Writing Notes/Summary

How to Write a Summary

1. Preview the passage carefully. Identify the author's purpose in writing. (This will
help you distinguish between more important and less important information.)
2. Read. Divide the passage into logical sections. Headings and paragraph breaks will
be a useful guide. Label each section or stage of thought, preferably on the passage
itself. Underline key ideas and terms.
3. Write one-sentence summaries on a separate sheet of paper, of each section or
stage of thought. These sentences should be in your own words.
4. Write a thesis., a one-sentence summary of the entire passage. The thesis
should express the central idea of the passage, as you have determined it from the
preceding steps. For persuasive passages, indicate the subject of the description
and its key feature(s). Note: In some cases, a suitable thesis may already be in
the original passage. If so, you may want to quote it directly in your summary.
(Don't forget the quotation marks.)
5. Write the first draft of your summary by combining the thesis with your one-
sentence summaries OR by combining the thesis with one-sentences summaries
plus significant details from the passage. Note: Eliminate repetition and less
important information; disregard minor details (or generalize them, e.g. Reagan and
Bush could be generalized as "recent presidents.") Use as few words as possible
to convey the main ideas (but use your own words). Your summary should be
10% - 20% the length of the original passage.
6. Check your summary against the original passage and make whatever
adjustments are necessary for accuracy and completeness.
7. Revise your summary. Insert transitional words and phrases where necessary to
ensure coherence. Avoid a series of short, choppy sentences. Combine sentences
for a smooth, logical flow of ideas. Check for grammatical correctness, punctuation,
andspelling.

AUW/2003
Writing Notes/Summary

Example 1
Original text

'At a typical football match we are likely to see players committing deliberate fouls, often behind
the referee's back. They might try to take a throw-in or a free kick from an incorrect but more
advantageous positions in defiance of the clearly stated rules of the game. They sometimes
challenge the rulings of the referee or linesmen in an offensive way which often deserves
exemplary punishment or even sending off. No wonder spectators fight amongst themselves,
damage stadiums, or take the law into their own hands by invading the pitch in the hope of
affecting the outcome of the match.' [100 words]

Summary

Unsportsmanlike behaviour by footballers may cause hooliganism among spectators. [9 words]

Example 2
Original Text

"visual defect resulting in the inability to distinguish colors. About 8% of men and 0.5% of women
experience some difficulty in color perception. Color blindness is usually an inherited sex-linked
characteristic, transmitted through, but recessive in, females. Acquired color blindness results
from certain degenerative diseases of the eyes. Most of those with defective color vision are only
partially color-blind to red and green, i.e., they have a limited ability to distinguish reddish and
greenish shades. Those who are completely color-blind to red and green see both colors as a
shade of yellow. Completely color-blind individuals can recognize only black, white, and shades
of gray.

Summary

Color blindness, usually a gender-linked hereditary condition found more often in men than
women and sometimes the result of eye disease, involves limited ability to tell red from green,
and sometimes complete inability to see red and green. In a much rarer form of color blindness,
the individual sees no colors at all.

Adapted from Behrens, Laurence, and Leonard J. Rosen. Writing and Reading across the Curriculum (4th Edition).
HarperCollins Publishers, 1991, pp.5-6.

AUW/2003