Summarizing Strategies

Overview
Summarizing is an important skill for both reading and writing. In class, we covered a general overview of what a summary is and how we should go about writing one. However, we did not have time to discuss specific strategies for writing a summary. Hence, I've posted two strategies that you can use when writing a summary. These two summary-writing strategies are both easy to use and effective.

Things to Consider
Don't forget: It is very important to remember that a summary should be written in your own words. At the same time, you do not want to change the original meaning of the article. Using these strategies will also help you avoid plagiarism.

One more thing: Both strategies can be used for paraphrasing shorter passages as well.

What your Summary Should Include
1. Main idea of entire article (thesis)
2. The main supporting ideas found in the article.
**you don't need to include specific details!


Summarizing Strategies

Strategy 1: Taking Notes

Step 1: Read the entire article. Underline the thesis, main ideas, and the most important supporting points as you read. If you don’t understand the passage completely, read it again until you understand all of it.

Step 2: Once you've read the article enough times to understand it completely, go back and make annotations (take notes) based on what you underlined. You don’t need to write complete sentences.

Step 3: Transfer your notes to your paper; using your notes, write your summary. It is important that you change sentence structure and vocabulary and that you use complete sentences. To do so, use synonyms and combine/divide sentences as necessary.

Step 4: Compare your summary to the article. Make sure that it is accurate (no meaning change) yet written in a way that does not suggest plagiarism.

Strategy 1 Review
1. read article and underline thesis/main ideas 2. read again and take notes 3. write summary from notes 4. check

Strategy 2: Reading and Memorizing One Section at a Time

Step 1: Read the entire article. Underline the thesis, main ideas, and the most important supporting points as you read. If you don’t understand the passage completely, read it again until you understand all of it. (same as strategy 1 step 1)

Step 2: Read one section at a time as many times as you need to. Make sure you understand the section completely.

Step 3: Put the section aside and write the main idea of the section without looking at the article.

Step 4: Go back and compare your main idea with the original section to make sure that the meaning of your main idea is the same as that of the original.

Step 5: Repeat for the other sections of the article.

Strategy 2 Review
1. read article 2. read one section of the article 3. put section aside 4. write summary 5. check 6. repeat

Questions?
If you have any questions, you can post them below, or you can ask me in class.

Hope this helps. Thanks for reading!