Summaries

With a little practice, summaries should be easy, natural, and automatic for you. Want to improve your writing? Need to learn more vocabulary? Read an article and write a summary of it.

There are many ways to write, but here are three steps to produce a basic summary:

1. Read an article or listen to a speech. 
2. Read again (or listen). This time, take notes. Follow the basic outline and make a note of the main ideas and important details. Use this time to focus on unknown vocabulary.
3. Write a summary from your notes. Close your book, close the website, and only use your notes. You must paraphrase and use your own words. Write only the main ideas and do not include examples or extra details unless they are essential. What is the main idea or message the author wants to communicate?

Tip: knowing what is important and what is not can be very difficult. Try asking yourself, "What is this about?" Often, the answer you give is an appropriate summary.

Last week we read an article about the Church dome painted by graffiti artists in Barcelona.

The following is a basic summary of the article:

----------------------------------

Summary

The Barcelona graffiti artist Raul Sanchez Araque, or House, painted a Catalan church in Barcelona. Father Ramon Borr hired the artist to paint the dome of the church because he considers graffiti just another art technique and and it was cheaper than traditional artists. The artists used spray paint to create a faithfully Romanesque painting with a personalized style. Father Ramon is satisfied because he thinks it may bring in more people to the church. 

New vocabulary

austere

dome

congregation

frantic

nondescript

----------------------------------

This summary has only the basic information of the article, just enough for a brief explanation. Additionally, I have included five new vocabulary words from the article. Any time you read, make a note of a few new words to add to your growing vocabulary.

For more information and examples of articles and their summaries, visit The Prop Room.