summary writing 10th standard

Summary Writing Examples For Class 10 Format, Topics, Exercises

Format for summary writing examples for class 10:.

A summary is a concise version of a text that includes the main points and essential details. The format of a summary should be organized and easy to read. The following are the steps that you can follow while writing a summary:

1. Read the original text carefully 2. Identify the main points and key ideas 3. Write a thesis statement that summarizes the main point of the text 4. Use your own words to summarize the text 5. Check for accuracy and clarity

Topics For Summary Writing Examples For Class 10:

The topics for summary writing can vary, but generally, they revolve around a specific subject, article, or text. Some common topics for summary writing in Class 10 include:

1. Current events and news articles 2. Science and technology advancements 3. Historical events or biographies 4. Literary texts or books 5. Speeches or debates

Also Read: Summary Writing 12th Class 

Exercises For Summary Writing Examples For Class 10:

Here are some exercises that you can use to practice summary writing:

1. Choose an article from a newspaper or online source and read it carefully. Write a summary of the article in your own words, highlighting the main points and key ideas. 2. Select a chapter from a book you have read and summarize it in a few sentences. Focus on the central idea and supporting details. 3. Listen to a speech or debate and write a summary of the main points made by the speaker. 4. Choose a historical event or biography and write a brief summary of the person’s life or the event’s main points.

Tips For Summary Writing Examples For Class 10:

To write a good summary, follow these tips:

1. Read the original text carefully and take notes while reading 2. Identify the main points and key ideas of the text 3. Use your own words to summarize the text 4. Keep the summary brief and concise 5. Check for accuracy and clarity by comparing your summary to the original text 6. Edit and revise your summary for grammar and spelling errors.

Summary writing is an essential skill for Class 10 students as it helps improve their reading comprehension, writing, and critical thinking skills. By following the format, practicing with exercises, and keeping the tips in mind, students can develop their summary writing abilities and excel in their academic and professional careers.

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ENG FAL Gr. 10 T3 W7: Summary Writing

• Develop the skill of reading with comprehension.
• Respond to a question.
• Develop the skill of following instructions.
• Develop the skill of communicating through writing.

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Samacheer Kalvi 10th English Note Making and Summarising

Are you seeking for the Tamilnadu State Board Solutions Chapter wise Class 10th English Note Making and Summarising PDF? Samacheer Kalvi 10th English Note Making and Summarising Questions and Answers. If yes, then read this entire page. You can Download His First Flight Questions and Answers, Summary, Activity, Notes, Samacheer Kalvi 10th English Book Solutions Guide Pdf Note Making and Summarising helps you to revise the complete Tamilnadu State Board New Syllabus and score more marks in your examinations. Here, we are giving a direct link to download Samacheer Kalvi Solutions for Class 10th English Note Making and Summarising PDF which contains the chapter wise questions, solutions, and grammar topics. You can also get the shortcuts to solve the grammar related questions on this page.

Tamilnadu Samacheer Kalvi 10th English Note Making and Summarising

For the sake of students we have gathered the complete Class 10th English Note Making and Summarising syllabus and provided on the pdf. Refer the chapter wise Tamilnadu State board Solutions for Class 10th English Note Making and Summarising Questions and Answers. Topics and start the preparation. You can estimate the importance of each chapter, find important English Note Making and Summarising grammar concepts which are having more weightage. Concentrate on the important grammar topics from Samacheer Kalvi Solutions for Class 10th English Note Making and Summarising PDF, prepare well for the exam.

Notes are short written record of facts to aid the memory. Notes are usually taken to record a speech or dictation while listening to it or after reading a book, magazine or article. They are referred back whenever needed and may be reproduced in the desired way.

Note Making Rough Copy Fair Copy The Necessity Of Note – Making Knowledge is vast and unlimited, but our memory is limited. We cannot remember all the information all the time. Hence note – making is necessary. With the help of notes we can recall the entire information read/heard months ago. It is quite useful to students preparing for many subjects. At the time of examinations, it is not possible to go through voluminous books. At such critical times, notes are quite handy. Hence note-making fulfils three useful functions:

• It keeps a lot of information at our disposal for ready reference.
• It helps us reconstruct what was said or written and thus accelerates the process of remembering/recall.
• It comes in handy in delivering a speech, participation in a debate/discussion, writing an essay and revising lessons before an examination.

10th Summary Writing How Note – Making Helps Us

While making notes we do not simply read the passage/listen to speech but consider various points made by the writer/speaker and draw our own inferences about what is being presented. Thus note-making helps us in understanding the passage in a better way and organising our thoughts systematically.

Note Making 10th Class Characteristics Of Good Notes

• Short and Compact: Good notes must be short and compact.
• Complete Information: They must contain all the important information.
• Logical: They must be presented in a logical way.
• Understandable: They should be understandable when consulted at a later stage.

Summary Writing 10th Class Mechanics Of Note – Making

While making notes we follow certain standard practices. These may be listed as follows: (a) Heading and Subheadings (b) Abbreviation and Symbols (c) Note – form (d) Numbering and Indentation

10th English Summary Writing Examples Heading And Sub – Headings

The heading reflects the main theme whereas the subheadings point out how it has been developed. The selection of proper heading and subheading reveals the grasp of the passage by the students. In the absence of proper assimilation of main ideas and subsidiary points, it is impossible to make notes.

Note Making And Summarising Class 10 Solved Questions Read the following passages carefully and make notes and summarize.

Note Making For Class 10 PASSAGE 1 The epidemic of heart attacks has been attaining alarming proportion in recent times causing grave concern specially to the medical fraternity. To contain and control the increasing death and disability from heart attacks and to focus on public awareness and their involvement at global level, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Heart Federation observed September 24th as the World Heart Day. What causes heart attacks? Dr H.S. Wasir, Chief Cardiologist and Medical Director, Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre lists four main habits which adversely affect the heart health. These are lack of physical exercise, wrong eating habits, cigarette smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, and stressful lifestyle.

The importance of physical exercise in minimising the incidence of heart attacks cannot be underestimated. “Physical exercise,” says Dr. Wasir, “plays a major role in achieving a long and healthy life in general and prevention of heart attacks in particular.” There are several studies showing that physically active people have higher longevity than those sedentary or physically inactive.

Notes: Note Making Summary 10th Class Healthy Heart

1. World Heart Day: 24 September. (a) To control death & disability (b) To increase awareness

2. Causes of Heart Attacks (a) Lack of physical exercise (b) Wrong eating habits (c) Smoking & alcohol (d) Stressful lifestyle

3. Role of Physical Exercise. (a) Prevents heart attacks – longer life (b) Isotonic – beneficial; isometric – harmful (c) Walking: best exercise (i) 30 to 60 meters brisk walk (ii) no equipment, money, material or membership of club (iii) early morning: ideal for walking.

4. Consult cardiologist before beginning an exercise program.

Note Making And Summary Writing Examples Class 10 Summary Rough draft: Healthy Heart

The epithet of heart attacks has been attaining alarming proportions in recent times causing grave to the medical fraternity. To have control on increasing death and disability due’ total art attacks, the World Health Organisation (W.H.O) and World Heart Federation nSssj^served September 24th as World Heart Day to focus on public awareness. “Physi&ak exercise,” says Dr. Wasir, “plays a major role in achieving a long and healthy life ing&netul and prevention of heart attacks ’’ in particular.” According to health experts, their age main habits that cause heart attack, these are lack of physical exercise, wrong&atijjg habits, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and stressful lifestyle. The effect§’«Qieart attack can be reduced to greater extent with the help of regular exercise like walking.

Fair Draft: Healthy Heart In recent times, heart attack is an epidemic disease that causes grave concern to the medical fraternity. To have control on increasing death and disability due to heart attacks, the World Health Organisation (W.H.O) and World Heart Federation has observed September 24th as the World Heart Day to focus on public awareness. According to health experts, there are four main habits that cause heart attack, these are lack of physical exercise, wrong eating habits, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and stressful lifestyle. The effects of heart attack can be reduced to greater extent with the help of regular exercise like walking.

No. of words in the Fair Draft: 100

Note Making And Summary Writing Class 10 PASSAGE 2 Scientists in the USA and Japan are developing a set of smart materials that clean themselves off dirt and stains besides eliminating foul odors and dangerous bacteria. Exploiting powerful catalytic properties, researchers succeeded in creating tiles, glass, paint, paper and cloth that can keep themselves sparkling clean. The first item to reach the market, a self – cleaning wall and counter tile, can not only kill bacteria but also eliminate odors and staining associated with smoke from cooking oils and cigarettes, reports the journal Technology Review. The key to the self – cleaning world of the future is the interaction between titanium dioxide and ultraviolet rays from the sun or fluorescent lights. The special properties of titanium dioxide – a substance used to make paint and toothpaste white – were first discovered by Tokyo University chemist Akira Fujishima and Associates in 1969. Their research showed that when exposed to solar energy, titanium dioxide has the ability to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Notes Self Cleaning Materials

1. Self-cleaning materials (a) Clean dirt, stains (b) Eliminate foul odour & dangerous bacteria

2. Self-clearing tiles – people of work. (a) Ultraviolet rays – * Ti02

3. Special properties of TiOz (a) Ti02 makes paint/toothpaste white (b) Ability to break down H20 into H2 and 02 (c) Absorbs energy from ultraviolet band + reacts with H20 vapours → produced 02 → break organic matter → C02 + trace elements

Note Making Examples Class 10 Summary Rough’ttraft: Self Cleaning Materials Scientists in thetfSAiand Japan are developing a set of smart materials that clean themselves off dirt and taus but also eliminate odors and dangerous bacteria. The first item to reach the market/a’selfAfieaning wall and counter tile, can not only kill bacteria but also eliminate odours arm causing associated with smoke from cooking oils and cigarettes, reports the journal Technology Review. Some tiles, glass, paint, paper and cloth have been introduced those can be’ kept dean manually. Titanium dioxide and Ultraviolet rays from the sun are the keys to the’self^cleaning world.

Fair Draft: Self Cleaning Materials Scientists of Japan and USA have developed many smart materials that not only clean themselves off dirt and stains but also eliminate odours and dangerous bacteria. Some tiles, glass, paint, paper and cloth have been introduced those can be kept clean manually. Titanium dioxide and Ultraviolet rays from the sun are the keys to the self – cleaning world.

No. of words in the Fair Draft: 57

Note Making Examples For Class 10 PASSAGE 3 According to the National Council for Applied Economic Research’s latest report, India: Human Development Report which is a profile of the Indian states in the 1990s, there are many problems in women’s education. Girls are taken out of school as soon as some calamity hits the family’s fortunes. They are made to look after their younger siblings and they are not looked upon as ‘investment’. In order to marry them off early and without problems, girls are not allowed to traverse long distances to go to school. They are not allowed to study under male teachers. Affluent families invest in girls’ education only if they are assured of getting better bridegrooms.

When women are educated, they can at least look after their own and the family’s health, better. Without adequate education, there is a low level of awareness about ailments and sheer ignorance can cause them to ascribe ailments to non – medical, often supernatural causes. Uneducated women are often too shy to reveal their diseases and many do not go to doctors out of fear that it may cause undue expenses to their budgetary balances. Pregnant women in many villages have been found not to be given any special diet. In fact they often reduce their food intake because of the prevailing belief that they cannot digest heavy food. There is gender disparity in most states in the treatment of young children and the elderly.

In any case, a majority of the rural areas do not have provision for primary health care services. The prevalence of diseases is rather high in the southern states, West Bengal and Punjab perhaps because of better reporting of sickness and the availability of treatment. About 41 million individuals receive medication for major illnesses at a point of time in India and the highest prevalence is of hypertension followed by tuberculosis. The critical issues of education and health are closely connected with expansion of job opportunities and while reducing unemployment has been a standard slogan during the elections by all parties, the emphasis on health and education has been subdued.

Notes Neglect of Women’s Education & Health 1. Female dropouts in schools (a) Family hit by calamity – girl looks after siblings (b) Girl’s education. – not regarded investment (i) rich – investment, if better bridegroom (c) Problem-free marriage (i) early age (ii) no long distance to school (iii) no male teachers

2. Results of inadequate female education. (a) Health probs. (i) ignorance (ii) superstitions (iii) shyness about disease (iv)fear of undue expenses (v)lack of proper diet to pregnant women

3. Lack of rural/health care services (a) High prevalence of diseases 41 million get medication. (b) Southern states, West Bengal & Punjab (i) better reporting of sickness (ii) availability of treatment. (c) Most common diseases (i) hyper tension (ii) T.B.

Summary Rough draft: Neglect of Women’s Education & Health Women’s arts education is still lagging behind under various factors. If any calamity hits, girls are taken^out of school to look after their younger siblings. Girls education is not regarded as asihvqstment. When women are educated, they can at least look after their own and the ralmlVs health, better. Only the rich class people educate their girls for better match. MokNa^the parents do not like to send their girl child in distant school or taught by male teacher. The working women give up their job with an increase in their family income. Secbn4Jy inadequate education in female create health problems due to ignorance, superstitiPn§and fear of undue expense. There is lack of rural health care services so rural women become victims of diseases like T.B., hypertension etc. There is gender disparity ‘furriest states in the treatment of young children and the elderly.

Fair Draft: Neglect of Women’s Education & Health Women’s education is still lagging behind under various factors. If any calamity hits, a girls are taken out of school to look after their younger siblings. Girls education is not regarded as investment. Only the rich class people educate their girls for better match. Most of the parents do not like to send their girl child in distant school or taught by male teachers. The working women give up their job with an increase in their family income. Secondly inadequate education in female create health problems due to ignorance, superstitions and fear of undue expense. There is lack of rural health care services so the rural women become victims of diseases like T.B., hypertension etc.

No. of words in the Fair Draft: 115

PASSAGE 4 The distribution of forests among different districts of the state is very uneven. The concentration of forests is mostly in the hills of western districts and in the Javadi group of hills in Vellore district. Dense forests are also seen in Salem district. More than half of the area in the Nilgiris is under forest. Other districts hold 1% to 5% of area under forests. Thanjavur being the alluvial plain is suitable for agriculture which has less than 1% of forest cover.

The forests of Tamil Nadu have different types of trees. Most of the trees in the state shed their leaves in the dry season. Tamil Nadu has large areas of sandal wood plantations, about 5,88,000 hectares. Hard wood trees are available in the forests of Coimbatore, Nilgiris and Kanyakumari. Trees that are used as fuel are found in Madurai, Coimbatore and Thanjavur districts. Kanyakumari district has rubber plantations.

Notes Forests in Tamil Nadu Uneven distribution – concentration in western districts, Nilgiris, Javadi hills, Vellore and Salem – other districts have 1 – 5% forests. Thanjavur only 1% of land under forests.

Different kinds of trees. Deciduous trees, Hardwood trees, Sandalwood trees and Ordinary trees for firewood available – 5,88,000 hectares under sandalwood.

Spread Hardwood trees – Kanyakumari, Coimbatore and Nilgiris Firewood – Madurai, Thanjavur and Coimbatore Rubber – Kanyakumari

Summary Rough’drai’t: Forests in Tamil Nadu The distributibiKQf forests among different districts of the state is very uneven. Forest cover is denseSuwestem districts, Javadi hills, Vellore, Nilgiris and Salem. Thanjavur has less than l%^of forest cover. Tamil Nadu forests have hardwood, firewood and sandalwood trees/San^lalwood trees are found in 5,88,000 hectares. Hardwood and firewood are found inTSAQyakumari, Coimbatore and Thanjavur. Nilgiris has good cover of hardwood, Kanyaktmri has rubber plantations. Trees that are used as fuel are found in Madurai, Coimbatore and Thanjavur districts. Kanyakumari district has rubber plantations.

Fair Draft: Forests in Tamil Nadu Forest cover is dense in western districts, Javadi hills, Vellore, Nilgiris and Salem. Thanjavur has less than 1% of forest cover. Tamil Nadu forests have hardwood, firewood and sandalwood trees. Sandalwood trees are found in 5,88,000 hectares. Hardwood and firewood are found in Kanyakumari, Coimbatore and Thanjavur. Nilgiris has good cover of hardwood, Kanyakumari has rubber plantations.

PASSAGE 5 Oils are of three main kinds – vegetable, animal and mineral oil. Vegetable oil is obtained by crushing oilseeds. Mineral oil is pumped out from deep under the earth. Animal oil is got from the fat of animals. To extract vegetable oil, the dried oilseeds are put in the crushing machine and oil is squeezed out. This is found deep below the ground. Holes are drilled and oil is pumped out or forced out. The crude oil is a source of many useful things. We get kerosene, petrol and diesel out of crude oil. We use most of the vegetable oils for cooking. Mineral oils are mainly used as fuel. Animal oils are used as medicine. For example, shark liver oil is given to strengthen weak children. Neem oil, lime oil and sandalwood oil also have medicinal value.

Notes: Three kinds of oil

• Vegetable oil – crushing dried seeds – using machines
• Mineral oil – holes drilled – deep under the ground – oil pumped out crude oil – refined – petrol/diesel/kerosene
• Animal oil – fat of animals – whales, sharks – blubber melted

Uses of oil

• Vegetable oil – edible – used for cooking – for making soaps residue – oil cake – used as cattle feed.
• Mineral oil – used as fuels
• Animal oil – used as medicine – skin care soaps.

Summary Rough draft: Neglect of Women’s Education & Health

Oils are of mrbe’Oiiain kinds – vegetable, animal and mineral oil. Vegetable oil is obtained by crushing’ my seeds. Vegetable oil is extracted from dried seeds by crushing. Mineral oils are purer pinout from underground. Animal oils are extracted from the fat or blurb of whale andsharl^s. We get kerosene, petrol and diesel from crude oil. Vegetable oils are used for cooking mineral oils are used as fuels. Neem oil, lime oil and sandalwood oil also have medic math value.

Fair Draft: Neglect of Women’s Education & Health Vegetable oil is extracted from dried seeds by crushing. Mineral oils are pumped out from underground. Animal oils are extracted from the fat or blurb of whale and sharks. We get kerosene, petrol and diesel from crude oil. Vegetable oils are used for cooking. Mineral oils are used as fuels.

No. of words in the Fair Draft: 50

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Summary Writing on Unseen -Passage ( Writing Skill )

• Writing Skill
• March 5, 2021 May 9, 2024
• by englishforlearner

Q. Write a summary of the passage given for comprehension and suggest a suitable title to it.

(1) Unseen-Passage

Ans: Summary

Title: Proud Rose

(2) Unseen-Passage:

Ans:   Summary

Title: Effects of food

Unseen Passage:

Passage No.3

B- Summary Writing:

Write a summary of the passage given for comprehension and suggest a suitable title to it.

Title: Video Games

Passage No.4

B-Summary Writing:

Title: Saving paper

Passage No.5

Title: Pullela Gopichand’s feelings

B Summary Writing:

Title: Dr. Kalam’s efforts

Passage No.6

Title: A stroke

Passage No.7

Title: Indira’s advice to children

Passage No.8

Title: Endangered snow leopards

Passage No.9

Title: Medha Patkar

Passage No.10

B-Summary Writing

Title: Kavita Raut’s Achievement

Passage No.11

Title: Importance of forests

Passage No.12

Title: Aladahalli village

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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.

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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..

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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. 

• 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

What Is a Summary In Writing? (Explained + 40 Examples)

In my 20+ years of writing essays, research articles, short stories, blog posts, and books, I’ve summarized thousands of times.

Here is my summary answer about “What is a summary in writing?”

A summary in writing is the craft of distilling vast oceans of text into droplets of essence, a skill as crucial as it is challenging . At the core, summary writing is the distillation of essential points from a larger text, preserving the original message and intent. It balances brevity and clarity.

As contradictory as it might sound, there is a lot more to say about summary in writing.

The Essence of Summarization

Table of Contents

Over the years, I’ve learned that a successful summary does two things well—it provides clarity to the reader and respects the original work’s integrity.

Brevity and clarity are the twin pillars of a good summary.

My mantra, “As short as possible and as long as necessary,” and a favorite quote I align with—attributed to Einstein—”Things should be as simple as possible, but no simpler,” encapsulate my approach to summaries.

Achieving this balance is more an art than a science, a dance between being concise and being clear.

My guideline—keeping things as short as necessary but as long as needed—is a testament to this balancing act.

It’s about not just shrinking text size but ensuring every word counts, every sentence conveys meaning, and the essence of the text is untouched.

Types of Summaries

Below are some common types of summaries you need to know:

• Descriptive Summaries: These provide an overview of the main points of a text, without offering analysis or interpretation. Descriptive summaries focus on summarizing the content in a clear and concise manner, making them useful for providing an overview or introduction to a topic.
• Analytical Summaries: Analytical summaries go beyond simply recounting the main points of a text; they also analyze and evaluate the content. These summaries often delve into the author’s arguments, evidence, and conclusions, offering insights into the text’s significance and implications.
• Informative Summaries: Informative summaries aim to convey the most important information from a text, often condensing complex ideas into simpler language. These summaries are commonly used in academic writing, where the goal is to provide readers with a clear understanding of the text’s main points.
• Critical Summaries: Critical summaries involve not only summarizing the content of a text but also critiquing it. Writers may highlight strengths and weaknesses, identify biases or gaps in the argument, and offer their own perspective on the text’s merits or limitations.
• Abstracts: Abstracts are concise summaries of longer documents, such as research papers or articles. They typically include a brief overview of the purpose, methodology, results, and conclusions of the study, allowing readers to quickly grasp the key findings and significance of the research.

Crafting the Perfect Summary

Summarizing is not a random act but a structured process.

It starts with a thorough reading, understanding the text’s main arguments, themes, and nuances.

Then, identifying the core elements that are indispensable to the message.

The challenge is to weave these elements into a cohesive, shorter narrative that stands on its own while reflecting the original text’s spirit.

Personal Insights and Techniques

Through trial and error, I’ve honed specific techniques that aid in summarization:

• Highlighting Key Points: As I read, I highlight or note down crucial information and standout ideas.
• Structuring the Summary: I create a rough outline, deciding the order of points based on their relevance and the original work’s flow.
• Rewriting with Precision: This step involves rewriting the highlighted points in my own words, ensuring clarity and conciseness without diluting the message.

Template for Writing a Summary

Crafting a summary can be simplified by following a structured template.

While each summary may vary in complexity and content, this general template provides a framework to guide your summarization process:

• Introduction: Begin by introducing the text and its author, providing necessary context for the summary. Identify the main topic or thesis of the text and briefly outline its purpose and significance.
• Main Points: Summarize the main points or arguments presented in the text, focusing on the most essential information. Use concise language and avoid unnecessary details or tangents.
• Supporting Details: Provide supporting evidence or examples to reinforce the main points of the text. Select key quotations, statistics, or anecdotes that best illustrate the author’s ideas.
• Analysis: Analyze the text’s content, identifying any underlying themes, patterns, or implications. Consider the author’s purpose, audience, and rhetorical strategies, and evaluate the effectiveness of their argument or message.
• Conclusion: Conclude the summary by summarizing the overall message or takeaway of the text. Reflect on the significance of the text’s content and its relevance to the broader context or field of study.

Here is a great video on how to summarize in writing:

The Role of Experience in Writing Summaries

Experience plays a critical role in mastering summarization.

In my life, I’ve learned that every word in a summary must earn its place. This discernment comes from practice and familiarity with a wide range of texts.

It comes down to what words and ideas to leave in and what to leave out.

Experience has taught me when to cut deeper and when to allow a bit more space for explanation or narrative, always guided by the principle of making things as simple as possible but no simpler.

Original Research and Testing

My curiosity led me to conduct a series of experiments comparing different summarization techniques across various text types.

I assessed the outcomes based on reader comprehension, retention, and feedback.

The Impact of Testing Different Techniques

My research involved comparing various summarization strategies to identify the most effective approaches for different text types.

This hands-on testing revealed that the audience’s needs significantly influence the summary’s structure and content.

For instance, summaries intended for academic audiences prioritized accuracy and conciseness, while those for a general audience often leaned towards engaging narratives and essential takeaways.

Findings and Insights

One key insight from this research was the importance of adaptability.

A one-size-fits-all approach to summarization doesn’t work.

Tailoring the summary to the text type and intended audience increases effectiveness and satisfaction. Additionally, iterative testing highlighted the value of feedback in refining summaries.

Incorporating reader feedback into the summarization process can significantly enhance clarity and relevance.

40 Examples of Summaries

In the spirit of showing rather than telling, let’s dissect examples of summaries from various genres.

For brevity’s sake, I’ll categorize these examples and provide insights into what makes each effective.

Research Articles/Essays

• The Impact of Climate Change on Coastal Ecosystems: Summarizes key findings on the degradation of coastal ecosystems due to rising temperatures, including potential long-term effects and mitigation strategies.
• Technological Advancements in Renewable Energy: Details the latest advancements in solar and wind energy technologies, highlighting efficiency improvements and the path toward sustainable energy solutions.
• Behavioral Economics and Consumer Decision Making: Explores how psychological factors influence economic decisions, offering insights into improving marketing strategies and consumer education.
• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: Discusses the integration of AI in diagnostics and patient care, emphasizing potential benefits and ethical considerations.
• Educational Reforms and Student Outcomes: Analyzes the impact of recent educational reforms on student performance and equity, suggesting further research directions and policy implications.
• Microplastics in Marine Environments: Examines the sources, distribution, and ecological impacts of microplastics, proposing methods for reduction and cleanup.
• Mental Health in the Workplace: Investigates the correlation between workplace environment and employee mental health, recommending strategies for creating supportive work cultures.
• Sustainable Agriculture Practices: Reviews sustainable farming techniques and their effectiveness in promoting biodiversity, soil health, and food security.
• The Influence of Social Media on Political Discourse: Evaluates how social media platforms have transformed political communication, voter behavior, and public opinion formation.
• Advances in Alzheimer’s Research: Presents recent breakthroughs in understanding the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, with a focus on potential therapeutic targets and preventive measures.

Work Reports

• Annual Marketing Strategy Review: Summarizes the performance of last year’s marketing campaigns, key metrics achieved, lessons learned, and strategies for the upcoming year.
• Quarterly Sales Report: Details sales performance by region and product line, comparing results against targets, analyzing trends, and suggesting actionable insights for improvement.
• Customer Satisfaction Survey Analysis: Compiles findings from recent customer surveys, highlighting areas of strength and opportunities for service enhancement.
• IT Infrastructure Upgrade Project Summary: Outlines the objectives, progress, challenges, and next steps in the company’s IT infrastructure overhaul, including budget and timeline updates.
• Employee Training Program Evaluation: Reviews the outcomes of the latest employee training initiatives, assessing effectiveness in skill development and impact on performance.
• Competitor Analysis Report: Provides an overview of key competitors’ strategies, market positioning, product offerings, and potential threats or opportunities.
• Supply Chain Optimization Study: Summarizes findings from a study on supply chain efficiencies, identifying bottlenecks and recommending solutions for cost reduction and speed.
• Risk Management Assessment: Evaluates the company’s exposure to various risks, including financial, operational, and reputational risks, proposing mitigation strategies.
• Sustainability Initiatives Progress Report: Tracks the progress of corporate sustainability efforts, including environmental impact reductions, community engagement, and sustainability goals.
• New Product Development Update: Offers a snapshot of the development stages, challenges encountered, market research findings, and estimated launch timeline for a new product.
• The Echo of the Ocean : A novel about a marine biologist uncovering a groundbreaking discovery about sea life communication, while navigating personal challenges and ethical dilemmas.
• Futures Past : A science fiction saga exploring the consequences of time travel on human history, ethics, and personal identity through intertwined narratives.
• Mind Over Matter : A non-fiction exploration of the power of the human mind to overcome physical limitations, featuring real-life stories of resilience and scientific insights.
• The Last Emperor’s Secret – Historical fiction set in ancient China, revolving around a palace conspiracy, hidden treasures, and the quest for truth.
• Green Horizons : An environmental science book discussing innovative solutions to climate change, from renewable energy to conservation strategies, aimed at a general audience.
• Heartstrings : A collection of short stories delving into the complexities of human relationships, love, loss, and redemption, across diverse cultures and situations.
• Digital Frontiers : Examines the digital revolution’s impact on society, economy, and individual lives, offering insights into future trends and ethical considerations.
• Culinary Journeys : A travelogue that takes readers on a gastronomical tour around the world, exploring the history and stories behind iconic dishes and ingredients.
• The Art of Innovation : A guide to fostering creativity and innovation in the workplace, with case studies from leading companies and practical tips for teams.
• Voices of the Forest : A fantasy novel featuring a young hero’s adventure in a mystical forest, battling dark forces to save their homeland with the help of enchanted creatures.

Short Stories

• The Last Light : A poignant tale about a lighthouse keeper’s final night before the automation of his lighthouse, reflecting on the changes and constants in life.
• Crossroads : Explores the moment a young man stands at a crossroad, literal and metaphorical, contemplating the diverging paths of his future.
• Echoes of War : Follows a veteran’s struggle with returning to civilian life, haunted by memories of the battlefield, and his journey towards healing.
• A Stitch in Time : A whimsical story about a seamstress who discovers her sewing machine can repair more than just clothes, mending broken hearts and dreams.
• The Glass Forest : Details an explorer’s discovery of a mysterious forest where trees are made of glass, symbolizing beauty and fragility.
• Shadows on the Moon : A science fiction piece about a colony on the moon dealing with the psychological effects of living in perpetual darkness and light.
• Invisible Ties : Explores the unseen connections between strangers on a crowded subway, each carrying their own stories and struggles.
• The Color of Autumn : Captures a painter’s attempt to paint the perfect autumn scene, reflecting on the impermanence of life and the enduring beauty of nature.
• Whispers in the Wind : Tells the story of a small village where the wind carries voices from the past, and a young girl learns the history of her ancestors.
• Ripples : A narrative about the impact of a single act of kindness, following its ripple effects through the lives of various people in a community.

The 5 Biggest Mistakes Writers Make When Summarizing

Summarizing is an art, but like any craft, it’s prone to pitfalls.

Here are the five most common mistakes writers make when summarizing, along with tips on how to avoid them.

Summarizing may seem straightforward, but it’s deceptively complex.

One of the biggest mistakes writers make is oversimplifying or overcomplicating the summary, leading to confusion or loss of crucial information.

Another common error is failing to capture the essence of the original text, resulting in a summary that misses the mark.

Additionally, inadequate understanding of the audience can lead to summaries that are either too technical or too simplistic for the intended readership. Lastly, neglecting to cite sources or provide proper attribution in summaries can result in accusations of plagiarism or intellectual dishonesty.

The 5 Biggest Mistakes

• Oversimplifying or Overcomplicating: Striking the right balance between brevity and clarity is key.
• Missing the Essence: Ensure the summary captures the core message and key points of the original text.
• Audience Misalignment: Tailor the summary to the audience’s knowledge level and interests.
• Lack of Attribution: Always cite sources and provide proper credit for ideas and information.
• Ignoring Structure and Flow: A well-structured summary enhances readability and comprehension.

Final Thoughts: What Is a Summary In Writing?

Summarization is more than a writing skill—it’s a critical thinking exercise that challenges you to understand deeply, analyze critically, and communicate effectively.

In my two decades of writing, I’ve seen firsthand how a well-crafted summary can open doors to understanding, make knowledge more accessible, and bridge the gap between complex ideas and a broader audience.

Read This Next:

• What Is TNR In Writing? (Explained w/ Examples)
• What Is Generative Writing? [Ultimate Guide + 100 Examples]
• What Is A Cold Open In Writing? (Tips, Examples, Guide)
• What Is A Universal Statement In Writing? (Explained)

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Summarizing worksheets & activities.

Summarizing is one of those skills that may seem very easy to a teacher but can be difficult for students who have not been properly taught how to summarize. For many years I did not even teach my seventh and eighth grade students how to summarize. I would just ask them to summarize texts and then get mad at them when they failed to produce quality summaries. I was wrong in doing this. Now I always teach my students how to write summaries.

Additionally, as per the Common Core State Standards, summaries should not contain opinions, background knowledge, or personal information; rather, a summary should be entirely text based. After years of learning to make connections between the text and themselves, students must be retrained to keep themselves out of their writing in regards to summaries. Teaching this skill surely warrants some of your class time.

Here are some resources that I used in my classroom to teach my students how to summarize. I hope that you find this page useful:

Summarizing Common Core State Standards

120 comments, kowsar seyfudin mahmax.

Thank you very much

I want to express my gratitude for the work you have put into this site.

I have used your site for students for almost a decade now and they have not disappointed once.

Thank you for coming back!

I really appreciate these worksheets and all the worksheets you have published. I work as a volunteer for a literacy group, and we don’t have many resources at this level. I was an SLP so I have had no professional experience as a language arts teacher. These resources allow me to teach better and not have to create items from scratch.

thank you it was informative.

Alphonsa Anis

Thanks it was extremely helpful.

Absolutely fabulous. I’m using them for two employees who are struggling to summarise information. Very, very helpful – thank you.

Hello, can these great worksheets be linked to Google Classroom? Also, how can I have my students access the online assessments? Thank you.

There is a Google Classroom button on the title slide of each online assignment. Press this button to assign it. Google Classroom integration is pretty thin right now, but I’m hoping that they open up their platform more sometime soon!

Thank you, Mr. Morton, for sharing your tips and worksheets for summary teaching and writing practices. Very useful!

Some great activities, really helpful. One thing I want to point out is that shinobi-no-mono is NOT Chinese – this is Japanese. And in the text the characters given are Japanese, NOT Chinese. This is quite a big oversight. As language teachers we need to be aware of different languages.

Thank you. I appreciate the insight.

I want summary and practice sheets for grade 6

Please send me an answer key for the summarizing test.

Acutually 忍の者 isnt chinese the word の is japanses, while in chinese and japanese they call ninja , 忍者. Other than that this is some really good stuff to study my summary from

great material. I´ve been looking for this type of easy to read/ understand material for a long time.

Would it be possible to have the solutions to the test?

Thanks in advance.

Diane Thomas

These are wonderful!Thank you so much!

Thanks a lot .

JANINE RAINES

DO YOU HAVE THE ANSWER KEY TO THE SUMMARIZING TEST?

Mrs. Robinson

Hello, I’m looking for the answer guide for the Summarizing test, please advise if it is available?

Loan Nguyen

Thanks for your sharing. Invaluable resources for teachers. It would be highly appreciated if you can send me the key for the summary test.

Is there an answer sheet for the summarizing test?

EXCELLENT worksheets!

Like many of the above comments, I was hoping that there was an answer key for the summarizing test.

I’m pleased that today is the day that I can finally say, “ Here you go .”

Thank you so much!!

Thank you very much. Bless you!

Thank you, Mr. Morton, for sharing these materials. Indeed this is of great help in my class.

The materials are awesome!! I’d like to separate them to two levels of my students. I’m teaching international students, the comparasion of the good and bad summary really works a lot. I really appriciate for your sharing. However, could you share the summarising answer keys as well? That would help me a lot. Thank you!

Would you consider making something for the 4th & 5th grade level? The examples were all very helpful, but many of my students read below grade level. Thank you again! Jill C.

Thanks from Toronto! Great help for ESL classes here.

Thanks so much from Istanbul! Kids loved it and saved me so much precious precious time

saida merad

Thank you for your valuable help!

Thank you for putting all the material together.

I couldn’t find the answers for the Summarizing Test. They will surely save me some time. Please send them to me, or let me know where I can find them. Thank you so much,

Did you get the answer sheet?

Thank you for all the great materials to use, they will prove to be a great resource!

I was wondering if you would mind pointing out the source from which you pulled the information about ninjas for your worksheet on them. I just wanted to make sure I had the right information because from the bit of research that I pulled up, I see that both in history (concept / existence) and etymology, ninjas are Japanese. The Japanese use kanji, which are essentially Chinese characters, and is only one of the three different “alphabet” sets they use for written communication. So words like “shinobi” and “shinobi no mono” are all Japanese in origin, but written using Chinese characters and not really associated with Chinese culture. This is especially true because “no mono” is a Japanese phrase. Please let me know if there is a source that does say otherwise, so that I can have all the information. Thank you again!

Hello. I pulled that content from a Wikipedia page a long time ago. I’m no expert on the subject. I was just writing a worksheet that I hope would interest students.

These worksheets are helpful but the commenter above is correct, none of these words are or have ever been Chinese. “Shinobi” was in Japanese poems in the 8th century, not Chinese. Shinobi was the Chinese reading of the characters, but it was always a Japanese word. It might be helpful to fix this worksheet to avoid presenting incorrect information to students.

What is the answer key for summary test please?

Thanks a million for this Mr. Morton. This lesson will help me and my students understand summarizing better. God bless your sir!

Thank you so much for helpful material

Brian Samson

What a phenomenal effort you’ve done in putting together all these. Appreciate your ideas. Fabulous!

How amazing to come across your Summarising resouces with explicit instructions. Your comments about teaching the students how to effectively summarise was the most important fact. This in turn forced me to reflect on my own teaching. Thank you for the step by step instructions, they were very valuable. Have you posted any other reading strategy hints?

Sure, I’ve posted them all around this site. Feel free to explore a bit.

What’s the reading level for summary worksheet 3?

Can I get answers for summarizing test about Gutenberg

It is an awesome sight.I got to now today from where the school gives us topics in worksheets.Very useful,but one problems that we don’t get the answers of the questions so that we can check and correct our answers

Mary Jane Dela Cerna

Good day Mr. Morton 😀 what is the answer keys for the summary test? I am not sure in my answer 😀

Wow, just wanted to thank you for your hard work and generosity to publish them for everybody. Thank you so much.

I was studying for an exam and couldn’t find enough information on summarizing. I was very excited when I found your site. It was very helpful.Thanks a million!

A terrific resource. Thank you so much for sharing. I came across your site as I was looking for help with teaching summarising – no need to look any further! Powerpoint and practice sheets, examples …. awesome.

Gracie Alexander

Is there an answer key for the Test?

Kristen Moore

What an incredible site! Thank you for sharing your resources and ideas. Especially the Summary power point. I’ve been struggling to get my students to differentiate between a summary and a list of details. This will help so much!

Amy Gartland

I just discovered this site today. I teach high school ELL and was looking for good nonfiction texts that were accessible for my students. I will definitely be looking around some more and plan on using material in my lessons this week!

This was VERY helpful. Even for a university student who needed a refresher!

An answer key for the Summary would be helpful if provided. And also a whole passage summary, not just the summary for each paragraph.

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Common Core State Standards Initiative

English Language Arts Standards » Writing » Grade 9-10

Standards in this strand:.

The CCR anchor standards and high school grade-specific standards work in tandem to define college and career readiness expectations—the former providing broad standards, the latter providing additional specificity.

Text Types and Purposes:

Production and distribution of writing:, research to build and present knowledge:, range of writing:.

• Key Design Consideration
• Students Who are College and Career Ready in Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening, & Language
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• English Language Arts Appendix A
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What is a Summary? An In-depth Guide on Definition, Types, and Examples

Understanding what a summary contains is fundamental to academic success. It represents a concise restatement of an argument, paper, or lecture's main points, facilitating better understanding, and the ability to highlight connections between concepts.

The term 'summary' itself, alongside variations such as 'overview' and 'review', plays a critical role in both written and oral academic communication, proving indispensable for those seeking to grasp and convey key ideas efficiently.

This article aims to break down in detail, the definition of a summary, including what a summary looks like and its essential elements, and delving into the various types of summaries. It will also provide a detailed look at the summary structure, summary format, and the components and steps crucial in crafting an effective summary, complemented by practical summary writing examples.

Through understanding the nuances of summary design and identifying common pitfalls, readers will gain insights into optimizing their summary writing skills for academic and professional success.

What is a Summary?

Summary is a distilled rendition of content that encapsulates a broad understanding of a subject matter. This condensation is aimed at being concise, accurate, and readily comprehensible. 

Purpose and Structure of a Summary

• The primary aim of a summary is to conserve the reader's time and effort, offering a pathway to grasp the key themes of more extensive work in a format that is both accessible and manageable. A typical summary structure encompasses an introduction, body, and conclusion, with the introduction specifying the title of the original work, its author, and the main topic. Importantly, a summary should avoid personal opinions or interpretations, and represent the ideas and arguments of the original work. This objective stance ensures that the summary remains a true reflection of the source material, devoid of subjective bias.

The term ‘summary’ can be used both as a noun as well as an adjective. Let’s see how

• As a Noun : A summary is characterized by its ability to offer a short, clear exposition that conveys the principal facts or ideas about a topic. This encapsulation is a comprehensive and brief abstract, spotlighting previously stated facts or statements. The essence of summarizing lies in its capacity to distill a larger body of work into its main points and essential details, presenting them in a succinct format. Synonyms of summary include abstract, breviary, and epitome, among others, each underscoring the brevity and comprehensiveness of the summary.
• As an Adjective : The term 'summary' is also used as an adjective, denoting actions carried out swiftly, often bypassing the conventional process or discussion. This usage highlights the efficiency and directness of summary actions, especially in contexts requiring prompt decision-making or succinct communication. Synonyms for this usage include direct, prompt, etc,

Types of Summaries

Summaries play a crucial role across various domains, serving to condense and clarify content for different purposes. Here, we explore the diverse types of summaries, each tailored to specific needs and contexts:

• Academic Summaries: Utilized in scholarly writing, these summaries distill complex information into digestible parts, aiding in the comprehension of intricate ideas and arguments.
• Meeting Summaries: Essential for both attendees and absentees, they encapsulate discussions, decisions, and subsequent steps, ensuring alignment and shared understanding.
• Medical Summaries: Offer a comprehensive view of a patient's health status, treatments, and prognosis, valuable for healthcare providers, patients, and families alike.
• Business Document Overviews: Summarize key elements of documents like business plans or annual reports, providing a high-level perspective.
• Book Summaries: Found on back covers or online, they give potential readers insight into themes, characters, and plot, aiding in decision-making without revealing too much.
• Product Summaries: Highlight features, benefits, and uses of products, assisting customers in making informed purchasing decisions.
• News Summaries (Abstracts): Allow readers to grasp the main points of news stories quickly, saving time and effort by avoiding full-article reads.
• Abstracts and Synopses: Serve as concise presentations of long texts or articles, helping readers decide on engaging with the full material. Abstracts highlight major points, while synopses chronologically offer brief overviews of content.
• Literary and Film Reviews: These summaries not only recount the narrative but also include evaluations of the significance and impact of the work, often incorporating the reviewer's insights.
• Policy and Research Summaries: Analyze and evaluate content, focusing on the implications and usefulness of the findings for policy development and professional learning.

Components of a Good Summary

Creating an effective summary requires adherence to certain foundational components that ensure clarity, relevance, and coherence. These components are critical in encapsulating the essence of the original text while making it accessible and informative for the reader. Below are the key components and steps involved in crafting a good summary:

• Main Idea or Thesis: The summary must clearly identify the central theme or thesis of the original work. This serves as the anchor around which the summary is structured.
• Essential Supporting Points: It should include all crucial arguments or points that support the main idea, ensuring the reader grasps the full scope of the original work without needing to refer to it.
• Structure and Coherence: Present the author's points in a logical order, starting with the thesis or main idea and following with supporting details. This structure aids in the reader's comprehension.
• Comprehensiveness and Conciseness: While being comprehensive enough to cover the original work's significant points, a summary should also be concise, avoiding unnecessary details or digressions.
• Objective Representation: Maintain an objective tone, refraining from including personal opinions or biases. The goal is to reflect the original text's content and tone accurately.

Summary Design and Structure

Designing and structuring a summary requires a meticulous approach to ensure that the essence of the original text is captured accurately and concisely. The following outlines the key steps and considerations for crafting an effective summary:

• Start with an introductory sentence that includes the text's title , author , and the main point . This sets a clear context for the reader.
• Example : "In 'The Art of War' by Sun Tzu, the primary focus is on strategies for military success."
• Summaries must be written in your own words , reflecting only the ideas of the original text to maintain authenticity.
• Identify and list the significant sub-claims used by the author to support the main point. This helps in understanding the structure of the original argument or narrative.
• Select three supporting passages from the text, quoting them word-for-word for accuracy. Cite each passage clearly by mentioning the work, author, and paragraph number.
• Example of citation : "(Tzu, 'The Art of War', para. 5)."
• Utilize diagrams or mind maps for complex summaries, such as story summaries or film analyses. This visual representation can significantly aid in understanding themes, character developments, or critical events.
• The Little Prince Story Summary : A mind map illustrating the story's theme, characteristics of the little prince, and his travel experiences.
• Skyfall 007 Story Summary : A production-focused diagram categorizing every element and deliverable for the movie.
• Sleeping Beauty Story Summary : A diagram highlighting key events of the princess's story, with each event labeled and color-coded for clarity.
• Present the author’s points in a straightforward structure , starting with the thesis or main idea, followed by supporting points. This logical progression aids in reader comprehension.
• The summary overview structure should be clear and distinct , employing bullet points or headings to group similar information, enhancing readability.
• Aim for comprehensiveness and conciseness ; distill complex information into its essence while maintaining clarity and brevity.

By adhering to these guidelines, the summary design and structure will not only accurately reflect the original text but also provide a clear, concise, and engaging overview for the reader. Visual aids, when appropriate, can further enhance understanding, making the summary more accessible and informative.

Step-by-Step Process for Crafting a Summary

To craft a concise and informative summary, especially of a research paper, the following step-by-step process is essential. This structured approach ensures clarity, accuracy, and relevance, aligning with the objective of summarizing:

• Read the Entire Paper : Focus on understanding the main points, findings, and the authors' conclusions. Pay special attention to the introduction, results, and discussion sections to grasp the study's significance and potential usefulness.
• Abstract and Conclusion : Use these sections to build a foundational understanding of the research paper's goals and outcomes. Write a simplified version of both, highlighting the key points and findings.
• Methods Section : Review this part only if it's necessary to comprehend the data interpretation, ensuring a complete understanding of the research conducted.
• Sectional Analysis : Divide the text into sections to better understand its structure and main arguments, which are crucial for a comprehensive summary.
• Key Point Extraction : Make a list of the most important points, distinguishing between main ideas and supporting details. Assign a keyword to each identified point to organize and streamline the summary writing process.
• Writing in Your Own Words : Using your own words, present the material from the author's perspective, ensuring an objective representation of the original text. Begin with an introduction that includes the text's title, author, and main point.
• Accuracy and Completeness Check : Compare the summary against the original article to ensure all critical information is accurately and fully represented. This step is crucial for maintaining the integrity of the original work.
• Revision and Editing : Revise the summary for clarity, coherence, and conciseness. This includes checking for grammatical and spelling errors, verifying the summary's length, and potentially having someone else review the work. Additionally, ensure proper citation methods are used to avoid plagiarism.

By following these steps, the summary writing process becomes a methodical exercise in distilling complex information into a digestible format. This approach not only aids in understanding but also in effectively communicating the essence of the original work to the intended audience.

Examples of Summary Usage

To illustrate the concepts discussed, examples of both full and concise article summaries are provided:

• Macbeth : A comprehensive summary of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" would encapsulate the tragic downfall of Macbeth from a noble thane to a tyrannical ruler, driven by prophesies and manipulation. It would detail key events, such as the prophecy of the witches, the murder of King Duncan, and Macbeth's eventual demise, highlighting themes of ambition, guilt, and fate.
• The Lottery Rose : This summary would outline the story of a young boy, abused and neglected, who finds solace and hope through a small rose bush he wins at a supermarket lottery. It would touch upon themes of abuse, redemption, and the power of kindness.
• My Sister's Keeper : A brief summary might focus on the central ethical dilemma of a girl conceived to save her sister's life, exploring themes of medical ethics, family dynamics, and personal autonomy.

In professional contexts, summaries provide clear overviews of meetings, judicial decisions, and project progress:

• Meeting Summary : Offers a clear overview of decisions made, ensuring all participants, including absentees, are informed of the outcomes and action items.
• Judicial Summary : An example includes the judge exercising summary jurisdiction to swiftly resolve a dispute, demonstrating the use of summaries in legal settings for efficiency.
• Project Progress Summary : For instance, a summary detailing the progress in building a bridge would provide stakeholders with a quick, comprehensive update on milestones achieved and challenges faced.

Finally, summaries also play a pivotal role in advocating for systemic changes or summarizing large-scale projects or reports:

• Advocacy for Public Healthcare System : A concise statement summarizing the need for a better public healthcare system can effectively communicate the core argument to a broad audience.
• Chapter/Plot Summary : Essential in academic settings, these summaries help students and researchers quickly grasp the main points and themes of a specific chapter or the overall plot of a book.

Common Challenges in Summary Writing

In the process of summary writing, several common pitfalls can significantly affect the clarity, accuracy, and effectiveness of the final product. Recognizing and avoiding these pitfalls is crucial for crafting a concise and informative summary.

• Including irrelevant information can distract from the main ideas, making the summary less effective.
• Writing a summary that is too long or too short disrupts the balance between comprehensiveness and conciseness, leading to an ineffective summary.
• Being too generic limits the summary's relevance, while being overly specific can reduce its broader applicability.
• Failing to convey the original text's tone and purpose can lead to misinterpretation, affecting the summary's accuracy.
• Being too passive or boastful can undermine the summary's credibility, while being too boring or flashy can impact its engagement level.
• A summary that is overly personal or impersonal may struggle with relatability, affecting its impact on the reader.
• Not capturing the main ideas or focusing excessively on plot details can result in a summary with limited depth and analysis.
• The lack of textual evidence to support arguments weakens the summary's analysis and credibility.
• Overreliance on secondary sources can diminish the summary's originality and analytical depth.
• Ignoring the historical or cultural context of a work can restrict its interpretation and understanding.
• Restating information instead of summarizing leads to redundancy and a lack of clarity.
• Failing to proofread can lead to errors in spelling, grammar, and clarity, diminishing the summary's quality.
• Using overly complex language makes the summary difficult to understand and interpret.

What is a summary and could you provide an example?

A summary is a concise recapitulation of the primary points, typically serving as a conclusion to a piece of work. For instance, a chapter summary would distill the essential arguments and conclusions. Meanwhile, a brief is a comprehensive framework, with main points and subpoints, for a discourse that is often legal in nature, such as a brief prepared for a legal argument.

What are the different types of summaries that exist?

There are several main types of summaries, including:

• Educational Summary
• Professional Summary
• Consumer Oriented Summary
• Thematic Summary
• Critical Summary
• Descriptive Summary
• Synoptic Summary (or Synthesis)

Could you explain how to craft a thorough summary?

To write a detailed summary, you should:

• Immediately report the overall topic.
• Start with the title of the essay and the author's name.
• Use the present tense.
• Outline the primary points addressed in the text.
• If necessary, include relevant supporting details based on the desired length and depth of the summary.
• Note any significant conclusions that have been drawn.

What is the proper format for writing a summary?

When writing a summary, you should adhere to the following guidelines:

• Write the summary in your own words.
• Ensure the summary only reflects the ideas from the original text.
• Avoid including your personal opinions, interpretations, deductions, or comments.
• Identify the author's significant sub-claims in the order they use to support the main point.

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Quickly Teach How to Write a Summary With Clear Examples and Stems

How to write a summary with clear examples, a template, and a formula to help you teach summary writing to your elementary students.  

It’s the first day of school. You’ve given your students the classic summary writing assignment : “What I Did Over Summer Break.”

One student dives in and begins writing a personal narrative to rival War and Peace.

Another (maybe more than one) groans and lays their head down in despair.

You’ve seen this, right?

This summer vacation prompt might be one of the most difficult assignments we can give some of your elementary students. For others students, it might be the easiest.

You can listen to this post on the TeacherWriter Talks podcast.

Table of Contents

The Summary Writing Assignment From Days of Yore

This year, instead of giving the typical summary writing assignment, perhaps you could read an interesting article or story together, and have your students write a summary about that.

Now, in all honesty, and with full disclosure, I have to admit this assignment isn’t always the best choice either. Why? It’s because at the beginning of the year, students are out of practice with writing, and some may not have learned how to write a summary yet.

This blog will help you with a simple system to teach summary writing with ease, using templates, graphic organizers and a step-by-step plan.

How to Start Teaching How to Write a Summary at the Beginning of the School Year

First of all, define what a summary is for your students. Next, define what it isn’t. Last, don’t let them start writing until you’ve modeled the process and done a think aloud with them.

Teaching how to write a summary isn’t a one and done lesson. You’ll be revisiting pieces and parts of the summary time after time. You’ll know when your students finally have it, because they’ll be able to write a summary in just a few minutes.

How Fast Can a Student Write a One Page Summary?

It was the beginning of the year. My student cried and laid his head in his hands. He struggled with writing, didn’t like it, and gave some push back with every assignment.

Gradually, with accommodations, scaffolding, and several meetings in small group writer’s workshops, his writing began to emerge. His eyes sparkled every time he showed me how much his writing had improved.

One day, I gave an assignment, and this student turned it in inside of Google Classroom in about ten minutes.

I said, “Hey, I don’t think you could have done a stellar job so quickly.”

The student assured me, “Yes, I did my best, I edited and revised it, and I think it’s perfect.”

Not wanting to seem curmudgeonly, I pulled up the document and read it out loud with the student. I was so surprised and pleased because it was absolutely the best summary they had turned in that year. Wow!

At that moment, I knew the student understood how to write a summary that sparkled!

Things to Include in a Summary

• Main idea of the article in one sentence. 
• One or two important details.
• Transition words.

The students must read the article, once, twice, possibly three times before writing the summary. It all depends on the text complexity and the reading level of the student. You can read it with students, too. 

If you choose to read it with them, read it once to get the overall ideas. Read it a second time to annotate important points. Read it a third time to clarify any doubts and to really get to the understanding of the text.

What NOT to Include in a Summary

• Thoughts or reflections about the content.
• Conclusion statements are optional.

It’s important to make sure your students understand that summary writing and opinion writing are two different things. I use the acronym, JTFF.

Just the Facts, Friend!

If a student starts writing includes opinions, reminiscences, comparisons with their own experiences, etc., all you need to say is,

Grading tip: If a student adds opinions or personal thoughts to a summary, simply write the letters JTFF over that part of their writing. They’ll know what you mean.

Using a Template or Formula to Teach Summary Writing

• Graphic organizer to use while reading.
• Sentence stems for the introduction.
• Format to follow like a step-by-step guide
• Use scaffolds

This is where we get to the meaty part of the lesson. I’m going to lay out the parts of my simple system for teaching summary writing. You want to simplify writing a summary as much as possible, and this is how you can do it. It’s not a bad thing to use a template or formula.

In addition, have an entire blog post dedicated to some of the most effect Scaffolds for Teaching Writing  to help you differentiate the writing lessons for your students. You don’t need anything special to use them. You can incorporate them into your teaching today.

• Read the article to get the overall ideas.
• Read the article again using a graphic organizer. My suggestion is that you use the same graphic organizer for summaries every time. This prevents students from having to learn how to navigate a graphic organizer while they’re trying to learn to write a summary.
• Students annotate the text and make notes of important ideas in the graphic organizer.
• Use a sentence stem for the introduction. Include the article title, the author’s name, a verb such as “tells”, “reports,” “defines,” etc., and the main idea.
• Write the important points about the main idea in the summary, usually in the present tense.

Examples of Writing a Summary Sentence Introduction

The summary sentence template looks like this:

The article (or story) —Title of Article— by —Author’s Name— tells —Main Idea—.

For example:

The story The First Day Jitters, by Julie Danneberg tells about what happens when Sarah Jane Hartwell is afraid to go to her new school.

Another example: 

The blog article “Preventing Summer Slide”, by Suzanne Pitner gives several ideas to keep children entertained and learning during the summer break.

Yet another example:

According to the blog post “Santa Claus Tracking”, by Suzanne Pitner, NORAD has been tracking Santa since 1955 as he makes his annual trip around the world.

A great way to practice this is to have your students write a one sentence summary starter about their favorite books, or books they read over the summer. Practice this all the time in every context of summary writing.

The Body of the Summary

For young learners, and for English learners, having a format or a template to follow is similar to having a recipe on hand. In the same way you follow a recipe step by step, students can follow a template step by step.

• First, write the opening summary sentence. (See the template above.)
• Next, add one or two important facts or details about the article or book.
• Finally, include transition words, or linking words.

Did you notice the simple yet obvious transition words I used in this template? That’s perfect for teaching elementary students how to write. Let them master the obvious transition words first. Later they can learn how to write more subtle, nuanced transitions.

Transition Words for Writing Summaries in Elementary School

These are a few ideas of transitions appropriate for younger grades. Your textbook, if you have one, may have more transitions and examples of linking words. I found these to be the simplest to implement in classes of 8 to 11 year-old learners.

• First, next, last
• First, second, third
• One thing, another thing, finally
• In the beginning, in the middle, in the end
• To begin, to continue, in the end

These summaries help them organize their thoughts in a sequential order that makes sense for the writing task at hand.

Summary Tool in Google Docs (TM)

Google Docs (™) has a tool to use to help teach summaries. Depending on the article, it may or may not provide a simple, one or two sentence summary. 

You can use this to identify key points to include while summary writing. It’s also a great way to get a classroom conversation going about the following questions:

• Is this an adequate summary?
• Did it give enough information to make the reader want to read the article?
• Is anything missing from this summary?

Please note that my impression of this tool is that it’s designed for web writing and short articles. It’s not a replacement for the actual summary you’ll be teaching your students to write.

Here’s how to access the Summary Tool in Google Docs (™).

• In your top bar, click on “View.”
• Click on “Show Outline.”
• Click on the “plus” sign next to the word Summary.

If you found this article helpful in teaching summary writing in your classroom, please consider signing up to receive my free handbook, Building Strong Writers With Simple Systems. You’ll be added to my email list so you won’t ever miss a post about teaching writing. Thanks, friend!

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