Summarizing is reducing larger selections of text to their key ideas and main points by removing extra words and examples to focus on the most important information. When summarizing, we try to find key words and phrases that capture the essence of what was read and convey the main ideas and important details needed to support them. Effective summarizing involves pulling out main ideas, focusing on key details using concise language, and writing only enough to get the gist without copying word for word or including unnecessary information.

1. Reading and SummarizingUnderstanding Academic Reading Material

2. What Is Summarizing?Summarizing is how we take larger selections of text and reduce them to their bare essentials: the gist, the key ideas, the main points that are worth noting and remembering.

3. What Is Summarizing?It is simply making a reading material shorter by mentioning only what is important.

4. What do we Do When We Summarize?We remove the extra words and examples and we only focus on the heart of the matter- only what is important.

5. What do we Do When We Summarize?We try to find the key words and phrases that, when uttered later, still manage to capture the gist of what we've read.

6. What do we Do When We Summarize?We are trying to capture the main ideas and the importantdetails necessary for supporting them.

7. Common mistakes in summarizingWriting down everythingWriting down next to nothingWriting complete sentencesWriting way too muchNot write enoughCopying word for word

8. What should be done?Pull out main ideasFocus on key detailsUse key words and phrasesBreak down the larger ideasWrite only enough to convey the gistTake short but complete notes

9. SummarizingGo with the newspaper mantra: use the key words or phrases to identify only Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

10. Let us practice!

11. Reading and SummarizingUnderstanding Academic Reading Material