HowtoWriteanEffectiveSummary

　　Thegoalofwritingasummaryofanarticle,achapter,orabookistoofferasaccuratelyaspossiblethefullsenseoftheoriginal,butinamorecondensedform.Asummaryrestatestheauthor’smainpoint,purpose,intent,andsupportingdetailsinyourownwords.

　　Writinganeffectivesummaryrequiresthatyoupaymuchattentiontotheseriesofsteps:Readcarefully;reread,labelandunderline;write,reviseandedit.

　　Readthepassagecarefully.

　　Determineitsstructure.Identifytheauthor’spurposeinwriting.(Thiswillhelpyoutodistinguishbetweenmoreimportantandlessimportantinformation.)Afteryoufinishreading,writedowninonesentencethepointthatismadeaboutthesubject.Inotherwords,writedownathesisstatementwhichexpressesthecentralideaofthepassage,asyouhavedetermineditfromtheprecedingsteps.

　　Youmayfinditusefultokeepinmindtheinformationcontainedintheleadsentenceorparagraphofmostnewspaperstories--thewhat,who,why,where,when,andhowofthematter.Forpersuasivepassages,summarizeinasentencetheauthor'sconclusion.Fordescriptivepassages,indicatethesubjectofthedescriptionanditskeyfeatures.Note:Insomecasesasuitablethesismayalreadybeintheoriginalpassage.Ifso,youmaywanttoquoteitdirectlyinyoursummary.

　　Reread,labelandunderline.

　　Onceyouclearlyunderstandthewriter’smajorpoint(orpurpose)forwriting,readthearticleagain,underlinethemajorpointssupportingthethesis---theseshouldbewordsorphraseshereandthereratherthancompletesentences.Inaddition,underlinekeytransitionalelementswhichshowhowpartsareconnected.Omitspecificdetails,examples,description,andunnecessaryexplanations.Note:youmayneedtogothroughthearticletwiceinordertopickupeverythingyouneed.

　　Write,reviseandedit.

　　Nowbeginwritingyoursummary.Startwithasentencenamingthewriterandarticletitleandstatingtheessay’smainidea.Thenwriteyoursummary,omittingnothingimportant,eliminatingrepetition,disregardingminordetails,orgeneralizingthem,usingasfewwordsaspossibletoconveythemainideasandstrivingforoverallcoherencethroughappropriatetransitions.Concludewithafinalstatementreflectingthesignificanceofthearticle--notfromyourownpointofviewbutfromthewriter’s.Importantnote:throughoutthesummary,donotinsertyourownopinionsorthoughts;insteadsummarizewhatthewriterhastosayaboutthesubject.

　　Reviseyoursummary.Afteryou'vecompletedadraft,readyoursummaryandcheckforaccuracy.Askyourself:Doesyoursummarymakethesamepointasthearticle?Haveyouomittedanythingimportant?Doesyoursummaryreadsmoothlywithallpartsclearlyrelated?Keepinmindthatasummaryshouldgenerallybenomorethanone-fourththelengthoftheoriginal.Ifyoursummaryistoolong,cutoutwordsratherthanideas.Thenlookfornon-essentialinformationanddeleteit.

　　Edityoursummary.Correctgrammar,spelling,andpunctuationerrors,lookingparticularlyforthosecommoninyourwriting.Writeacleandraftandproofreadforcopyingerrors.

　　Asyoureviseandedityoursummary,compareittotheoriginalandaskyourselfquestionssuchas:HaveIrephrasedtheauthor’swordswithoutchangingtheirmeaning?HaveIrestatedthemainideaa