Summarizing

Sandra Sembel
What is a Summary?
Do’s
• Short (10 – 30%)
• talks about the main idea
• provides important information (e.g.
examples) about the main idea
• uses your own words, though some key
words from the original story are okay

Don’ts
• No Details
• No interpretation
• No additional opinion
Why
Summarizing?
• Comprehension of
key points
• Evaluation: separate
the important from
unimportant
• Research Paper:
Analysis and
Critical thinking
How long?

• About 10% to 30% of

the original text.
Steps to
Summarizi
ng
Steps
Summarizing
• Draft the summary
• Revise the summary
Organizing
• Organize the noted
points
Note taking
• Take notes of key
supporting points
Skimming
• Understand main ideas
Preview
• Title and subtitle
• Heading and
subheading
• Key words
• Pictures, charts, tables
1.
Previewing
• Title and subtitle
• Headings and subheadings
• First and last paragraphs
• Other attention grabbing items
(bold-face words, pictures,
charts, diagrams that illustrate
the main ideas)
2. Skimming

• Read once through

• Skim for key ideas
• Don’t focus on details
• Understand the main
idea
3. Take Notes
• Read for the second time.
• Take notes of the Author, publisher, time of publication
• Identify the key idea (the most important idea)
• Locate the major supporting ideas (underline, highlight circle)
• Pinpoint the conclusion
4. Organize
ideas
• Organize the key points
similar to the original text
organization.
• Key Idea
• Major supporting points
• Conclusion
5. Write Your
Summary

1. Start with the title and author

2. Write the most important idea (key idea).
3. Write the author’s major supporting points in your own words
(eliminate details).
4. Write the writer’s conclusion in your own words
Examples
 Paragraph 1
A tornado is a powerful, twisting windstorm. It begins
high in the air, among the winds of a giant storm cloud.
People who have watched a tornado’s howling winds
reach down from the sky have said it’s the most
frightening thing they have ever seen. In some parts of
the United States, these windstorms are called twisters or
cyclones.
Main idea and supporting details

Tornado is
powerful, twisting
windstorm

Also called
Part of giant
Frightening twister
storm cloud
or cyclone
Sentence Summary…

Tornadoes are frightening,

powerful, twisting windstorms
sometimes called twisters or
cyclones that start in giant storm
clouds.
Tornadoes cont…
(Paragraph 2)
Tornadoes are not the only whirling windstorms that
move through the earth’s air. Dust devils, hurricanes
and typhoons all have twisting winds. However, these
windstorms differ from tornadoes in important ways.
Main idea and supporting
details
Dust devils, hurricanes,
and typhoons have
twisting winds

Whirling windstorms Differ from tornadoes

Sentence Summary…

Dust devils, hurricanes and typhoons also have

twisting winds, but they are different from tornadoes.
Paragraph 3 (Dust Devils)
Dust devils are the weakest of the swirling windstorms.
Their winds usually spin between 12 and 30 miles per
hour. Most dust devils are less than five feet across, and
few last more than a minute or two. They are often
seen in the desert under clear skies. Dust devils form
near ground when certain kinds of winds make hot,
rising air start to spin.
 Main idea and supporting
details
Dust devils are
weakest of
swirling windstorms

Less than 30 mph Five ft. across Last minute or two

 Sentence summary…

Compared to other wind storms, dust devils are the weakest and least
severe.
Paragraph 4
(Hurricanes and typhoons)

Hurricanes and typhoons are the largest of the

swirling windstorms. The winds of these storms blow
about 75 to 150 miles per hour. They form over
warm, tropical oceans and cause heavy rains as well
as strong winds. When a tropical storm like this
begins over the Atlantic Ocean or the eastern Pacific
Ocean, it is called a hurricane. The same kind of
storm in the western Pacific Ocean or Indian Ocean is
called a typhoon. Hurricanes and typhoons may be
several hundred miles wide, travel thousands of miles
and last for days.
Main idea and supporting
details

Hurricanes and
typhoons are largest

Several hundred Travel thousands of

Winds of 75-150 mph
miles wide miles, last for days
Sentence Summary…

In contrast, hurricanes and typhoons are the largest

windstorms since they may be hundreds of miles
wide, travel very fast for thousands of miles and
can last for days.
Paragraph 5 (Tornadoes)

Tornadoes are not as large as hurricanes and

typhoons and they don’t travel as far. In fact,
many tornadoes last only a few minutes. But the
spinning winds of a tornado can rip through the
air at up to 300 miles per hour. The winds of a
large tornado are the fastest, most dangerous
winds on earth.
Main idea and supporting
details
Winds of large
tornado are
fastest, most dangerous
winds on earth

Last few minutes 300 mph

Sentence Summary…

The bottom line is this: although they are not as large as hurricanes and
typhoons, tornadoes are the fastest, most dangerous windstorms.
Example 6

Source:
http://www.laspositascollege.edu/library/documents/LPCplagiarism_examples.pdf
Summary Text
The paragraph mainly talks about drive-in restaurants in
the US. First, the paragraph mentions the fact that
there are different types of ‘drive-in’ restaurants in the
US. Then, it explains the three characteristics of drive-
in restaurants. (Jackle and Sculle, 1999, p. 55).
References
• Guidelines for writing a summary with in-text citations:
http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/AEP/EN104/summary.h
tm
• Purdue Online Writing Lab,
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/930/11
 Summary
Templates and
Graphic
Organizers
Sequence

In order to __________
you must follow several
steps. First,
___________________
______. Then,
___________________
_. Next,
___________________
_. Finally,
___________________.
Chronological
Order
____________has a specific order
of events. At the beginning
_______________.. After that,
_____________________. Then,
____________________. Next,
_____________________. The,
____________ ended when
____________________.
Compare
and Contrast
______________ and
_____________ are alike and
are different in several ways.
First, they are alike because
__________ but they are
different _________.
Secondly, ______ is
________ while ________ is
__________. Finally, _______
and ________ are alike
because _______________.
But, they are different
because ___________.
Problem and
Solution
The problem began
when __________. The
___________ tried to
__________. After that,
________________.
Then,
__________________
The problem was finally
resolved when
_______________.
Definition
• The word/concept
__________ is important to
(subject) _____________. It
relates to (category or big
idea it belongs to)
___________. One main
characteristic of
(word/concept) is _______.
Another key
characteristic/element is
_____________. An example
of this word/concept is
_________.
Cause and
Effect
In order to understand the
(effect/result)
_________________ you must
identify the causes. The first
cause of (effect/result)_______
is _________________.
Secondly,
____________________ was
another cause of (effect/result)
___________. A third cause of
(effect/result)_______ is
__________. It is clear that
(effect/result)__________ has a
number of contributing causes.
Main Idea and
Details
The main idea of this passage is
________________________. One
fact or example that supports this
main idea is
_____________________. Another
fact or example that supports this
main point is _________________. In
addition, ____________________.
Finally, ________________________
illustrates that (main idea)
_______________________.