Summarizing and Finding Main Idea

What is a summary?

• a short explanation of a text
• a persuasive argument about a text
• a movie based off a book
• a theme or universal lesson

When would you most likely summarize a book? 

• when you want to forget a book you've read
• when you want to tell a friend your opinion of a book but not what it was about
• when you want to tell a friend the gist or the main idea of a book
• when you don't understand a vocabulary word you read in a book

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 your 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

The article "The Three Men Who Invented the Telephone" is about three different men who contributed to the invention of the telephone. Which of the following should you include in a summary of this article?

• details about how smartphones and cell phones work
• a detail about where the phrase "put someone on hold" came form
• a brief explanation of how each man was involved in the invention of the telephone
• your opinion about who really invented the telephone

When summarizing, I should identify...

• the main idea and supporting details of the plot
• Just the main idea.

In my summary, I just summarize what the story said, and I do not give my personal opinions about what happened.

• True
• False

In my summary, I should try to avoid using a lot of quotations.

• True
• False

Which of these words could be used as a transition word?

• Good
• Next