The document outlines expectations for writing a summary, stating that a summary should be considerably shorter than the original passage, present the author's main idea and supporting details in a well-designed paragraph. Summaries are meant to reinforce comprehension and help collect material for research, while reactions include personal experiences and challenges ideas in the content. The summary should have an introductory sentence identifying the title and author, then state the main point followed by examples supporting it, and be typed in MLA format.

1. Summary Expectations
1. What is a summary? In your own words, you present the author’s main idea. Then
you provide supporting details that support the main idea. A summary is considerably
shorter than the original passage and is usually written in the form of a well-designed
paragraph. Learning to summarize effectively will help you in many ways. Summary
writing reinforces comprehension skills in reading and requires you to discriminate
among the ideas in the target reading passage. They are often used in collecting material
for research papers and in writing conclusions to essays.
**Summaries are different than reaction responses. A reaction response concentrates on
the content in a reading selection. It includes personal experience and other information
only to explain, validate, or challenge the ideas in that content.
2. Your summary will need a good introduction. Here are some examples that you may use:
The selection “______(title of story goes here) “ by
_________________points out_________(author’s main point goes
here)______________.
-OR-
The author’s main point is____________________________.
3. Summary Requirements:
• Typed in MLA format.
o See MLA example
o Major words in the title need to be capitalized.
o First line needs to be indented.
o Double-spaced.
• State the main idea in the first sentence and the rest of the summary should provide
examples that support the main idea.
• Do use spell check, double space after a period, capitalize first letter in a sentence.
• A half-page to a full page in most cases is sufficient.
Updated: 9/22/2011