Which one is more fulfilling: you’ve finished the entire movie alone, or retelling the whole movie to somebody?

What is a Summary?

A summary is a shortened version of an original text. A summary is not a rewrite of the original piece and does not have to be long nor should it be long. 

It includes the thesis statement and major supporting points,

and should reveal the relationship between the major

points and the thesis.

A sentence in a paper that identifies the main idea and/or central purpose of the text. It is the major position of the author to the topic.

-Kathleen Muller Moore, Techniques for

College Writing:

What is a Thesis Statement?

Why Summarize?

• Summarizing is an efficient strategy to remember the most important and makes a satisfying reading experience.

• It demonstrates that you clearly understand the text

• It can communicate that understanding to your readers

How to Start?

Step 1: Topic

Locate the topic. This can be done through

skimming the pages or the entire text.

Step 2: Purpose• What is the purpose of the text. • Does it tell a story (narrate)? Inform?

Persuade or raise readers' awareness of an issue? Or entertain?

Step 3: Read carefully the text if you can't comprehend it

in the first reading, reread the text.

Step 4: Divisions in the Text

divide it into sections (outlining) Look for the major divisions of the

text. In your own words, summarize each division in one to two sentences.

(That may mean summarizing each paragraph, but often several paragraphs go together).

Division of Topics (Of Parents and Children)

I. Pros and Cons of having Children

II. Faults of Parents towards their Children

III. Unequal favouritismIV. IlliberalityV. Profession for a Child

Step 5: Organizing Sentences

Work with the sentences you have created to produce a summary.

Begin with a thesis statement A good summary is brief and

concise(you may leave some information out -- as long as it is ‘extraneous’) but covers the entire view of an author

The joys, sorrow, and the fears of the parents with regard to their children are personal and private, not to be shared with others. This is how Francis Bacon introduced his essay entitled, Of Parents and Children. He points out that although parents labor a lot but the children make it easy since this will benefit them.

Do not rewrite the original piece.

Keep your summary short.

Use your own wording.

Refer to the central and main ideas of the original piece.

Read with who, what, when, where, why and how questions in mind.

Do not put in your opinion of the issue or topic discussed in the original piece. 

When summarizing, avoid examples, asides, analogies, and rhetorical strategies.

Only quote and paraphrase words and phrases that you feel you absolutely must to reproduce exactly the author's or authors' full meaning.

Keep in mind that your summary must fairly represent the author's or authors' original ideas.

Tips

According to survey done, the most beautiful flowers would still be rose because of the variants in colors. Next to it is daisy which sometimes grows wild. Spring flowers like tulips, daffodils, and crocuses are have also beauty of its kind.

Include only the important details. Your summary should not exceed the original material.

Remember:

Checklist for draft.

Are all the important information in the summary?

Am I saying the same thing over and over again?

Have I left out my personal views and ideas?

Is my mechanics correct? (grammar, punctuation, spelling)

Write the final draft

In the essay “Of Studies” Bacon tells us about the way books should be studied. Excess indulgence in books is not good. Books, he says, should not be studied to find argument but to weigh different arguments in support of some idea. Books are like food: enough of it is good; too much of it is unpleasant. Books can be effective in curing many types of mental illnesses.

“Quick-Fix Workshop”

http://homepage.smc.edu/reading_lab/writing_a_summary.htm