Ex. 8.13. Study the following guidelines for writing a summary:

Guidelines for writing a summary of an article:
• State the main ideas of the article.
• Identify the most important details that support the main ideas.
• Write your summary in your own words; avoid copying phrases and sentences from the article unless they’re direct quotations.
• Express the underlying meaning of the article, not just the superficial details.
• Your summary should be about one third of the length of the original article.
Your summary should include:

Introduction
• Start with a summary or overview of the article which includes the author’s name and the title of the article.
• Finish with a thesis statement that states the main idea of the article.
Body Paragraphs
• The number of paragraphs in your summary depends on the length of the original article.
• Your summary should be about one third the length of the original article. For a one-paragraph summary, discuss each supporting point in a separate sentence. Give 1-2 explanations for each supporting point. For a multi-paragraph summary, discuss each supporting point in a separate paragraph.
• Start each body paragraph with a topic sentence.
• Each paragraph focuses on a separate main idea and just the most important details from the article.
• Put the ideas from the essay into your own words. Avoid copying phrases and sentences from the article.
• Use transitional words and phrases to connect ideas.
Concluding Paragraph
• Summarize the main idea and the underlying meaning of the article.
 

(Adapted from "Guidelines for Writing a Summary" by Christine Bauer-Ramazani, Saint Michael's College. http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/AEP/EN104/summary.htm)