Questions and Answers
What is the main purpose of a brief summary?
How does an epitome differ from a synopsis?
What is the ideal length for a traditional summary?
Which type of writing would benefit more from an abstract than a summary?
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What should be included in a summary according to the passage?
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In what context does summarizing mean to shorten something?
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'Abridgment' is best described as:
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What is a brief summary typically shorter than?
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What is an example of a passage summary?
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What is the main purpose of an epitome in writing?
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How does an abridgment differ from a summary?
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What is the ideal length for a traditional summary according to the text?
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Why are brief summaries like abstracts or epitomes shorter than traditional summaries?
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What is the purpose of summarizing within the context of writing and literature?
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In what way does a synopsis differ from a brief summary?
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What does summarizing mean within the context of writing and literature?
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What aspect of a book summary does J.R.R.Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring' example focus on?
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What sets an abridgment apart from an abstract in writing?
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Study Notes
What is a Summary?
- A summary is a short statement that summarizes or informs the audience of the main ideas of a longer piece of writing.
- A summary is a short version of a longer text, usually no longer than a page.
- Summaries can be found at the end of a piece of literature, such as on the back cover of a book, to give an overview of what happens in the writing and review the main themes.
What Does a Summary Look Like?
- A summary should be an excerpt of writing that is written in either sentence or paragraph form, depending on the size of the main literature or type of writing.
- A summary should only include the main ideas, while not giving away the entire plot in the case of books.
- The aim of a summary is to draw the reader's interest or to recap the important events in a work.
Process of Writing a Summary
- Thoroughly read through the main text to identify the main ideas in the article.
- Draw from your memory to write the summary, and separate your own words from the original text by creating a list of source material that was used.
- Write a thesis that describes what the summary will be about, and continue writing methodically, following the usual rules of creating a paragraph with good flow.
Conventions of Summary Writing
- Contextualize the source by using language to give the source purpose within the work.
- Establish the main point in the summary, then support that point with information from the source.
- Use an author tag to introduce the source, citing the source material while describing the main idea of the source.
Purposes for Writing a Summary
- To get the reader's attention to read a novel thoroughly by establishing the main storyline while leaving out specific details.
- To present information in a concise way, such as describing what happened in a historical document.
- To concisely explain the principal information from a lesson or research.
Types of Summaries
- Abstract: A short description of what is to come, usually at the beginning of an article, before the introduction.
- Summaries can be in the form of sentences, paragraphs, and bullet points at the end of an article.
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Description
Test your knowledge on summaries with this quiz! Learn about the key aspects of summaries, including their purpose, length, and where they can be found in literature.