How to summarize nonfiction text

1. Summarize Like a Dragon
Creating a Topic Sentence, Chunking,
Paraphrasing using Important
Words, and Synthesizing
Information.

2. Before We Get Started
Terms and Advice

3. Important Terms:
Summary: a significantly shorter
version of a source that includes only the
main ideas and is put into your own
words (paraphrased)
Main Idea: what a source is mostly
about; excludes small detail
Paraphrase: putting content into your
own words; do not copy/plagiarize
Chunking: breaking an entire source in
to smaller, more manageable parts so it is
easier to summarize

4. Steps in the Process:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Read and strategize
Make a topic sentence
Chunk the source
Paraphrase the chunks
Combine all of the parts

5. Things to Remember
A summary does not contain your
opinion on a topic. Keep your own ideas
out of your summary.
A summary does not contain every
detail from a source, just the main ideas
from each chunk.
It’s always best to signal to the reader
where the information came from.

6. Writing the First Sentence
of A Summary
Signals and Main Ideas

7. Topic Sentence
A topic sentence is the first
paragraph of a paragraph summary
A topic sentence contains the main
idea of a source
A topic sentence contains a signal
that identifies where the source comes
from
Overview

8. Topic Sentence
Signal
In an article by David Fisher
The article “Ranking NBA Players Begins in Earnest” states
An article in The Bird Writes claims
*A signal tells the reader that these ideas
are not your own.

9. Topic Sentence
Signal
In an article by David Fisher
The article “Ranking NBA Players Begins in Earnest” states
An article in The Bird Writes claims
+
+
It is best to have multiple things
identifying your source in the signal.
Try it out!

10. Topic Sentence
Main Idea
Let’s put it together!
Your topic sentence should also contain
the main idea of the source you are summarizing.
The New Orleans
Pelicans will be a good
team this year because
they have the most
players of any team
appearing in a ranking
of the top one hundred
NBA players.
Main Idea
An Article in The Bird
Writes Claims
The article “Ranking
NBA Players Begins in
Earnest” states
In an article by David
Fisher
Signals

11. Chunking a Source
Managing Meaning in a Text

12. Things to Remember
Breaking a source into smaller parts
makes it easier to summarize
A source is usually broken up into
meaningful parts by section
Smaller articles and denser text can
be broken into meaningful parts by
paragraph

13. How would we chunk this?

14. Chunking

15. Paraphrasing a Chunk
Capturing the Main Ideas of a Source

16. How to Paraphrase a Chunk
1. Read the chunk carefully.
2. Identify the most important word in
the chunk that states the main idea.
3. Write a sentence in your own words
(paraphrase) using the most important
word you identified that states the main
idea of that chunk.

17. Paraphrasing I do

18. Paraphrasing
1. What is this chunk about?
2. What is the most important word?
I do

19. Paraphrasing
How can we write a sentence that
captures the main idea of the paragraph
using this word?
Southwest Airlines has a policy that
bigger people pay for two seats.
I do

20. Paraphrasing

21. Word 1:
Policy
Word 2: Word 3: Word 4: Word 5:
Sentence 1:
Southwest Airlines
has a policy that
bigger people pay
for two seats.
Sentence 2: Sentence 3: Sentence 4: Sentence 5:
Find the most important
word for each paragraph.
Put it in a sentence that expresses
the main idea of the chunk.
We do

22. Paraphrasing We do
1. Pick a word
that captures
the main idea
2. Use the
word in a
sentence to
paraphrase
the chunk

23. Word 1:
Policy
Word 2:
Denied
Word 3: Word 4: Word 5:
Sentence 1:
Southwest Airlines
has a policy that
bigger people pay
for two seats.
Sentence 2:
Luther was denied
entry in front of
several people because
she did not have two
tickets, causing
embarrassment.
Sentence 3: Sentence 4: Sentence 5:
Find the most important
word for each paragraph.
Put it in a sentence that expresses
the main idea of the chunk.
Two do

24. Paraphrasing
1. Pick a word
that captures
the main idea
2. Use the
word in a
sentence to
paraphrase
the chunk
Two do

25. Word 1:
Policy
Word 2:
Denied
Word 3:
Sue
Word 4: Word 5:
Sentence 1:
Southwest Airlines
has a policy that
bigger people pay
for two seats.
Sentence 2:
Luther was denied
entry in front of
several people because
she did not have two
tickets, causing
embarrassment.
Sentence 3:
She tried to sue
Southwest, but lost
in court because the
policy is justifiable.
Sentence 4: Sentence 5:
Find the most important
word for each paragraph.
Put it in a sentence that expresses
the main idea of the chunk.
You Do

26. Paraphrasing
1. Pick a word
that captures
the main idea
2. Use the
word in a
sentence to
paraphrase
the chunk
You do

27. Word 1:
Policy
Word 2:
Denied
Word 3:
Sue
Word 4:
Who
Word 5:
Sentence 1:
Southwest Airlines
has a policy that
bigger people pay
for two seats.
Sentence 2:
Luther was denied
entry in front of
several people because
she did not have two
tickets, causing
embarrassment.
Sentence 3:
She tried to sue
Southwest, but lost
in court because the
policy is justifiable.
Sentence 4:
There is question
concerning who will
decide who needs
two seats.
Sentence 5:
You Do
You will do the last paragraph completely on your own.

28. Synthesizing
Combining All of the Parts

29. Put it all together.
We should have learned to make a
topic sentence that contains the main
idea of the article
We should have a signal that lets the
reader know these aren’t our own ideas
We should have broken this essay into
chunks
We should have identified the most
important word in each chunk
We should have written a sentence
using the most important word and
expressing the main idea of each chunk

30. Put it all together.
Word 1:
Policy
Word 2:
Denied
Word 3:
Sue
Word 4:
Who
Word 5:
Switched
Sentence 1:
Southwest
Airlines has a
policy that bigger
people pay for two
seats.
Sentence 2:
Luther was denied
entry in front of
several people
because she did not
have two tickets,
causing
embarrassment.
Sentence 3:
She tried to sue
Southwest, but lost
in court because
the policy is
justifiable.
Sentence 4:
There is question
concerning who
will decide who
needs two seats.
Sentence 5:
Luther switched
airlines and has
not had issues
since.

31. Put it all together.
Identify
Identify

32. Put it all together.
Word 1:
Policy
Word 2:
Denied
Word 3:
Sue
Word 4:
Who
Word 5:
Switched
Sentence 1:
Southwest
Airlines has a
policy that bigger
people pay for two
seats.
Sentence 2:
Luther was denied
entry in front of
several people
because she did not
have two tickets,
causing
embarrassment.
Sentence 3:
She tried to sue
Southwest, but lost
in court because
the policy is
justifiable.
Sentence 4:
There is question
concerning who
will decide who
needs two seats.
Sentence 5:
Luther switched
airlines and has
not had issues
since.
An article in People magazine called “Unfriendly
Skies” discusses a controversial change in airline
rules.

33. Put it all together.
An article in People magazine called “Unfriendly
Skies” discusses a controversial change in airline
rules. Southwest Airlines has a policy that bigger
people pay for two seats. Luther, a woman who
flew Southwest, was denied entry in front of
several people because she did not have two
tickets, causing embarrassment. She tried to sue
Southwest, but lost in court because the policy is
justifiable. However, the policy may be in jeopardy
because there is question concerning who will
decide who needs two seats. Since the incident,
Luther switched airlines and has not had further
issues.

34. CHUNKING

35. If you spill out of one seat, you must pay for two—that's the logic of a long-standing rule
that Southwest Airlines has announced it will now strictly enforce. Since the plus-size policy
became public, Jay Leno and others have had a field day. But Cynthia Luther, for one, isn't
laughing.
In December 1999 Luther, 48, was stopped from boarding a flight from Reno to Burbank by
a Southwest gate agent who insisted that the divorced telephone-company rep-who stands
5'5" and weighs about 300 lbs.—buy a second ticket because of her size. Although she
had flown Southwest several times before—including earlier that weekend—and always fit
into a single seat, that day Luther was denied entry in front of dozens of holiday travelers. "I
was so upset. I felt embarrassed and furious," she says. "They didn't treat me with dignity."
After a friend paid $73.50 for the extra ticket, a tearful Luther finally boarded—and took up
only one seat. (She eventually received a refund.) Luther sued Southwest, arguing they
should have taken her on the plane to see if she needed two seats before charging her
double. A judge dismissed her lawsuit in 2000, finding no discrimination (an appeal was
also dismissed last year). "The interest of the policy is not to humiliate anyone," maintains
company spokeswoman Linda Rutherford. "We sell our service in the form of 18¾-in.
seats."
But, wonder advocates for the overweight, who decides who fits, and how? "It's ultimately
going to be no different than putting African-Americans in the back of the bus," says
attorney Walter Lindstrom, an obesity-law specialist. "It's a visual call."
Luther, who never got a formal apology from Southwest, has since switched airlines and
not had any problems with other carriers. Still, her experience with Southwest has made
her warier of flying. "If I treated my customers the way they treated me," she says, "I'd be
fired."
Unfriendly Skies