The most important rule of summarizing is attributing the information you are using to its original source to avoid plagiarism, which is a serious offense. Because a summary is used to restate ideas and arguments of other people, you will need to make sure that your audience realizes that the ideas you are presenting are not your own. Though you may share the ideas and sentiments of the author you are summarizing, you did not originate the ideas and thus are simply using them for your own means. Include a bibliography and use in-text citations where appropriate.
When incorporating the information presented by a different author into your summary, you must use topic sentences to give your audience an idea of the main points you are making. This will keep your summary focused and organized. If the author whose passage you are summarizing used a topic sentence that you would like to use, include that topic sentence in quotation marks at the beginning of your summary, followed by an in-text citation. However, if the passage you are summarizing does not contain a topic sentence, you will need to create your own for the information you are using.
Summaries are concise. A summary offers a small bit of highly relevant information about a body of information that is often much larger. It is possible, however, to summarize a short film into one paragraph of information by getting rid of excess detail. It is important to remember that your summary should always be to the point, educating your audience about the most important facts and leaving out minuscule details that are of little significance. Remember to accurately summarize information and clearly state when ideas presented are your own.
Authors often use lists to convey a set of information. Although these lists sometimes contain information that is necessary to understanding the piece, authors of summaries can often reduce the list into one blanket phrase that incorporates all of the items concisely. For example, if an author lists out cakes, cookies, brownies and pies, you may condense this list to the simple phrase of desserts or sweets. You must also condense multiple paragraphs into a single paragraph. Remember, your summary can be longer than one paragraph, but condensing the paragraphs of the original piece into just one or two paragraphs is essential to a concise summary.