College Composition / Unit 23 CMP 0558 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Writing a Summary
The idea
Writing a summary means identifying a text's main ideas and restating only those, briefly and fairly.
In practice
Write one in order. First, read the whole text and identify its main point. Second, find the major supporting points, often signaled by topic sentences. Third, set aside examples, details and repetition. Fourth, write the main point and supporting points in your own words, in a few sentences. Fifth, check for fairness: would the author agree that this represents the text? Sixth, introduce and cite the summary.
Where people slip
Summaries fail most often by tilting: emphasizing the points the writer agrees with and dropping the ones the writer does not. A fair summary represents the source as it is, before the writer responds to it, and leaves the response for the sentences that follow.
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