Summary is defined as a brief statement that presents the most important points of an original
material. It helps you retell a story or any material using a few statements. This is why a summary is
usually short and easy to comprehend. A good summary focuses on the big picture and does not
pay so much attention to minor details. Its main goal is to present the essential ideas in a written
piece.
Paraphrasing refers to restating someone else’s work or idea in your own words at roughly the
same level of details.
Summarizing, on the other hand, involves putting the main ideas of a certain work into your own
words, including only the big picture or the main ideas. Both are techniques used to incorporate
sources or other writers’ ideas when writing materials like an essay or a research paper.
Main idea refers to the central point that the author is trying to communicate in his/her work. A given
text can have one or more central ideas usually found at the beginning. The details in a particular text
are provided to support the main idea.
Key information, meanwhile, refers to important pieces of evidence, reasons, examples, and
explanations that support the main idea. This includes details that further establish one’s main point.
Important Guidelines to Consider in Writing a Summary
1. A summary should be based on the original piece. While you have to use your words, it does
not mean that you should analyze and interpret the material using your own understanding. You can
still make your summary sound like an independent piece without including misinterpretations of
some sort.
2. A summary should be kept short and simple. A good summary is usually a lot shorter than the
original text. This is because you only cite the central ideas that present the original text in a nutshell.
3. Use your own words. When writing a summary, one should use his/her own words to retell the
most important ideas in a given text. Using one’s own words makes the summary easier to read and
understand.
4. Know the main ideas or the key information in what you are summarizing. When
summarizing, it pays to know which details are important and which information may be omitted
without altering the meaning of the source material.
5. Keep the objectivity. When summarizing a given material, one must remember to be as
objective as possible. This means that you should not include your personal opinion on the ideas in
the original text.
6. A summary must be comprehensive. This means that as a writer, you should be able to identify
all the important ideas from the original material to keep the meaning complete in the shorter version
that you will be writing.
7. A summary needs to be concise. Since a summary is relatively short, you should be able to
avoid repetitions of ideas when writing. This will keep the good flow of your summarized text.
8. Coherence is a key feature of a good summary. Even when you pick out only the main ideas
from a text, your summary still has to be clear and organized. It should not sound like a set of
disjointed sentences when read.
Name:_______________________________________________________
Date:________________________
Grade/Section_______________________________________________
Learning Task 2: Read the statements listed below. Identify which ones are true about summarizing.
Use a check ( / ) to mark the ones you consider correct and across ( X ) to those which are incorrect.
Answer this part in your notebook.
___________ 1. A summary should have the same length as the original text.
___________ 2. A good summary is objective.
___________ 3. A summary is just another term for a paraphrase.
___________ 4. A summary does not include the central ideas of the original material.
___________ 5. A good summary includes the writer’s personal opinion about the topic.
Learning Task 3: Tell whether each of the statements below should be followed as a guide when
summarizing a given material. Write AGREE or DIASGREE in your notebook.
____________ 1. Include personal opinions when summarizing key information.
____________ 2. Maintain coherence when writing a summary.
____________ 3. Include only the supporting details in your summary.
____________ 4. Use graphic organizers to maintain the good flow of ideas while drafting.
____________ 5. Include all important ideas from the original text.
____________ 6. Write a text with same length as the original text.
Title: King Mahala’s Obsession with Gold
King Mahala was fond of gold more than anything else in the world. He treasured his royal crown
because it was made of that precious metal. If he loved anything good or half as good, it was a little
girl who played around her father’s feet so happily. But the more Mahala loved his daughter, the more
he desired wealth. He thought the foolish man that he was, the best thing he could possibly do for his
beloved child was to bestow upon him the great pile of yellow shiny coins that had been collected
since the creation of the world.
So he gave all his thoughts and all his time to this one cause. If ever he looked for a moment at the
golden clouds of sunset, he wished they were gold and that they could be safely squeezed into his
strong box. (144 Words)
Summary: King Mahala was fond of gold and treasured his royal crown, but the more he loved his
daughter, the more he desired wealth. He decided to bestow upon her a pile of yellow shiny coins that
had been collected since the creation of the world. (45 Words)
Title: The Benefits of Outdoor Exercise
Original Passage: Exercise in nature is very beneficial for both physical and mental health. In addition
to the general benefits of exercise, such as improving cardiovascular health and increasing muscle
strength, outdoor activities also provide an opportunity to experience the beauty and tranquility of
nature. It can increase feelings of well-being and reduce stress and anxiety. It is important to embrace
the benefits of outdoor exercise and incorporate it into your regular routine. (141 words)
Summary: Outdoor exercise has benefits for physical and mental health, including increasing well-
being and reducing stress and anxiety. It is important to include outdoor exercise in your routine.
Title – We can not live alone
Original Passage: From the moment we are born, we cannot be alone; We stand in constant need of
support from all around us, body and soul and spirit; We need clothes that other men make; Houses,
which other men build, food, which other men produce; We earn our living by working for others,
others earn their living by working for us.
As children we need our parents to be our comforters and take care of others: we cannot live a day
without our peers; We need teachers to educate: books and masters to teach us trades; And when
we learn it and settle ourselves in life, we need laws made by other men who died hundreds of years
before we were born, to secure for us our rights and property, to secure our comfort in our station;
And we need friends to comfort us in our sorrows and share our joys. (161 words)
Summary: We need support from all around us from the moment we are born. We need clothes,
houses, food, and teachers to educate us, laws to secure our rights and property, and friends to
comfort us in our sorrows and share our joys. We earn our living by working for others, and we need
our parents to be our comforters and take care of others. (64 words)
