Summarizing Your Text

What is summarizing? Summarizing reduces a text to its main idea and necessary information. Summarizing
differs from paraphrasing in that summary leaves out details and terms.
Why is summarizing important? Summarizing helps you understand and learn important information by reducing
information to its key ideas. Summaries can be used for annotation and study notes as well as to expand the depth
of your writing.
How is summarizing different from paraphrasing?
To the untrained eye, a summary and a paraphrase may look alike. However, there are differences.
 A summary is shorter than the original text.
 A paraphrase can be shorter or longer than the original.
 A summary eliminates details, examples, and supporting points.
 A paraphrase describes the original text in different words. It does not leave out details.

NOTE: This skill sheet is a general overview of summarizing. If you are completing a summary as a class
assignment, always follow the directions of your classroom instructor.

Write an Accurate Summary

Read the article and organize the information.
1. Preview the text. Gather the information needed to focus and set goals.
2. Read, think about, and understand the text. Review the material to make sure you know it
well. Use a dictionary or context clues to find the meanings of any important words.
3. Read for the thesis, main idea, and evidence. Annotate as you usually do. If necessary, map or
outline part or all of the text to find the thesis, main ideas and evidence.
4. Identify and paraphrase the thesis or topic sentence (which contains the main idea), or
compose one if the topic sentence is implied. The main idea is the most important information
or concept in a text. The statement that you write should mention the underlying meaning of
the article, not just the surface details.
5. Group the details (minor details). Organize your evidence by grouping the article into sections.
Not all information is equal: some of the information is clearly more important than the rest.
Topic Sentence:
Evidence:
#1:
#2:
#3:
6. Within your groups of information, write a word or phrase that can replace a list of items
(avoid using the word “things”) or individual parts of an action. You can do this in the margin.
For example: rose, daisy, and mum becomes “flowers.”
7. Use basic signal words. ASK YOURSELF:

Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

(subject) (action) (location) (time) (reason) (procedure)

8. Change the words but never the meaning. A summary uses paraphrased sentences, with only
occasional quotes from the original text.
 Write the summary.

1. Begin your summary with statement of the thesis. Begin with an introductory sentence that
mentions the author, title, and thesis.
2. Write the main idea of each section in one well-developed sentence. Make sure that what you
include in your sentences are key points, not minor details.
3. Follow the order of ideas in the original text. After stating the thesis, you should mention the
first main idea that you come across and then major details that back it up. Then you would
mention the second main idea and so on.
4. The amount of detail you include, if any, depends on your purpose for writing the summary.
For example, if you are writing a summary of a magazine article for research paper, it might be
more detailed than if you were writing it to jog your memory for class discussion.
5. Summary should be no more than ¼ the original text. It can be one sentence, one paragraph
or multiple paragraphs depending on the length of the original and your purpose for writing the
summary.
6. Do not include unnecessary or material that says the same thing as another part of the
passage.
7. Do not use phrasing such as “This article is about” or “In this paragraph the author says …”
8. Do not plagiarize or bring in your personal opinion. Summarizing is about restating what the
author says. Save your own ideas for another time.
9. Make sure that your summary includes the meaning of the original passage and does not
change the author’s purpose or tone. Identify the main idea and double check that your
summary does not change or add to it.
10. Read and revise the content.

Have you captured the main point of the article?

Have you included the most important details?
o Make sure that you have included all the supporting details or mentioned all of
the events, however briefly.
o Group these details as outlined previously; do not omit key information that
was in the original passage.
o Check for an accurate topic sentence and the five Ws and an H.
11. Read over your summary edit for grammatical and spelling errors.
 Is the verb tense consistent?
 Are all names spelled correctly and capitalized?
 Have you avoided writing run-on sentences and sentence fragments?
 Is there sentence variety?
 Have you avoided writing short, choppy sentences? Are there transitional words and
phrases to connect ideas?

Further explanation and activities for Accurate Summarizing can be found in the following texts:
Flemming, Loraine. Reading Keys, 3rd ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2011. (See pages 212-213)
McWhorter, Kathleen T. Reading Across the Disciplines: College Reading and Beyond, 5th ed. San Francisco: Pearson Education, 2012. (pages 213-214)
Spears, Deanne. Improving Reading Skills: Contemporary Readings for College Students, 6th ed. New York: McGraw- Hill, 2010. (See pages 121-123)
Langan, John. Ten Steps to Improving College Reading Skills, 5th ed. West Berlin, New Jersey: Townsend Press, Inc., 2008. (See pages 114-119)
 Original Article with Highlighting and Annotations

Bats
By Debbie Dean

Thesis: Bats are

In the distant past, many people thought bats had magical powers, but times
misunderstood and
have changed. Today, many people believe that bats are rodents, that they cannot
see, and that they are more likely than other animals to carry rabies. All of these
unappreciated.
beliefs are mistaken. Bats are not rodents, are not blind, and are no more likely
than dogs and cats to transmit rabies. Bats, in fact, are among the least understood
Main idea: Bats are not and least appreciated of animals.
rodents with wings Bats are not rodents with wings, contrary to popular belief. Like all rodents, bats
#1.Wing bones like human are mammals, but they have a skeleton similar to the human skeleton. The bones in
arms/hands bat wings are much like those in arms and the human hand, with a thumb and four
#2 Wings are web of skin fingers. In bats, the bones of the arms and the four fingers of the hands are very
stretched from body to long. This bone structure helps support the web of skin that stretches from the body
fingertips. to the ends of the fingers to form wings.
Although bats cannot see colors, they have good vision in both dim and bright
M.I.: Bats have good vision light. Since most bats stay in darkness during the day and do their feeding at night,
but are colorblind and use they do not use their vision to maneuver in the dark but use a process called
echolocation at night. echolocation. This process enables bats to emit sounds from their mouths that bounce
#1 Emit sounds that off objects and allow them to avoid the objects when flying. They use this system to
bounce off objects locate flying insects to feed on as well. Typically, insect-eating bats emerge at dusk
#2 Locate flying insects and fly to streams or ponds where they feed. They catch the insects on their wingtip
or tail membrane and fling them into their mouths while flying.
M.I.: The number of species is
about 1000.
There are about 1,000 species of bat, ranging in size from the bumblebee bat,
#1 different sizes which is about an inch long, to the flying fox, which is sixteen inches long and has a
#2 different diets wingspan of five feet. Each type of bat has a specialized diet. For seventy percent
Most eat insects of bats, the diet is insects. Other types of bats feed on flowers, pollen, nectar, and
Others: flowers, sm. animals fruit or on small animals such as birds, mice, lizards, and frogs.
M.I.: Vampire bats drink blood. One species of bat feeds on the blood of large mammals. This is the common
vampire bat, which lives only in Latin America and is probably best known for
#1 feed on cattle blood
feeding on the blood of cattle. Unfortunately, in an attempt to control vampire bat
#2 farmers kill helpful bats
populations, farmers have unintentionally killed thousands of beneficial fruit-and
when trying to kill v. bats
insect-eating bats as well.
Bats, in fact, perform a number of valuable functions. Their greatest economic
M.I.: Bats are helpful value is in eliminating insect pests. Insect- eating bats can catch six hundred
#1 eat insects mosquitoes in an hour and eat half their body weight in insects every night. In many
#2 spread seeds tropical rain forests, fruit-eating bats are the main means of spreading the seeds of
#3 pollinate plants tropical fruits. Nectar-feeding bats pollinate a number of tropical plants. If it were
not for bats, we might not have peaches, bananas, mangoes, guavas, figs, or dates.
M.I.: Survival of bats is unknown. Today, the survival of many bat species is uncertain. Sixty percent of bats do not
survive past infancy. Some are killed by predators such as owls, hawks, snakes and
#1 predators
other meat-eating creatures, but most are victims of pesticides and other human
#2 pesticides
intrusions. In Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, where there were once eight million
#3 human disruptions
bats, there are now a quarter million. At Eagle Creek, Arizona, the bat population
#4 population has dropped
dropped from thirty million to thirty thousand in six years.
Bats often have been burdened with a bad reputation, perhaps because they
M.I.: Bats look different are not the warm, cuddly sort of animal we love to love. However, their unusual
but should be accepted physical features should not lead us to overestimate their harm or to underestimate
and admired. their value.
 Sample Summary

The Undervalued Bat

Introduction In the article “Bats,” by Debbie Dean, we

• Starts with a summary or overview of learn that in contrast to some mistaken beliefs,
the article which includes the author’s
bats have sight, are mammals, and are not
name and the title of the article.
especially likely to carry rabies. Bats are
• Finishes with a thesis statement that
states the main idea of the article. relatively misunderstood and unappreciated.
Bats have some interesting physical
Body Paragraphs features. They have similar bone structure and
• Each body paragraph begins with a skeletons to that of humans, so they are not
topic sentence.
winged rodents. They are color blind, so they
• Each paragraph focuses on a separate
use echolocation if there is not sufficient light.
main idea and just the most important
details from the article. Otherwise, their sight is enough.
• When the main ideas of two original Species of bats total about a thousand. The
paragraphs are similar, they are
species come in a variety of sizes and have
grouped together in the same
paragraph. unique diets. Most eat insects, but some eat
For example: The paragraphs about plant products and small animals. However,
bats’ wings and eyesight are combined
in one paragraph with the topic vampire bats drink blood, which can be
sentence, “Bats have interesting harmful to livestock. Farmers have
physical features.”
accidentally killed many helpful bats while
• Details are grouped and replaced
trying to rid themselves of vampire bats.
with a phrase.
For example: “flowers, pollen, and Bats can actually be helpful to humans. They
nectar” becomes “plant products.”
destroy unwanted bugs, spread fruit seeds,
• Transitional words and phrases
and pollinate plants. However, the survival of
connect ideas.
bats is not known because many are killed by
human disruptions and predators. The bat
population has dropped steadily and may
continue to drop.
Hopefully, we will realize that although bats
Concluding Paragraph
look different than our favorite animals, we
• Summarize the main idea and the
underlying meaning of the article. can learn to accept and admire their
uniqueness.