Read the material thoroughly. As you read, highlight key areas throughout the material. List key concepts to the story or plot in your notebook. Make a sentence or two for every chapter or large section of the material.
Go through your notes after you have finished reading the piece in its entirety. Review your notes and highlight key words and ideas that come up in more than one of your notes. Add extra thoughts to your list as needed. Know that repeated thoughts, phrases and concepts throughout a book or publication are crucial in the ability to summarize the entire piece.
Write one or two word concepts on your blank note cards. These are the concepts you highlighted while reviewing the book to yourself. Condense ideas in to no more than ten concepts, phrases or thoughts that help summarize the book.
Use those ten thoughts to construct a summary of what you have read. Use the words on your note cards and write sentences and paragraphs around those concepts. Continue summarizing until you have used all of your key issue note cards.
Read your entire summary after you are complete. Keep in mind the original book you read and see if your summary gives others a sense of what the book was about in a clear and concise manner. Have someone else read the summary to provide you with editorial or critical guidance if summarizing is new. Use an extra set of eyes when your summary will be graded or used by others.