Summary

When people hear about a new book or movie, they often look it up on the internet to learn what it is about. They usually find a summary of the source, which tells them whether they will like it.

A summary is an overview of a source's main ideas. Reading and writing summaries is useful for strengthening skills in studying, research, and writing 5 paragraph essays.

Summary Definition

When writers summarize a source, they identify the main points of that source and then discuss them in their own words. A summary is an account of this information. Writers can summarize all sorts of sources, such as essays, books, films, and lectures.

Parts of a Summary

The content of a summary will depend on the topic and intended length. However, the basic parts of a summary are typically the same. A summary opens with an introduction in which the writer provides information about the source. For instance, if a writer is summarizing a book, the introductory section of the summary will include the book's Title, author, and year of publication. This information introduces the reader to the source. At the end of the introduction, the writer will craft a Thesis Statement, which expresses the Main Idea of the summary.

After the introduction, the writer will move on to writing the body of the summary. The body will include a discussion of the main ideas of the source. For example, in a summary of a work of fiction, a writer will mention important information about the main characters and what they do in the text. The writer will also discuss important elements of the story, such as the main conflict and the climax.

Next, the writer will wrap up the summary with a conclusion. The conclusion of the summary will restate the Main Idea of the source, so the reader leaves the summary with a comprehensive understanding. For instance, a concluding sentence for a short summary of John Updike's story "A&P" (1961) might look something like this:

The final element of a summary is the reference list. The writer needs to cite the sources they used according to an established referencing style, such as MLA or APA.

Characteristics of a Summary

In addition to having the aforementioned parts, summaries are full of:

• Concise writing

• Accurate information

• Objective descriptions (if it is a descriptive summary)

Summaries are also always shorter than the source they describe. Since a summary is a condensed overview of something's main points, writers of summaries leave out unimportant details from the original source, thereby making the summary shorter.

Types of Summary

Summaries are either descriptive or evaluative.

Descriptive Summaries

A descriptive summary is a summary in which writers provide an objective overview of the source they are summarizing. The writer of a descriptive summary does not include their own opinions or analysis of the source.

An evaluative summary does include the author's Opinion on the source. Like in a descriptive summary, the author discusses the most important information in a source. However, in an evaluative summary, as the name suggests, the author evaluates the source. They can analyze it and discuss their own opinions about it.

Fig. 2 - Evaluative summaries can include the author's Opinion.

Examples of Summary

The following is a descriptive summary of W. W. Jacob's short story "The Monkey's Paw" (1902).

The above summary does not include the writer's opinion, making it a descriptive story summary.

The following is an evaluative summary of the text.

Importance of Summary

Summaries can improve people's writing, reading, and research skills.

Importance of Reading Summaries

Summaries are important because they educate readers. If a reader wants to know what a book is about but does not know if they want to read the entire text, reading a summary can help them decide. This process can be particularly useful when researchers decide whether to read a source as a part of their research process. In this case, readers typically read an abstract to determine if a source will be useful. A summary of a text can also help students review what a text is about without reading it again.

Importance of Writing Summaries

Writing summaries can also help people strengthen their writing skills. Crafting a summary requires knowing how to identify the main ideas of a text, put them in one's own words, and discuss them with concise language. All of these skills take practice, and writing summaries can help writers develop them. Writing summaries can also help students test their knowledge of a source.