How to write a good summary?

To write a summary is an easy task if you know the rules. In this post, we will learn how to write a summary of a given text, article, or book. Before we start, let us know what a summary is. 

What is a summary? 

A well-written summary demonstrates the complete understanding of a given text. The purpose of writing a summary is to present the main ideas of the text. According to Advanced Learners' Oxford Dictionary, a summary is "a short statement that gives only the main points of something, not the details." Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a summary as "using few words to give the most important information about something", or "covering the main points succinctly." Therefore, a summary is an abridged or condensed version of a given text.

Basic/Best Rules of Summary Writing:

The following steps by step rules would help you easily write a summary.

Step One: Skim through the given text. Do not stop if you come across any complex or difficult idea. Try to grasp the central idea or what the author wants to convey through the text. Understanding the central idea is the key to writing a good summary.

Step Two: This is an important step in writing a summary. Keeping the central idea in mind, read the whole text thoughtfully and highlight or underline the sentences or clauses containing the main ideas or facts that are related to the central idea. Also, try to dumb down the complex but important points or terms.

Step Three: Go through the text again and write down the underlined or highlighted sentences or clauses. Remember that the main ideas are presented in the introduction or the first paragraph and the conclusion or the last paragraph. Besides, the important facts are given in the topic sentence and the last sentence of the body paragraphs.

Step Four: Revise and paraphrase the sentences written in step three. Make sure that you write paraphrased sentences in a logical sequence. Then devise a thesis statement out of those paraphrased sentences.

Step Five: Now, use that thesis statement as the topic sentence of your summary along with the title and author of the text you are summarizing. Example: In the given article "How to write a summary," the author, Jack Smith, explains the easy steps of summarizing a given text. Use the other sentences to make one or more body paragraphs of the summary. Moreover, to ensure the summary flows smoothly, use transitional or signal words (however, moreover, in addition to, despite, nonetheless, then).

Step Six: At this step, your summary is nearly complete, however, needs to be polished up. So, revise the summary twice or thrice for grammar and punctuation. Now your summary is ready.

Some Useful Tips of writing summary:

1. Be an active reader. Good writing needs good reading. Always remember that the second reading is better than the first reading and the third reading is better than the second reading.

2. Use your own words. If you need to include an original sentence, clause or phrase, then use quotation mark.

3. A summary itself should be a unique piece of writing. Do not simply rewrite the original text.  

4. Never include your own opinion in the summary.

5. Use present tense.

6. Present the material in a neutral fashion.

7. Be clear and concise.

8. While writing a summary, you can ask yourself the WH questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? 

8. Ideally, a summary should be the one fourth of the original text in length unless otherwise specified by your instructor or teacher. If your summary falls short of the length, then go to the step three and search for more ideas and facts. If your summary becomes longer, then do not omit ideas rather shred off unnecessary words.

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