# How to Write a Summary, With a Template

Written by [Judith Hale](https://blurwrite.com/authors/judith-hale), Academic writing coach. Published 2026-09-23. Updated on 2026-10-04.

> **Short answer:** Write a summary by reading the whole source, finding its main point, and keeping only essential support and the conclusion. Use your own words, keep conditions that change the meaning, and credit the source. Cut repetition and minor details, then check your draft against the original.

You can write a clear summary by deciding what the source needs you to keep before you start cutting. Use the template and worked example below to make those choices in your own draft.

## How to write a summary that preserves the main point

Start with the main point, not the first sentence. A summary gives a shorter account of what a source says without adding your judgment. For a writing assignment, read the prompt before deciding how much detail to retain.

Purdue OWL distinguishes summarizing main ideas from paraphrasing a passage and quoting exact words. Analysis goes further: UNC’s Writing Center explains that it develops your own argument about the text.

Cutting sentences at random can leave a memorable example while losing the argument it illustrates. Read for the main point first, then follow these steps before shortening individual sentences.

1. Understand: Read the entire source and identify its central claim or main point.
2. Select: Keep essential support, the outcome, and conditions that affect the meaning.
3. Draft: Restate those ideas in your own words and identify the source.
4. Verify: Compare your summary with the original, then revise for length and clarity.

Choose the right writing task

| Task | What you write |
| --- | --- |
| Summary | Main ideas, condensed |
| Paraphrase | A passage, reworded |
| Quotation | Exact source wording |
| Analysis | Your interpretation |

## Use this summary template to decide what to keep

When I review a summary, I check accuracy, brevity, neutrality, and original wording. Accuracy preserves meaning; brevity removes unnecessary material. Neutrality keeps your opinion out, while original wording explains the ideas without copying the source’s phrasing.

Use the grouped checks while learning how to summarize. Start with Understand, then move through Select, Draft, and Verify.

Fill-in template: [Author/source] explains [main claim]. The key support is [essential evidence or reasons]. The source concludes [conclusion or outcome].

Not every source has an explicit conclusion. If yours ends without one, report its final main idea rather than inventing a recommendation. Replace the brackets, then adjust the sentences to fit the source instead of sounding like a form.

- Understand: Read the complete source and state its main point. Reading everything helps you avoid mistaking an opening example for the argument.
- Understand: Identify the conclusion or outcome, if present. This keeps the summary connected to where the source ends.
- Select: Keep essential support and meaning-changing qualifications. Readers need the reasons behind the claim and the conditions that limit it.
- Select: Cut repetition, minor examples, descriptive detail, and secondary background. These take space without changing the central explanation.
- Draft: Identify the source and use your own wording. Attribution tells readers whose ideas you’re reporting.
- Draft: Connect the retained ideas without adding your opinion. Preserve relationships such as cause, contrast, and condition when the source supports them.
- Verify: Compare every statement with the original. This catches changed meanings, missing conditions, and unsupported additions.
- Verify: Check length, clarity, grammar, and attribution. The final draft should be easy to follow and meet the assignment.

## A worked example of what to keep and cut

Here’s how to write a summary with an example you can check sentence by sentence. The source passage below is invented for practice.

Source passage: “The campus library should extend its evening hours during exam periods, provided enough staff are available. Longer hours would give students a quiet place to read after daytime classes. They would also let students with evening work shifts use library resources afterward. During an evening opening, rain tapped the windows while the reading room remained quiet. That scene made the library feel especially welcoming. The library should therefore stay open later during exams. However, an extension should happen only when staffing allows the building to remain supervised. With that condition met, later hours would improve access to reading space and resources.”

Summary: “The proposal recommends extending library hours during exams when staffing permits supervision. Later access would provide quiet reading space after classes and let students working evening shifts use resources afterward, improving access to both.”

The opening sentence keeps the claim and its staffing condition. Removing that condition would turn a limited recommendation into an unconditional one. The next sentence keeps both supporting reasons and the outcome.

The rainy-window scene and its welcoming atmosphere disappear because they don’t explain the recommendation. The repeated call for later hours also goes. Against the checklist, the summary identifies the proposal, preserves its reasoning, uses fresh wording, and adds no opinion. Mark those same choices in your draft.

## Choose the right length for your summary

Follow the assignment, audience, and purpose rather than a universal percentage. Las Positas College’s Writing Center explains that summary length varies with purpose and assignment scope. A sentence gives an overview; a paragraph can explain the main reasons.

Cut in this order: repetition, minor examples, descriptive detail, then secondary background. Don’t remove a condition that changes the claim. If the draft is still too long, combine related ideas rather than deleting essential support.

Purdue OWL says summarized ideas require attribution even when the wording is your own. Check your assignment’s citation requirements before treating the draft as finished.

Match detail to purpose

| Format | Keep |
| --- | --- |
| Sentence overview | Central point |
| Paragraph summary | Point and main reasons |
| Longer summary | Major ideas and support |

## Adapt the template for articles, stories, and assignments

To write a summary of an article, retain its thesis, main support, and conclusion. If you’re deciding how to summarize an article with several sections, note each section’s main idea before choosing what belongs in the shorter version.

To write a summary of a story, retain the central character, conflict, major events, and outcome. Cut scene-setting details unless they explain what happens. Las Positas College’s examples distinguish an article’s argument from a story’s main events.

For students learning to write a summary, the prompt sets the task. When you write a summary essay, introduce the source and organize its major ideas clearly. UNC recommends keeping summary brief when the assignment instead calls for your own argument. Check which task your prompt asks you to complete.

Learning to write a professional summary on a resume is a different task. You present relevant experience, skills, and achievements rather than shorten a source. Michigan’s University Career Center emphasizes tailoring a resume and showing skills through experience. For a resume or CV introduction, select evidence that fits the opportunity.

Adapt what you retain

| Source or document | Main content |
| --- | --- |
| Article | Claim, reasons, conclusion |
| Story | Conflict, events, outcome |
| Resume or CV | Relevant skills and experience |

## Use an AI summarizer to draft and review

Use [Blurwrite’s summarizer](/summarizer) to generate a first draft as key sentences, a paragraph, or bullet points. Choose Short, Medium, or Long; the tool keeps the original order. Pick the format that fits your assignment.

Compare the draft with the source using the same checks. Find the central claim, confirm the supporting points, and look for any missing qualification or unsupported addition. Add the source identification and attribution your assignment requires.

Once the meaning is right, use the free [grammar checker](/grammar-checker) to review grammar, punctuation, spelling, and style. Apply the fixes that clarify your sentences, then read the summary once more beside the original. Keep this checklist beside your draft.

- Understand: Read the complete source and state its main point.
- Understand: Identify the conclusion or outcome, if present.
- Select: Keep essential support and meaning-changing qualifications.
- Select: Cut repetition, minor examples, descriptive detail, and secondary background.
- Draft: Identify the source and use your own wording.
- Draft: Connect the retained ideas without adding your opinion.
- Verify: Compare every statement with the original.
- Verify: Check length, clarity, grammar, and attribution.

- [This article on the site](https://blurwrite.com/blog/how-to-write-a-summary)