Summarizing

Summarizing a text

How to provide a summary of a text having in mind the essential things of it.

What is summarizing?

Summarizing is telling the most important parts of a text, in your own words, in a much shorter way.

The following words will help when you summarize a text.

SOMEBODY
WANTED
BUT
SO
THEN

​

TO HAVE IN MIND WHEN SUMMARIZING

SOMEBODY: The main character
WANTED: what the character wanted to to do
BUT: It is the problem that appears in the text
SO: What were the possible resolutions for the problem
THEN: How was the problem solved at the end.

​

Multiple Choice

When we summarize we...

• highlight only the characters

• have in mind the main idea of the text

• have in mind the main idea of each paragraph

• make up a story related to the text

Match

Match the correct options.

• SOMEBODY

• WANTED

• BUT

• SO

• THEN

Who's the main character

what the character desired to do

the problem

ways of the character to solve the problem

Final resolution of the story

• Who's the main character

• what the character desired to do

• the problem

• ways of the character to solve the problem

• Final resolution of the story

When summarizing...

• The main idea is the most important information or concept in a text or statement.  

• Sometimes the main idea is explicit; sometimes we infer it.

• Not all information is equal:  some of it clearly is more important than the rest.