Summary Writing Skills

When writing a summary, you should ask yourself:  "Do you need this information to understand the text?"

• True
• False

Which one of the following is NOT a part of a summary?

• using your own words
• summary being shorter than the text
• exact words from the text
• including main ideas only

Tomorrow is Jill's birthday. She is excited because she gets to pick where she will eat dinner. Will it be Mexican food at the Big Enchilada House? Or will it be fried chicken at the Chicken Shack, or a big cheeseburger at Al's Hamburger Palace. She just couldn't decide. Then there was always the Pizza Shop with that great pepperoni pizza. How would she ever decide? Maybe she would just flip a coin.
The Summary of this passage is:

• Jill has many restaurants to choose from for her birthday.
•  Jill loves Mexican food.
• The Pizza Shop has the best pizza in town.
•  Jill will choose a place by flipping a coin.

San Francisco is located on the coast of California in an area often called the Bay Area. The weather is generally very mild, seldom getting really cold or really hot. Its mild climate is one reason many people live there. It seldom snows in San Francisco and generally does not get below freezing during the winter. Even in the middle of summer, temperatures may be in the mid 80s with a cool breeze from the bay keeping the weather very comfortable.
The Summary of this passage is:
 

• San Francisco has many neat things to do.
•  It seldom snows in California.
•  Many people choose to live in California.
•  The weather in San Francisco is generally very mild.

A summary includes the following

• central idea and supporting details
• opinions, background, direct quotes from the text, PEEL
• central idea, supporting details, and text evidence
• the point, evidence, explanation and link

Your summary should

• should be just a word or two
• be in complete sentences, in your own words and should cover the central idea and supporting details
• complete sentences, including text evidence and should cover central idea and supporting details
• complete sentences, cover central idea and supporting details, in your own words