Guidelines for Summary Writing
1. Read the article carefully - twice!
Remember this: a summary is mostly a reading exercise. It is impossible to write an accurate summary after reading an article quickly or just one time. Most problems in summary writing have more to do with understanding the text than writing the summary.
2. Begin your summary by mentioning the author and title. The publication and date may also be mentioned.
Margaret Talbot's essay "The Gender Trap" (Washington Post Magazine 11/20/94) examines the value of women's colleges today.
3. At least once more in your summary, remind the reader that you are summarizing by mentioning the author again - by last name, or full name (never refer to the author by first name only)
Talbot finds strong support for women's colleges from many of their graduates.
4. Avoid unnecessary details and direct quotes
Summaries are supposed to give general information only; if the reader needs details, he needs to read the original piece. Direct quotes are almost always unnecessary details.
5. Don't give your own opinion
The form and expression of a summary makes it clear to the reader that you are accurately presenting the ideas of another author. If you add your own opinion to an otherwise well-formed summary, your opinion will appear to be that of the author's.
6. Keep it short - one paragraph is best for many people
There's no strict law about how long a summary can be, but since part of its purpose is to save time, it needs to be short
Sample of A News Article Summary
The following news article is from Gallaudet in the News, Washington D.C., Gallaudet University Office of Public Relations, edited by Evelyn Brewster.
Summary: "Deaf President
Named"
by Stu Dent
According to a March 14, 2011 news article in the Houston Post, "Deaf President Named," the selection of Gallaudet University President I. King Jordan was a joyous event for the campus community, which had long sought a deaf university president for the college.
In addition to Jordan's appointment, Gallaudet University Board of Trustees member Phillip W. Bravin, one of four deaf board members, was selected to replace Chair Jane Bassett Spilman. Spilman resigned from her position after criticism from protestors. According to Bravin, the trustees will establish a committee to ensure that the board has a majority of deaf members. Bravin also said that none of the demonstrators will be penalized for participating in the protest.
Jordan had at one point during the protest supported the selection of Elizabeth Ann Zinser, a hearing woman originally chosen by the Board of Trustees as Gallaudet University President. However, Jordan reversed his position the next day in support of the protest.
How to Summarize a Newspaper Article 1Find the "5 W's": who, what, when, where and why. These are the most basic facts that are found within a newspaper article and should be included when summarizing an article. "Who" refers to the subject of the article; "what" is what is being said about the subject of the article; "when"
can refer to the date the article was written as well as the date of the event;
"where" refers all locations that are relevant to the subject and what
happened; and "why" refers to the reason this event was reported.
Remember to put these facts into your own words.
2Add the main idea(s). The author of the newspaper article wrote the article to get a message across and to create a sentiment among readers and that message is the main idea. The main idea has a direct correlation with the "why" of the article because it is an extension of it. No more than three sentences should be needed to summarize the main idea.
Sometimes a newspaper article may have multiple main ideas and if that is the case, keep the description of each brief.
3Include supporting details. Once you have read the newspaper
article over at least twice, you should have an understanding of the
information that is essential and which details were just added for creative effect. The details that first must be added are those that are imperative to the understanding of the article, like the job position of the subject or how many years of research has gone into a new discovery. Next, those
details that give help with imagery can be added.
4Finish your summary with a concluding sentence. You do not have to end where the article ends, just where the story ends.
TIPS:
1 Learn the inverted pyramid style of news writing. Most news articles begin with the most important information first, and work down to the least important information. This makes it easier to pick out the information you need to include in your summary.
2 Determine the article's lead and highlight it. This usually is the subheading under the headline or the first few sentences of the article. This information should always be included in a summary because it tells the reader what the article is about.
3. Read the article, and highlight the information you think is most important. Keep in mind the inverted pyramid style. Most of your information will be at the beginning of an article.
4 Outline the information you highlighted. You should have three to five paragraphs, depending on the length of the article, and no more than two or three points per paragraph. The outline should look something like this:
I. Paragraph 1--Lead information
A. sentence--most important information
B. sentence--most important information
C. sentence--most important information
II. Paragraph 2--Next subject
A. sentence--less important information
B. sentence--less important information
C. sentence--less important information
III. Paragraph 3--Last subject
A. sentence--least important information
B. sentence--least important information
C. sentence--least important information
This outline is a guide, but it's not rigid. You can add or delete paragraphs and sentences based on your specific article.
5 Write the article summary from your outline. Be clear and concise, so readers can understand the information you're conveying.
Sample
News Article Summary Questions – Answer in complete sentences:
Step 1 - Complete before beginning research
1. Preliminary Research Question:
It has been twenty years since the end of the Apartheid system, how has South
Africa changed?
2. Previous knowledge on the subject (What, if anything, did you know about this subject before researching?):
A system of racial segregation and prejudice known as apartheid came to an end
in 1990. This system had been in place for many generations and had reduced native African people to the lowest level of social status.
Step 2 – Complete after you have chosen an article:
3. What website did you find your article?
“South Africa Still Struggling with Apartheid’s Legacy” found at:
https://www.doczj.com/doc/3f17745799.html,.au (Australian branch of ABC, found with google search term
“south africa, apartheid, 2011”)
4. What question are you hoping to have answered by the article?
●Is there more equality and justice in South Africa now?
●Do all South Africans have an opportunity to have healthy and happy lives?
Step 3 - Complete after reading and analyzing article:
5. What are three things you learned from the article?
a. he Australian journalist Ginny Stein has spent significant time in South Africa. As a
young person, she was an exchange student in a small town in the country and later in
life she visited on a to report on a variety of topics.
b. he was inspired by a History teacher in High School to take advantage of the
opportunity to see South Africa during a time that was particularly chaotic. He said
she should, “go and learn” for herself!
c. ace is still an issue that impacts the lives of people everyday in South Africa. Stein
describes a story about how her negative reaction to a woman’s behavior (who was
black) was misinterpreted by another woman as racially motivated.
6. State a question that the article did not answer.
This article provided an interesting glimpse at one person’s perspective and
experience. It did not provide a broad overview of whether race relations have
improved greatly. It also did not discuss if there is now a greater degree of equality
of opportunity for all people in South Africa.
7. Write a summary of the article
The Past Influences Today in South Africa
The Australian journalist Ginny Stein has spent significant time in South Africa. As a young person, she was an exchange student in a small town in the country. She as inspired by a history
teacher in high school to take advantage of the opportunity to see South Africa during a time that was particularly chaotic. He said she should, “go and learn” for herself. Later in life, she often visited South Africa to report on a variety of topics. She explains that while relations between people of different races have improved, many issues in South Africa have been focused on people being concerned with race and the continuing disadvantages for some people. For example, Stein describes a story about how her negative reaction to a woman (who was black) was misinterpreted by another woman as racially motivated. This interaction shows that race and the perceived inequities between different races continue to have a big impact on people in South Africa. This article made me wonder how often we, as Americans, are also influenced by subconscious stereotypes and prejudices.
Refer to: South Africa still struggling with apartheid's legacy
ELIZABETH JACKSON: The first generations never to have experienced apartheid are now passing through South Africa's universities. Change for so many before them came slowly, for others it has been exceedingly fast.
The ABC's Ginny Stein has just taken up her posting as Africa correspondent and has filed this reflection on a country, which she first visited as an exchange student during the final years of apartheid.
GINNY STEIN: The universal outrage about apartheid in South Africa was beginning to climax when I first heard I had been selected as an exchange student and I would be spending that year in a small town in South Africa.
While sanctions were the talk of the time, voices in my world suggesting that I too should boycott visiting South Africa were few, perhaps in part because in many small towns in Australia in the '80s, racism was never far from the surface.
My history teacher at the time offered this advice to a student who wanted one day to become a journalist. He said I should go and learn for myself.
While many white South Africans claim to this day that they did not know what was happening the reality was impossible to ignore. It struck you at every turn, with every interaction, with every look and with everyone.
I have returned many times since that year, the first time in 1997, four years after South Africa held its first ever democratic election in which the right to vote was granted to all adults. I'd come back to help train journalists at the state broadcaster.
They were heady years - so many opportunities, so many challenges. But as one friend, who had long been part of the anti-apartheid struggle put
it, we still have to learn how to speak to one another.
Two years ago, I was back again, this time to report on xenophobic attacks by South Africans against other Africans from neighbouring states. As appalling as it was, there was one conversation that struck me as I checked my email in an internet cafe.
An elderly couple with thick German accents came in to ask for help. Their voices boomed loudly, and the more they could not be understood the louder they became. A young black woman next to me laughed quietly, smiling at me in shared embarrassment of the moment. It was a shared joke across colour lines, with no barriers in sight.
A month ago I returned - this time as the ABC's Africa correspondent. I listened to Radio 702, the news and talkback radio station that proudly declares itself as in touch, in tune and independent.
The conversations were all about an Afrikaans author, Annelie Botes, who had defended her right to say she did not like black people. There was outrage but also many callers defending her right to speak the truth.
I switched stations to Kaya FM, which is listed as aiming at a sophisticated black audience, part music, part talk. When I tuned in it was midway through a rant by one caller claiming black artists in South Africa had to be much more talented than their white Jewish counterparts to gain sponsorship. The presenter's only point of interjection was to endorse his point about talent.
And last week, I switched on again - this time a caller was earnestly asking whether he should be considered homophobic if he did not approve of the lifestyles of homosexuals. He wished them no harm, he said, he just did not approve. He wanted to know if that made him homophobic.
This week I expressed outrage to a black colleague at one time first lady Winnie Mandela's arrogant response to being caught in a speeding car, less than a year after her own granddaughter was killed by a speeding motorist. My colleague was shocked. Later we discussed it. The colour line had been crossed. To her, my comments were those of a white woman condemning a black person.
It's been almost 20 years since the end of apartheid but as my colleague says she still has to learn to trust, and that talking is not always easy.
A Summary Rubric