Summaries and Abstracts

A summary is an exercise in the art of the miniature. It is a condensed represen­tation of material appearing elsewhere in fuller form. Just as a doll represents human features on a smaller scale, or an architect's model reduces a large build­ing so that it might rest in the palm of your hand, so too does the summary condense an essay, a report, or a book to a short statement. Scores, even hundreds of pages, are often rendered in one or more paragraphs.

Summaries require that you portray the ideas of another piece of writing in a brief text that must itself acquire shape and serve a purpose. Although sum­maries seem merely descriptive, they challenge even the most accomplished writers because they ask you to comprehend and render the underlying logic of what you summarize. Reduced scale becomes but one of several concerns. You must do more than inventory the author's points; you must represent issues, as­sertions, and reasons, all of which function in dynamic relation to each other. As words don't shrink the way scale models do, you must discern what is essential to the line of argument, and how individual statements relate to the thrust and function of the whole. Summaries present, then, a double dilemma: you must discern the shape of another piece of writing even as you try to shape your own representation of it.

A General Framework

Principles for shaping ideas can provide a general framework for writing a sum­mary. Because those principles have their origin in the concerns of readers, they provide a useful bridge between reading and writing, source text and the text you now produce. You can apply those principles by thinking of your summary as a "closed" introduction to the text you are summarizing. Let's say you've been asked to write a one-paragraph summary of a much longer essay. Your closed paragraph will have an occasion, thesis, and reasons, but it won't propel author and reader into a full paper, as an opening would otherwise do. Instead of intro­ducing, the paragraph summarizes. It presents a closed statement independent and coherent in its own terms.

Let's see this framework in action by considering a summary that a student wrote of a challenging source text, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Bir­mingham Jail."

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," written in 1963 from a jail cell, addresses eight clergymen who have criticized as "unwise and untimely" King's attempts to establish racial equality. King argues that immediate non-violent direct action is the only viable alternative remaining for American blacks. One by one, King addresses the various questions raised by those clergy. He states that, though technically an outsider to Birmingham, he has an obligation to fight injustice wherever it may be. He counters the sentiment that recent demonstrations in the city were unfor­tunate by noting the lamentable conditions that the city's white power structure forces upon blacks. Responding to charges of extremism, Kinq explains that he has prevented violence by directing the anger of an op· pressed people through non-violent protest. He notes that tension is often necessary for social progress and justifies non-violent direct action even when it entails openly breaking unjust laws. Drawing upon American tradi­tion, Biblical allusions, and church history, King expresses his disappoint­ment with the white church and white moderates in general, who agree with the principle of equal rights but are reluctant to aid the cause. Racial justice, King argues, will come about only by taking non-violent action now.

This summary captures the essence of King's letter because, like that letter, it draws relationships among key ideas. Take a closer look at the strategies behind this summary. Here’s how the very elements of form that lend coherence to your summary can link it to the ideas that shape your source text.

Your occasion for the summary should reflect the author’s occasion for writing. What’s the question at issue? What concern prompts the author to write the essay, article, or book? Be sure to provide some context about your source text; for example, the author’s name, the title of the work, and the circumstances of publication. In the summary of King's letter the student found his occasion by recalling King's own.

Your thesis in the summary should reflect the author’s thesis. What exactly is the point of the essay or book? The conclusion that the author justifies should serve as the central statement in your own summary. Note that the second sentence of the summary clearly articulates King's basic point.

The body of your summary should capture the author’s main reasons that justify his or her point. How does the author structure and develop the discussion? What methods were employed? Having clarified King’s point near the outset of the summary, the student is now able to render the ideas in King's letter that justify his assertion.

The concluding point or sentence in your summary should reflect the significance of the article or essay, as might by the case in the author’s own conclusion. What contribution does the author make? Why is the problem being addressed important? The student rounds off his summary by relating King's interest in non-violent action to the cause of racial justice.

This general framework for writing a summary provides you with a method for discerning the shape of the author's ideas even as you shape your own repre­sentation of them.

Key Criteria

Because this framework enables you to make connections between two texts, it can also help you understand and meet the key criteria that a summary ought to fulfil.

A summary must be comprehensive and accurate. By focusing on the shape of ideas in both your summary and your source text, you can check whether you include points essential to the statement and development of the author's thesis.

A summary must be concise. Your summary should be considerably shorter than the source. In many cases it need not be any longer than one paragraph. You are providing an overview, so do not feel compelled to include every detail or supporting point. By recognizing and rendering only those key elements that generate the author's analysis or argument, you are in a position to make your summary concise.

A summary must be coherent. Your summary should make sense in its own right; do not rely on the presence of your source or assume that your reader has already read it. You have a good chance of making your summary coherent if you focus on and represent the key conceptual moves that underlie analysis or argu­ment. Those very same moves lend your source whatever coherence it has.

A summary must be independent. Even as you offer an accurate summary of another author's views, you should maintain your own voice and use your own words. You are writing the summary, after all. Paraphrase, except when you need a brief quote to capture a key phrase or idea. As you paraphrase, however, be sure that you do not misrepresent the author or employ a voice inconsistent with that of the source. Accuracy, however, need not make your summary dull. Try to cap­ture what compels the author to engage the subject.

A summary must meet your reader's needs. Keep in mind the audience and purpose for which you develop the summary. Unless you are writing for a very specific audience, do not assume that your readers have specialized knowledge about the subject.