3 STRATEGIES TO

SUMMARIZE
INFORMATION
By Pablo Castro
 Summarizing
■ as you can see, summarizing works as a “sifter” to filter ideas that must be used in the
final version of an idea. Remember that it is important to decide wisely which ideas are
important to be used in your summary.As readers, there are some steps that we need to
follow in order to do a good summary. According to Fitzpatrick (2011), these steps are:
■ ƒRead carefully
■ ƒLocate the main and supporting points
■ ƒParaphrase
■ ƒWrite a paragraph (idea)ƒ
■ EditIn order to understand each one of these steps, please check the topic
“Summarizing” in your textbook. Focus on the details needed to summarize information
in each step and complete the activities suggested.
 SAAC Strategy
■ his strategy, whose acronym, as stated by Bales (2018), stands for State (name or title of the article,
book, story), Assign (author ́s name), Action (what the author is doing) and Complete (the sentence
or summary with keywords and important details) is useful for learners who are getting started in
the process of learning to write a summary since it allows them to recognize specific details of the
text, story or article.
■ Example
■ Original source: Reading skill is improved by studies on the text. Therefore, the students should
come across texts that are suitable to their levels, textuality and readability criteria. The vocabulary
of children should be improved in a planned way with text-based word and meaning studies. Fluid
reading, making sense and interpretation skills of children should be pursued with different
evaluation types. In the long term, work should be done to make reading a habit for them.
(Gökhan, 2017)
■ Summarized version: Learners should use texts according to different criteria, such as level, textual
forms, and comprehensibility. Similarly, assessment should strive for the improvement of young
learners’ fluent reading, coherence, and analysis skills so it becomes a daily-based practice.
(Gökhan, 2017).
 5 W’S, 1 H Strategy
■ This strategy can be used for different levels in which learners need to summarize information, not
necessarily in academic contexts. Bales (2018) mentions that this strategy focuses on the use of six
questions, these are:Who is the story or text about?What did the author do?When did the action take place?
Where did the story happen?Why did the main character do what he/she did?How did the main character do
what he/she did?
■ Examples
■ Who:Gökhan Arı
■ What:state the importance and basics of reading instruction in different settings.
■ When:2017
■ Where:Irrelevant
■ Why:to analyze the importance of reading skill and the main factors that difficult its practice.
■ How:by answering a set of simple questions that cover the topic from different angles
■ Summary: Gökhan (2017) states that learners should use texts according to different criteria, such as level,
textual forms, and comprehensibility. Similarly, assessment should strive for the improvement of young
learners’ fluent reading, coherence, and analysis skills so it becomes a daily-based practice.
 Blind Summarizing
■ n my work teaching summarizing skills to students with learning challenges, I struggled
to find a way to help them summarize without repeating what they read verbatim.
Finally, one day, when at my wits end, I told a student to read a paragraph.
■ After he read the paragraph, I made him flip the book over. Once he could not see the
text, I asked, “Now, tell me what you read in one sentence.” It worked. Some students
would initially go blank. However, with persistence, modeling, and practice, students
started to be successful with reading one paragraph and then summarizing it in one
sentence without that paragraph in view.
■ I taught my students that if they could summarize each paragraph they read in one
sentence, verbally, and then write it down on paper, they would have a summary of a
page or an article when they were done without the danger of plagiarizing. With
continual practice, by the end of a semester, all my students could write a summary of
an article without plagiarizing.
■ When Emma Sasha Silver loses her eyesight in a nightmare accident, she must relearn
everything from walking across the street to recognizing her own sisters to imagining
colors. One of seven children, Emma used to be the invisible kid, but now it seems
everyone is watching her. And just as she's about to start high school and try to recover
her friendships and former life, one of her classmates is found dead in an apparent
suicide. Fifteen and blind, Emma has to untangle what happened and why?in order to
see for herself what makes life worth living.

Unflinching in its portrayal of Emma's darkest days, yet full of hope and humor, Rachel
DeWoskin's brilliant Blind is one of those rare books that utterly absorbs the reader into
the life and experience of another.
 bibliography
■ Bales, K. (2018, December 27). 5 Easy Summarizing Strategies for Students.
ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/summarizing-strategies-for-students-4582332