3 Writing Effective Summaries Free Online FlashCards

What is a summary?

A summary briefly restates a passage’s most important ideas.

What should an effective summary keep and leave out?

It keeps the original meaning while leaving out minor details, repetition, and the summarizer’s opinions.

How should a summary compare in length and wording with its passage?

A summary should be much shorter than the passage and written mainly in your own words.

What question helps you find a passage’s central idea?

Ask what the author is mainly explaining, describing, or arguing.

How can you decide whether a supporting detail belongs in a summary?

Keep a detail if leaving it out would make the passage’s main point unclear or inaccurate.

Why read the whole passage before drafting a summary?

Read the whole passage first so you can understand its topic, central idea, and how its important points connect.

What information should you select for a concise summary?

Keep the main idea and only the strongest supporting points.

How can you reduce copying when drafting a summary?

Set the passage aside and explain its key ideas from memory to help avoid copying its wording.

What should you do when revising a summary?

Use clear sentences, preserve the author’s meaning, and remove repetition or unnecessary detail.

What should a summary preserve besides the main ideas?

Keep the passage’s purpose and point of view intact.

How should a summary represent the strength of the author’s claim?

Do not make the author’s claim stronger or weaker than it is in the passage.

What must a summarizer avoid adding to the passage’s ideas?

Do not add information from outside the passage or include your own judgment.