22 Strategy: Writing Summaries

Process and Hints to Summary Writing

One major challenge with summary writing is deciding what to include and what to leave out. A bit of instruction on the process to follow, along with useful techniques, will have you writing expert summaries in no time.

• Read the text for understanding, without editing. Make sure you understand the content, including major and minor sections, as well as the overlying message being conveyed. Look closely at topic sentences and key words repeated throughout.
• Read through the material and cross out non-vital information. Underline what you believe to be the most important points, even if those points are words or phrases.
• Write your summary in your own words.
• Begin your summary with the type of work, title, author, and any other pertinent information
• Use the present tense
• Follow both the organization (follow the same order of the original text) of the original as well as its tone, though you need to make sure your own point of view is purely objective (reporting content of the text, only).
• Opinions should not appear in a summary. Any words or phrases from the original need to be properly documented and punctuated.
• Do not include anything that doesn’t appear in the original version
• Your summary should be 15 to 20% the length of the original.
• Be sure to go back when you’ve finished your summary and compare it to the original for accuracy.

Effective and Ineffective Summaries

ORIGINAL TEXT

“For nearly 1,400 years Islam, though diverse in sectarian practice and ethnic tradition, has provided a unifying faith for peoples stretching from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and beyond. Starting in the 1500s, Western ascendancy, which culminated in colonization, eroded once glorious Muslim empires and reduced the influence of Islam. After the breakup of the Ottoman Empire following World War I and the decline of European colonial empires following World War II, Muslim nations adopted Western ideologies–communism, socialism, secular nationalism, and capitalism. Yet most Muslims remained poor and powerless. Their governments, secular regimes often backed by the West, were corrupt and repressive” (Belt 78).

Belt, Don. “The World of Islam.” National Geographic. January 2002: 76-85. Print.

POORLY-WRITTEN SUMMARY

Despite Western-style governments, Muslim countries are mired in deep poverty and radical governments. This despite the fact that the religion has existed for several centuries. European colonization ruined the Islamic religion for a long time. You would find it hard to imagine how many Muslims there really are out there.

Analysis

This summary…

• does not follow the order of information found in the original
• the phrase “several centuries” minimizes the historic significance of the religion
• sentence-level problems like “mired,” “you would,” and “out there” change the formal tone of the original to a biased, informal representation
• it is approximately half the length of the original, which is too long
• no credit is given to the original source

WELL-WRITTEN SUMMARY

For almost 1,500 years, Islam has united people globally. Western interference, through colonization and political ideologies, has not improved Muslims’ lives (Belt 78).

Analysis

This summary…

• follows the order of the original
• maintains the original tone
• is approximately 20% of the original’s length
• is properly documented and punctuated