6 lessons High school and college students
How to Write a Summary
6 lessons that turn “summarize this article” from a chore into a 20-minute routine — with a built-in tool that walks you from the main idea to an outline to a finished draft.
All lessons
- 📝 1. What a summary is — and isn’tShort, accurate, neutral and in your own words
- 🎯 2. Finding the main ideaThe thesis, topic sentences and the one-sentence test
- 🗂️ 3. Key points and an outlineChoose 3–5 key points, drop the details, and order them
- 🔄 4. Paraphrasing without plagiarismChange the words and the structure — and still cite
- ✏️ 5. Writing and cutting the summaryDraft from the outline, link the ideas, then trim to length
- 🔬 6. Summarizing research articlesAbstracts, annotated bibliographies and literature reviews
✏️ Practice: Summary & outline builder: main idea → key points → summary draft
About this course
Summaries are everywhere in college: reading responses, annotated bibliographies, literature reviews, abstracts, and the “summarize the article” part of almost every essay prompt. A good summary shows you understood the source — and is the first step of analyzing it.
The lessons use one method throughout: read → main idea → key points → outline → paraphrase → write → cut. The summary builder tool follows the same steps.
Questions & answers
- How long should a summary be?
- Usually 10–25% of the original, or whatever your instructor specifies. An abstract is often 150–250 words; a one-paragraph summary of an article is often 100–200 words.
- Do I need to cite a summary?
- Yes. A summary uses someone else’s ideas, so name the author and source and include a citation (APA, MLA or the style your class uses), even though the words are yours.
- What is the difference between a summary and an analysis?
- A summary reports what the source says, neutrally. An analysis evaluates it — strengths, weaknesses, how it connects to other work. Many assignments ask for a summary first, then analysis.
- Can I use AI to summarize?
- Check your instructor’s policy. Even when allowed, AI summaries can miss the main point or invent details — use it only to check your own summary, and say how you used it.