Summarizing

Which of the following statements is true about SUMMARIZING?

• A summary should include many story details.

• A summary is always found in the first sentence of a paragraph or chapter.

• A summary should always be fiction.

• A summary is what the passage is mostly about.

Which best describes what a summary is?

• The main or most important idea of the text

• A really long detailed piece of writing

• A dumb thing teachers make you write

• The entire text in your own words

The main idea is...

• The order in which events happen in a story.
• A series of important details identified in a nonfiction text.
• The big idea or life lesson that the author wants us to take away from a fictional story.
• A brief statement that you create which shows/reflects what a nonfiction text is mainly talking about.

A summary should

• answer the 5 W's: who, what, when, where, and why
• describe the details but not the main ideas
• never mention the plot of the text
• always mention the age of the author

You should write your summary

• in your own words with complete sentences
• in a secret language that you make up
• in one draft without revising
• in fragments without punctuation

What can you summarize?

• only novels
• only nonfiction
• only movies
• anything you read or watch

Summaries help me...

• understand what I'm reading
• write about what I read
• include the key points of a text
• all of the above

What is the first step to summarizing a passage?

• Carefully reading through and understanding the passage so you can make a better summary.
• Put the first important thing you see down without even reading the passage.

When a question says "Which summary is the best," that means you should chose the one includes the main idea and supporting details without giving too much away.

• true

• false

• Sometimes

When writing a summary, it is okay to include any opinions or background knowledge you have on the topic.

• True

• False