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How To Write A Summary
By Jason Taingahue
When learning how to write a summary, we must first discuss what a summary is. A summary is a written round-up of all the information that a person has just read through. There are a few things you have to remember when you learn how to write a summary. You can write the summary either at the beginning of the document or you can write the summary at the end of the document. It must include the basics of what was being said, without going into detail. The summary that you learn how to write must skim over the information contained in the document, without being too long. You can write the summary between one paragraph and one page long. The summary should never be over one page long because you only need to sum up the information not relay it all over again. so be careful with how much you write about within your summary.
The best way to write a summary is to read through your entire document and write down a little bit of information about each of your sections. What you are trying to tell your readers? What do you want the document to show? How you are going to show it? The steps to writing and showing it and what you want the reader to know after they have read the document and gone through all the information. It is also a good idea to write and explain to the reader the benefit to reading the entire document within the summary you have learned how to write.
If your summary you write is at the beginning of the document you want to use this part to introduce the information contained in the document. One good thing about writing the summary at the beginning of the document is that the reader will know what the document is about before they have read through it. Another good thing about writing your summary at the beginning of the document is that you have the opportunity to market your document to the reader. The summary can be used to sell the document, or rather the information contained in the document so that your reader really wants to read the whole document and not just skim through the pages. If your document is lengthy then writing the summary at the beginning of the document would make sense, although this is not mandatory.
If you write the summary at the end of your document you have to assume that the reader has read through to this point and not skipped any parts to arrive at the summary. If the summary you write is at the end of your document it will usually consist of a single paragraph of information or re-capping of main points of the document.
Some readers read the summary first no matter where it is in the document and this is why the summary needs to contain a brief description of the contents of the entire document. Always include the most important information in the summary. Don't be tempted to cut and paste a few words or sentences from the rest of the document and try to keep the summary brief and to the point. Read through your summary yourself or get a friend to read through the summary and let you know what they thought you were trying to convey. You will be able to tell if your have enough information in your summary before presenting it to others. If you have a particularly long document make sure that your summary isn't too long and just briefly explains the contents of the document.
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