summary of essay writing

• Features for Creative Writers
• Features for Work
• Features for Higher Education
• Features for Teachers
• Features for Non-Native Speakers
• Learn Blog Grammar Guide Community Events FAQ
• Grammar Guide

How to Write a Summary (Examples Included)

Ashley Shaw

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s get started!

What Is a Summary?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. Summaries shouldn’t contain personal opinion.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How Do I Write a Summary Paper?

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

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

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

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

A summary paper is:

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

Here are some things that a summary paper is not:

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

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

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

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

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

How Do I Write Useful Academic Notes?

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

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

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

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

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

There are some tips for this:

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

How Do I Create an Annotated Biography?

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

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

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

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

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

Can I Write a Summary Within an Essay?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s look at an example:

Take these words by Thomas J. Watson:

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

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

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

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

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

Avoiding Plagiarism

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

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

1. Always cite.

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

2. Change the wording.

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

3. Use a plagiarism checker.

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

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

Find out more about ProWritingAid plagiarism bundles.

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

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

How Do I Write My LinkedIn Bio?

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

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

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

Here are some tips on writing a LinkedIn summary :

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

How Do I Summarize My Experience on a Resume?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Take your writing to the next level:

20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers

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

Be confident about grammar

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

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

Get started with ProWritingAid

Drop us a line or let's stay in touch via :

How to Write a Summary: Tips, Strategies and Best Practices

Writing a summary requires a deep understanding of the original text and the ability to concisely restate its main ideas in your own words, highlighting the essence of the content. 

This process begins with crafting an organized paragraph that opens with an introductory sentence, clearly mentioning the text’s title, author, and central theme, steering clear of personal commentary to maintain the integrity of the summarized information.

In this blog, you will discover various strategies and best practices for summary writing, including ways to start a summary, summary steps, and the recommended length for a summary.

Purpose and Benefits of a Summary

Understanding the purpose of a summary is pivotal in grasping its significance in both academic and professional realms. Summaries serve multiple functions, each tailored to enhance comprehension, retention, and communication of key ideas. 

Here's a breakdown of the types of summary, core components and benefits of summary writing:

• Academic Summaries : Used in scholarly contexts to condense research findings, theories, or literary works.
• Executive Summaries : Often found in business settings, these provide a snapshot of reports or proposals, highlighting key points for decision-makers.
• Abstracts : Common in scientific articles, abstracts offer a brief overview of research aims, methods, results, and conclusions ] .
• Main Idea or Thesis : A summary must encapsulate the central theme or argument presented in the original text.
• Essential Supporting Points : It should also highlight crucial supporting arguments or evidence that back the main idea.
• Independence from Original Text : While a summary relies on the content of the source material, it should stand on its own, providing a clear and concise rendition of the original work.
• Improves Comprehension : Summarizing forces the writer to distill complex ideas into simpler, more digestible formats, thereby enhancing understanding of the subject matter.
• Facilitates Future Reference : A well-crafted summary serves as a handy reference tool, allowing quick recall of a text’s key points without the need to revisit the entire work.
• Better Understanding : By summarizing, writers can showcase their grasp of the material, making it a valuable tool in educational settings to assess understanding.
• Objective Representation : Unlike critiques or analyses, summaries aim to objectively convey the essence of a text, focusing solely on the author’s ideas without personal bias or interpretation.

Understanding these aspects of summary writing underscores its value in effectively communicating complex information. This skill, once honed, becomes an indispensable tool across various domains, from academia to industry, underscoring the importance of mastering the art of summary writing.

Steps to Deep Reading Before Summarizing

Before embarking on the task of summarizing, engaging in deep reading is essential to fully grasp the content and nuances of the text. 

Listed below are some of the benefits of deep reading

Deep Reading Benefits :

• Deep reading is the mind's default mode for processing texts, allowing for deeper thinking and association with unique ideas.
• It improves focus and teaches the brain to commit to one task at a time, which is essential in today’s world of information overflow.
• Engaging deeply with a text provides more value, as immersion in the material follows the reader everywhere, encouraging positive action based on the information absorbed.

Here are the steps to ensure effective deep reading:

• Initiate with Skimming and Active Reading :
• Begin by skimming through the text to get a general idea of its main themes and structure.
• Actively read the article or text, paying close attention to its presentation. This might involve rereading certain sections and keeping the purpose and intended audience in mind.
• Divide the text into manageable sections. This helps in focusing on smaller parts of the text, making it easier to understand and summarize later.
• Summarize each section individually while ensuring it aligns with the overall main idea of the text. This step is vital in understanding the content thoroughly before proceeding to write a summary.
• Deep reading requires complete engagement with the text. Eliminate all distractions to immerse yourself fully in the material.
• Understand every word in the writing, especially unfamiliar ones. This might require looking up meanings to ensure comprehensive understanding.
• Read carefully and multiple times if needed, particularly the difficult parts, until they are fully understood.
• Question the text and identify any discrepancies or mistakes, fostering a critical thinking approach.
• Discuss insightful parts of the text with others. This can provide different perspectives and deepen understanding.
• Attempt to rewrite what you've read. Successfully doing so indicates a deep comprehension of the material.
• After a thorough initial reading, it's beneficial to give the article a deep re-read, highlighting passages that stand out.
• Refine the highlights to make the author's ideas easier to understand and scrutinize their relevance to personal experiences and existing knowledge.
• Write out high-level ideas by hand to further embed the new knowledge into the mind, and then explain these concepts in detail in a fresh document for a comprehensive understanding.

By adhering to these steps, readers can significantly enhance their understanding of the text, which is a crucial precursor to writing an effective summary. This deep engagement ensures that the summary captures the essence of the original text accurately and cohesively.

Crafting the Perfect Introductory Sentence

Crafting the perfect introductory sentence for a summary involves several key components that ensure clarity, conciseness, and a comprehensive understanding of the original text. Here's how to get started:

• Title and Author : Always include the title of the text and the author's name in the introductory sentence. This provides immediate context to the reader.
• Main Point : Clearly state the main point or thesis of the text as you understand it. This sets the stage for the rest of your summary.
• Use Your Own Words : Avoid direct quotations; instead, paraphrase the author's main ideas in your own words to demonstrate your understanding and keep the summary original.
• Start with the Source : Begin your summary by acknowledging the source material. This could be as simple as "In [Author's Name]'s [Title of the Text], the main argument focuses on...".
• Incorporate a Reporting Verb : Use verbs like 'argues', 'claims', 'contends', or 'insists' to present the author's main ideas. This not only introduces the summary but also sets a scholarly tone.
• Be Concise but Comprehensive : Your introductory sentence should capture the essence of the text in a nutshell, providing a snapshot of the author's thesis and the text's main theme.
• For a novel: "In [Author's Name]'s novel, [Title], the story revolves around the central conflict faced by [main character], highlighting [main theme or journey]."  
• For an academic article: "In the article '[Title]' by [Author's Name], published in [Year], the author contends that [main argument], supported by [key evidence]."  
• For a scientific research paper: "The research paper '[Title]' by [Author's Name], focuses on [main research topic], where the author argues [main findings]."

By following these steps and structure, you can craft an introductory sentence that effectively sets the stage for your summary, providing your readers with a clear, concise, and comprehensive overview of the original text. 

Condensing Main Points with Precision

Condensing the main points of a text with precision involves a meticulous process of identifying, prioritizing, and articulating the essence of the original material. Here's how to approach this crucial step in summary writing:

• Main Idea : Determine the central thesis or argument of the text. This is the backbone of your summary.
• Supporting Points : Pinpoint the essential arguments or evidence that bolster the main idea. These should be included to provide a comprehensive overview.
• Keywords : Spot keywords within the text as they often signal important concepts or themes.
• Use Your Own Words : Paraphrase the author's ideas into your own language to demonstrate understanding and avoid plagiarism. Remember, a summary should significantly condense the original text while accurately representing its main points.
• Structure : Present the main ideas in the order they appear in the original text, using transitional phrases for coherence. However, avoid creating an outline or merely listing the points as they occur.
• Omissions : Exclude any examples, detailed evidence, or rhetorical questions used by the author. The goal is to distill the text to its most pivotal elements, not to replicate its detailed discussions.
• Abbreviations and Symbols : Use abbreviations and symbols to note down key points. This helps in keeping your summary concise.
• Mind Maps and Columns : For longer texts, consider organizing the main points using a mind map or columns. This visual organization can help in understanding how ideas connect and which details are most important.
• Highlighting : Use colors and highlighting to differentiate between themes or categories of information. Writing small can also help in fitting more content on a single page.

In summary writing, the ability to discern and distill the essence of the text is paramount. By following these steps, writers can ensure that their summaries are both accurate and concise, providing readers with a clear and succinct overview of the original material without injecting personal opinion or unnecessary detail.

Ensuring Coherence and Smooth Transitions

Ensuring coherence and smooth transitions in writing is akin to creating a map for readers to follow, guiding them through the ideas presented in a logical and fluid manner. Here are strategies to achieve this:

• Use of Transitional Words and Phrases : Incorporate words such as 'subsequently' and 'conversely,' or phrases like 'as a result' and 'in conclusion' to link ideas and signal logical connections between them.
• Key Phrases Repetition : Pick up key phrases from the previous paragraph and incorporate them in the next. This creates an obvious progression for readers, making the text more accessible and easier to follow.
• Transitional Paragraphs : After major sections, employ transitional paragraphs to pause, regroup, and indicate where you are in your argument. These paragraphs should summarize major points, relate the previous section to the thesis, and connect it to what will follow, enhancing the overall flow of the essay.
• Avoid using personal pronouns such as 'I' or 'We', which can disrupt the objective tone of a summary.
• Beware of poor transitions that can lead to choppy, jumpy, or disconnected writing. These hinder the reader's ability to follow the organization or train of thought.
• Within Paragraphs : Use transitional words or phrases, or keywords from the preceding paragraph, to ensure connections are clear within a paragraph. This helps in joining ideas together in a sentence and sentences together in a paragraph.
• Between Paragraphs : Highlight connections between corresponding paragraphs by referencing relevant material from previous paragraphs in the next. Writing transitions that specifically connect one paragraph to another enhances the effectiveness more than using generic transitions.

By employing these strategies, writers can significantly enhance the cohesiveness of their writing. Effective use of transitions not only aids in better understanding by the reader but also ensures a smooth flow of ideas, making the summary more engaging and easier to comprehend. 

Conclusion: Wrapping up Your Summary

Throughout this article, we've explored the nuanced skill of summary writing, offering readers a detailed guide on effectively condensing complex texts into clear, concise summaries. From understanding the foundational purpose and benefits of summaries in various contexts to mastering the art of crafting the perfect introductory sentence and ensuring coherence with smooth transitions, the guidance provided aims to enhance both academic and professional writing capabilities. Emphasizing the importance of using one's own words and maintaining objectivity, this article has underscored the critical skills required for precise and effective summary writing, making it an invaluable resource for individuals looking to refine their summarizing abilities.

What are the essential guidelines for creating a summary?

To craft an effective summary, you should:

• Paraphrase the content using your own language.
• Focus on the core ideas of the original material and keep it concise.
• Refrain from incorporating your own interpretations or analyses; the summary should reflect the author's ideas, not yours.

How can I develop a strategy for summarizing a text?

Developing a summary strategy involves:

• Thoroughly reading and understanding the text.
• Taking notes on the central theme and key points that should be included.
• Using the author's original keywords and considering how their ideas pertain to your own arguments in your work.

Can you outline the five steps involved in writing a summary?

Certainly! The five steps for summarizing are:

• Read and comprehend the material you intend to summarize.
• Highlight or underline significant sections of the text.
• Jot down the primary arguments.
• Include relevant supporting details.
• Review your summary for accuracy and clarity.

What makes a summary both good and effective?

A good and effective summary should:

• Start with an introductory sentence that mentions the text's title, author, and the main thesis as perceived by you.
• Be composed in your own words, ensuring it's a paraphrase of the original.
• Only encapsulate the original text's ideas without adding your personal opinions, interpretations, or commentary.

Sign up for more like this.

Summary: Using it Wisely

What this handout is about.

Knowing how to summarize something you have read, seen, or heard is a valuable skill, one you have probably used in many writing assignments. It is important, though, to recognize when you must go beyond describing, explaining, and restating texts and offer a more complex analysis. This handout will help you distinguish between summary and analysis and avoid inappropriate summary in your academic writing.

Is summary a bad thing?

Not necessarily. But it’s important that your keep your assignment and your audience in mind as you write. If your assignment requires an argument with a thesis statement and supporting evidence—as many academic writing assignments do—then you should limit the amount of summary in your paper. You might use summary to provide background, set the stage, or illustrate supporting evidence, but keep it very brief: a few sentences should do the trick. Most of your paper should focus on your argument. (Our handout on argument will help you construct a good one.)

Writing a summary of what you know about your topic before you start drafting your actual paper can sometimes be helpful. If you are unfamiliar with the material you’re analyzing, you may need to summarize what you’ve read in order to understand your reading and get your thoughts in order. Once you figure out what you know about a subject, it’s easier to decide what you want to argue.

You may also want to try some other pre-writing activities that can help you develop your own analysis. Outlining, freewriting, and mapping make it easier to get your thoughts on the page. (Check out our handout on brainstorming for some suggested techniques.)

Why is it so tempting to stick with summary and skip analysis?

Many writers rely too heavily on summary because it is what they can most easily write. If you’re stalled by a difficult writing prompt, summarizing the plot of The Great Gatsby may be more appealing than staring at the computer for three hours and wondering what to say about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s use of color symbolism. After all, the plot is usually the easiest part of a work to understand. Something similar can happen even when what you are writing about has no plot: if you don’t really understand an author’s argument, it might seem easiest to just repeat what he or she said.

To write a more analytical paper, you may need to review the text or film you are writing about, with a focus on the elements that are relevant to your thesis. If possible, carefully consider your writing assignment before reading, viewing, or listening to the material about which you’ll be writing so that your encounter with the material will be more purposeful. (We offer a handout on reading towards writing .)

How do I know if I’m summarizing?

As you read through your essay, ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I stating something that would be obvious to a reader or viewer?
• Does my essay move through the plot, history, or author’s argument in chronological order, or in the exact same order the author used?
• Am I simply describing what happens, where it happens, or whom it happens to?

A “yes” to any of these questions may be a sign that you are summarizing. If you answer yes to the questions below, though, it is a sign that your paper may have more analysis (which is usually a good thing):

• Am I making an original argument about the text?
• Have I arranged my evidence around my own points, rather than just following the author’s or plot’s order?
• Am I explaining why or how an aspect of the text is significant?

Certain phrases are warning signs of summary. Keep an eye out for these:

• “[This essay] is about…”
• “[This book] is the story of…”
• “[This author] writes about…”
• “[This movie] is set in…”

Here’s an example of an introductory paragraph containing unnecessary summary. Sentences that summarize are in italics:

The Great Gatsby is the story of a mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby, who lives alone on an island in New York. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the book, but the narrator is Nick Carraway. Nick is Gatsby’s neighbor, and he chronicles the story of Gatsby and his circle of friends, beginning with his introduction to the strange man and ending with Gatsby’s tragic death. In the story, Nick describes his environment through various colors, including green, white, and grey. Whereas white and grey symbolize false purity and decay respectively, the color green offers a symbol of hope.

Here’s how you might change the paragraph to make it a more effective introduction:

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald provides readers with detailed descriptions of the area surrounding East Egg, New York. In fact, Nick Carraway’s narration describes the setting with as much detail as the characters in the book. Nick’s description of the colors in his environment presents the book’s themes, symbolizing significant aspects of the post-World War I era. Whereas white and grey symbolize the false purity and decay of the 1920s, the color green offers a symbol of hope.

This version of the paragraph mentions the book’s title, author, setting, and narrator so that the reader is reminded of the text. And that sounds a lot like summary—but the paragraph quickly moves on to the writer’s own main topic: the setting and its relationship to the main themes of the book. The paragraph then closes with the writer’s specific thesis about the symbolism of white, grey, and green.

How do I write more analytically?

Analysis requires breaking something—like a story, poem, play, theory, or argument—into parts so you can understand how those parts work together to make the whole. Ideally, you should begin to analyze a work as you read or view it instead of waiting until after you’re done—it may help you to jot down some notes as you read. Your notes can be about major themes or ideas you notice, as well as anything that intrigues, puzzles, excites, or irritates you. Remember, analytic writing goes beyond the obvious to discuss questions of how and why—so ask yourself those questions as you read.

The St. Martin’s Handbook (the bulleted material below is quoted from p. 38 of the fifth edition) encourages readers to take the following steps in order to analyze a text:

• Identify evidence that supports or illustrates the main point or theme as well as anything that seems to contradict it.
• Consider the relationship between the words and the visuals in the work. Are they well integrated, or are they sometimes at odds with one another? What functions do the visuals serve? To capture attention? To provide more detailed information or illustration? To appeal to readers’ emotions?
• Decide whether the sources used are trustworthy.
• Identify the work’s underlying assumptions about the subject, as well as any biases it reveals.

Once you have written a draft, some questions you might want to ask yourself about your writing are “What’s my point?” or “What am I arguing in this paper?” If you can’t answer these questions, then you haven’t gone beyond summarizing. You may also want to think about how much of your writing comes from your own ideas or arguments. If you’re only reporting someone else’s ideas, you probably aren’t offering an analysis.

What strategies can help me avoid excessive summary?

• Read the assignment (the prompt) as soon as you get it. Make sure to reread it before you start writing. Go back to your assignment often while you write. (Check out our handout on reading assignments ).
• Formulate an argument (including a good thesis) and be sure that your final draft is structured around it, including aspects of the plot, story, history, background, etc. only as evidence for your argument. (You can refer to our handout on constructing thesis statements ).
• Read critically—imagine having a dialogue with the work you are discussing. What parts do you agree with? What parts do you disagree with? What questions do you have about the work? Does it remind you of other works you’ve seen?
• Make sure you have clear topic sentences that make arguments in support of your thesis statement. (Read our handout on paragraph development if you want to work on writing strong paragraphs).
• Use two different highlighters to mark your paper. With one color, highlight areas of summary or description. With the other, highlight areas of analysis. For many college papers, it’s a good idea to have lots of analysis and minimal summary/description.
• Ask yourself: What part of the essay would be obvious to a reader/viewer of the work being discussed? What parts (words, sentences, paragraphs) of the essay could be deleted without loss? In most cases, your paper should focus on points that are essential and that will be interesting to people who have already read or seen the work you are writing about.

But I’m writing a review! Don’t I have to summarize?

That depends. If you’re writing a critique of a piece of literature, a film, or a dramatic performance, you don’t necessarily need to give away much of the plot. The point is to let readers decide whether they want to enjoy it for themselves. If you do summarize, keep your summary brief and to the point.

Instead of telling your readers that the play, book, or film was “boring,” “interesting,” or “really good,” tell them specifically what parts of the work you’re talking about. It’s also important that you go beyond adjectives and explain how the work achieved its effect (how was it interesting?) and why you think the author/director wanted the audience to react a certain way. (We have a special handout on writing reviews that offers more tips.)

If you’re writing a review of an academic book or article, it may be important for you to summarize the main ideas and give an overview of the organization so your readers can decide whether it is relevant to their specific research interests.

If you are unsure how much (if any) summary a particular assignment requires, ask your instructor for guidance.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Barnet, Sylvan. 2015. A Short Guide to Writing about Art , 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Corrigan, Timothy. 2014. A Short Guide to Writing About Film , 9th ed. New York: Pearson.

Lunsford, Andrea A. 2015. The St. Martin’s Handbook , 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Zinsser, William. 2001. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction , 6th ed. New York: Quill.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Make a Gift

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

Narrative Essay

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

Summarizing

by jleemcga | Aug 18, 2023 | Resources for Students , Writing Resources

What is summarizing?

A summary of a text is a short overview of the main ideas written in your own words. While paraphrasing involves expressing specific ideas or details from a larger text in your own words, we generally summarize whole texts (whether it is an essay, article, chapter, book, et cetera). So, in order to ensure our summaries are not too wordy or confusing, we only cover the main ideas or argument presented within a whole text.

It’s best to summarize when you’re contextualizing a topic by letting your readers know about the current, ongoing conversation. By summarizing relevant sources, you’re providing your audience with an overview of what has already been said about this topic to help them understand how you’ll be adding to it. Summarizing material within your paper allows you to:

• Condense key ideas or arguments relevant to your paper
• Simplify the connection between a source and your own writing

How do I summarize?

To approach summarizing a source, try the following steps:

• First make sure you carefully read the original source material to understand it. Like paraphrasing, summarizing effectively requires an accurate understanding of the source material
• Identify all the main ideas from the text. It helps to look for the thesis or overall claim the author is presenting, as well as any important reasons they give to back their claim. Basically, you’re looking for why their argument is what it is
• When you begin your summary, you might use a TAG line. This stands for Title, Author, Genre and allows you to formally introduce the text before you summarize its ideas. An example of a TAG line is: In the article “Stuck on the Streets of San Francisco in a Driverless Car”, Cade Metz reports … TAG lines add a helpful framework for the summary
• Be sure not to include any specific examples, details, or evidence from the text. In summaries, we don’t describe the author’s examples (this would be like rewriting the entire text). Instead, we offer a map of the main idea and major points
• Once you finish writing your summary, check to make sure your summary concisely and accurately captures the author’s main ideas
• Remember to cite!

Examples of summarizing

Here is an example of a writer summarizing a main idea from the source Social Death: Racialized Rightlessness and the Criminalization of the Unprotected by Lisa Marie Cacho in their essay about a Salvadoran poet and her poetry’s relationship to reclaiming identity:

The ambiguity that is scored onto the bodies of Salvadoran migrants creates an impoverished sense of time and freedom by keeping these individuals indefinitely “temporary,” an ephemera that imposes a constant threat against safety and belonging for Salvadorans in the US. This weaponization of time also contributes to the condition of social death that Cacho describes as being prevalent for people of color, and particularly immigrants, in the US. According to Cacho, part of the criminalization of people of color within the US— not based on one’s behavior, but by their appearance— is heightened further by the notion of documentation. The rhetoric surrounding immigration in the US ultimately aims to invalidate those without documentation by using slurs like “illegal” (Cacho).

Note: The writer quotes some key terms, like “temporary” or “illegal” that the author emphasizes in the original source but describes the main ideas of the source in their own words. Note, too, that the summary focuses on the big-picture ideas of the source without mentioning examples that are too specific.

Things to keep in mind when summarizing

Some important things to remain mindful of while summarizing in your assignments are:

• There is no specified length for writing summaries; they may be a few sentences or a few paragraphs depending on your writing project. For most academic essays, a summary of a few sentences to a short paragraph is appropriate. Concision is key
• Do not include your opinions on the topic or the author’s ideas in your summary; your ideas are important, but summary is a genre of writing that requires objectivity
• Do not include specific details or examples from the text—just focus on the big picture ideas

Our Newest Resources!

• Transitioning to Long-form Writing
• Developing a Research Question
• Integrating Direct Quotations into Your Writing
• Nurturing a Growth Mindset to Overcome Writing Challenges and Develop Confidence in College Level Writing
• An Introduction to Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and Quoting

Additional Resources

• Graduate Writing Consultants
• Instructor Resources
• Student Resources
• Quick Guides and Handouts
• Self-Guided and Directed Learning Activities

Introduction

Goals and Goal Setting

Goals Common to All RST Writers

Other Goals to Consider

Defining My Own Goals

Advice about Assignments

Getting Started: Listing Topics to Write about in the Tutorial

Narrative One: Personal Piece on a Significant Experience

Narrative Two: Academic Piece on a Significant Experience

Summary/Response One

Summary/Response Two

Tutorial Evaluation Postscript

On Using the Resources for Writers

Generating and Developing Ideas

Finding/Expressing Main Ideas

Showing v. Telling Sentences

Focusing Topic Sentences

Thesis Statements

Reading Strategies

Assessing Your Reading Strategies

Summarizing

Writing Effective Summary and Response Essays

Discourse Analysis Worksheet

Trade Magazines

Selecting Readings

A summary is a concise paraphrase of all the main ideas in an essay. It cites the author and the title (usually in the first sentence); it contains the essay's thesis and supporting ideas; it may use direct quotation of forceful or concise statements of the author's ideas; it will NOT usually cite the author's examples or supporting details unless they are central to the main idea. Most summaries present the major points in the order that the author made them and continually refer back to the article being summarized (i.e. "Damon argues that ..." or "Goodman also points out that ... "). The summary should take up no more than one-third the length of the work being summarized.

The Response:

A response is a critique or evaluation of the author's essay. Unlike the summary, it is composed of YOUR opinions in relation to the article being summarized. It examines ideas that you agree or disagree with and identifies the essay's strengths and weaknesses in reasoning and logic, in quality of supporting examples, and in organization and style. A good response is persuasive; therefore, it should cite facts, examples, and personal experience that either refutes or supports the article you're responding to, depending on your stance.

Two Typical Organizational Formats for Summary/Response Essays:

1. Present the summary in a block of paragraphs, followed by the response in a block:

Intro/thesis Summary (two to three paragraphs) Agreement (or disagreement) Disagreement (or agreement) Conclusion

Note: Some essays will incorporate both agreement and disagreement in a response, but this is not mandatory.

2. Introduce the essay with a short paragraph that includes your thesis. Then, each body paragraph summarizes one point and responds to it, and a conclusion wraps the essay up.

Intro/thesis Summary point one; agree/disagree Summary point two; agree/disagree Summary point three; agree/disagree Conclusion

Helpful Test

How to write a summary in 7 steps (with examples).

Summarizing may seem like a simple task, but it entails a lot more than just rephrasing sentences.

Crafting a well-crafted summary involves extracting the essential information from a text while maintaining its fundamental message.

Summarizing is a handy skill that can save you time, improve your attention to detail, and help you better understand complex topics.

These are some of the simple steps that can help you write a summary with confidence:

1. Read the text carefully

Before you even think about summarizing, it is important to read the text you want to summarize carefully.

Whether it’s an article, a book chapter, or any other piece of writing, take notes on the key ideas and important details.

Reading through the text multiple times is recommended, ensuring that you don’t miss anything essential.

2. Identify the main points

Now that you’ve thoroughly read the text, it’s time to determine the main ideas, arguments, or positions presented.

These are the key points that need to be included in your summary. Look for topic sentences, headings, or repeated information as clues.

Identifying the main points may be the most critical step, so be sure to take your time and reflect on what you’ve read.

3. Condense the information

Once you’ve identified the main points, it’s time to condense that information into a concise summary.

Focus on capturing the key ideas without including unnecessary details. Use your own words to explain the content, maintaining the original meaning.

You can condense the information further by grouping similar points together, using subheadings, or removing redundant information.

4. Organize the summary

Your summary should be structured in a logical manner. You can choose to organize it chronologically, by importance, or by following the structure of the original text.

Each paragraph should focus on a specific main point.

Be sure to create a clear introduction and conclusion that provide context and a summary of the overall message.

5. Use transitional phrases

To coherence and flow in your summary, make use of transitional phrases.

These phrases serve as connectors between different ideas and help provide a smooth transition between paragraphs.

For example, phrases such as “In addition,” “Furthermore,” or “On the other hand” can be used to introduce new points, provide additional information, or present contrasting ideas.

Using these transitional phrases will help you enhance the overall structure of your summary.

They act as signposts for your readers, guiding them through the logical progression of the ideas in your summary.

6. Check for accuracy

After completing your summary, thoroughly review it to ensure an accurate representation of the original text.

Take the time to carefully examine each sentence and paragraph, checking for any misinterpretation or omission of crucial details.

Additionally, if needed, conduct fact-checking to verify the accuracy of the information presented. Taking these steps will help ensure the integrity and reliability of your summary.

7. Revise and edit

Take a moment to review and revise your summary carefully. Ensure it is crystal clear, concise, and grammatically correct.

Craft it with finesse, eliminating any unnecessary words or sentences to maintain its brevity.

While doing so, consider adding a touch more detail to enrich its content and provide a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

Examples of Summaries

1. “the snowy day” by ezra jack keats.

“The Snowy Day” is a timeless children’s book written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats. The story follows a young boy named Peter who wakes up to a winter wonderland after a fresh snowfall. Excitedly, Peter ventures out into the snowy cityscape, exploring his neighborhood and engaging in various activities. From making footprints in the snow to creating snow angels and even trying to save a snowball for later, Peter’s adventures capture the joy and excitement of a snowy day. With its vivid illustrations and simple yet profound storytelling, “The Snowy Day” celebrates the beauty of winter and the wonder of childhood.

2. “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown

“Goodnight Moon” is a beloved children’s book written by Margaret Wise Brown. The story follows a young bunny as it prepares to go to sleep. Throughout the book, the bunny says goodnight to various objects in its room, such as the moon, stars, toys, and even the quiet old lady whispering “hush.” The rhyming text and gentle illustrations create a soothing atmosphere, making it a perfect bedtime story for little readers. “Goodnight Moon” has become a classic bedtime tale cherished by generations of children and their parents.

3. “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Seuss

“Green Eggs and Ham” is a delightful children’s book by Dr. Seuss that tells the story of a persistent character named Sam-I-Am and his attempt to convince another character to try green eggs and ham. The main character, who initially refuses to try the strange dish, encounters Sam-I-Am in various locations, persistently offering him the unconventional meal. As the story progresses, Sam-I-Am presents multiple scenarios and locations where the green eggs and ham can be enjoyed. Eventually, the reluctant character agrees to try the dish and discovers that he actually enjoys it. The book teaches children about open-mindedness, trying new things, and not judging something without experiencing it firsthand.

How do you start a summary?

Here are a few examples of effective starting lines for a summary:

• “In [title], [author] explores…”
• “This [genre] [title] delves into…”
• “With [topic] as its focus, [title]…”
• “From the mind of [author], [title] takes readers on a journey…”
• “Set in [setting], [title] follows the story of…”

Crafting the perfect opening line for a summary can differ based on the content and target audience. However you do it, try to encapsulate the essential elements and captivate the reader right from the start.

How short should a summary be?

A summary should be concise and succinct, capturing the main ideas without unnecessary details. It should aim to provide a clear and objective overview of the content.

Keep in mind that the length of a summary may vary depending on the specific requirements or context. Generally, a summary should be no more than one-third to one-fourth the length of the original text.

This ensures brevity while effectively conveying the essential information through numbered lists, bullet points, and contrast.

Summarizing is more than just rephrasing a piece of writing. It is a critical skill that requires attention to detail, an understanding of the material, and concise writing.

Following these simple steps will help you write a summary that is both informative and engaging.

Summarizing effectively takes practice, so don’t be discouraged if your first attempt isn’t perfect.

Keep reading and summarizing, and soon you’ll find that it becomes a natural and useful tool in your skillset.

Welcome to the site. Our aim is to help students improve in their studies/exams. We believe each students learn in a different and unique ways our website provides information on variety of learning techniques and subjects to boost a person skills area. We provide a wide range of questions and answers on the following subjects: Mathematics, English Language, Human and Social Biology, Social Studies, Principle of Accounts, Information Technology, Physics, Science, Biology, and Chemistry. Sample SBA, Exam tips, and much more. We aim to enable persons to practice a subject they might find challenging. All quizzes consist of mostly past paper questions, which will help persons to get better exam passes. We advise that participants continue to practice these quizzes to gain further knowledge. Motto: Helping you advance in learning one blog at a time!!!!

10 Best Tips For Writing A Good Summary

5 best freelance developers for programming jobs on fiverr, you may also like, what are the rules of descriptive essay, 3 effective note-taking strategies for test-taking, the importance of staying hydrated during test-taking, the power of positive self-talk and visualization in..., 5 best tips for understanding and managing test-taking..., how to use spaced repetition for long-term retention, is getting enough sleep before an exam essential...,  the impact of sleep on test performance and..., how to use mnemonic devices for test preparation.

• Terms of Conditions
• Privacy Policy

Most Popular

English and social studies teachers pioneer ai usage in schools, study finds, best summarising strategies for students.

12 days ago

TeachMeforFree Review

How to cite page numbers in apa, what is accidental plagiarism, how to summarize an essay.

College and high school students (as well as maybe some middle schoolers) will often face the task of summarizing a book, article, video, or anything they’ve seen/read. Sometimes, you will have to create summaries for yourself, so that you understand the material better. Other times though, you will have to write summary essays, the main purpose of which is to give others an overview of the original source. In both cases, summaries look somewhat the same: they are concise, contain only the most crucial points, and pass on the key idea or essence of the initial material, be it a movie or a book. To serve that purpose, summaries need to be well-written and we will show you exactly how to summarize an essay in the most effective format.

The Key Parts of a Summary: Structure

As a student, you know that most writing tasks have guidelines. You also most probably know that, if you are asked to write a certain type of writing, it has a specific structure and format. See, that’s why you can’t write summaries at random too. 

Thus, before starting the writing process, let’s first figure out what structure this type of writing has. This will allow you to create a summary essay outline that will make it easy for you to include all the essential information and will guide you throughout the writing process as well. 

Here’s what you absolutely have to include in your essay summary:

• Introduction + thesis, which will provide readers with all the necessary details about the work (title, author, etc) and its key idea
• Body paragraphs that support the main point of the essay and therefore include all the necessary details that show how the author justifies their claims
• Conclusion paragraph, which is usually one sentence that may rephrase the main idea and which is called to tie everything together.

You can use our checklist below to help you track down whether you included all the necessary components:

Writing a Summary Essay: Detailed Guide

Before jumping straight to writing, let’s see what we now know about these special summaries:

• What is a summary essay? – Check✅ It’s a concise overview of the essay you’ve read that communicates the key ideas of the material.
• What parts does a summary essay have? – Another check✅ Introduction, with details about the essay + thesis statement; body, with the summary of the main points; conclusion, which wraps up the key idea of the essay.
• How to write a Summary? – ⚠️This one we will break down further in this paragraph.

One would think that the guide to writing a summary couldn’t be that complex: just read the text, sit down, and write. However, if you scroll through the writing guide below, you will see that there are nuances.

Read & Study

First things first, get to know what the essay is about. Read through it carefully. If it helps you, take notes as you read, marking the most important arguments and ideas that need mentioning in your essay. A good thing is you can get a feeling for the author’s style, tone, and mood, and try to identify the main claims they made.

Divide & Outline

After you are done reading, break down the essay into several sections. Breaking the text into several parts will make the material easier to grasp. With their help, you can also create a rough outline of what your summary will look like.

Identify Key Ideas

Read each part you divided the essay into once more. This time, highlight some of the key points. Mark areas you want to refer to in your summary, as well as those that shouldn’t be included in your essay. During this stage, you should also be able to identify the general message and the essence of the essay.

Create an Introduction

You now have all the necessary details to be able to begin summarizing. Start with an introduction with an opening line that includes the name of the author and the title of their essay. Follow that information with a rather broad overview of the content of the work you will be summarizing. Sometimes, if it is important to understand the essay, you may present here the author’s background as well. And don’t forget the thesis statement that transmits the purpose/point of the work.

Move on to the Body

In the main body paragraphs, state the ideas you’ve chosen while reading the text. Expand on them by including one or more examples from the original text. Don’t forget to include citations if you do that. Our citation generator can give a hand with that.

Quick Citations for Your Convenience

Also, in this part, you can mention any supportive points given in the original text. These could be examples, or stories (but brief or rephrased) that the author originally mentioned.

Finish with a Conclusion & References

Phew, we are at the finish line now. All that is left is to write a concluding paragraph, which is usually around 2-3 sentences tops. Here you need to basically rewrite the thesis statement, once again emphasizing the main purpose or claim of the original source. After that, don’t forget to include a properly formatted reference of the original source to acknowledge the writer. It is not always a requirement but it is especially needed if you include quotes in the text of your summary.

Review & Proofread

Okay, the hardest part is left behind. You can now read through what you’ve written. Make sure everything sounds logical and clear. Pay attention to grammatical and punctuation mistakes. Try reading it aloud or giving it to somebody else to read it for you. This will help you pinpoint places that need improvement and maybe throughout 1 or 2 unnecessary details.

Dos and Don’ts of Summary Essay Writing

Look at you, knowing all this about writing an essay summary. Good for you! And what’s more, you can basically complete any type of summary now, just switching up its content. However, we are not done with teaching you yet. We got the basics settled, so now it’s time to get to the advanced stuff. These are the dos and don’ts that will serve as boosters for your writing. Keeping these tips in mind will help you craft your summaries more quickly and will largely reduce the proofreading time.

Essay Summary Example for Inspiration

Here’s a simple example of a summary of an essay that can serve as a sample and inspiration for your work:

How do you write a summary of an essay?

If you want to create a good summary, start by carefully reading. You need to understand its main ideas and arguments. Then, in your own words, write a brief overview that captures the essay’s central theme and key points. Don’t forget to include the author’s thesis statement and the evidence they use to support their argument. Keep your summary short and focused, avoiding any personal opinions or unnecessary details. 

How do I summarize my essay?

In case it’s your own essay you want to summarize, you should follow the same steps: identify your main argument, outline the supporting points, and then communicate this information in a short overview that gives a clear idea of your essay’s content.

What are the 5 parts of a summary?

Even though we mentioned only 3 major parts of the summary in our article, most summaries can be broken down into 5 aspects: introduction, thesis, body, conclusion, and references. Each of these is important for creating an all-inclusive summary.

What are the rules for summary essay?

Okay, let’s go over the basic summary rules once again. The summary should be short (around ¼ of the original) and concise (include only the most essential information without repetition). Additionally, this writing type should follow a logical structure, meaning you need to uncover the important facts in the same order as they are presented in the essay. Lastly, essay summaries should be independent. The readers chose to look through the summary because they didn’t want to read the whole text. Hence, they need to be able to learn everything important mentioned in the original.

What words should you start a summary essay with?

Usually, a summary of an essay starts with an introductory sentence that includes the name of the author, the title of the work, and the general idea of the text as you perceive it. Remember, you should describe everything in your own words, both to avoid plagiarism and to show your understanding of the material.

Follow us on Reddit for more insights and updates.

Comments (2)

Welcome to A*Help comments!

We’re all about debate and discussion at A*Help.

We value the diverse opinions of users, so you may find points of view that you don’t agree with. And that’s cool. However, there are certain things we’re not OK with: attempts to manipulate our data in any way, for example, or the posting of discriminative, offensive, hateful, or disparaging material.

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

In that, do we need to support the main idea?

More from Writing an Essay

Dec 11 2012

Writing an Evaluation Essay

Nov 21 2012

Writing an Analysis Essay

Nov 16 2012

How to Write a Reflective Essay

Remember Me

Is English your native language ? Yes No

What is your profession ? Student Teacher Writer Other

Forgotten Password?

Username or Email

Writing a Summary

• About this Guide
• What Is a Summary?
• Getting Started
• Components of a Summary Essay

Types of Summaries

A summary can be present in essays that also require you to provide your opinion or present an argument. You can find summaries in:

• Introductions
• Conclusions
• Research essays
• Argument essays
• Response essays
• Book reports

... and many other types of writing!

A summary exists to provide basic knowledge or information for readers who may otherwise be unfamiliar with a work or concept.

Defining Summary

A summary  focuses on the main ideas  within a resource. It requires critical reading  and attention to detail but does not   include any opinion . Writing a summary requires a " just the facts " approach. Summaries may be important components of other types of essays, such as critiques , where a reader must have an understanding of what is discussed in an unfamiliar work or concept before following along with an evaluation of that work or concept.

For quick reference, you can use the following chart in order to determine if your paper is a summary or a critique.

• << Previous: About this Guide
• Next: Getting Started >>
• Last Updated: May 22, 2023 10:46 AM
• URL: https://library.tiffin.edu/summary

• EssayBasics.com
• Pay For Essay
• Write My Essay
• Homework Writing Help
• Essay Editing Service
• Thesis Writing Help
• Write My College Essay
• Do My Essay
• Term Paper Writing Service
• Coursework Writing Service
• Write My Research Paper
• Assignment Writing Help
• Essay Writing Help
• Call Now! (USA) Login Order now
• EssayBasics.com Call Now! (USA) Order now
• Writing Guides

How To Write A Summary Essay

Table of Contents

How To Write A Summary Essay (Writing Guide)

How to start a summary essay, how to write body paragraphs for a summary essay, how to conclude a summary essay.

• Outline example

A summary essay is a type of writing which seeks to help a particular audience to fathom a source or to assess the writer’s comprehension of the source. Summary essays are written for other people, and therefore, when writing a summary essay, it is essential to factor in the specific attributes of your audience. The writer should aim at making it possible for the audience to grasp the main arguments within a source. The writer should make sure their article is objective and can be a credible substitute for the source.

Every article has a main idea or a main argument, and while reading the source, the writer should, first of all, find the thesis statement. Writing a summary essay, however, starts by reading the source first. It is possible to mislead your audience and provide them with the wrong information, and some writers have been accused of misrepresenting their source. Therefore, reading and linking the arguments within a document is essential and should be seriously considered. Here are some tips to help you start a summary essay:

• Read and understand the source. As already stated, it all starts with reading and understanding the article. Misleading your audience can be costly to them and yourself. Therefore, it is also necessary to consult other people while reading to help you grasp the main argument.
• Identify the thesis or the main argument within the source. A good summary essay clearly identifies the main argument within an article and reveals it to the audience. In some instances, it can be quite a challenge, but you can always engage the ideas of others.
• Include the author’s name, the title of the work, and provide some background information about the author if requested to do so. While writing the introduction, it is necessary to provide the audience with information regarding the document you are summarizing. Such information can be used to contextualize the document or the message therein by linking it to the author. While the above might not be the case all the time, it helps whenever applicable.
• Do not provide your evaluation or assessment of the document or source. While writing a summary essay, writers are always advised to avoid including their opinion or sentiments. The essay should only be about the source.

Summary essay writing can be a challenge especially to people who do not pay attention to the small or supporting arguments within the source. In the body, like in all essays, the writer is expected to support their thesis statement or main argument. A summary essay is not any different, and writers are expected to provide minor arguments from within their source. The above helps to emphasize the importance of reading the source keenly while identifying the important points. Below are tips to help you write body paragraphs of summary essays:

• Identify and include the source’s supporting arguments. While reading the source, identify the supporting arguments within the source. These are essential when writing a summary essay because they help you link the entire document to the thesis statement. The summary should flow seamlessly from the source, and therefore, the writer should make sure the supporting arguments are also well represented.
• Make use of the author’s illustrations and examples. Examples and illustrations are important within a document because they help the audience to understand the points being communicated. Therefore, make use of them within your summary to make it easy for your audience to comprehend your article.
• Do not include minor or unnecessary points or arguments. While it is necessary to include supporting arguments, it is essential to avoid the minor arguments which do not add any value to the summary. Everything the writer includes within their document should help the audience to comprehend the source.
• Avoid using your ideas, examples, or illustrations within the text. Writers are always encouraged to use their words to explain the author’s ideas. However, avoid including your ideas within the summary and remain within the context of the source.

When learning how to write a summary essay, students are often told to avoid including a conclusion within their summary essay. A summary essay does not necessarily need a conclusion and is often considered finished if the writer has clearly included all the main points from the source. However, in some occasions, instructors can ask for a conclusion, but this rarely happens.

Outline example for a summary essay

Write a Summary of the article Is Google Making Stupid?

Introduction

• The author is Nicholas Carr. The source is The Atlantic. Published in 2008.
• Written to express concern over the influence of the Web and search engines such as Google. The influence is quite pronounced, but people are oblivious to it.
• People have been experiencing reading problems since the inception of Google.
• Mental habits of a great number of people have also been altered.
• Internet use affects cognition, however, it is not evident or obvious to the users.

English that goes straight to the heart

Summary Essay Examples

The summary essay is a brief account of the chief points of an essay. There’s no hard and fast rule about the length of the summary, but so much can be half of the original essay .

In this post, we have added the best 12+ Summary Essay Examples for you.

Daily Test - Attempt Now

Summary Essay Examples #1

ESSAY: When we survey our lives and efforts, we soon observe that almost the whole of our actions and desires are bound up with the existence of other human beings. We notice that the whole of nature resembles that of social animals. We eat food that others have produced, wear clothes that others have made, and live in houses that others have built. The greater part of our knowledge and beliefs has been passed on to us by other people through the medium of a language that others have created. Without language and mental capacities, we would have been poor indeed comparable to higher animals.

We have therefore to admit that we owe our principal knowledge over the least to the fact of living in human society. The individual if left alone from birth would remain primitive and beast-like in his thoughts and feelings to a degree that we can hardly imagine. The individual is what he is and has the significance that he has not much in virtue of individuality, but rather as a member of a great human community, which directs his material and spiritual existence from the cradle to the grave. (193 words)

Rough Draft

• Humans are social animals.
• They depend on each other for necessities and social needs.
• Humans use language to communicate with each other and further their mental development.
• Humans are superior to animals as they live in societies that guide their material and spiritual existence.

TITLE: Man and society

SUMMARY: Human beings have their actions and desires bound up with society as they are social animals. They depend on each other for food and clothes and share their knowledge and beliefs, and use language created by others to communicate, which helps in their mental development. They are superior to beasts because they live in human society. An individual left alone since birth would grow utterly beast-like. Human society guides man’s material and spiritual existence. (76 words)

Summary Essay Examples #2

If you will, believe me, you who are young, yours is the golden season of life. As you have heard it called, so it verily is the seed-time of life in which if you do not sow or if you sow tares instead of wheat, you will arrive at little. And in the course of years when you come to look back if you have not done what you have heard from your advisers and among many counsellors there is wisdom you will bitterly repent when it is too late.

The habit of studies acquired at universities is of the highest importance in the afterlife. At the season when you are young in years, the whole mind is, as it were, fluid, and is capable of forming itself into any shape that the owner of the mind pleases to allow it or constrain it, to form itself into. The mind is then in a plastic or fluid state but it hardens gradually to the consistency of rock or iron, and you can not alter the habits of an old man. (180 Words)

Title: The Golden Season of Life / The Importance of Sowing Good Seeds

Youth is the golden and fertile time of life. If one does not listen to and act upon the advice of his superiors, he must eventually repent. Youth is a fluid state of mind and any good habits now will stand you in good stead later in life. Then the mind becomes rigid and no good habits are formed. (58 Words)

The golden season of life is the seed-time of life in which if you do not sow or sow tares instead of wheat, you will arrive at little. The habit of studies acquired at universities is of the highest importance in the afterlife, as the mind is fluid but hardens gradually to the consistency of rock or iron. (58 Words)

Summary Essay Examples #3

Variety is the spice of life – is it not? We all practically live and strive for having better food, but food remains insipid without the addition of spices. The only difference between a good curry and a bad curry lies in the presence or absence of spices. The absence of variety makes life drab and monotonous. A man working six hours a week will have his rest on Sunday. A man wearing a coat for five days will like a shawl on the sixth day. If a man lives in Calcutta for six years, he will like to spend a month outside. We hear that Tagore could not live in the same house for a long time.

He used to change his residence pretty often, which shows a poet’s longing for novelty. Life is many stringed instruments and we must give proper attention to all the strings. Ever since creation man has gone on from progress to progress by responding to new circumstances. So, for the development of civilization, new circumstances and a new environment are necessary. (179 Words)

Title: The Need for Change and Variety / Variety: The Spice of Life

Variety is the spice of life, and without it, life is dull and monotonous. To develop civilization, new circumstances and a new environment are necessary. Tagore was a poet who changed his residence often, showing his longing for novelty. Life is many stringed instruments and we must give proper attention to all the strings. (54 Words)

Summary Essay Examples #4

Everyone has continual control during his life with the variety of experiences known as art. Their experience ranges from the craft level found in the design and execution of the practical things of life to the more imaginative because less material level is required for the enjoyment of music, painting, sculpture, and literature. In the fine arts, human creativity is no longer concerned with producing an object which will be required for use anyhow, whether it is beautiful or not, but with providing a stimulus for the satisfaction of human emotion in its various levels of manifestation.

The majority of human beings since they are culturally underprivileged, are satisfied if their emotions are roused easily and mechanically by the more simple emotional easily identified sentimentalities that easily assimilate emotional reflexes-by dance, and music, by the identified references of cinema organ sentimentalities, by the picture with a story or easily assimilated moral, and by the simple violent plots of the cheap magazine. The culturally privileged demand a more complicated satisfaction. They require because they are educated on the aesthetic aspects of the arts. (180 Words)

Title:  The Power of Art / The Importance of Art Education

The most important idea is that art provides a stimulus for the satisfaction of human emotion and that the majority of people are satisfied with simple emotional sentimentalities, while the culturally privileged require a more complicated satisfaction due to their education in the aesthetic aspects of the arts. (48 Words)

Summary Essay Examples #5

The study of history depends more than any other branch of science or literature on the availability of many books. The history student nowadays is often discouraged or hampered by the lack of them, especially of those older standard works which have gone out of print. Even before the Second World War publishers were not willing to risk reprinting works often running into several big volumes for which the demand, was uncertain and the cost of production high. During the war air raids destroyed over a million books in one district of London alone, and reduced to ashes the entire stock of one firm which had specialized in historical works.

Since the war paper has been costly and scarce; the costs of printing and binding have risen sharply; and the demand, though greater, is still not large enough to make worthwhile the republication of many books which historians regard as essential. The main reason for this insufficient demand is the disappearance of the private library. Private libraries were common in Victorian Times but they no longer exist in modern small houses where there is no room for bookshelves. (190 Words)

Title: The Challenges of Historical Research in the Modern Era

The study of history is hindered by the lack of books, especially older standard works which have gone out of print due to the cost of printing and binding. The main reason is the disappearance of private libraries, which no longer exist in modern small houses. (46 Words)

Summary Essay Examples #6

Speech is a great blessing, but it can also be a great curse, for, while it helps us to make our intentions and desires known to our fellows, it can also, if we use it carelessly make our attitude completely misunderstood. A slip of the tongue. the use of an unusual or ambiguous word, and so on, may create an enemy where we had hoped to win a friend.

Again different classes of people use different vocabularies, and the ordinary speech of an educated man may strike an uneducated listener as showing pride; unwittingly we may use a word that bears a different meaning for our listener from what it does to men of our own class. Thus speech is not a gift to use lightly without thought, but one which demands careful handling. Only a fool will express himself alike to all kinds and conditions of men. (148 Words)

Title: The Blessing and Curse of Speech

Speech is a great gift, but it can also be a curse if used carelessly. Different classes of people use different vocabularies, and the ordinary speech of an educated man may strike an uneducated listener as pride. Careful handling of speech is essential, as only a fool will express himself alike to all people. (54 Words)

Summary Essay Examples #7

Man is the architect of his own fate. If he makes a proper division of his time and does his duties according he is sure to improve and prosper in life; but if he does otherwise, he is sure to repent, when it is too late and he will have dragged a miserable existence from day to day.

To kill time is as culpable as to commit suicide, but our life is nothing but the sum total of hours, days, and years. Youth is the golden season of life. In youth, the mind is pliable and soft and can be moulded in any form you like. If we lose the morning hours of life, we shall have to repent afterwards. It is called the ‘seed time of life’. If we sow good seeds, we shall reap a good harvest when we grow up. (142 Words)

Title: Youth: The Gloden Opportunity to shape your / Man is the Architect of his own Fate

Man is responsible for his own fate, and if he does not make proper use of his time, he will regret it. Youth is the golden season of life, and if we lose the morning hours of life, we will have to repent. (43 Words)

Summary Essay Examples #8

It is sometimes said that the pleasures of giving are peculiar to the rich, and no doubt the joy of giving is one of the greatest and purest that wealth can bestow. Still the poor also may be liberal and generous. The widow’s mite, so far as the widow is concerned, counts for as much as the rich man’s gold.

Moreover, as regards kindness and sympathy which are far more valuable than money, the poor can give as much as, perhaps even more than the rich. Money is not wealth. A proverb says: “A man’s true wealth is good that he does in the world”. When he dies, men will ask what property he has left behind, but Angels will inquire, “What good deeds hast thou sent before thee?” (130 Words)

Title: The Pleasure of Giving / Generosity Knows No Wealth

The poor can give as much as the rich, and kindness and sympathy are more valuable than money. A proverb states that a man’s true wealth is the good deeds he does in the world. (35 Words)

Summary Essay Examples #9

The lot of our Indian peasant is certainly a pitiable one. He labours under many disadvantages. In the first place, he is illiterate, and does not, therefore, care to know more than he has inherited from his ancestors. He laughs at his tiny piece of land from morning to evening and if the seasons favour him, earns what barely suffices to meet his daily demands. He does not grumble to pay his rent so much as he does for the loss of his plough cattle. He lives in debt over head and ears, yet he does not care to save anything for the morrow.

To ameliorate his condition, the supply of good plough cattle, the adoption of preventive measures to save the animals from diseases, and, last of all, primary education should engage the serious attention of the Indian Government. (138 Words)

Title: Illiteracy and its effect on Indian Peasant / The Pitiable Conditions of Indian Peasant

The Indian peasant is suffering from many disadvantages, such as illiteracy, poverty, and debt. To improve his situation, the supply of good plough cattle, preventive measures, and primary education should be addressed by the Indian Government. (36 Words)

Summary Essay Examples #10

The aim of culture and religion is the same. Men are all members of one great whole, and the sympathy which is in human nature will not allow one member to be different from the rest or to have perfect welfare independent of the rest. The expansion of our humanity to suit the idea of perfection that culture forms must be a general expansion. Perfection, as culture conceives it is not possible while the individual remains isolated. He must carry others along with him in his march towards perfection. Culture lays on us the same obligation as a religion which says that “to promote the kingdom of God is to increase and hasten one’s own happiness.

Culture is a harmonious expansion of all the powers which make the beauty and worth of human nature. Culture is not consistent with the over-development of any power at the expense of the rest. Here it goes beyond religion, as religion is generally conceived by us. (162 Words)

Title: Culture and Religion: The Two Sides of the Same Coin

Culture leading to perfection, like religion, complements rather than competes with the latter. Culture, like religion, demands perfection rather than the unification of everything. Culture means harmonious development of all faculties and not overdevelopment of any at the expense of others. Here it transcends religion in its emphasis on harmonious development. (50 Words)

The aim of culture and religion is the same: to expand humanity to suit the idea of perfection. Culture is a harmonious expansion of all the powers which make the beauty and worth of human nature, and is not consistent with the over-development of any power at the expense of the rest. It lays on us the same obligation as a religion to promote the kingdom of God is to increase and hasten one’s own happiness. (72 Words)

Summary Essay Examples #11

Perseverance is the very hinge of all virtues. On looking over the world, the cause of nine-tenths of the lamentable failures which occur in much of their history lies not in the want of talents, but in the manner of using them, in flying from object to object, in starting away at each little disgust, and thus applying the force which might conquer anyone difficulty to a series of difficulties so large that no human race can conquer them.

The smallest brook on earth by continuing to run has hollowed out for itself a considerable valley to flow in. Commend me, therefore, to the virtue of severance. Without it, all the rest are little better than fairy gold which glitters in your purse, but taken to the market proves to be state or cinders. (134 Words)

Title: The Importance of Perseverance / Perseverance: The Hinge of Virtues

Perseverance is the key to success, and severance is the virtue of severance. Without it, all the rest are a little better than fairy gold. (25 Words)

Perseverance is the key to all virtues and is the cause of many failures in history. It is the act of flying from object to object, starting away at each little disgust, and applying the force which might conquer anyone’s difficulty to a series of difficulties so large that no human race can conquer them. Without it, all the rest are little better than fairy gold which glitters in your purse, but when taken to the market proves to be state or cinders. (83 Words)

Summary Essay Examples #12

Films should contribute to human understanding and progress rather than hinder them antisocially. The excitement of gangsterdom is permissible so long as the antisocial quality of gangsterdom is not held up as something desirable. Frivolous gaiety may be introduced, but it should not be presented as the be-all and end-all, of living. Life can be made exciting and romantic provided it is not permanently distorted.

For there can never be much human progress if we distort things by pretending the world is much better than it actually is. Thus the attitude of a film to the grimmer side of life can not be worthwhile if it glosses it over, since that only confirms our backwardness. Nothing bad should be treated approvingly. The introduction of gangsterdom, war, idle luxury; slums unemployment, poverty, and their accompanying misery, crime, and disease, should not leave the audience complacent, but should if anything inspire them with a determination to end them. (159 Words)

Title: Films  -Entertainment or Distortion of Reality / The Impact of Films on Society

Films should contribute to human understanding and progress rather than hinder them antisocially, and should not gloss over the grimmer side of life, such as gangsterdom, war, idle luxury, and poverty. (31 Words)

Films should contribute to human understanding and progress rather than hinder them antisocially. Life can be made exciting and romantic, but it should not be permanently distorted. The introduction of gangsterdom, war, idle luxury, slums unemployment, poverty, and their accompanying misery, crime, and disease should not leave the audience complacent but should inspire them with a determination to end them. (60 Words)

Summary Essay Examples #13

A poor woman once came to the Buddha and begged him to revive her dead child. The holy man was touched by the woman’s great sorrow. Then he asked him to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where death had never entered. The sad mother started looking for mustard seeds from door to door. One said, our little child died last year. Another said I lost my father. The evening came.

He returned to Lord Buddha with a heavy heart and told him about the results of his search. Then the Buddha gently told him not to think of his own suffering, for suffering and death are common to all.

Title: The Buddha and the Grieving Mother / The Universal Experience of Suffering and Death

Summary:  A poor woman came to the Buddha and begged him to revive her dead child. He asked her to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where death had never entered. The mother searched for mustard seeds from door to door and returned to Lord Buddha with a heavy heart. The Buddha gently reminded her that suffering and death are common to all. (65 Words)

You Asked, We Listened – Get Free Access to All Writing Lists 😍😍

10 Famous Moral Stories

Top 10 Short Stories for Kids

Daily reading comprehension test - attempt now, discover more from english luv.

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading