Communications LL041 Fall 2008 How to Write a Summary A summary is a shorter, concise version of an original text. The length of a summary will depend on the assignment, but as a rule it should be no more than one third of the original text. A summary should be true to the original meaning or message. "The summary should be clear enough that someone who has not read the original text can still understand the summary and come away with the same basic information." (Engkent 2007). Here are some guidelines for writing a summary of a text (e.g. an article, essay, report or story)
give just the main ideas of the original text do not include specific details, unless they are central to original text keep the main ideas in the same order as the original be concise in your writing style use your own words to avoid copying the author's material use good parapgraph structure, including topic sentences tell the reader that the writing is a summary by naming the author or title of the original work be objective; don't add your own opinions about the article or the author's writing
Source: Engkent, Lucia. Skill Set. Oxford University Press. Toronto, 2007