Part One: Warm Up
Discuss the following questions with your partner(s).
- What's your favourite movie, and how do you give a brief description of it to someone who has never seen it?
- What other things do you give brief descriptions, or summaries, of?
Part Two: Getting Ready to Write & Your Turn & Further Discussion
The ability to summarize the main points of an essay, article, lecture, or even movie, is an essential life skill. Below are some useful tips when summarizing. A good summary...
- ...is clear to someone who has not read/watched/heard the original source material. Always assume the reader is unfamiliar with the book/film/article/information/etc. that you are summarizing.
- ...follows paragraph structure, with a topic sentence stating the title/author/speaker/etc. The reader must be aware that he or she is reading a summary and not original ideas.
- ...gives the main points and only the main points. Leave out unnecessary details, figures, etc.
- ...paraphrases, with no direct quotes from the original source. Do not copy and paste; use your own words.
- ...is not wordy. A good summary is clear and direct.
- ...presents the information in the same order as the original, if possible.
- ...is objective. Do not include your opinion unless your instructor asks you to do so.
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