Creating a Summary Choosing the Most Important Details

Creating a Summary §Choosing the Most Important Details §Eliminating Unimportant Examples §Maintaining the Essence of the Piece

Examine the Context Note the title and subtitle Identify the main idea or thesis Identify the subordinate points If long, break the reading into sections

• Distinguish between main points, supports, and examples • Watch for transitions within and between paragraphs • Read through once, quickly jotting down notes and/or highlighting as you go

To write summary: : üAfter reading through the passage and taking cursory notes, look away and write a rough summary of what you remember in your own words üThen go back and note the main points and sub-points that you marked when you read the text. Make certain they are all represented in your version.

Additional items to include: The author and name of the article, essay, or book being summarized (with the short pieces in quotation marks and books underlined or italicized). Quotations that convey ideas that are essential to the text or are especially well said. (Keep these short and integrate them smoothly). Sample illustrations that convey ideas covered in much more depth in the text.

Introduce quotes with signal phrases so that they flow smoothly into your own words or just use short quoted phrases that can easily be put into the context of your own sentence. Patrick Moynihan POINTS OUT THAT “PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO THEIR OWN OPINIONS, BUT NOT TO THEIR OWN FACTS” (222).

Things to Beware of: Incorporating supposed Using alleged paraphrases in your work paraphrases in your summary that too that are too closely resemble patterned after the text. Including your own opinion about the subject People’s spending the author is discussing thousands of dollars on their pets or failing to attribute in these hard opinions in the piece to economic times is the author. scandalous.