Basic writing skills: Summary writing

1 The summary is a re-statement, in shortened form, of the topic

and chief ideas of a text. A summary answers to the question:
“What is the essay/newspaper article/short story/drama scene/…
about; what does it treat of; what does it deal with?” The
length of a summary is rarely more than a third of the
original text and may be only one fifth.

2 The summary is more or less a report of text facts, and like a

report it must be written in the simple present.

That applies even if the original text – e.g. a short story or

novel – is in the simple past.

As a report of textual facts, a summary gives only the gist of

a text and leaves out repetitions, examples, illustrations,
comparisons, colourful adjectives and other rhetorical ele-
ments or stylistic ornaments.

3 Direct speech must be avoided. Turn it into reported speech.

(Direct speech can be permitted only if the precise wording of
it is of importance to an understandung of the matter.)

4 A summary is written entirely in the words of the person

summarizing, i.e., in your own words, not in those of the
original. Avoid to copy phrases or sentences of the original
text.

5 A summary is written from the point of view of the author of

the original. You needn’t say (and repeat over and over
again), “The author says… The author believes… The author is
of the opinion that… The author gives an example by saying
that… The author concludes…“

Doing so may mecome necessary in a structured summary that n

ot only reports the textual facts but also aims to describe
the argumentative development of the original.

6 Writing a summary means first of all that you read carefully

the text to be summarized – twice, if necessary. Underline
important points as you read.

7 Then put aside the text and ask yourself: “What does the
author want to say?” Answer the question in one sentence so as
to form a clear idea of the subject or topic of the text.

8 Now try to remember – still without looking at the original

text – which points are closely linked to this topic. All the
others are superfluous.
9 Next, take a piece of paper and formulate the points that you
remembered as simply as you can in your own words. While
writing, leave a wide margin on both sides, and space your
lines well apart – for later corrections and additions. This
first version of your summary is called the draft.

10 If the text contains technical terms which are indispensable,

you may retain them; if not, find, synonymous expressions for
“keywords” and try to include a few of them in one term that
is more general (“Oberbegriff”).

11 Arrange the main points in their logical order.

12 Write the summary so as not to make it sound like a mere list

of points; combine sentences by

12.1 using connectives such as “but”, “yet”, “however”,

“therefore”, “consequently”, “nevertheless”, “still”, “all the
same”, “as a result”, “in addition” etc.

12.2 subordinating some of the ideas to the others by means of

words like “although”, “since”, “as”, “because”, “in order to”
etc.

13 Re-read your summary.

13.1 Check if you have stuck to the maximum number of words (if
such a maximum was given in the assignment); if not, condense
further.

13.2 Improve your choice of words (e.g. by doing away with repeti-
tions).

13.3 Check and improve your links (i.e., the logical development of
ideas).

13.4 Check your sentence structure and vary, if monotonous.

14 Write the definitive version. For better readability, separate

paragraphs by one empty line.

In Anglo-Saxon countries, paragraphs are made to stand out by

one empty line between them and by indenting the first line of
the following paragraph.