Writing a Summary

Knowing how to write a good summary allows you to take a larger amount of information and condense it while highlighting major points.

Using your own words to write a summary is an excellent way to remember information. Also, writing a summary will let you know if there are any gaps in your understanding of information you’ve read.

To write a summary:

• Find the topic sentence that states the main idea in each paragraph. Ask yourself: “What is the most important thing I learned in this paragraph?”
  
  
• Get rid of any unimportant or repeated information.
  
  
• Read carefully the opening and closing paragraphs, headings or sub-headings to find key points.
  
  
• Organize your summary the way the reading passage is organized. Ask: “What does it begin with?” and “What is in the middle?” and “How does it end?”
  
  
• Make sure the summary is in your own words. Remember, you are not copying what you’ve read, but transforming it into your own words.

While you might think or feel a certain way about what you’ve read, don’t let your opinion become a part of your summary. Stick to the facts—even if the summary is about someone else’s opinion!

Use this chart to make notes during your reading. As you add information to each column, delete unimportant or repetitive material.

After you have filled in the columns, write a sentence to summarize each column. Include everything that is important and organize your sentences in order.