Summarizing Strategies

Advanced Oral Expression

 Summarizing
Summarizing means identifying the main idea and most important
facts, then writing a brief overview that includes only those key
ideas and details.
Summarizing is a vital skill for students to learn, but many
students find it difficult to pick out the important facts without
providing too much detail.
A good summary is short and to the point. The following easy
summarizing strategies will help you choose the correct details
from the text and write about them clearly and concisely.
 Summarizing

Somebody Wanted
5 W's, 1 H SAAC Method First Then Finally
But So Then

Summarize the key details by State the source's name, Describe the initial event, the
Identify the main character
answering who, what, where, assign the author, explain the subsequent actions, and the
(somebody), their goal
when, why, and how. This author's action, and complete final outcome. This method is
(wanted), the conflict (but),
approach ensures all essential with the main idea. It's useful for summarizing
how they try to solve it (so),
aspects of the event or story effective for summarizing sequences of events or
and the outcome (then).
are covered. nonfiction texts. processes.
 Summarizing
Using these summarization strategies helps speakers communicate more effectively,
ensuring their message is both understood and retained by their audience:
By using structured
Well-structured summaries strategies, speakers
maintain the audience's aid the audience in
attention by keeping the retaining information
content focused and by presenting it in an
relevant, preventing organized, memorable
information overload. format.
Clarity and Emphasis on
Efficiency
Conciseness Key Points
Engagement Retention
Summarizing helps Summarization Summarizing
distill complex highlights the most allows speakers to
information into important aspects cover more ground
clear, concise of the content, in less time, making
points, making it ensuring the their presentations
easier for the audience grasps more efficient and
audience to the core message impactful.
understand and and its significance.
remember the key
messages.
 Summarizing
Somebody Wanted But So Then
“Somebody Wanted But So Then” is an excellent summarizing strategy for stories. Each word
represents a key question related to the story's essential elements:
Somebody: Who is the story about?
Wanted: What does the main character want?
But: Identify a problem that the main character encountered.
So: How does the main character solve the problem?
Then: Tell how the story ends.
 Summarizing
Somebody Wanted But So Then
Here is an example of this strategy in action:
Somebody: Little Red Riding Hood
Wanted: She wanted to take cookies to her sick grandmother.
But: She encountered a wolf pretending to be her grandmother.
So: She ran away, crying for help.
Then: A woodsman heard her and saved her from the wolf.
After answering the questions, combine the answers to form a summary:
Little Red Riding Hood wanted to take cookies to her sick grandmother, but she encountered a wolf.
He got to her grandmother’s house first and pretended to be the old woman. He was going to eat
Little Red Riding Hood, but she realized what he was doing and ran away, crying for help. A
woodsman heard the girl’s cries and saved her from the wolf.
 Summarizing
5 W's, 1 H
“The Five W's, One H strategy relies on six crucial questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
These questions make it easy to identify the main character, important details, and main idea.
Who is the story about?
What did they do?
When did the action take place?
Where did the story happen?
Why did the main character do what s/he did?
How did the main character do what s/he did?
 Summarizing
5 W's, 1 H
Try this technique with a familiar fable such as "The Tortoise and the Hare."
Who? The tortoise
What? He raced a quick, boastful hare and won.
When? When isn’t specified in this story, so it’s not important in this case.
Where? An old country road
Why? The tortoise was tired of hearing the hare boast about his speed.
How? The tortoise kept up his slow but steady pace.
Then, use the answers to the Five W's and One H to write a summary of in complete sentences.
Tortoise got tired of listening to Hare boast about how fast he was, so he challenged Hare to a race.
Even though he was slower than Hare, Tortoise won by keeping up his slow and steady pace when
Hare stopped to take a nap.
 Summarizing
SAAC Method
The SAAC method is another useful technique for summarizing any kind of text (such as a story, an article, or a
speech). SAAC is an acronym for "State, Assign, Action, Complete." Each word in the acronym refers to a specific
element that should be included in the summary.
State: the name of the article, book, or story
Assign: the name of the author
Action: what the author is doing (example: tells, explains)
Complete: complete the sentence or summary with keywords and important details
This method is particularly helpful for students who are learning the format of a summary and need reminders to
include the title and author's name. However, SAAC does not include clear guidance about what details to include,
which some students might find tricky. If you use SAAC with your students, remind them of the types of details that
belong in a summary before instructing them to work independently.
 Summarizing
SAAC Method
Here is an example of SAAC in action:
State: "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"
Assign: Aesop (a Greek storyteller)
Action: tells
Complete: what happens when a shepherd boy repeatedly lies to
the villagers about seeing a wolf

Use the four SAAC cues to write out a summary of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" in complete sentences:
"The Boy Who Cried Wolf," by Aesop (a Greek storyteller), tells what happens when a shepherd boy
repeatedly lies to the villagers about seeing a wolf. After a while, they ignore his false cries. Then,
when a wolf really does attack, they don’t come to help him.
 Summarizing
First Then Finally
The "First Then Finally" technique helps students summarize events in chronological order. The three
words represent the beginning, main action, and conclusion of a story, respectively:
First: What happened first? Include the main character and main event/action.
Then: What key details took place during the event/action?
Finally: What were the results of the event/action?

Here is an example using "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."

First, Goldilocks entered the bears' home while they were gone. Then, she ate their food, sat in
their chairs, and slept in their beds. Finally, she woke up to find the bears watching her, so she
jumped up and ran away.
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl
Summarizing Strategies -
Examples
 "Somebody Wanted But So Then" Strategy
Somebody: Charlie Bucket
Wanted: To win a tour of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory
But: There are many contestants and challenges inside the factory
So: He behaves humbly and kindly, unlike the other children
Then: Willy Wonka chooses Charlie to inherit the factory

Remember that this strategy helps you identify key elements that you will later use for your summary:
This is not a summary.
 "5 W's, 1 H" Strategy
Who: Charlie Bucket, Willy Wonka, and the other children
What: Charlie wins a tour of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory
Where: In Willy Wonka's chocolate factory
When: In a fictional, contemporary setting
Why: Because he finds a Golden Ticket in a chocolate bar
How: By being kind and humble, Charlie impresses Willy Wonka
Remember that this strategy helps you identify key elements that you will later use for your summary:
This is not a summary.
 SAAC Method
S (State): "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
A (Assign): Roald Dahl
A (Action): Describes the adventure and moral lessons of a boy in a magical
factory
C (Complete): Charlie Bucket's adventure in Willy Wonka's factory teaches
him and the readers important moral lessons, leading to Charlie inheriting
the factory
Remember that this strategy helps you identify key elements that you will later use for your summary:
This is not a summary.
 "First Then Finally" Strategy
First: Charlie wins a Golden Ticket and a tour of Willy Wonka's chocolate
factory.
Then: He experiences various magical rooms and sees the other children
succumb to their flaws.
Finally: Willy Wonka chooses Charlie to inherit the factory because of
his good character.
Remember that this strategy helps you identify key elements that you will later use for your summary:
This is not a summary.