How to Write a Summary: Steps, Length Rules and an Example

To write a summary, read the text until you understand its main point, list the key ideas in order, and then write them in your own words in a much shorter form, usually about a tenth to a quarter of the original. Start with the author, the title and the main idea, leave out examples and your own opinion, and check your draft against the source.

Below you get a step by step method, a worked example with an original text and its summary, length rules of thumb, and how to get a first draft from a free text summarizer and check it.

What is a summary?

A summary is a short version of a text that keeps only its main idea and the key points that support it, written in your own words. It leaves out examples, repetition and side details, adds no opinion, and still names the original author, so a reader gets the gist without reading the whole thing.

How to write a summary in 6 steps

1. Read the whole text once without taking notes. Aim to understand what it is about and why it was written.
2. Find the main idea. In articles and essays it usually sits in the introduction or the conclusion. Write it down as one sentence.
3. List the key points. Look at the topic sentences (often the first sentence of each paragraph) and note the 3 to 6 points that support the main idea, in the order the author gives them.
4. Write from your notes, not from the text. Put the original away. Open with a sentence that names the author, the title and the main idea, then give each key point in a sentence or two.
5. Cut what does not carry the argument. Examples, anecdotes, figures that only illustrate a point, and repetition can go. Keep a number only when the point depends on it.
6. Compare and polish. Check that nothing important is missing, the meaning has not shifted and no sentence is copied. Use quotation marks for any phrase you keep.

Signal phrases such as "the author argues", "according to" and "the article explains" make it clear that these are the source's ideas, not yours.

How to write a summary: a worked example

Here is a sample text written for this guide (about 165 words), followed by a summary of it.

Original: Many small cafés struggle in their first two years, and the reason is often not the coffee. Owners tend to focus on the menu and the décor, but the cafés that survive usually get three less visible things right. First, they choose a location by watching foot traffic at different times of day instead of trusting a busy weekend. A street that is crowded on Saturday can be empty on a Tuesday morning, when regular customers matter most. Second, they keep the menu short. A small menu means less waste, faster service and staff who can prepare every item well. Third, they track costs every week rather than at the end of the year, so a rise in milk or rent prices shows up before it becomes a crisis. None of these habits are glamorous, and customers rarely notice them. Yet together they decide whether a café is still open after its second year, far more than whether it serves the best espresso in town.

Summary (about 50 words): The text argues that new cafés survive less because of their coffee than because of three practical habits: choosing a location by studying foot traffic on ordinary weekdays, keeping the menu short to cut waste and speed up service, and tracking costs weekly so rising prices are caught early.

What was cut: the Saturday and Tuesday illustration, the remark about décor and the closing line about espresso. What stayed: the main claim and all three habits, in the author's order. The summary is about 30 percent of the original, a little above the usual range because the text is short and every point carries weight, and every sentence is in new words.

How long should a summary be?

A summary is usually 10 to 25 percent of the length of the original, but an assignment's word limit always wins. A short article often fits in one paragraph of 3 to 5 sentences, while a book chapter may need half a page or more. The more the text repeats or illustrates, the shorter your summary can be.

Original	Typical summary	Format
One paragraph	1 or 2 sentences	Sentence
News or blog article (800 to 1,500 words)	80 to 200 words	One paragraph
Academic paper or report	150 to 300 words	Paragraph, abstract style
Book chapter	Half a page to a page	Paragraphs or bullet notes
Meeting notes or an email thread	3 to 6 bullet points	Bullets with decisions and actions

These are rules of thumb, not fixed standards, so follow your teacher's or editor's brief when there is one.

How to summarize an article

To summarize an article, read the headline, the introduction and the conclusion first to find the main claim, then skim each section for its one supporting point. Your summary opens with the article's title, author and claim, gives those points in order, and ends without your opinion unless the task asks for a response.

For articles, also check:

• Who and when: news and research articles date quickly, so the year can matter.
• Type of evidence: say whether the author reports a study, interviews or an opinion.
• Headings: in a web article, each heading often equals one key point.

A simple opening pattern: In "[Title]" ([Year]), [Author] argues that [main idea].

Summary vs paraphrase vs quote

	Summary	Paraphrase	Quote
What it covers	The main ideas of a whole text	One passage, every point	The exact words
Length	Much shorter than the original	About the same	The same
Wording	Your own	Your own	The author's, in quotation marks
Needs a citation	Yes	Yes	Yes
Use it when	You need the gist	You need the detail in your words	The exact wording matters

When you need one passage in your own words at full length, the paraphrasing tool gives you a draft to work from. The Purdue OWL handout on quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing explains when to use each one in academic writing.

How to write a summary with a text summarizer

A text summarizer gives you a fast first draft that you then check against the original. The free WoowTools text summarizer takes up to 15,000 characters (about 2,500 English words) at once and needs no account.

1. Paste the text. If you copied it from a web page, remove menus, ads and footers first.
2. Choose a length: Short (1 to 3 sentences or 3 bullets), Medium (about 4 to 7) or Detailed (about 8 to 14).
3. Choose Paragraph or Bullet points.
4. Click Summarize, then Copy. Under the summary you see its word count and how much shorter it is than your text.

The tool needs a passage of a few sentences or more; for very short text it asks you for a longer one. Split longer documents into parts and summarize each part. Your text is processed once and not stored.

How do you check an AI summary?

Read the AI summary next to the original and check it the way a teacher would: is the main idea first, is each key point there, and is anything stated more strongly than the author did? The summarizer is told to use only the facts in your text, but a check takes a minute and catches the rare slip.

• Names, numbers and dates match the source.
• No point appears that the author did not make.
• Hedges such as "may" or "in some cases" are kept.
• For coursework, rewrite it in your own voice and add the citation your style needs.
• Polish it with the grammar checker and confirm the length in the word counter.

Common summary mistakes

• Starting with a detail instead of the main idea.
• Following the original paragraph by paragraph until the summary is nearly as long as the text.
• Adding your opinion, such as "this is a great article", when the task is only to summarize.
• Copying sentences from the original without quotation marks.
• Forgetting the source: a summary still needs the author and a citation.

Try it on your next reading: paste the text into the free text summarizer, pick a length, and compare its draft with the six steps above.

Frequently asked questions

What should a summary include?

The title and author of the source, its main idea, and the key points that support it, in the author's order. Leave out examples, minor details and your own opinion.

How long should a summary be?

Usually 10 to 25 percent of the original, unless your assignment sets a word limit. A news article often fits in one paragraph of 80 to 200 words.

How do you start a summary?

Open with one sentence that names the title, the author and the main idea, for example: In [Title], [Author] argues that [main idea]. Then give the key points in order.

Can a summary include my opinion?

No. A summary reports what the author said. If the task asks for your view, add it in a separate response paragraph after the summary.

What is the difference between a summary and a paraphrase?

A summary gives only the main points of a whole text and is much shorter than the original. A paraphrase restates one passage in full in new words and is about the same length. Both need a citation.