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Writing a Summary Essay

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❶MF Mariam Farag Jul 28,

Procedures: How to prepare for a summary

Rules: How to write a summary

Look for any additional or missing punctuation and correct that as well. Don't use spell-checker for spelling errors. It will catch if you spell something wrong, but not if you use the wrong spelling of a word. For example, it won't catch that you used "there" when you meant "their. Generally, a summary should be around one quarter the length of the original piece.

So if the original piece is 4 pages long, your summary should be no more than 1 page. Ask someone else to read your work.

Another person may see an argument or point in a completely different light than you have, giving you a new feel for the work and yours. Not only should they be comparing your work for accuracy, ask them to read it for flow and summation. They should be able understand what happened in the article or story by reading your summary alone.

Because a summary should be an shortened, objective version of a written work, I would avoid your own persuasive speech in a summary. Remember that this was someone else's work, not your own! Save persuasive writing for an analysis, not a summary. Not Helpful 0 Helpful I would focus on the main themes and try to retell what the story is about the story in a shortened version. Focus on retelling it from the author's perspective, not your own -- and stay in chronological order.

Not Helpful 2 Helpful You should try to include all the main ideas if you can, but some things may have to be left out to save space. If you think a point is important to the piece you're summarizing, add it to your summary. However, keep in mind that your summary should be concise rather than perfectly detailed. Not Helpful 38 Helpful Not Helpful 54 Helpful These are some examples of the beginning of a summary: Not Helpful 29 Helpful You start of a summary with the title of the book and the author.

Not Helpful 12 Helpful No, just use the appropriate words to convey a chronological order, for example words like "first," "second," "then," "finally," etc.

Not Helpful 19 Helpful What if the book has a lot of characters that are only mentioned once or twice? If they are minor characters then you shouldn't include them in your summary. Decide on whether the character is important to the storyline. You'll probably just need to focus on the main characters to write an effective summary.

Not Helpful 30 Helpful A summary's length depends on the passage you're summarizing. If it's a short article or story, then it should just be one long paragraph. If it's a novel, however, 3 to 5 paragraphs should be enough. So really, it depends on the passage. Not Helpful 34 Helpful Yes it is obligatory, because readers of your summary must have a possibility to easily find and read the original text, that you have summarised.

Not Helpful 39 Helpful How do I write a summary if I have to state three specific things? Answer this question Flag as How can I write summary of three articles supporting same viewpoint in one essay?

What type of heading is normally used in an article summary? Academic Assignment Writing an Essay. Writing a Research Paper. Writing Guides for Students Writing a Memoir 2. Creative Writing Guides Writing a Song 3. Writing a Letter Writing an Evaluation Letter 3. Steps for Writing a Summary Essay Thoroughly read and study the original text.


Then read each part once more, but this time highlight some of the key points. When you have a clear understanding of the information in each part of the source, write down the main idea in each section in the form of a short overview.



A conclusion paragraph should be added if your teacher specifically tells you to include one. Summary Essay Topics You can write a summary essay on a scientific work, an interesting article, a novel, or a research paper. Before writing the summary: For a text, read, mark, and annotate the original. For a lecture, work with the notes you took. Organize your notes into an outline which includes main ideas and supporting points but no examples or details dates, numbers, statistics.


The reporting verb is generally in present tense. At the end of your summary, double-space and write a reference for the in-text citation see 8 below , following APA guidelines.

In his book The Pearl , John Steinbeck illustrates the fight between good and evil in humankind.

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Rules: How to write a summary Find important facts, statements and ideas Leave all statistics, dates and names, quotations, details and comparisons, examples, opinions, and decorating expressions unless they are important for the understanding of the text.

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Basic rules of summary writing. The first part - thesis - is the first writing that we just wrote Being a high writing writing is a wonderful experience for three reasons. After obtaining the basic rule the summary rule is to use essay outlines and format in writing the essay, they are; thesis statement, rules, introduction, body and conclusion, basic. Guidelines for using IN-TEXT CITATIONS in a SUMMARY (or RESEARCH PAPER) Christine Bauer-Ramazani. The purpose of a summary is to give the reader, in a about 1/3 of the original length of an article/lecture, a clear, objective picture of the original lecture or text.

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Writing the Summary: When writing the summary there are three main requirements: 1. The summary should cover the original as a whole. 2. The material should be presented in a neutral fashion. 3. The summary should be a condensed version of the material, presented in your own words. * * Also. do not include anything that does not appear in the original. Summary Writing page 1 of 1 Summary Writing Guidelines For some of your Fast-Write homework assignments you’ll be asked to summarize an article. Guidelines below will help guide your reading and writing: 1. Complete A summary should include all the ideas that .