Summarizing Nonfiction Summarizing nonfiction informational texts is different

Summarizing Nonfiction Summarizing nonfiction (informational texts) is different from summarizing fiction. To summarize fiction (story) we use this: This may not work on a nonfiction article!

Notice how the article is chunked?

What did you learn? • You should read closely and highlight key words as you read. Re-read if you don’t understand! • The way to summarize nonfiction text is to find the main idea of each “chunk” of information. • Combine these main ideas to form a summary.

Key Words: Counting, difficult, likely millions, many paths, unemployment, mental illness, unexpected sickness, sudden problems, crisis, No. 1 cause, aren’t enough houses, cost of homes, skyrocketed, risen drastically Main Idea Statement of this chunk: There are millions of people in the US who are homeless for any number of reasons like illness, unemployment, and even a lack of affordable housing.

Your turn… • With your group read the article for your book in Google Classroom. – Look for key words AS YOU READ! You can annotate and highlight on the article • Use the organizer to write the main ideas from each chunk. – You should write a one sentence main idea statement for each “chunk. ” • Then combine the main ideas to write a summary of the article.

Step 1: Read a section. Highlight key words. Step 2: Stop at the end of the section and write a one sentence main idea statement. Step 3: Continue reading, section by section, and write a main idea statement for each section. Step 4: Read #2 on the paper. You might have to mark out some extra details. Step 5: Read #3 on the paper. Combine your main idea statements to make a summary of the article.