Encourage young children to create summaries. Let the child select a summary topic. This might be a book the child knows, a story that the child has heard, a favorite movie or television show or the child's own imagined story. For the summary, let the child use graphic organizers to show the story. Help the child with drawings or cut-outs taped or glued on paper. Provide age-appropriate materials such as pencils, crayons, colored pencils or oil pastels. The child can draw the story and add words. Very young children may need your help at first with writing the letters, words and details. Some children enjoy "writing" the summary in sand for a tactile experience. At this point, encourage the child to enjoy the summary-writing activities.
Elementary school-aged children develop their summary writing skills as they learn about avoiding plagiarism. Familiar material makes writing the summary easier. Begin with favorite stories or books. The children can outline the story events on paper, in a log or journal, or work in groups or as a class, writing the outline on the board, overhead projector or document camera. Allow the child to retell the story. "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" offers dramatic, exciting events in repetitive language that is easy for kids to remember. The kids can put on skits, or mini-theatre presentations. Assist the child in the actual summary writing in the lower grades, with lessening input as the child progresses.
Develop summary skills in secondary school-aged writers. At this point, the summary writers are familiar with the concept of avoiding plagiarism, yet still may still depend on paraphrasing. Guide these developing writers through the recursive summary process. Skim the material to be summarized. If the material is unfamiliar, invite the writers to access the same topic from different sources if possible. Writers learning about the Declaration of Independence may benefit from less challenging explanations before drafting an outline. Let the writers take notes. Explaining their notes out loud helps writers understand the material. As the writer is developing the summary, assist with questions on the summary content or procedure.
Summary writing reaches its pinnacle in higher education, when summaries serve to support the rhetorical modes, including narratives, compare and contrast, classification and argument or persuasion essays. You can help college and university writers by providing strategies for writing summaries. Previewing the material to gauge the level of difficulty and notetaking are good starts for the summary. When writers get stuck, remind them that they may need to reread some sections before continuing with the summary. When writers can't get past paraphrasing, invite them to pretend to explain the material to a younger friend. This change in audience gives the writer a different perspective and allows new ways to present the material in original words.