Writing an Objective Summary

You should only include the main events or ideas from the passage when writing a summary.

• True

• False

Turn over a bag of potato chips. Is the label interesting? A simple food recipe may use several ingredients. These come from the soil and from chemistry labs around the world. Surprises also show up in the labels on clothing and other products. Look at the label on a package of lipstick. The tube seems small and shiny, but inside lipstick there is soap, oil, fish scales, and wax! Which is the best way to summarize this passage?

• A bag of potato chips seems like a simple recipe. There are many ingredients from the soil and from chemistry labs.

• Clothes and other products have many ingredients as well. Lipstick alone has soap, oil, wax, and fish scales.

• Labels show what goes into food, clothing, and other products. A simple product may have many ingredients.

• Lipstick seems small and shiny. Look at the label sometime. It has at least four different ingredients.

What is the definition of a summary?

• A condensed version of text that defines your scope and focus.

• A condensed version of text that only includes the main ideas.

• A condensed version of text that gives insight on the development on a topic.

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

• be in complete sentences and cover the central idea in your own words

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

• True

• False

When you are summarizing, you should replace lists of specific things with a ______________________ word that describes them all.

• Compound word

• General word

• Descriptive word

• Transitional word

What do you check for when your review your summary?

• 80 words inclusive of the word given to help you.

• Did you use your own words with the exception of difficult keywords?

• Grammar and spelling.

• Do the substituted words make sense?

• Did I answer the question?

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.

When you write the events you'll want to paraphrase them. What does paraphrase mean?

• to list chronologically

• to list objectively

• to reduce to five sentences or less

• to change the wording to your own words

a shortened retelling of the important parts of a text or story

• Review

• Paraphrase

• Summary

• There is no correct answer