The document discusses how to write a summary of nonfiction text. It explains that a good summary is a shortened version of the original text that includes the key ideas but leaves out minor details. It provides four rules for writing a strong summary: include important ideas, use your own words, remove trivial details and repetition, and maintain the original structure. The document uses examples to illustrate how to identify important versus minor ideas and how to paraphrase the text in a summary.

1. Writing a Summary of
Nonfiction

2. Essential Questions
 What is a summary?
 What makes a good summary?
 How can I write a summary of
nonfiction?

3. What is a summary?
A. A summary is all of the ideas from a
text, written in your own words
B. A summary is your opinions about a
text
C. A summary is a shortened form of a
text, with all of the main ideas
D. A summary is a review of a text, with
main ideas and your opinions

4. What is a summary?
A. A summary is all of the ideas from a
text, written in your own words
B. A summary is your opinions about a
text
C. A summary is a shortened form of a
text, with all of the main ideas
D. A summary is a review of a text, with
main ideas and your opinions

5. Why do we write summaries?
Readers can write a summary of a text
to let someone else know the main ideas

6. Why do we write summaries?
Summarizing a text helps you to
understand it—as you figure out the
most important ideas, your brain is
engaged in understanding the text

7. Why do we write summaries?
• Students often write summaries as a
school assignment
• Summaries are also included on tests, to
see how well you understood a text

8. How long should a summary be?
It depends!

9. How long should a summary be?
• The length of a
summary depends
on the length of the
original text
• A summary should
always be shorter
than the original
text

10. What makes a good summary?
Here are four basic rules for writing a
summary of nonfiction:
 Include the important ideas from the text
 Put ideas in your own words
 Leave out little details and repeated
information
 Use the text structure of the text

11. What makes a good summary?
Here are four basic rules for writing a
summary of nonfiction:
 Include the important ideas from the text
 Put ideas in your own words
 Leave out little details and repeated
information
 Use the text structure of the text

12. Include important ideas from the text
This is easy to say, but sometimes hard
to do! As you read, it’s important to
think about what ideas are most
important to the author

13. Include important ideas from the text
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

14. Which ideas are important in this text?
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

15. Which ideas are important in this text?
Even though you might have
some personal connection
with some of the ideas, you
need to think about what’s
important to the author. Look
for the topic sentences and
big ideas.
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

16. Which ideas are important in this text?
Even though you might have
some personal connection
with some of the ideas, you
need to think about what’s
important to the author. Look
for the topic sentences and
big ideas.
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

17. Which ideas are important in this text?
Do you agree that
these are the big
ideas in the text?
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

18. Finding important ideas
• What strategies do you use to find
important ideas in a text?
• Why do you think this is important for
summarizing?

19. What makes a good summary?
 Include the important ideas from the text
 Put ideas in your own words
 Leave out little details and repeated
information
 Use the text structure of the text

20. Putting ideas in your own words
• Putting ideas in your own words is also
called paraphrasing
• Instead of just copying down the
author’s words, we need to use our own
words

21. Putting ideas in your own words
Can you paraphrase this sentence from
the text?
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive.

22. Putting ideas in your own words
Hint: Try using synonyms for important
words
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive

23. Putting ideas in your own words
Hint: Try changing the order of ideas
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive

24. Putting ideas in your own words
Here’s one way to paraphrase the
sentence. How does it compare to yours?
Butterflies need specific plants to live
Original Text:
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive

25. Paraphrasing
There are some words that you can’t
change when you paraphrase. These key
words are the important words from the
passage.
For example, in the
passage that we read,
the words butterfly and
caterpillar cannot be
replaced

26. What makes a good summary?
 Include the important ideas from the text
 Put ideas in your own words
 Leave out little details and repeated
information
 Use the text structure of the text

27. Trivial Details
Small details can be called “trivial
details”—they might be interesting, but
are not important to the main ideas of
the passage
We do not need to include these small
details in summaries

28. What small details do you notice?
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

29. What small details do you notice?
While this
example supports
the main idea, it is
not needed for a
summary
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

30. What other small details do you notice?
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

31. What other small details do you notice?
The description of
the Xerxes Society
is not needed in a
summary.
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

32. Repeated Ideas
Authors also might repeat ideas. When
the same idea is restated, we only need
to include it once in a summary.

33. What makes a good summary?
 Include the important ideas from the text
 Put ideas in your own words
 Leave out little details and repeated
information
 Use the text structure of the text

34. Using text structure
The text structure of a text refers to how
the text is organized





Description
Cause and Effect
Chronological Order
Problem/Solution
Compare and Contrast

35. Using text structure
When you look at the text structure of a
text, you can find the big ideas and see
how to organize your summary





Description
Cause and Effect
Chronological Order
Problem/Solution
Compare and Contrast

36. What is the text structure?
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

37. What is the text structure?
Overall, this
paragraph shows
the text structure
of cause and effect.
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

38. Text Structure in a Summary
In your summary,
you need to show
the cause and
effect!
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

39. What makes a good summary?

40. What makes a good summary?

41. What makes a good summary?
What do you remember about the four
rules for writing a good summary?
 Include the important ideas from the text
 Put ideas in your own words
 Leave out little details and repeated
information
 Use the text structure of the text

42. Now, it’s your turn!
Look back at the butterfly text. Can you
write a summary?

43. Write your own summary
Many butterflies depend on certain
plants to survive. As adults,
butterflies drink nectar. But
caterpillars eat leaves. Some
caterpillars only eat the leaves of
specific plants. Monarch
caterpillars, for example, eat only
milkweed.
If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for
their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When
habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or
forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop
dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate
conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at
risk.

44. by Emily Kissner
For more on summarizing, read my book: