If so, here are some tips:

1. Print out a hard copy of what you’re summarizing, so you can highlight things and make notes.

2. Read whatever you’re trying to summarize twice, maybe even three times. This will help you absorb the general idea better.

3. If you can, try to identify the main idea right away. If you find this hard, try highlighting a couple of sentences that have complete ideas or highlight repeated words/phrases/ideas.

4. On a separate piece of paper, take point form notes of the key ideas that you highlighted.

5. Now, write a paragraph (summary) using the point form notes you just made.

DO:

-use your own words. You are writing this summary for someone who does not want to read the whole article and just wants a few key points so they understand what you are talking about in your essay.

-re-read the article (or whatever you are summarizing) several times, and re-read what you wrote several times. This helps me catch anything I’ve missed.

DO NOT:

-put any of your own opinion or bias in your summary. You are simply condensing whatever you are summarizing, not giving your opinion.

-include complete sentences of the thing you are summarizing, unless you are quoting something that was in the article.

After you are done, re-read the article (or whatever you are summarizing) and then re-read your summary that you wrote. Make sure that your summary includes all/most of the important key ideas.

I hope that helped!