What is summarizing?

Summarizing is telling the most important parts of a text, in your own words, in a much shorter way.

The following words will help when you summarize a text.

SOMEBODY
WANTED
BUT
SO
THEN

​

TO HAVE IN MIND WHEN SUMMARIZING

SOMEBODY: The main character
WANTED: what the character wanted to to do
BUT: It is the problem that appears in the text
SO: What were the possible resolutions for the problem
THEN: How was the problem solved at the end.

​

When summarizing...

• The main idea is the most important information or concept in a text or statement.  

• Sometimes the main idea is explicit; sometimes we infer it.

• Not all information is equal:  some of it clearly is more important than the rest.