15 Summary
A summary will need to:
- Accurately, effectively, and ethically identify and describe the subject or source.
- Identify and describe the key components and points.
- Define and explain key terms as needed.
- Present this information to readers in an efficient, accessible format.
Summaries provide bare-bones details—but always enough to communicate what the writer thinks is most important for the audience to know. That is, summaries provide readers with the most important points from a subject or source. Significantly shorter than the source material, summaries condense key points, ideas, methods, terms, and so forth. As the Oxford English Dictionary explains, a summary is “a shortened statement or account which gives only the main or essential points of something, not the details; an abridgement.” The key words here are “shortened” and “only the main or essential points.”
Summaries are foundational. We often need to provide information quickly and efficiently. Writers use them in a variety of ways: to let readers know what something is all about, so they can decide whether to read further; to distill complex ideas into smaller, more digestible chunks; to introduce a subject or topic before going into more detail or deeper analysis; to briefly describe to readers a topic that they may be interested in; or to support an argument. These are just a few ways writers use summaries.
Summaries are everywhere. A photo caption in a news story, for example, is a kind of summary; it tells readers what the photo is about and what it has to do with the story. On a restaurant menu, brief descriptions are included so that customers know what to expect; these descriptions summarize the most important points about the dish. In academic writing, abstracts—usually a short paragraph located before the beginning of the essay itself—summarize key points so that fellow scholars can quickly identify what those key points are and how useful the essay might be to them. In a brochure for a new car, ad writers use summaries to highlight the features they think are most important to customers. These are just a few examples. Can you think of others?
Consider more closely what summaries do in different situations by comparing the following examples. These summaries describe a 2016 documentary by Ava DuVernay:
“[In 13th], Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation’s prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.” — Rotten Tomatoes website
“[DuVernay’s] documentary ‘13th’ is a powerful look at how the modern-day prison labor system links to slavery. The film, which premieres on Netflix and in select theaters Friday, offers a timely and emotional message framed by the upcoming election and the Black Lives Matter movement.” — Bethonie Butler, The Washington Post
“DuVernay’s acclaimed 2016 documentary, 13th … investigates the issue of mass incarceration in the United States in