Writing a good summary requires understanding the original text well enough to communicate the key points to others in a concise manner. A summary should be around 1/4 the length of the original and include the main idea, major points, and answers to basic questions of who, what, when, where, why and how, while ignoring unnecessary details. The process involves reading to comprehend the text, identifying important elements, drafting an objective summary using your own words and around the targeted length, and proofreading for errors.

1. How to write a
SUMMARY …in 5 steps
José Antonio Alcalde
Summaries are essential for students as they are always reading long texts, reports, books or
writing about them. In general, writing a good summary means we can understand a text very well
so we also can communicate that understanding to other people. A summary can be tricky to write
at first because we are tempted to include either too much or too little information. Here are some
basic 5 steps for you to consider when summing up a text.
1. Read the text to be summarised and make sure you understand it. Get a feel for the author’s
main idea, tone, style, etc. Notice the most basic of questions like Who? What? When?
Where? Why? How?
2. Pay attention to the major points. Underline or mark topic sentences and key facts. Ignore
the details—though they may be interesting—because they tend to be too specific.
3. Target your draft for approximately 1/4 the length of the original text or the word range
provided. Always be concise: a summary should not be equal in length to the original text!
4. Write a first draft of the summary using your own words as much as possible. Present the
information in a neutral fashion. Don't add your opinions, ideas, or interpretations into the
summary. The purpose of writing a summary is to accurately represent what the author
wanted to say, not to provide a critique.
5. Once you are certain that your summary is ready, you should (as with any piece of writing)
check it out for style, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.