What is Summary?

Writing summary tips

Receiving the indication to write a summary is quite a usual assignment in an educational institution. It assists you to comprehend and remember the info you’ve studied better in an article or novel form.

If you’re questioning how to compose a summary, the initial action you need to perform is to thoroughly read the text and comprehend it. Write down significant moments that you think should be displayed in summary. Keep in mind you need to compose a summary in your own words; you need to lean on your memory. Then, you can improve it to be certain all the main moments of the source text are included.

A summary is writing of another person`s original work but in your own words. The document can be any form: an article, book, chapter, film, or even a speech. The original material can be various. Still, the purpose stays the same. It is to show your knowledge and comprehension of the piece of writing and the argumentation of original writers.

You present a synopsis of the principal moments of the document without specifying every detail. Just concentrate on the details that are necessary for the comprehension of the theme, which involves the principal idea, supporting moments, without examining or explaining the content. During composing a summary of any material, learners usually become tangled, and they begin to investigate and critique the ideas offered by the original writer.

Elements of a Summary

A general summary comprises of the next elements:

  • Legibly formulated the principal idea of the source document.
  • Composed in the author’s own words.
  • Survey of the arguments and confirming details.
  • Utilization of keywords from the source document.
  • Important info is presented in a restricted amount of words.

Tips of Writing a Summary

Summaries can be utilized for some cases, for instance, if you receive an indication to write a summary of a novel you were assigned to read. Or you can likewise compose a summary of various documents to add to a research paper. Studying to compose a summary is an easy process that you can acquire simply by following easy actions.

  1. Read the document attentively. Needless to say, that you are required to read and actually comprehend the text before beginning the composing process. At this stage, don’t make records; simply concentrate on the significance of the document. Therefore you can understand what is being stated.
  2. Comprehend the focus of the document. When you’ve read the document completely, attempt to find out what the principal idea or topic is.
  3. Enumerate the significant moments. There you should reread the text and find significant moments that support the topic. Concentrate on the name, personages, plot, etc.
  4. Keep in mind not to enumerate unnecessary details. Remember that a summary is a briefer version of the source document; you can’t include every particular detail. You need to focus on the writer’s principal argument but not on the proof and facts utilized to support it.
  5. Compose the summary. Begin a summary by specifying the name of the source document, its writer(s) principal point, and genre in the present tense. Your draft needs to be composed with the assistance of your memory. Without prying at your records, compose down what you believed was important in your own words. If you desire to utilize the specific words of the original writer, write them in quote marks.

Some Extra Pieces of Advice about Writing a Summary

  1. Don’t propose your interpretation. Include all things from the writer’s viewpoint and position, not your thoughts and perspective on it. Just abstract the summary in several paragraphs, beginning them with theme sentences.
  2. Utilize relevant language. As it is a summary of another person’s work, you need to utilize phrases, for instance, “this novel points,” “the author states,” etc., simply to remind the target audience that you’re summarizing another person’s work. You can likewise utilize the writer tag, utilizing their last name. For example, “Jones reasons/proposes/urges/denies…”
  3. Edit the first draft. Look through the draft and liken it with your primary records. If you’ve omitted some things, be certain to include them.
  4. Write occasions/happenings in chronological order. Don’t overlook keeping the same order as the source document. It is necessary, particularly when you write a summary of a fiction piece of writing.
  5. Exclude repetitions. There are cases when writers have a tendency to repeat one point many times. Therefore, when composing the summary, be certain that you don’t make the same mistakes.
  6. Utilize transitional words. Your summary needs to appear consecutive and logical. To keep a logical course, you can utilize transitional words when beginning a new paragraph. All paragraphs need to be consecutive and lead back to the principal point.
  7. Remove all mistakes. When you’ve improved the format of your summary, be certain that there are no errors and typos.
  8. Recheck the number of words. Finally, don’t overlook to recheck the size of your summary; do you satisfy the word count or not. If the educator hasn’t defined the word limitation, so you can adhere to the common rule. A summary has to be one-quarter of the source document.
  9. Receive feedback.  Ask a friend or relative to view your summary and observe if they comprehend the significance of the source document. They can likewise assist in detecting mistakes that you missed.

Actions to Do While Reading Source Text

As we have already stated, first, you need to read thoroughly source text in order to understand it. You need to scan the text fast to receive a representation of its theme and general shape. Then, you need to read the text attentively, highlighting significant moments and making records during reading. Reread the text as many times as you need to assure you comprehended principal moments. Especially reread complicated passages.

Below are useful tips on how to identify the principal moments during reading:

  • Begin by viewing the abstract. It already includes the writer’s own summary of his/her document, and it informs you what to await from the text.
  • Take into consideration headings and subheadings. They need to provide you a great understanding of what every section is about.
  • Study the introductory part and the summing-up and make a comparison of them.  Define what did the writer conceive of doing and what was the result?

In order to understand the source text better, you can divide it into smaller sections. If the document is a scientific article that adheres to a general empirical structure, it is likely already created into legibly marked parts, often involving an introductory part, methods, outcomes, and deliberation.

Different kinds of articles can not be visibly divided into parts. However, the majority of articles and essays will be structured around a series of subparagraphs or topics.

Attempt to write a word or phrase in the margin close to every paragraph that explains the content of this paragraph. It can assist you can to understand immediately what every section of the document concentrates on. If more than one paragraph covers alike or related themes, you can arrange them unitedly in sections.

Ask for Help from Specialists

As we have already stated, students have to write many summaries during the educational process. It can lead that the majority of learners begin to be overloaded with their assignments. For this reason, the majority of students refuse to do homework tasks and are ready even to get bad marks. All because they want to spend more time on family and friends rather than sit and do homework day and night.

But we want to say that there is always a solution to any situation. Overload with assignments in your educational institution refers to this too.

Will you believe us if we say that with the help of the development of modern technologies, you can get a completed summary within several days? We are telling about the increasing number of online paper writing companies.

Who else except them can help students with their assignments around the world. With the help of such companies, you can not only save time to do other duties and free-time activities, but you can be assured to receive a great result.

Such companies value every current and new client. That’s why they make all efforts in order for you to be satisfied with the outcome. Do you have questions about your summary? No problem, a professional essay writer is ready to assist you day and night. Moreover, he/she can write a summary from scratch instead of you.

Besides, they can write different types of essays, research papers, term papers, movie/book reviews, presentations, editing, and proofreading. Simply speaking, they can work with a great set of assignments that every student has to handle during the educational process.