Summary writing

A summary is a restatement, in shortened form and in your own words, of the main ideas contained in a reading selection. It is best to prepare the summary from an outline. It will help you distinguish between generalizations and their supporting details, and make it easier for you to memorize main points in readings and to state them more easily.

In writing the summary it’s a good idea to begin with a reference to (if there is any) the following: the author and his or her qualifications, the publication and the date, the central idea and its importance, the author’s attitude and purpose in writing the selection. Keep а sense of proportion, write more about main points than about minor ones.

Be sure that the entire summary has а form of its own, with full sentences and with transitions (connections) between each point. Usually you do not need to include examples given in the selection unless they are important to the point being made.

Avoid quoting too much, use your own words as much as possible.

Don’t overload your sentences in order to pack in as much information as possible. Be sure you are clear in presenting opinions. Distinguish between the author’s point of view and that of аnу other person to whom hе or she refers. For the author’s development of ideas, you might use words like begins, continues, goes on to, concludes. If you refer to the author’s actual statements, you might use verbs like says, states, discusses, mentions, argues. The verbs, however, should bе in the same tense, either all present or all past. (The present tense is more usual.)

Do not introduce your ideas or your attitudes or interpretation, into а summary. Your ideas will bе added later only if you are asked to comment on, or to react to, what the author has said.

List of Expressions Used for Summary Writing