Summary Writing

_____ is shorter than the original text

• A paraphrase

• A summary

You should only include the main events or ideas from the passage when writing a summary.

• True

• False

Which one of the following is NOT a part of a summary?

• using your own words

• summary being shorter than the text

• quotes words from the text

• including main ideas only

Does the meaning of the text change when you write an objective summary?

• No, it's shorter but has the same meaning.

• Yes, of course the meaning changes because someone else is writing it.

• It depends on the material and who originally wrote it. 

Turn over a bag of potato chips. Is the label interesting? A simple food recipe may use several ingredients. These come from the soil and from chemistry labs around the world. Surprises also show up in the labels on clothing and other products. Look at the label on a package of lipstick. The tube seems small and shiny, but inside lipstick there is soap, oil, fish scales, and wax! Which is the best way to summarize this passage?

• A bag of potato chips seems like a simple recipe. There are many ingredients from the soil and from chemistry labs.

• Clothes and other products have many ingredients as well. Lipstick alone has soap, oil, wax, and fish scales.

• Labels show what goes into food, clothing, and other products. A simple product may have many ingredients.

• Lipstick seems small and shiny. Look at the label sometime. It has at least four different ingredients.

What is the definition of a summary?

• A condensed version of text that defines your scope and focus.

• A condensed version of text that only includes the main ideas.

• A condensed version of text that gives insight on the development on a topic.

For the walls, Jenny thought she would use a bright yellow paint. She would pick a border that had mostly bright red and green colors, and maybe a little bit of blue. She already had found some curtains that were sky blue with streaks of red, blue and yellow that she thought would go great with the walls. And finally, she had picked a carpet that was mostly blue with specks of red and yellow. Jenny couldn't wait till she was done decorating her room. It was really going to look awesome.
 The Summary of this passage is:

• Jenny likes bright colors.

• Jenny was going to paint her room.

• Jenny was picking out colors and materials to decorate her room.

• Yellow is a good color to paint your walls.

Your summary should

• should be just a word or two

• be in complete sentences, in your own words and should cover the central idea and supporting details

• be in complete sentences and cover the central idea in your own words

When writing a summary, you should ask yourself:  "Do you need this information to understand the text?"

• True

• False

When you are summarizing, you should replace lists of specific things with a ______________________ word that describes them all.

• Compound word

• General word

• Descriptive word

• Transitional word