Reading Strategies Summarize Information A summary is a short statement that gives the main ideas of a selection. It does not include all of the details as in a retelling. The essence is that it is brief; it focuses on key ideas of the text. Readers condense information into a summary of key ideas to reveal their level of comprehension. In order to summarize a text, readers filter out less significant or repetitious details, identify a general term for a list of specific details, combine ideas into a broad category, and create a sentence that reveals the key focus. Guiding Questions: What do you think is the BIG IDEA of this article? Of this paragraph? What two words would you use to describe the “gist” of the text? When students read, they think about what most of the sentences are describing. Is there one sentence that describes the main idea for this topic? What was the focus of this reading selection? How can you condense the information described in this article using key ideas? Which details were most significant? Which details were less significant? Facebook Pinterest Twitter © 1997 – 2024 Journey North. All rights reserved.