NOTES ON SUMMARIZING 7.

SUMMARIZING BY SECTION: Break the text into sections or

paragraphs and summarize each section separately before
There are various strategies and approaches that can be used in integrating them into a cohesive summary.
summarizing academic texts. Summarization is a complex cognitive skill
that involves extracting the main ideas and key information from a text and 8. USING SIGNAL WORDS: Utilize signal words and phrases (e.g., “in
presenting it concisely in one’s own words. Different strategies can be conclusion,” “therefore,” “on the other hand”) to signal the
employed based on the type of text, the purpose of the summary, and the relationships between ideas and provide coherence to the
intended audience. Here are some common strategies in summarizing: summary.

9. CREATING HEADINGS OR SUBHEADINGS: Craft concise headings or

1. IDENTIFYING THE MAIN IDEA: Determine the central theme or subheadings that capture the main points of each section of the
main idea of the text. Focus on the core message that the author is text.
trying to convey.
10. ABSTRACTING: Write a concise abstract that provides a brief
2. PARAPHRASING: Restate the information in the text using different overview of the entire text.
words and sentence structures while preserving the original
meaning. 11. IDENTIFYING KEY SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: Highlight the main
supporting evidence or arguments used to bolster the main idea.
3. CONDENSING: Reduce the text’s length by omitting unnecessary
details. Examples, or repetitions, while retaining the essential 12. ELIMINATING REDUNDANCY: Remove repetitive information or
points. redundant sentences to streamline the summary.

4. OUTLINING: Organize the main points and supporting details in a 13. FOCUSING ON THE CONCLUSION: Concentrate on the text’s
logical order to create a structured summary. conclusion to understand the main takeaways and implications.

5. MAPPING: Create a visual representation of the text’s structure, 14. REVISING AND EDITING: Review and summarize the summary for
such as a concept map or flowchart, to highlight the connections clarity, coherence, and accuracy.
between ideas.

6. HIGHLIGHTING OR UNDERLINING: Mark key sentences or phrases

in the text that capture the main ideas and use them as the basis
for the summary.
 5. THINK-PAIR-SHARE: In this strategy, students individually read a
Different summarization strategies can be combined and adapted to suit text, jot down key points in their summaries, then pair up with a
the specific requirements of the text and the reader’s needs. A well- partner to compare and discuss their summaries. Finally, students
crafted summary provides an overview of the text’s key points and allows share their summaries with the whole class.
the reader to grasp the main ideas efficiently. It is a valuable skill for
academic success and effective information processing. 6. SUMMARIZING WITH KEY WORDS: Students use keywords or
phrases from the text to create concise summaries that capture the
main ideas succinctly.
There are indeed other summarization strategies, such as the 5Ws and 1H
(Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How), the First-Then-Finally 7. ONE-SENTENCE SUMMARY: This strategy challenges students to
approach, and others. These strategies provide different frameworks for condense the entire text’s main idea into a single sentence.
summarizing information and can be useful in guiding students’
summarization process. Let’s explore a few additional summarization 8. FIVE SENTENCE SUMMARY: In this approach, students write a
strategies: summary using only five sentences, each focusing on a different
aspect of the text.
1. 5Ws AND 1H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How): This
strategy involves answering essential questions about the text to 9. CHUNKING AND SUMMARIZING: Students divide the text into
extract the key information. Students can ask themselves who or smaller sections or chunks and summarize each section separately
what the text is about, when and where the events take place, why before integrating the summaries into a comprehensive whole.
the events occurred, and how they happened.
10. STORYBOARDING: Students create a visual storyboard with a
2. FIRST-THEN-FINALLY: This approach organizes the summary by sequence of images and captions that represent the main events or
identifying the initial events or main points (first), followed by the ideas in the text.
subsequent events or additional details (then), and concluding with
the final outcomes or conclusions (finally).

3. GIST AND DETAIL: This strategy involves identifying the main idea
or central theme (the gist) and supporting it with relevant details
and evidence from the text.

4. SUMMARY FRAMES: Summary Frames are scaffolded templates

that provide a structured framework for summarizing texts.
Students fill in the blanks or complete sentence starters to create
their summaries.
There are other summarization techniques, some of which use 6. SAAC METHOD: The SAAC METHOD is another useful
acronyms or mnemonics to help students remember and apply technique for summarizing any kind of text (story, article,
the strategies effectively. Here are a few more summarization speech, etc.) SAAC is an acronym for “STATE, ASSIGN,
techniques including some with acronyms: ACTION, COMPLETE”. Each word in the acronym refers to a
specific element that should be included in the summary.
1. SOAPSTone: This acronym stands for SPEAKER, OCCASION,
AUDIENCE, PURPOSE, SUBJECT, AND TONE. It is often used  STATE: Name of the article, book, or story
in analyzing and summarizing persuasive texts, speeches, or  ASSIGN: The name of the author
arguments. Students consider each element to understand  ACTION: What the author is doing (example: tells, explains)
the main points and persuasive techniques used in the text.  COMPLETE: Complete the sentence or summary with
2. SWBST: This acronym stands for SOMEBODY, WANTED, BUT, keywords and important details
SO, THEN. It is used for summarizing narrative texts, where
students identify the main character(SOMEBODY) , their This method is particularly helpful for students who are
goal or desire(WANTED), the conflict or challenge they face learning the format of a summary and nee reminders to
(BUT), the resolution or outcome (SO), and the final result include the title and author’s name. However, SAAC does
(THEN). not include clear guidance about which details to include,
3. 4S’s: This acronym stands for STATEMENT, SUPPORT, which some students might find tricky.
SUMMARY, AND SO WHAT. It is a strategy for summarizing
an argumentative text or informational text. Students 7. 5Ws and 1H (WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, AND
identify the author’s main Statement or thesis, the HOW): This strategy involves answering essential questions
Supporting evidence or arguments, the Summary of the about the text to extract the key information. Students can
main points, and the implications or So What of the text. ask themselves who or what the text is about, when, and
4. STAR: This acronym stands for SITUATION, TASK, ACTION, where the events take place, why the events occurred, and
AND RESULT. It is often used for summarizing case studies or how they happened.
problem-solving scenarios. Students describe the initial  Who is the story about?
Situation, the Task or problem to be addressed, the Actions  What did they do?
taken to solve the problem, and the Results or outcomes  When did the action take place?
achieved.  Where did the story happen?
5. R.A.C.E: This acronym stands for RESTATE, ANSWER, CITE,  Why did the main character do what he/she did?
AND EXPLAIN. It is a strategy for summarizing and  How did the main character do what he/she did?
responding to short answer or essay questions. Students
restate the question, provide their answer, Cite evidence Try this technique with a familiar fable such as “The Tortoiseand The Hare.”
from the text, and Explain how the evidence supports their
response.  Who? The tortoise.
 What? He raced a quick, boastful hare and won.
  When? When isn’t specified in this story, so It’s not important in
this case.
 Where? An old country road.
 Why? The tortoise was tired of hearing the hare boast about his
speed.
 How? The tortoise kept up his slow but steady pace.

Then use the answer to the 5W’s and 1H write a summary of incomplete
sentences:

Tortoise got tired of listening Hare boast about how fast he was so
he challenged Hare to a race. Even though he was slower than Hare,
Tortoise won by keeping up his slow and steady pace when Hare stopped
to take a nap.

8. FIRST-THEN-FINALLY: This approach organizes the summary

by identifying the initial events or main point (first), followed
by the subsequent events or additional details (then),
concluding with the final outcomes or conclusions (finally).
 First. What happened first? Include the main character and main
event/action.
 Then. What key details took place during the event/action?
 Finally. What were the results of the event/action?

9. GIST AND DETAIL: This strategy involves identifying the main

idea or central theme (the gist) and supporting it with
relevant details and evidence from the text.

When someone asks for “the gist” of a story, they want to know
what the story is about. In other words, they want a summary-not
a retelling of every detail. To introduce the gist method, explain
that summarizing is just like giving a friend that gist of a story, and
have your students tell each other about their favorite books or
movies in 15 seconds or less. You can use the gist method as a fun,
quick way to practice summarizing on a regular basis.