summary writing a skill required for all students at all levels of education
TRANSCRIPT
Summary Writing
A skill required for all students at all levels of education.
What is a Summary?
Taking a large quantity of information, understanding what it means and condensing it into a shorter version.
Why Summarize?
Shorter version allows for you to have an easy reference without having to memorize long passages or complex statistics
For example, notes you take in class are a summary of the class
WHY is this so hard?
The Big Decision: What do you include and what do you leave out?
Remember, when you are writing a summary, it is important that you keep the intent of the author as well.
You will need to read the entire article or passage first prior to summarizing.
Strategy One
Look for main ideas or topic sentences and key words used throughout the article
Make sure to read the entire article and make sure you understand everything the article talks about.
If you do not understand something, what can you do?
Strategy Two
Cross out information that is useless and underline or highlight the most important points (these could be just words or phrases)
Here is where the KEY WORDS and MAIN IDEAS are important
Strategy Three
Write in YOUR OWN WORDS
No opinions should appear in the summary
Plagiarism is illegal and can get you kicked out of college! (In High School, you will earn a Zero.)
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Summary Length:
¼ of the original article, paper, or passage
Approximately how long would a summary be for a three page article?
Summary Practice
POORLY WRITTEN SUMMARY
WHY?
Well-Written Summary
Why?
¼ length of original piece
Keeps in the same order
Has same tone of piece
Is cited properly