Reviewing Summary  A summary takes a text or passage and reduces it to its main points. In other words, summarizing trims the fat and gets to the meat of what’s being said. A summary may use brief snippets of quotes from the text.

Reviewing Summary  To summarize, you want to be able to put things in your own words. This may be difficult at first. However, try to think of this in terms of explaining something to a person who does not understand – who requires the same information in different and fewer words.

Example of Summary  Original Passage:  In the alien culture, certain traits are looked upon as quite attractive in the opposite sex. Among these are enjoying tufts of fresh grass, rattling one’s neck-bell, and mooing very loudly. Thus, it is understandable how aliens might perceive cows as attractive.  Summary:  Cows are similar to alien women and thus, attractive to alien men.

The Situation  There is a shortage of brides in space. Aliens have come to seek brides from among the inhabitants of earth. However, their preferences run not to humans, but...cows.

Oh No!

Reporting to the Aliens  The first team sent to report on the bovine population came back with a rather long-winded report (at least, in the head alien’s opinion).  Your job is to break into groups of four and summarize the report in your own words, capturing the main points of the matter, so that the alien hierarchy will understand.

Switching Gears  Another important concept we’ll review here is paraphrasing.  Paraphrasing, unlike summary, maintains the relative length of the text in question, but puts it into one’s own words.  This is NOT word for word replacement, however. Also, a paraphrase does not use quotes from the text.  Finally, you should only use paraphrasing for two-to-three consecutive sentences or less. If you need to cover more – use summary instead.

Paraphrasing - Example  Original:  Farmers do not appreciate their cattle being abducted. Most are quite furious at the idea, but few know what to do. One farmer has suggested placing antlers upon the cows to make them look like very big deer. Not all are amiable to this plan, however.  Paraphrase:  Most farmers are upset over the aliens taking their cattle. Few of them have a plan of action, however. An exception to this rule, the suggestion of fitting cows with deer antlers to disguise their true nature, has been suggested – but most do not approve.

That’s odd… 

Warn the Farmers!  Each of you is now a happy alien-abduction witness. You have seen the cows being taken by the little green men and think you ought to do something about it.  Flip your papers over and read the paragraph warning the farmers of the alien threat and how to prevent it.  Assume the farmers require you to put this into different words, but without missing any of the points – hence, you must paraphrase.  Your paraphrase should be about as long as the paragraph itself. Remember – no quoting, no simple word replacement.

Recap  Summary – Condensing what you’ve read into just the main points, none of the examples or extras. Cutting it down to the basic concepts. Brief quoting is allowed and the end result is generally much shorter than the original.  Paraphrase – Rewording what you’ve read into your own speech. You do not simply replace words and maintain the same sentence structures. You do not trim off any of the points made. The end result is typically of similar length to the original text. There is no quoting in paraphrase.

The End