elements you will need to include depend on the assignment itself.

However, when you’re asked for an academic summary, this usually this means one of five things, all of which are pretty similar:

• You need to do a presentation in which you talk about an article, book, or report.
• You write a summary paper in which the entire paper is a summary of a specific work.
• You summarize a class discussion, lesson, or reading in the form of personal notes or a discussion board post.
• You do something like an annotated bibliography where you write short summaries of multiple works in preparation of a longer assignment.
• You write quick summaries within the body of another assignment . For example, in an argumentative essay, you will likely need to have short summaries of the sources you use to explain their argument before getting into how the source helps you prove your point.

Regardless of what type of summary you are doing, though, there are a few steps you should always follow:

• Skim the work you are summarizing before you read it. Notice what stands out to you.
• Next, read it in depth . Do the same things stand out?
• Put the full text away and write in a few sentences what the main idea or point was.
• Go back and compare to make sure you didn’t forget anything.
• Expand on this to write and then edit your summary.

Each type of academic summary requires slightly different things. Let’s get down to details.

How Do I Write a Summary Paper?

Sometimes teachers assign something called a summary paper . In this, the entire thing is a summary of one article, book, story, or report.

To understand how to write this paper, let’s talk a little bit about the purpose of such an assignment.

A summary paper is usually given to help a teacher see how well a student understands a reading assignment, but also to help the student digest the reading. Sometimes, it can be difficult to understand things we read right away.

However, a good way to process the information is to put it in our own words. That is the point of a summary paper.

A summary paper is:

• A way to explain in our own words what happened in a paper, book, etc.
• A time to think about what was important in the paper, etc.
• A time to think about the meaning and purpose behind the paper, etc.

Here are some things that a summary paper is not:

• A review. Your thoughts and opinions on the thing you are summarizing don’t need to be here unless otherwise specified.
• A comparison. A comparison paper has a lot of summary in it, but it is different than a summary paper. In this, you are just saying what happened, but you aren’t saying places it could have been done differently.
• A paraphrase (though you might have a little paraphrasing in there). In the section on using summary in longer papers, I talk more about the difference between summaries, paraphrases, and quotes.

Because a summary paper is usually longer than other forms of summary, you will be able to chose more detail. However, it still needs to focus on the important events. Summary papers are usually shorter papers.

Let’s say you are writing a 3–4 page summary. You are likely summarizing a full book or an article or short story, which will be much longer than 3–4 pages.

Imagine that you are the author of the work, and your editor comes to you and says they love what you wrote, but they need it to be 3–4 pages instead.

How would you tell that story (argument, idea, etc.) in that length without losing the heart or intent behind it? That is what belongs in a summary paper.

How Do I Write Useful Academic Notes?

Sometimes, you need to write a summary for yourself in the form of notes or for your classmates in the form of a discussion post.

You might not think you need a specific approach for this. After all, only you are going to see it.

However, summarizing for yourself can sometimes be the most difficult type of summary. If you try to write down everything your teacher says, your hand will cramp and you’ll likely miss a lot.

Yet, transcribing doesn’t work because studies show that writing things down (not typing them) actually helps you remember them better.

So how do you find the balance between summarizing the lessons without leaving out important points?

There are some tips for this:

• If your professor writes it on the board, it is probably important.
• What points do your textbooks include when summarizing information? Use these as a guide.
• Write the highlight of every X amount of time, with X being the time you can go without missing anything or getting tired. This could be one point per minute, or three per five minutes, etc.

How Do I Create an Annotated Biography?

An annotated bibliography requires a very specific style of writing. Often, you will write these before a longer research paper . They will ask you to find a certain amount of articles and write a short annotation for each of them.

While an annotation is more than just a summary, it usually starts with a summary of the work. This will be about 2–3 sentences long. Because you don’t have a lot of room, you really have to think about what the most important thing the work says is.

This will basically ask you to explain the point of the article in these couple of sentences, so you should focus on the main point when expressing it.

Here is an example of a summary section within an annotation about this post:

“In this post, the author explains how to write a summary in different types of settings. She walks through academic, professional, and personal summaries. Ultimately, she claims that summaries should be short explanations that get the audience caught up on the topic without leaving out details that would change the meaning.”

Can I Write a Summary Within an Essay?

Perhaps the most common type of summary you will ever do is a short summary within a longer paper.

For example, if you have to write an argumentative essay, you will likely need to use sources to help support your argument.

However, there is a good chance that your readers won’t have read those same sources.

So, you need to give them enough detail to understand your topic without spending too much time explaining and not enough making your argument.

While this depends on exactly how you are using summary in your paper, often, a good amount of summary is the same amount you would put in an annotation.

Just a few sentences will allow the reader to get an idea of the work before moving on to specific parts of it that might help your argument.

What’s the Difference Between Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Using Quotes?

One important thing to recognize when using summaries in academic settings is that summaries are different than paraphrases or quotes.

A summary is broader and more general. A paraphrase, on the other hand, puts specific parts into your own words. A quote uses the exact words of the original. All of them, however, need to be cited.

Let’s look at an example:

Take these words by Thomas J. Watson:

”Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t as all. You can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.”

Let’s say I was told to write a summary, a paraphrase, and a quote about this statement. This is what it might look like:

Summary: Thomas J. Watson said that the key to success is actually to fail more often. (This is broad and doesn’t go into details about what he says, but it still gives him credit.)

Paraphrase: Thomas J. Watson, on asking if people would like his formula for success, said that the secret was to fail twice as much. He claimed that when you decide to learn from your mistakes instead of being disappointed by them, and when you start making a lot of them, you will actually find more success. (This includes most of the details, but it is in my own words, while still crediting the source.)

Quote: Thomas J. Watson said, ”Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.” (This is the exact words of the original with quotation marks and credit given.)

Avoiding Plagiarism

One of the hardest parts about summarizing someone else’s writing is avoiding plagiarism .

That’s why I have a few rules/tips for you when summarizing anything:

1. Always cite.

If you are talking about someone else’s work in any means, cite your source. If you are summarizing the entire work, all you probably need to do (depending on style guidelines) is say the author’s name. However, if you are summarizing a specific chapter or section, you should state that specifically. Finally, you should make sure to include it in your Work Cited or Reference page.

2. Change the wording.

Sometimes when people are summarizing or paraphrasing a work, they get too close to the original, and actually use the exact words. Unless you use quotation marks, this is plagiarism. However, a good way to avoid this is to hide the article while you are summarizing it. If you don’t have it in front of you, you are less likely to accidentally use the exact words. (However, after you are done, double check that you didn’t miss anything important or give wrong details.)

3. Use a plagiarism checker.

Of course, when you are writing any summary, especially academic summaries, it can be easy to cross the line into plagiarism. If this is a place where you struggle, then ProWritingAid can help.

Just use our Plagiarism Report . It’ll highlight any unoriginal text in your document so you can make sure you are citing everything correctly and summarizing in your own words.

Find out more about ProWritingAid plagiarism bundles.

Along with academic summaries, you might sometimes need to write professional summaries. Often, this means writing a summary about yourself that shows why you are qualified for a position or organization.

In this section, let’s talk about two types of professional summaries: a LinkedIn summary and a summary section within a resume.

How Do I Write My LinkedIn Bio?

LinkedIn is all about professional networking. It offers you a chance to share a brief glimpse of your professional qualifications in a paragraph or two.

This can then be sent to professional connections, or even found by them without you having to reach out. This can help you get a job or build your network.

Your summary is one of the first things a future employer might see about you, and how you write yours can make you stand out from the competition.

Here are some tips on writing a LinkedIn summary :

• Before you write it, think about what you want it to do . If you are looking for a job, what kind of job? What have you done in your past that would stand out to someone hiring for that position? That is what you will want to focus on in your summary.
• Be professional . Unlike many social media platforms, LinkedIn has a reputation for being more formal. Your summary should reflect that to some extent.
• Use keywords . Your summary is searchable, so using keywords that a recruiter might be searching for can help them find you.
• Focus on the start . LinkedIn shows the first 300 characters automatically, and then offers the viewer a chance to read more. Make that start so good that everyone wants to keep reading.
• Focus on accomplishments . Think of your life like a series of albums, and this is your speciality “Greatest Hits” album. What “songs” are you putting on it?

How Do I Summarize My Experience on a Resume?

Writing a professional summary for a resume is different than any other type of summary that you may have to do.

Recruiters go through a lot of resumes every day. They don’t have time to spend ages reading yours, which means you have to wow them quickly.

To do that, you might include a section at the top of your resume that acts almost as an elevator pitch: That one thing you might say to a recruiter to get them to want to talk to you if you only had a 30-second elevator ride.

If you don’t have a lot of experience, though, you might want to skip this section entirely and focus on playing up the experience you do have.

Outside of academic and personal summaries, you use summary a lot in your day-to-day life.

Whether it is telling a good piece of trivia you just learned or a funny story that happened to you, or even setting the stage in creative writing, you summarize all the time.

How you use summary can be an important consideration in whether people want to read your work (or listen to you talk).

Here are some things to think about when telling a story:

• Pick interesting details . Too many and your point will be lost. Not enough, and you didn’t paint the scene or give them a complete idea about what happened.
• Play into the emotions . When telling a story, you want more information than the bare minimum. You want your reader to get the emotion of the story. That requires a little bit more work to accomplish.
• Focus. A summary of one story can lead to another can lead to another. Think about storytellers that you know that go off on a tangent. They never seem to finish one story without telling 100 others!

To wrap up (and to demonstrate everything I just talked about), let’s summarize this post into its most essential parts:

A summary is a great way to quickly give your audience the information they need to understand the topic you are discussing without having to know every detail.

How you write a summary is different depending on what type of summary you are doing:

• An academic summary usually gets to the heart of an article, book, or journal, and it should highlight the main points in your own words. How long it should be depends on the type of assignment it is.
• A professional summary highlights you and your professional, academic, and volunteer history. It shows people in your professional network who you are and why they should hire you, work with you, use your talents, etc.

Being able to tell a good story is another form of summary. You want to tell engaging anecdotes and facts without boring your listeners. This is a skill that is developed over time.

Take your writing to the next level:

20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers

Whether you are writing a novel, essay, article, or email, good writing is an essential part of communicating your ideas., this guide contains the 20 most important writing tips and techniques from a wide range of professional writers..

Be confident about grammar

Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

Ashley Shaw is a former editor and marketer/current PhD student and teacher. When she isn't studying con artists for her dissertation, she's thinking of new ways to help college students better understand and love the writing process. You can follow her on Twitter, or, if you prefer animal accounts, follow her rabbits, Audrey Hopbun and Fredra StaHare, on Instagram.

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how to write a summary

A step-by-step guide to writing a great summary.

A summary of a literary work isn't just a plain-old synopsis. It's a valuable study tool, a foundational element of all kinds of essays, a common testing mechanism, and one of the basics of literary analysis. 

Whether you're in high school or college, developing a deep understanding of how and when to summarize a book or text is a valuable skill. Doing so might require a little more knowledge and effort than you'd think. 

That's why we're covering all aspects of summaries, from study tools to plot summaries, below.

What Is a Summary?

A summary is a brief overview of a text (or movie, speech, podcast, etcetera) that succinctly and comprehensively covers the main ideas or plot points. 

Sounds simple, right? Well, there are a lot of unique characteristics that differentiate summaries from other commentary, such as analyses, book reviews, or outlines. 

Summaries are: 

• In your own words. It's important that you don't just copy and paste the writer's words (in fact, that's plagiarizing). Writing the key points of a work in your own words indicates your comprehension and absorption of the material. 
• Objective. While a summary should be in your own words, it shouldn't contain your opinions. Instead, you should gather the main points and intentions of the writer and present them impartially. (If you include your opinions, it instead becomes an analysis or review.)
• More than paraphrasing. Many students fall into the trap of simply paraphrasing—plainly restating the ideas or events of the work. (Is our definition starting to sound contradictory? We told you it wasn't straightforward!) Rather than recounting the events or ideas in a work chronologically or in the order they're presented, instead consider the broad scope of how they all contribute to the narrative or argument. 
• Short. There are no strict rules regarding length, only that it is concise. It's largely dependent on the length of the text it summarizes: longer texts, longer summaries. It also depends on the assignment or objective. However, most are about one to two paragraphs in length. 
• Comprehensive. Yes, it's another seemingly contradictory descriptor, but an important one. Summaries are comprehensive, meaning they cover all of the main plot points or ideas in a work (so they inherently contain "spoilers"). You should present those ideas in a way that condenses them into an inclusive, but not exhaustive, recounting in order to keep it short.  
• Straightforward (even if the text isn't). A good summary should be easy to comprehend, presenting the reader with a simple but all-encompassing understanding of the work at hand. With complex texts, summaries can be particularly useful because they distill big, complicated ideas into a bite-sized package. 

When to Write a Summary

Like so many elements of literary analysis, summaries are misunderstood. We've already explained why they aren't as simple as most people think, but neither are their uses. 

Summary writing is a useful skill in a variety of circumstances, both in and outside the English and Language Arts classrooms. 

Readers, writers, teachers, and students can use summaries: 

• As a study tactic. The ability to summarize a book or text indicates that you've absorbed and understand the material. Plus, writing down notes (as in a summary) is a great way to retain material. Try summarizing at the end of a book chapter, after each section of an article, or periodically in textbooks. Doing so will help you digest the material you've just read, confirming you understood and retained the information therein. Stopping frequently to summarize is most effective because you're less likely to forget important plot points or ideas. 
• As an assignment. Teachers and professors often ask students to summarize a text as a test to confirm they read and understood the material. Before heading into class—especially if you have a test or quiz scheduled—try practicing summarizing the text. Write it down (rather than practicing it out loud or in your head) so that you can review your ideas and ensure you're presenting them succinctly and sensibly. 
• As part of an essay. If you're referencing a book or article in your own paper, you might need to summarize the source as the foundation for your argument. In this case, your summary should be particularly short so the reader doesn't lose sight of your own argument and intention. Introduce the name of the work and its author, then use one sentence (two at most) to describe their objective and how it relates to your own. 
• As part of a review. Summaries are very useful in an academic setting, but they have their place outside of it too. Whether you're on a book review site or just sharing a recommendation with a friend, being able to succinctly write a book summary (with or without spoilers) will help others to make their own judgements of a book. 

Your Step-by-Step Guide for How to Write a Summary

Step 1: read the work .

Summaries are often perceived as a workaround for reading the work itself. That's not a great strategy under most circumstances because you tend to lose a lot of the details and nuance of a work, but it's particularly impractical to do so when writing about the work. 

Remember, a summary is supposed to present your perception of the work as a whole. So in order to develop that perception, you have to first read the original text. 

Step 2: Take Notes 

As you read the work, simultaneously take notes. If you own the book, it might be helpful to add your notes to the margins or highlight passages that are particularly relevant or capture a key idea. If you don't own the book, try taking notes on your computer or in a notebook. You can still notate important passages by writing down the page and paragraph number or writing an abbreviated version of the quotation. Alternatively, try marking key passages with sticky notes or tabs. 

It might also be helpful to write out a short outline of the work as you go. While you won't want to use this verbatim (remember, you shouldn't just paraphrase the work), it can help you establish and remember the text's framework. 

Step 3: Identify the Author's Thesis Statement, Objective, or Main Point 

In some works, such as a journal article, a writer will provide a thesis statement. A thesis statement is a one-sentence synopsis of the author's argument and intention. A thesis statement can be really helpful in forming the backbone of your own summary, just as it forms the backbone of the essay. 

However, even when a thesis statement isn't present—like in a novel—the writer always has an objective or main idea. You should always identify this idea and use it to form the foundation of your summary. 

The main point might be apparent at the outset of the work. Other times, the author won't present it until the conclusion. Sometimes you might identify multiple objectives throughout the work. That's why it's important, as you read, to note any ideas that might be the  main  idea. Even those that aren't the  most  important will likely remain relevant. 

Step 4: Note Other Important Elements

If something stands out to you about the work and seems to play an important role in the text's overall narrative or structure, make a note about it. This could be a recurring theme, an incident in the storyline, or a deviation from the overall argument. 

As you identify and note important elements and moments in the work, the structure of your summary should begin to fall into place. 

Step 5: Prepare to Write Your Summary 

Once you've finished reading the work, review your notes and highlight the key points that came to light. Remember, your summary should be objective, so disregard any opinions you might have noted about the work. You should introduce the thesis or objective, briefly encapsulate the important ideas and moments from the work, and end with a conclusion that ties those ideas to the objective. Keep this structure in mind as you begin. 

Step 6: Begin by Introducing the Work 

As you begin, introduce the work, its author, and, if relevant, the context.

Depending on your situation—for example, if your teacher or professor has asked you to summarize a work as part of an assignment or quiz—this might seem redundant. However, it is standard practice to begin by introducing the work, even if the reader already knows what you're writing about. 

Example:  In  The Great Gatsby , F. Scott Fitzgerald... 

Step 7: Present the Thesis, Main Idea, or Central Argument

Once you've introduced the work, your priority is to clearly define the author's thesis, important point, or central argument. As mentioned above, sometimes the author presents this idea clearly and succinctly at the outset of their work; at other times, it's buried deep in the text. 

Regardless of how the main idea is presented in the work, it should be front and center in your summary. Some teachers might refer to this as a "topic sentence" or "introductory sentence." This is the central point around which you will construct the rest of your writing. As you progress, you'll highlight other ideas or occurrences that relate or contribute to this main idea, so it's important that your representation of it is easily understood. 

Example:  In  The Great Gatsby , F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the story of Jay Gatsby as a symbol of the social stratification, greed, and indulgence of 1920s America. 

Step 8: Briefly Discuss the Important Elements of the Work

After identifying the thesis or central argument, you should provide a brief overview of the work's other elements, ideas, and plot points. For the most part, the information you present throughout this section should bolster the thesis presented previously. Each sentence should serve as a supporting point for the topic sentence. Don't simply list ideas or plot points, but show how they're connected and inform the work as a whole. Of course, there may also be important elements of the work that are not directly tied to the main idea; it's ok to include these if you feel they are vital to understanding the work.

When writing the body, you should consciously and intentionally leave out unnecessary details. They tend to bog down your writing and lose the reader. 

Example:  The narrator, Nick Carraway, moves to New York's "West Egg," where he reunites with his cousin, Daisy, and her husband, Tom Buchanan. Fitzgerald clearly delineates social lines between West Egg (new money) and East Egg (old money), where Tom and Daisy reside. 

Nick attends a lavish party thrown by his neighbor, Jay Gatsby, and learns Jay formerly had a relationship with Daisy. The two reignite their forbidden affair. Tom reveals to Daisy that Gatsby earned his money illegally, through smuggling alcohol, and is actually a man of humble Midwestern origins. Daisy and Gatsby try to run away together, but Daisy accidentally runs over Tom's mistress. Tom, eager to exact revenge, convinces his mistress' husband that Gatsby was to blame in her death, and he murders Gatsby before committing suicide. Few of Gatsby's many friends attend his funeral.

Step 9: Write a Conclusion that Ties It All Together

Much like you introduce the author's major point at the outset of your summary, you should revisit it as you close out your writing. If you presented the author's main idea in the introduction, and then bolstered that main idea by recollecting plot points or important elements from the work, your conclusion should then reiterate how those elements relate to the main idea. 

Example:  Though Gatsby subscribed to the extravagance of his peers, his efforts to fit into the upper echelon of West and East Egg were negated by his humble origins; always out of place, he was rejected for his social class as much as his perceived crimes.  

Step 10: Edit

Before submitting your work, read it in full, and edit out any superfluous and redundant information. It's likely that unnecessary details snuck in as you were writing, and you might find that certain plot points just feel unnecessary within the scope of your finished product. 

In addition to editing for content, be sure to edit it closely for grammatical or spelling errors. Even if your summary is well thought out, its expertise is compromised if it's full of errors! 

How to Write a Plot Summary

The step-by-step guide to writing an effective summary, outlined above, applies to most summaries. However, each type has its own unique elements outside of those standard requirements. 

A plot or book summary, for example, should encapsulate the plot of a short story or novel. When writing one, there are unique strategies to follow.  

Dos of Writing a Plot Summary

• Note plot points as the book or story unfolds. Especially in longer novels, it can be difficult to keep track of the twists and turns in the storyline. That's why we recommend taking notes as you read. 
• Use online study guides for inspiration. Websites like SuperSummary provide in-depth summaries free of charge. While this is a good starting point when writing your own, it should only be for inspiration. Don't copy examples online (that's plagiarism!). 
• Be sure to cover the three main arcs of every story: the exposition, climax, and conclusion. The exposition is the moment when the conflict or driving narrative is introduced. The climax is when that conflict comes to a head, and the narrative reaches its most dramatic moments. The conclusion is when the conflict is resolved or the story comes to an end. You should also include any inciting incidents (the first domino in a plot point).
• Connect the dots. Throughout, you should demonstrate an understanding of how events and characters are related, rather than introducing each element as an independent variable. Remember, you should tie each plot point back to the main idea. 

Don'ts of Writing a Plot Summary

• Don't just regurgitate the storyline. Rather than drone through the story plot point by plot point, you should highlight key moments in the narrative and direct them back to the author's objective. 
• Avoid repetitive phrases like "then" or "next." A key indication you're just repeating the storyline point by point is utilizing a phrase like "then" or "next." While you should recount the major incidents of the narrative, it shouldn't feel so formulaic. 
• Don't let it drag on. Books are long, but summarizing a book should still be short. While it depends on the assignment and the work in question, your summary should be 200 to 600 words, max.

Example :   In  The Great Gatsby , F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the story of Jay Gatsby as a symbol of the social stratification, greed, and indulgence of 1920s America.   The narrator, Nick Carraway, moves to New York's "West Egg," where he reunites with his cousin, Daisy, and her husband, Tom Buchanan. Fitzgerald clearly delineates social lines between West Egg (new money) and East Egg (old money), where Tom and Daisy reside. 

Nick attends a lavish party thrown by his neighbor, Jay Gatsby, and learns he formerly had a relationship with Daisy. When the two reignite their forbidden affair, disaster ensues. Tom reveals to Daisy that Gatsby earned his money illegally, through smuggling alcohol, and is actually a man of humble Midwestern origins. Daisy and Gatsby try to run away together, but Daisy accidentally runs over Tom's mistress. Tom, eager to exact revenge, convinces his mistress' husband that Gatsby was to blame in her death, and he murders Gatsby before committing suicide. Few of Gatsby's many friends attend his funeral.

Though Gatsby subscribed to the extravagance of his peers, his efforts to fit into the upper echelon of West and East Egg were negated by his humble origins; always out of place, he was rejected for his social class as much as his perceived crimes.

For an in-depth analysis of The Great Gatsby , check out the our study guide (we have an audio guide, too!).

How to Summarize an Article or Essay

The nature of an article or essay is quite different from a novel or short story, and in many ways, your summary should be too. The outline above remains the same, but the details are different. 

Here's what you should and shouldn't do when writing your article summary. 

Dos of Writing an Article Summary

• Skim the original article first. To develop a basic understanding of the article and the writer's objectives, skim the content before reading it closely. Doing so will help you to identify some of the key points and then pay attention to the arguments around them when you read the article in full. 
• Then read the article closely, marking key passages and ideas. Noting important ideas as you read will help you develop a deeper understanding of the writer's intentions.  
• Note headings and subheadings, which likely identify important points. In articles and essays, the author often utilizes subheadings to introduce their most important ideas. These subheadings can help guide your own writing. 
• Keep it short. The rule of brevity applies to article summaries too. In fact, because articles are usually short compared to novels or books, your text should be correlatively brief. And if you're utilizing the work as part of your own essay or argument, just a couple sentences will do.

Don'ts of Writing an Article Summary

• Don't ignore the conclusion. When reading a long article or essay, it can be tempting to overlook the conclusion and focus on the body paragraphs of the article. However, the conclusion is often where the author most clearly outlines their findings and why they matter. It can serve as a great foundation for your own writing. 
• Don't copy anything from the article directly—always paraphrase. If you copy any passages word-for-word from the article, be sure to identify them as quotations and attribute them to the author. Even this should be done sparingly. Instead, you should encapsulate their ideas within your own, abbreviated words.  
• Don't forget to include proper citations. If you do include a direct quotation from the article, be sure to properly cite them. You can learn how to properly cite quotations in our Academic Citation Resource Guide . 

Example Summary of  "Gatsby as a Drowned Sailor" :  In her essay, "Gatsby as a Drowned Sailor," Margaret Lukens posits that a major, and often overlooked, motif in  The Great Gatsby  is that of the "drowned sailor." The novel, she points out, is immersed in nautical symbols and themes, particularly in the scenes surrounding Jay Gatsby. For example, Gatsby grew up on the shores of Lake Superior, now owns a house on the Long Island Sound, and supposedly spends much of his time on his boat. 

Lukens nods to the nautical imagery throughout Gatsby's lavish party, as well as Nick's interactions with Gatsby. Many of these, she argues, foreshadow Gatsby's death in his pool. Even his funeral is a testament to the motif, with the few attendees soaked to the skin with rain. Lukens presents a thorough case for the overarching nautical motif in  The Great Gatsby  and her argument that though Gatsby hooked a big one, ultimately it was "the one that got away." 

FAQs: How to Write a Book Summary  

How do you summarize without plagiarizing .

By its very nature, a summary isn't plagiarizing because it should be written in your own words. However, there are cases where it might be difficult to identify an appropriate synonym, and the phrase remains somewhat close to the original. In this scenario, just be sure to differentiate the rest of the phrase as much as possible. And if you need to include a direct quote from the work, be sure to appropriately cite it. 

How to write a summary and a reaction? 

In some cases, your teacher may ask you to write a summary and a reaction. Whereas a summary is objective, a reaction is a matter of opinion. So in this case, you should present the actions or ideas of the work, then respond to those actions and ideas with your personal thoughts. 

Why write a summary? 

A summary is a helpful tool many educators use to test their students' comprehension of a text. However, it is also a useful study tactic because recounting what you read can help you organize and retain information. 

English Home Language - Summary Writing Grade 8

In today's lesson we will specifically be focusing on 'Summary Writing'. 

Students should have some idea as to what a 'summary' is. 

Definition of a summary:

• A short, clear description that gives the main facts or ideas about something. 
• A summary omits (ignores) details and does not include the readers interpretation of the original text.

Teacher highlights a few points as to what a good summary is and also HOW to write a summary of a short piece of writing.

Read the instructions in the Task phase very carefully!

This link below is a clear detailed explanation as to what a 'summary' is.

ACTIVITY: SUMMARY WRITING 

QUESTION 

Read the passage below and write down seven main points on how to get out of bed in the morning without any hesitation.

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. List SEVEN points in full sentences, using not more than 70 words. 

2. Your summary must be written in point form. 

3. Number your sentences from 1 to 7 and leave a line open between sentences.

4. Write only ONE point per sentence 

5. Use your OWN words as far as possible.

6. Indicate the total number of words you have used in brackets at the end of your summary.

Get out of bed with a spring in your step 

Pounding the pavements at 7am isn't for everyone, but if you can manage some gentle movement it can help wake up body and mind. 

If you know you have something nutritious and delicious to eat, then you might be more likely to get out of bed for it! Rather than rush out of the door with a slice of toast, make time for a breakfast you really enjoy and that will set you up with enough energy to last until lunch time. If you're still not motivated enough to get up, then making a morning plan with friends might give you an extra nudge out of bed. 

Snoozing the alarm can be a difficult habit to break and at first it seems counter intuitive, with many of us thinking that an extra ten minutes sleep will help us feel more energized when we do get out of bed. However, according to experts hitting the snooze button repeatedly does not give you good quality sleep as you don't have time to fall back into a deep sleep, so try to get up as soon as your alarm goes off. 

Just as dimming down the lights at night helps encourage production of the hormone melatonin, which makes us feel sleepy, exposing yourself to light in the morning will help to stop production, therefore waking you up. 

After a full night's sleep, you're probably a little dehydrated, and for whatever reason, drinking water just seems to help the body realize that it's time to get up. Alcohol can make you feel sleepy but consumed too close to bedtime can also disrupt sleep. 

Students have about 20 minutes to attempt to write a good summary, after reading the 'Get out of bed with a spring in your step' reading piece, following the instructions clearly. 

Students will be strictly evaluated on these points. 

3 points will be allocated to each instruction, if it is completed correctly. 

Total:      / 18

After completing this task correctly:

• Students has developed the skill of reading the comprehension with insight.
• Students are able to respond to a question.
• Students has developed the skill of following instructions correctly.
• Students has developed the skill of communicating through writing.

Find additional material: 

https://youtu.be/hW0Y_hBrsc8

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Summary Writing

Summary writing is the process of shortening a long text by only highlighting the main ideas and information of the text. The summary of a long text or a book gives the reader an idea of what information is there in that long text or book. Every book has a small paragraph written on its back, which is the summary of the book, providing an idea of the contents of the book. Similarly, a summary is used in many places, including a person's work-life as well. Here, we will discuss how to write a summary in detail.

Summarizing a Story! A summary is considered as a brief write-up that is used for summing up the whole story in one short paragraph. This short paragraph will contain all the main ideas and essential information about the story. This paragraph is used to give a quick overview of the story or its gist. The summary is responsible for informing the reader about the main points and the actual theme of the story. By going through this write-up you will learn how to make a summary of a given story.

The only objective of the summary is to save some valuable time for the reader by giving him an instant short overview of what the whole story is all about. Despite being the shorter version of the story, the summary will contain all the main ideas that will help a reader understand what exactly is the story about.

How to Write a Summary?

Before attempting to write a summary, a student must have a basic understanding of it. Without any knowledge, a student is incapable of creating a good summary that can give a good overview. Summary writing seems easy, but it is not until you have understood all the rules and regulations of writing a summary, that you can write one. To write a summary you must follow the following predetermined steps.

Read the Assigned Text or Story Carefully

The best way to summarize a larger text or a story precisely is by understanding the text of the story properly. For understanding a story correctly, a person has to read that piece properly with full focus and sincerity. The reader must read the piece thoroughly without skipping anything. The reader might need more than one reading to be thorough on the piece assigned.

Make Notes of Important Points

After reading the whole piece, the next step is to jot down the main points of the larger text or the story for future reference. This is a crucial step in summarizing as the reader has to identify the points which are important enough to be jotted down. Jotting down points that are not important can affect the quality of the summary, and it is not necessary also as we are not giving a detailed overview through a summary.

Begin Writing Using Your Memory

After jotting down the main points, the next step is to elaborate and expand those points. At this stage, it is suggested that students should elaborate on the points using their memory that they have gained while reading the piece. This will ensure that students will use their own words in the summary despite reading the words that are there in the original piece, which are written by the author. Go through some summary writing examples for Class 10 to get a better insight into it.

Avoid Giving Personal Opinions

While summarizing a text or a story, one must avoid using his or her personal opinions in.The summary must contain all the facts and figures that are in the assigned text or the story. There should not be any alterations in the writings of the author. One should not interpret the work and add his or her reviews in the summary since he or she is not the critique for that work. One must simply summarize it without any changes.

The last step is to review and evaluate the summary that has been written to identify the mistakes and rectify them to make the summary appropriate. The summary must be reviewed thoroughly before submitting it. While doing the final edit of the summary, there are some points to keep in mind which are as follows.

If the assigned piece is a story, then one must ensure that the summary is written following the correct chronological order of the facts as given in the story.

One must ensure that a particular point is not repeated twice. Any repeated information must get deleted during the review.

The length of the summary must be short. A long summary defies the purpose of the summary.

Check for grammatical errors.

Summary Writing Format

The following summary format should be followed while summary writing in English.

The introductory part

A view on the main points of the story or text

A conclusion on the whole part

Difference Between Summary and Precis?

A summary is a concise statement or repeat of key themes, usually at the end of work: a chapter summary.

Precis writing is a summary or essence of a long section that is designed to cover all of the text's intricacies and key characteristics while using the fewest words possible.

The Difference Between the Two is Mentioned Below:

If you wish to have  more knowledge on how to go about Summary writing, you can follow Vedantu and ace the summary game.

FAQs on Summary

1. How to write a summary of a story?

To write an English story summary, one has to first read the assigned story thoroughly to understand the main ideas and information that the story has. Thorough knowledge of the story can help to create an efficient summary. After reading the story, one needs to jot down the important points and main ideas of the story for future reference. After jotting down the points, one can start writing the summary referring to these points. Personal opinions should not be included in the summary, and the message of the author should not get altered or changed.

2. Why learning summary writing is important for a student's career?

Students need a strong grammatical base to be successful in their career. Summarizing is one of the most effective ways to strengthen the grammatical base of a student. Through summarizing students can learn the various uses of nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives and can also learn how to interchange words by using synonyms without changing the meaning of the sentence. Hence, they enhance their focusing skills as they extract the main points from the assigned text to be summarized.

3. How to download the Vedantu explanation of how to write a summary from the website in PDF format?

The explanation on how to write different types of summaries can be downloaded from the Vedantu website. The Essay is accessible in PDF format for all students on Vedantu's official website and may be downloaded for free. Students should download the Vedantu website's Essay on writing summaries to understand what is required to write a good summary. Vedantu Essays are written in basic English, which is easy to comprehend. Following the Vedantu essays ensures that students are adequately prepared for any subject and that they will receive high grades.

4. Why is learning how to write a summary helpful for students?

Vedantu's explanation of how to write a summary is both exemplary and well-structured. The explanation provided is in simple and lucid language. They are available for free on the Vedantu website. The explanation is written by qualified lecturers and experts in the English language. It enables students to understand the basics of how to write a summary while ensuring that students score well in their examinations. Students are urged to practise writing many summaries in order to pass the test; only after they have had enough practice can they be fully prepared to write the actual exam.

5. How does summary help students with revision?

A summary is essentially a summed up version of the original information. It is generally reinterpreted by students in their own words in order for them to grasp the concepts more readily. Students can recollect all of the major topics and concepts linked to such topics just by looking at the notes. It will also help them save time while making last-minute preparations. Summarizing also teaches students how to recognise the most significant concepts in a book, how to filter out unnecessary material, and how to connect the core ideas in a meaningful way. Considering all these factors, Vedantu strives at providing you with the best alternatives to refer from.

6. List out some of the do’s and don’t of summary writing?

Do’s for Summary Writing:  

To make the summary easier to read, start with the passage's main concept. 

Give a clear understanding of what they're about to read. 

Make a list of all the significant aspects as you read the paragraph, highlight it with a pen and incorporate them in the summary. 

Follow the passage's primary concept with the facts, points, methods, etc. given in the passage. 

Include all of the significant terminology and keywords from the paragraph, while explaining it in your own words. 

Keep note of the tenses you use in the summary. Data on previous historical events must only be described in the past tense. 

There must be a link between the data you're putting in the precis and the information you're providing. There should be some cross-references.

Don’ts for Summary Writing: 

The length of the summary must be less than the passage's length.

Use simple vocabulary and avoid overcomplicating the description. 

Make no assumptions or add information to the precis based on your own whims. 

Do not add your own commentary or criticism to the understanding. 

Abbreviations should be avoided. 

Do not write assertions in the question format. 

Don't concentrate on any one particular topic for too long.

For more such information, look up Vedantu’s website.

• How to Write a Summary

Proficient students understand that  summarizing , identifying what is most important and restating the text (or other media) 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.

Summary Writing Format

• When writing a summary, remember that it should be in the form of a paragraph.
• A summary begins with an introductory sentence that states the text’s title, author and main point of the text as you see it.
• A summary is written in your own words.
• A summary contains only the ideas of the original text. Do not insert any of your own opinions, interpretations, deductions or comments into a summary.
• Identify in order the significant sub-claims the author uses to defend the main point.
• Copy word-for-word three separate passages from the essay that you think support and/or defend the main point of the essay as you see it.
• Cite each passage by first signaling the work and the author, put “quotation marks” around the passage you chose, and put the number of the paragraph where the passages can be found immediately after the passage.
• Using source material from the essay is important. Why? Because defending claims with source material is what you will be asked to do when writing papers for your college professors.
• Write a last sentence that “wraps” up your summary; often a simple rephrasing of the main point.

Example Summary Writing Format

In the essay Santa Ana , author Joan Didion’s main point is ( state main point ). According to Didion “… passage 1 …” (para.3). Didion also writes “… passage 2 …” (para.8). Finally, she states “… passage 3 …” (para. 12) Write a last sentence that “wraps” up your summary; often a simple rephrasing of the main point.

• Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : http://lumenlearning.com/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Authored by : Paul Powell. Provided by : Central Community College. Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Authored by : Elisabeth Ellington and Ronda Dorsey Neugebauer. Provided by : Chadron State College. Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Table of Contents

Instructor Resources (Access Requires Login)

• Overview of Instructor Resources

An Overview of the Writing Process

• Introduction to the Writing Process
• Introduction to Writing
• Your Role as a Learner
• What is an Essay?
• Reading to Write
• Defining the Writing Process
• Videos: Prewriting Techniques
• Thesis Statements
• Organizing an Essay
• Creating Paragraphs
• Conclusions
• Editing and Proofreading
• Matters of Grammar, Mechanics, and Style
• Peer Review Checklist
• Comparative Chart of Writing Strategies

Using Sources

• Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Avoiding Plagiarism
• Formatting the Works Cited Page (MLA)
• Citing Paraphrases and Summaries (APA)
• APA Citation Style, 6th edition: General Style Guidelines

Definition Essay

• Definitional Argument Essay
• How to Write a Definition Essay
• Critical Thinking
• Video: Thesis Explained
• Effective Thesis Statements
• Student Sample: Definition Essay

Narrative Essay

• Introduction to Narrative Essay
• Student Sample: Narrative Essay
• "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell
• "Sixty-nine Cents" by Gary Shteyngart
• Video: The Danger of a Single Story
• How to Write an Annotation
• Writing for Success: Narration

Illustration/Example Essay

• Introduction to Illustration/Example Essay
• "She's Your Basic L.O.L. in N.A.D" by Perri Klass
• "April & Paris" by David Sedaris
• Writing for Success: Illustration/Example
• Student Sample: Illustration/Example Essay

Compare/Contrast Essay

• Introduction to Compare/Contrast Essay
• "Disability" by Nancy Mairs
• "Friending, Ancient or Otherwise" by Alex Wright
• "A South African Storm" by Allison Howard
• Writing for Success: Compare/Contrast
• Student Sample: Compare/Contrast Essay

Cause-and-Effect Essay

• Introduction to Cause-and-Effect Essay
• "Cultural Baggage" by Barbara Ehrenreich
• "Women in Science" by K.C. Cole
• Writing for Success: Cause and Effect
• Student Sample: Cause-and-Effect Essay

Argument Essay

• Introduction to Argument Essay
• Rogerian Argument
• "The Case Against Torture," by Alisa Soloman
• "The Case for Torture" by Michael Levin
• How to Write a Summary by Paraphrasing Source Material
• Writing for Success: Argument
• Student Sample: Argument Essay
• Grammar/Mechanics Mini-lessons
• Mini-lesson: Subjects and Verbs, Irregular Verbs, Subject Verb Agreement
• Mini-lesson: Sentence Types
• Mini-lesson: Fragments I
• Mini-lesson: Run-ons and Comma Splices I
• Mini-lesson: Comma Usage
• Mini-lesson: Parallelism
• Mini-lesson: The Apostrophe
• Mini-lesson: Capital Letters
• Grammar Practice - Interactive Quizzes
• De Copia - Demonstration of the Variety of Language
• Style Exercise: Voice

Typical College-level Writing Genres: Summary, Analysis, Synthesis

How to write a summary.

Summarizing consists of two important skills:

• identifying the important material in the text, and
• restating the text in your own words.

Since writing a summary consists of omitting minor information, it will always be shorter than the original text.

• A summary begins with an  introductory sentence  that states the text’s title, author and main thesis or subject.
• A summary contains the main  thesis  (or main point of the text), restated in your own words.
• 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, but should  ignore most of the fine details , examples, illustrations or explanations.
• The backbone of any summary is formed by  critical information  (key names, dates, places, ideas, 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.
• A summary, like any other writing, has to have a specific audience and purpose, and you must carefully write it to serve that audience and fulfill that specific purpose.
• Writing a Summary. Authored by : Elisabeth Ellington and Ronda Dorsey Neugebauer. Provided by : Chadron State College. Located at : http://www.csc.edu/ . Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Image of two hands. Authored by : isado. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/4c9cZA . License : CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivatives

How to Write a Summary

General Skills for Writing Summary

A  summary  is a shortened version containing the key points in as few words as necessary. It tests the candidate’s ability to form content points in a clear and concise approach to continuous writing. Writing a summary emphasises four basic skills: identifying key points of the passage, articulating i n  your  own words, and sequencing points cohesively all within the given word count.

Content.  Answer the question directly and focus on relevant points only! Use as much of the material as possible, however, be wary of some parts that are not covered in the question. Be reminded that points must be taken from the passage, and do not repeat similar points even if it was made twice.

Everything must be directly connected to the passage and supported using references. As such,  adding facts or opinions are not suggested. This exercise is meant to sum up the passage and not to add original ideas.  Content marks will only be obtained when the required content is provided.

Language.  Write in your own words as much as possible. Although the message needs to be the same, wordings need to be different. It is important that the replaced words convey the essence of the point. No need to find synonyms for technical objects, e.g. solar heaters, and only change words when appropriate.

Lifting a few words is acceptable as long as it is evident that you understand and focus on the key details of the passage. Do avoid over-lengthy lifting and quoting straight from the passage.  Find precise words to use and vary your choices.

Writing style.  Express the key points clearly, succinctly and fluently using a formal tone of writing. There is no need for an introduction and conclusion. Start by rewording the question and make the ending string. Moreover, do not include examples, repetition, direct speech, figurative language, and minor details.

Organise and sequence points cohesively by connecting your ideas into a paragraph. Aim to write in complex sentences rather than simple or compound structures and  make sure that the spelling, punctuation, and grammar are correct.

Word Limit. Always write within the word count as this exercise assesses the ability to write concisely. There are no penalty marks for writing more or less, however, it may be self-penalising to write more than suggested.

Exceeding the word limit may indicate that the summary is not structured effectively or ideas are not expressed clearly. If there are needed points inside the excess words, it would not be marked and would be crossed out.

On the other hand, writing way too little than the limit may mean that the response does not have sufficient coverage of the passage’s content. For example: if the question requires words within 200 to 250, but you only provide 180 words, there is a chance that you miss a few essential points.

Before the exam, check how many words you write on a line, so you will know the approximate number of lines that you require. Lastly,  do not write beyond the lines given , to avoid your answers not being able to fit into the scanned screen.

Practice Writing Summaries 

CIE recommends this five-step process to practise writing summary:

• Read and underline the relevant material in pencil (so that you can change your mind easily if needed)
• Transfer the points into a plan, whilst changing them into your own words
• Group the points logically (using arrows/brackets); put them in order (using numbers), and decide which ones can be combined into one sentence
• Write the summary in one or two paragraphs using complex sentences
• Check the summary for accurate expression; adapt the length and improve if necessary by adding material overlooked or by removing repetition.

Aspects of English First Language Summary

• Keep within the word limit.
• Do not drift away from the passage.
• Show evidence of a clear and concise summary style throughout. Make sure to structure your answer, sequence your ideas, and use a wide range of original and appropriate language.
• Try to learn the meaning of common prefixes so that you can guess the definitions of confusing words.
• Combine simple sentences into complex sentences, using a range of connectives and participles. Above all avoid using ‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘so’.
• Practise turning passages into news reports; they have a particular style and structure which are different from any other kind of writing.
• Lifting of words for more than two points is not credited. Copying big chunks of texts is not going to show your understanding, just your handwriting!
• Double-check for any grammatical errors and incorrect spellings that affect the accuracy of an idea.

Aspects for English as a Second Language summary

• Keep within the specified word limit.
• The summary must be based on the text you have read. Keep to the topic at all times!
• Read the instructions carefully. Do not waste your time reading unnecessary parts of the passage.
• Identify all the relevant points according to the question. Include all the key facts relating to the subject of your summary.
• Connect the ideas using linking words to make a clear paragraph. Practise connecting phrases to create sentences, and connecting sentences to create paragraphs.
• Use accurate language (linking words, conjunctions, sentences which read fluently, structured paragraphs)
• Demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to have more chance of getting a higher mark for language.
• Practise synonym (different words that have the same meaning) exercises to help you use your own words.
• Do not repeat similar points, as repeated points will not contribute to extra marks, just add more words.

* Note: some of the information was taken from CIE.

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How to Summarize a Story

Last Updated: April 18, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Richard Perkins . Richard Perkins is a Writing Coach, Academic English Coordinator, and the Founder of PLC Learning Center. With over 24 years of education experience, he gives teachers tools to teach writing to students and works with elementary to university level students to become proficient, confident writers. Richard is a fellow at the National Writing Project. As a teacher leader and consultant at California State University Long Beach's Global Education Project, Mr. Perkins creates and presents teacher workshops that integrate the U.N.'s 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the K-12 curriculum. He holds a BA in Communications and TV from The University of Southern California and an MEd from California State University Dominguez Hills. There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 418,094 times.

When you're writing a summary of a story it needs to be short, sweet, and to the point. Fortunately, this isn't hard if you follow certain guidelines.

Sample Summaries

As You're Reading

• Concentrate fully on the book. Don't get distracted by anything, not even music.

• For example: for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone you would write down Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, because they are the main characters. You might even note down Hagrid, Dumbledore, Snape, Quirrell, and Voldemort because they figure importantly in the story.
• You wouldn't need to write down Peeves the poltergeist, or Norbert the dragon, because while they are important in their places in the story, they don't influence the main storyline enough to be part of the summary.
• A shorter story like "Little Red Riding Hood" is easy because you only have to note down Red Riding Hood, her grandmother, the wolf, and the woodcutter (depending on the version).

• Continuing the Harry Potter example: the main action takes place at Hogwarts, so you could write down something like 'the magical school Hogwarts in the United Kingdoms.'
• Now for a story like Lord of the Rings, which takes place over a large amount of territory, you can mention that it's Middle-Earth, and note some places of important like the Shire, Mordor, and Gondor. You don't have to go too specific (like mentioning the forest Fangorn, or the tower Minas Morgul).

• For Harry Potter, the main conflict is Voldemort's attempt to steal the Sorcerer's Stone and return to menace the Wizard World (and kill Harry).
• For example, if you're summarizing The Odyssey, the main conflict is Odysseus trying to get home to Ithaca. Everything about the story is driven by his desire to get home and all the obstacles standing in his way.

• For Harry Potter, some main events would be Harry finding out he's a wizard, or Harry meeting the three-headed dog and, of course, Harry, Ron, and Hermione defeating Voldemort.
• It might seem easier for a shorter story like 'Little Red Riding Hood,' but you should only note down the most important moments like Riding Hood meeting the wolf, getting eaten after she mistakes the wolf for her grandmother, and the appearance of the woodcutter.

• For Harry Potter the conclusion is defeating Voldemort. The story after that isn't important to the summary, even if it is important to the overall story. You won't need to go into the conversation between Dumbledore and Harry at the end, or even the Gryffindor House winning points, because it isn't really part of the main Voldemort storyline.
• For Red Riding Hood, the conclusion is the appearance of the woodcutter to save her and her grandmother.
• For something like Lord of the Rings, the conclusion is complicated for a summary, because you may want to stop off at the destruction of the Ring, but (especially if the central idea of the story is the importance of the the deeds of one insignificant person) you will want to mention the Scouring of the Shire, and Frodo's departure from the Grey Havens.

Writing Your Summary

• To continue with the Harry Potter example, you'll need to look at how Harry went from learning he was a wizard to defeating Voldemort.
• For something like The Odyssey you'll need to look at how Odysseus gets from his losing all his men and washing up on Calypso's island to defeating the suitors and convincing Penelope of his identity.
• A short story like Red Riding Hood, you'll need to look at why Riding Hood was going into the woods, how she was fooled into being eaten and how she was saved.

• Make sure that you only focus on the main plot of the story. Don't get side tracked into Harry's Quidditch playing, or his feud with Malfoy.
• Likewise, don't quote from the story itself. You don't need to replicate conversations from the story in the summary. You might need to briefly mention the key point from a conversation (like 'When Harry and his friends discover from Hagrid that the Sorcerer's Stone might no longer be safe, they go to stop the thief themselves.')

• 'J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" tells the story of eleven-year-old orphan Harry Potter, who discovers that he is a wizard and goes to study magic at the British school for wizards, Hogwarts. While there he discovers that his parents were killed by the evil wizard, Voldemort, who was destroyed by Harry when he was a baby. With his friends, Ron Weasley, who comes from a large family of wizards, and Hermione Granger, the smartest witch in their year, Harry figures out that the Sorcerer's Stone, which gives eternal life, is hidden on the off-limits third floor. When Harry and his friends discover from Hagrid that the Sorcerer's Stone is no longer be safe, they go to stop the thief themselves, who they think is Professor Snape, who hates Harry. When Harry finds the Stone, he discovers that the thief is Professor Quirrell, who is possessed by Voldemort. Because of a spell cast by Harry's mother, he is able to defeat Quirrell and Voldemort is forced back into hiding.'
• 'Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey" tells the story of the Greek hero, Odysseus, and ten-year voyage to get home to the island of Ithaca where his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus waited. It begins with Odysseus imprisoned by the nymph Calypso until the Greek Gods force her to free him. The god Poseidon, who harbors a grudge against Odysseus for blinding his son the Cyclops Polyphemus previously in his travels, attempts to wreck his ship, but is stopped by the goddess Athena. Odysseus makes it to Scheria, home of the Phaeacians, where he is given safe passage and asked about his journeys to this point. Odysseus tells them of the variety of adventures he suffered through with his crew, the trip to the Land of the Lotus Eaters, his blinding of Polyphemus, his love affair with the witch-goddess Circe, the deadly Sirens, the journey into Hades, and his fight with the sea monster Scylla among them. The Phaeacians take him safely to Ithaca, where he enters the hall disguised as a beggar. In Ithaca, supposing Odysseus to be dead, suitors have taken over his hall, tried to kill his son and tried to convince Penelope to choose one of them. Penelope, believing Odysseus to be alive, has refused. She arranges a contest with Odysseus's bow, that only he can string. Once he's strung it, he shoots all the suitors and is reunited with his family.'
• These summaries cover the main plots of the stories that they're summarizing. They use sentences like "When Harry finds the Stone..." instead of explaining exactly what it took to find the stone, which is not the point of a summary. They are brief and they focus only on the most important main characters, like Odysseus, Penelope, the gods, etc.

Community Q&A

• Make sure you keep your summary short. It shouldn't be longer than the original story! [16] X Research source Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

• If you're writing an essay, you shouldn't only summarize the text. Thanks Helpful 11 Not Helpful 1
• Don't include your opinions when writing a summary unless you are explicitly prompted to by your teacher. Thanks Helpful 10 Not Helpful 3

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://penandthepad.com/correctly-summarize-short-story-5031.html
• ↑ Richard Perkins. Writing Coach & Academic English Coordinator. Expert Interview. 1 September 2021.
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/summary-using-it-wisely/
• ↑ https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/taking-notes-while-reading/
• ↑ https://fs.blog/2013/11/taking-notes-while-reading/
• ↑ https://penandthepad.com/parts-story-introduction-body-conclusion-6472733.html
• ↑ https://penandthepad.com/major-conflict-story-8483658.html
• ↑ https://writershelpingwriters.net/2017/04/the-efficient-writer-using-timelines-to-organize-story-details/
• ↑ https://www.kellogg.edu/upload/eng151/chapter/how-to-write-a-summary/index.html
• ↑ https://www.eecis.udel.edu/~carberry/Papers/Mani-revision-99.pdf
• ↑ https://study.com/learn/lesson/what-is-a-summary.html
• https://public.wsu.edu/~mejia/Summary.htm
• https://www.lbcc.edu/sites/main/files/file-attachments/summarizingparagraph.pdf

About This Article

To summarize a story as you read, take notes about the characters, plot, and setting. When you’ve finished the story, organize your notes chronologically so you can see how the story develops from beginning to end. Then, write a paragraph describing the characters, followed by one dealing with the basic plot points. Next, note the time period, the setting, and the main takeaways from the story. When you’ve touched on all these elements, go back and revise your summary so there are no errors. For sample summaries and ways to use them when you’re writing your own, keep reading. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Writing an article summary.

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When writing a summary, the goal is to compose a concise and objective overview of the original article. The summary should focus only on the article's main ideas and important details that support those ideas.

Guidelines for summarizing an article:

• State the main ideas.
• Identify the most important details that support the main ideas.
• Summarize in your own words.
• Do not copy phrases or sentences unless they are being used as direct quotations.
• Express the underlying meaning of the article, but do not critique or analyze.
• The summary should be about one third the length of the original article. 

Your summary should include:

• Give an overview of the article, including the title and the name of the author.
• Provide a thesis statement that states the main idea of the article.
• Use the body paragraphs to explain the supporting ideas of your thesis statement.
• One-paragraph summary - one sentence per supporting detail, providing 1-2 examples for each.
• Multi-paragraph summary - one paragraph per supporting detail, providing 2-3 examples for each.
• Start each paragraph with a topic sentence.
• Use transitional words and phrases to connect ideas.
• Summarize your thesis statement and the underlying meaning of the article.

 Adapted from "Guidelines for Using In-Text Citations in a Summary (or Research Paper)" by Christine Bauer-Ramazani, 2020

Additional Resources

All links open in a new window.

How to Write a Summary - Guide & Examples  (from Scribbr.com)

Writing a Summary  (from The University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center)

• Next: Writing an article REVIEW >>
• Last Updated: Mar 15, 2024 9:32 AM
• URL: https://libguides.randolph.edu/summaries

8 Ways to Create AI-Proof Writing Prompts

C reating 100 percent AI-proof writing prompts can often be impossible but that doesn’t mean there aren’t strategies that can limit the efficacy of AI work. These techniques can also help ensure more of the writing submitted in your classroom is human-generated. 

I started seeing a big uptick in AI-generated work submitted in my classes over the last year and that has continued. As a result, I’ve gotten much better at recognizing AI work , but I’ve also gotten better at creating writing prompts that are less AI-friendly. 

Essentially, I like to use the public health Swiss cheese analogy when thinking about AI prevention: All these strategies on their own have holes but when you layer the cheese together, you create a barrier that’s hard to get through. 

The eight strategies here may not prevent students from submitting AI work, but I find these can incentivize human writing and make sure that any work submitted via AI will not really meet the requirements of the assignment. 

1. Writing AI-Proof Prompts: Put Your Prompt Into Popular AI tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Bard 

Putting your writing prompt into an AI tools will give you an immediate idea of how most AI tools will handle your prompt. If the various AI chatbots do a good, or at least adequate, job immediately, it might be wise to tweak the prompt. 

One of my classes asks students to write about a prized possession. When you put this prompt into an AI chatbot, it frequently returns an essay about a family member's finely crafted watch. Obviously, I now watch out for any essays about watches. 

2. Forbid Cliché Use

Probably the quickest and easiest way to cut back on some AI use is to come down hard on cliché use in writing assignments. AI tools are essentially cliché machines, so banning these can prevent a lot of AI use. 

Equally as important, this practice will help your students become better writers. As any good writer knows, clichés should be avoided like the plague. 

3. Incorporate Recent Events

The free version of ChatGPT only has access to events up to 2022. While there are plugins to allow it to search the internet and other internet-capable AI tools, some students won’t get further than ChatGPT. 

More importantly, in my experience, all AI tools struggle to incorporate recent events as effectively as historic ones. So connecting class material and assignments to events such as a recent State of Union speech or the Academy Awards will make any AI writing use less effective. 

4. Require Quotes

AI tools can incorporate direct quotations but most are not very good at doing so. The quotes used tend to be very short and not as well-placed within essays. 

Asking an AI tool for recent quotes also can be particularly problematic for today’s robot writers. For instance, I asked Microsoft's Copilot to summarize the recent Academy Awards using quotes, and specifically asked it to quote from Oppenheimer's director Christopher Nolan’s acceptance speech. It quoted something Nolan had previously said instead. Copilot also quoted from Wes Anderson’s acceptance speech, an obvious error since Anderson wasn’t at the awards .  

5. Make Assignments Personal

Having students reflect on material in their own lives can be a good way to prevent AI writing. In-person teachers can get to know their students well enough to know when these types of personal details are fabricated. 

I teach online but still find it easier to tell when a more personalized prompt was written by AI. For example, one student submitted a paper about how much she loved skateboarding that was so non-specific it screamed AI written. Another submitted a post about a pair of sneakers that was also clearly written by a "sole-less" AI (I could tell because of the clichés and other reasons). 

6. Make Primary or Scholarly Sources Mandatory

Requiring sources that are not easily accessible on the internet can stop AI writing in its tracks. I like to have students find historic newspapers for certain assignments. The AI tools I am familiar with can’t incorporate these. 

For instance, I asked Copilot to compare coverage of the first Academy Awards in the media to the most recent awards show and to include quotes from historic newspaper coverage. The comparison was not well done and there were no quotes from historical newspaper coverage. 

AI tools also struggle to incorporate journal articles. Encouraging your students to include these types of sources ensures the work they produce is deeper than something that can be revealed by a quick Google search, which not only makes it harder for AI to write but also can raise the overall quality.  

7. Require Interviews, Field Trips, Etc. 

Building on primary and scholarly sources, you can have your students conduct interviews or go on field trips to historic sites, museums, etc. 

AI is still, thankfully, incapable of engaging in these types of behavior. This requires too much work for every assignment but it is the most effective way to truly ensure your work is human- not computer-written. 

If you’re still worried about AI use, you can even go a step further by asking your students to include photos of them with their interview subjects or from the field trips. Yes, AI art generators are getting better as well, but remember the Swiss cheese analogy? Every layer of prevention can help. 

8. Have Students Write During Class

As I said to start, none of the methods discussed are foolproof. Many ways around these safeguards already exist and there will be more ways to bypass these in the future. So if you’re really, really worried about AI use you may want to choose what I call the “nuclear option.” If you teach in person you can require students to write essays in person. 

This approach definitely works for preventing AI and is okay for short pieces, but for longer pieces, it has a lot of downsides. I would have trouble writing a long piece in this setting and imagine many students will as well. Additionally, this requirement could create an accusatory class atmosphere that is more focused on preventing AI use than actually teaching. It’s also not practical for online teaching. 

That all being said, given how common AI writing has become in education, I understand why some teachers will turn to this method. Hopefully, suggestions 1-7 will work but if AI-generated papers are still out of hand in your classroom, this is a blunt-force method that can work temporarily. 

Good luck and may your assignments be free of AI writing! 

• 7 Ways To Detect AI Writing Without Technology
• Best Free AI Detection Sites
• My Student Was Submitting AI Papers. Here's What I Did