Why summarize a text? What purpose?
Well, the truth is that if the summary was not good, the teacher did not insist on charging or advising that it be done!
Summarizing is the act of reading, analyzing and tracing in a few lines what is in fact essential and most important to the reader.
When we rewrite a text, we internalize the subject better and don't forget about it. After all, we don't learn by simply skimming the letters! Thus, we can even say that we have read the text, but as for assimilating... it will be difficult to say yes!
The fact of synthesizing a text or long chapters can become a great habit and help you a lot in all subjects, as you will be aware of the main ideas and will remember the key points of the contents.
Exposing text in a reduced number of lines doesn't seem to be easy? Don't worry, here are some steps to make a good summary and get along:
- Make a thoughtful first reading of the text, in order to know its general subject;
- Then read the text in paragraphs, underlining the keywords to form the basis of the abstract;
- Afterwards, summarize the paragraphs, based on the keywords previously highlighted;
- Reread your text as you write to make sure your ideas are clear and sequential, that is, coherent and cohesive.
- At the end, make a general summary of this first summary of the paragraphs and check if there is no information missing or any left over;
- Finally, analyze if the concepts presented are in accordance with the author's opinion, because personal comments do not fit in the summary.
By Sabrina Vilarinho
Graduated in Letters
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The importance of abstracts - Why is summarizing important? Read here!