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• How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples

How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples

Published on November 23, 2020 by Shona McCombes . Revised on May 31, 2023.

Summarizing , or writing a summary, means giving a concise overview of a text’s main points in your own words. A summary is always much shorter than the original text.

There are five key steps that can help you to write a summary:

• Read the text
• Break it down into sections
• Identify the key points in each section
• Write the summary
• Check the summary against the article

Writing a summary does not involve critiquing or evaluating the source . You should simply provide an accurate account of the most important information and ideas (without copying any text from the original).

Table of contents

When to write a summary, step 1: read the text, step 2: break the text down into sections, step 3: identify the key points in each section, step 4: write the summary, step 5: check the summary against the article, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about summarizing.

There are many situations in which you might have to summarize an article or other source:

• As a stand-alone assignment to show you’ve understood the material
• To keep notes that will help you remember what you’ve read
• To give an overview of other researchers’ work in a literature review

When you’re writing an academic text like an essay , research paper , or dissertation , you’ll integrate sources in a variety of ways. You might use a brief quote to support your point, or paraphrase a few sentences or paragraphs.

But it’s often appropriate to summarize a whole article or chapter if it is especially relevant to your own research, or to provide an overview of a source before you analyze or critique it.

In any case, the goal of summarizing is to give your reader a clear understanding of the original source. Follow the five steps outlined below to write a good summary.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

You should read the article more than once to make sure you’ve thoroughly understood it. It’s often effective to read in three stages:

• Scan the article quickly to get a sense of its topic and overall shape.
• Read the article carefully, highlighting important points and taking notes as you read.
• Skim the article again to confirm you’ve understood the key points, and reread any particularly important or difficult passages.

There are some tricks you can use to identify the key points as you read:

• Start by reading the abstract . This already contains the author’s own summary of their work, and it tells you what to expect from the article.
• Pay attention to headings and subheadings . These should give you a good sense of what each part is about.
• Read the introduction and the conclusion together and compare them: What did the author set out to do, and what was the outcome?

To make the text more manageable and understand its sub-points, break it down into smaller sections.

If the text is a scientific paper that follows a standard empirical structure, it is probably already organized into clearly marked sections, usually including an introduction , methods , results , and discussion .

Other types of articles may not be explicitly divided into sections. But most articles and essays will be structured around a series of sub-points or themes.

Now it’s time go through each section and pick out its most important points. What does your reader need to know to understand the overall argument or conclusion of the article?

Keep in mind that a summary does not involve paraphrasing every single paragraph of the article. Your goal is to extract the essential points, leaving out anything that can be considered background information or supplementary detail.

In a scientific article, there are some easy questions you can ask to identify the key points in each part.

If the article takes a different form, you might have to think more carefully about what points are most important for the reader to understand its argument.

In that case, pay particular attention to the thesis statement —the central claim that the author wants us to accept, which usually appears in the introduction—and the topic sentences that signal the main idea of each paragraph.

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Now that you know the key points that the article aims to communicate, you need to put them in your own words.

To avoid plagiarism and show you’ve understood the article, it’s essential to properly paraphrase the author’s ideas. Do not copy and paste parts of the article, not even just a sentence or two.

The best way to do this is to put the article aside and write out your own understanding of the author’s key points.

Examples of article summaries

Let’s take a look at an example. Below, we summarize this article , which scientifically investigates the old saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Davis et al. (2015) set out to empirically test the popular saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Apples are often used to represent a healthy lifestyle, and research has shown their nutritional properties could be beneficial for various aspects of health. The authors’ unique approach is to take the saying literally and ask: do people who eat apples use healthcare services less frequently? If there is indeed such a relationship, they suggest, promoting apple consumption could help reduce healthcare costs.

The study used publicly available cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants were categorized as either apple eaters or non-apple eaters based on their self-reported apple consumption in an average 24-hour period. They were also categorized as either avoiding or not avoiding the use of healthcare services in the past year. The data was statistically analyzed to test whether there was an association between apple consumption and several dependent variables: physician visits, hospital stays, use of mental health services, and use of prescription medication.

Although apple eaters were slightly more likely to have avoided physician visits, this relationship was not statistically significant after adjusting for various relevant factors. No association was found between apple consumption and hospital stays or mental health service use. However, apple eaters were found to be slightly more likely to have avoided using prescription medication. Based on these results, the authors conclude that an apple a day does not keep the doctor away, but it may keep the pharmacist away. They suggest that this finding could have implications for reducing healthcare costs, considering the high annual costs of prescription medication and the inexpensiveness of apples.

However, the authors also note several limitations of the study: most importantly, that apple eaters are likely to differ from non-apple eaters in ways that may have confounded the results (for example, apple eaters may be more likely to be health-conscious). To establish any causal relationship between apple consumption and avoidance of medication, they recommend experimental research.

An article summary like the above would be appropriate for a stand-alone summary assignment. However, you’ll often want to give an even more concise summary of an article.

For example, in a literature review or meta analysis you may want to briefly summarize this study as part of a wider discussion of various sources. In this case, we can boil our summary down even further to include only the most relevant information.

Using national survey data, Davis et al. (2015) tested the assertion that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” and did not find statistically significant evidence to support this hypothesis. While people who consumed apples were slightly less likely to use prescription medications, the study was unable to demonstrate a causal relationship between these variables.

Citing the source you’re summarizing

When including a summary as part of a larger text, it’s essential to properly cite the source you’re summarizing. The exact format depends on your citation style , but it usually includes an in-text citation and a full reference at the end of your paper.

You can easily create your citations and references in APA or MLA using our free citation generators.

APA Citation Generator MLA Citation Generator

Finally, read through the article once more to ensure that:

• You’ve accurately represented the author’s work
• You haven’t missed any essential information
• The phrasing is not too similar to any sentences in the original.

If you’re summarizing many articles as part of your own work, it may be a good idea to use a plagiarism checker to double-check that your text is completely original and properly cited. Just be sure to use one that’s safe and reliable.

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , citation , and plagiarism , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• ChatGPT vs human editor
• ChatGPT citations
• Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
• Using ChatGPT for your studies
• What is ChatGPT?
• Chicago style
• Paraphrasing

 Plagiarism

• Types of plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Academic integrity
• Consequences of plagiarism
• Common knowledge

A summary is a short overview of the main points of an article or other source, written entirely in your own words. Want to make your life super easy? Try our free text summarizer today!

A summary is always much shorter than the original text. The length of a summary can range from just a few sentences to several paragraphs; it depends on the length of the article you’re summarizing, and on the purpose of the summary.

You might have to write a summary of a source:

• As a stand-alone assignment to prove you understand the material
• For your own use, to keep notes on your reading
• To provide an overview of other researchers’ work in a literature review
• In a paper , to summarize or introduce a relevant study

To avoid plagiarism when summarizing an article or other source, follow these two rules:

• Write the summary entirely in your own words by paraphrasing the author’s ideas.
• Cite the source with an in-text citation and a full reference so your reader can easily find the original text.

An abstract concisely explains all the key points of an academic text such as a thesis , dissertation or journal article. It should summarize the whole text, not just introduce it.

An abstract is a type of summary , but summaries are also written elsewhere in academic writing . For example, you might summarize a source in a paper , in a literature review , or as a standalone assignment.

All can be done within seconds with our free text summarizer .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. (2023, May 31). How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved April 16, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/working-with-sources/how-to-summarize/

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44 Summary Writing

What is a summary.

A summary is a comprehensive and objective restatement of the main ideas of a text (an article, book, movie, event, etc.)  Stephen Wilhoit, in his textbook  A Brief Guide to Writing from Readings , suggests that keeping the qualities of a good summary in mind helps students avoid the pitfalls of unclear or disjointed summaries.  These qualities include:

Neutrality  – The writer avoids inserting his or her opinion into the summary, or interpreting the original text’s content in any way.  This requires that the writer avoids language that is evaluative, such as: good, bad, effective, ineffective, interesting, boring, etc. Also, keep “I” out of the summary; instead, summary should be written in grammatical 3rd person (For example: “he”, “she”, “the author”, “they”, etc).

Brevity  – The summary should not be longer than the original text, but rather highlight the most important information from that text while leaving out unnecessary details while still maintaining accuracy.

Independence  – The summary should make sense to someone who has not read the original source.  There should be no confusion about the main content and organization of the original source.  This also requires that the summary be accurate.

By mastering the craft of summarizing, students put themselves in the position to do well on many assignments in college, not just English essays.  In most fields (from the humanities to the soft and hard sciences) summary is a required task.  Being able to summarize lab results accurately and briefly, for example, is critical in a chemistry or engineering class. Summarizing the various theories of sociology or education helps a person apply them to his or her fieldwork. In college, it’s imperative we learn how to summarize well because we are asked to do it so often.

College students are asked to summarize material for many different types of assignments. In some instances, summarizing one source is often the sole purpose of the entire assignment. Students might also be asked to summarize as just one aspect of a larger project, such as a literature review, an abstract in a research paper, or a works consulted entry in an annotated bibliography.

Some summary assignments will expect students to condense material more than others. For example, when summary is the sole purpose of the assignment, the student might be asked to include key supporting evidence, where as an abstract might require students to boil down the source text to its bare-bones essentials.

What Makes Something a Summary?

When you ask yourself, after reading an article (and maybe even reading it two or three times), “What was that article about?” and you end up jotting down–from memory, without returning to the original article to use its language or phrases–three things that stood out as the author’s main points, you are summarizing. Summaries have several key characteristics.

You’re summarizing well when you

• use your own words
• significantly condense the original text
• provide accurate representations of the main points of the text they summarize
• avoid personal opinion.

Summaries are much shorter than the original material—a general rule is that they should be no more than 10% to 15% the length of the original, and they are often even shorter than this.

It can be easy and feel natural, when summarizing an article, to include our own opinions. We may agree or disagree strongly with what this author is saying, or we may want to compare their information with the information presented in another source, or we may want to share our own opinion on the topic. Often, our opinions slip into summaries even when we work diligently to keep them separate. These opinions are not the job of a summary, though. A summary should  only  highlight the main points of the article.

First , it no longer correctly represents the original text, so it misleads your reader about the ideas presented in that text. A summary should give your reader an accurate idea of what they can expect if we pick up the original article to read.

Second , it undermines your own credibility as an author to not represent this information accurately. If readers cannot trust an author to accurately represent source information, they may not be as likely to trust that author to thoroughly and accurately present a reasonable point.

How Should I Organize a Summary?

Like traditional essays, summaries have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. What these components look like will vary some based on the purpose of the summary you’re writing. The introduction, body, and conclusion of work focused specifically around summarizing something is going to be a little different than in work where summary is not the primary goal.

Introducing a Summary

One of the trickier parts of creating a summary is making it clear that this is a summary of someone else’s work; these ideas are not your original ideas. You will almost always begin a summary with an introduction to the author, article, and publication so the reader knows what we are about to read. This information will appear again in your bibliography, but is also useful here so the reader can follow the conversation happening in your paper. You will want to provide it in both places.

In summary-focused work, this introduction should accomplish a few things:

• Introduce the name of the author whose work you are summarizing.
• Introduce the title of the text being summarized.
• Introduce where this text was presented (if it’s an art installation, where is it being shown? If it’s an article, where was that article published? Not all texts will have this component–for example, when summarizing a book written by one author, the title of the book and name of that author are sufficient information for your readers to easily locate the work you are summarizing).
• State the main ideas of the text you are summarizing—just the big-picture components.
• Give context when necessary. Is this text responding to a current event? That might be important to know. Does this author have specific qualifications that make them an expert on this topic? This might also be relevant information.

So, for example, if you were to get an assignment asking you to summarize Matthew Hutson’s  Atlantic  article, “ Beyond the Five Senses ,” an introduction for that summary might look something like this:

In his July 2017 article in  The Atlantic , “Beyond the Five Senses,” Matthew Hutson explores ways in which potential technologies might expand our sensory perception of the world. He notes that some technologies, such as cochlear implants, are already accomplishing a version of this for people who do not have full access to one of the five senses. In much of the article, though, he seems more interested in how technology might expand the ways in which we sense things. Some of these technologies are based in senses that can be seen in nature, such as echolocation, and others seem more deeply rooted in science fiction. However, all of the examples he gives consider how adding new senses to the ones we already experience might change how we perceive the world around us.

However, you will probably find yourself more frequently using summary as just one component of work with a wide range of goals (not just a goal to “summarize X”).

Summary introductions in these situations still generally need to

• name the author
• name the text being summarized
• state just the relevant context, if there is any (maybe the author has a specific credential that makes their work on this topic carry more weight than it would otherwise, or maybe the study they generated is now being used as a benchmark for additional research)
• introduce the author’s full name (first and last names) the first time you summarize part of their text. If you summarize pieces of the same text more than once in a work you are writing, each time you use their text after that initial introduction of the source, you will only use the author’s last name as you introduce that next summary component.

Presenting the “Meat” (or Body) of a Summary

Again, this will look a little different depending on the purpose of the summary work you are doing. Regardless of how you are using summary, you will introduce the main ideas throughout your text with transitional phrasing, such as “One of [Author’s] biggest points is…,” or “[Author’s] primary concern about this solution is….”

If you are responding to a “write a summary of X” assignment, the body of that summary will expand on the main ideas you stated in the introduction of the summary, although this will all still be very condensed compared to the original. What are the key points the author makes about each of those big-picture main ideas? Depending on the kind of text you are summarizing, you may want to note how the main ideas are supported (although, again, be careful to avoid making your own opinion about those supporting sources known).

When you are summarizing with an end goal that is broader than just summary, the body of your summary will still present the idea from the original text that is relevant to the point you are making (condensed and in your own words).

Since it is much more common to summarize just a single idea or point from a text in this type of summarizing (rather than all of its main points), it is important to make sure you understand the larger points of the original text. For example, you might find that an article provides an example that opposes its main point in order to demonstrate the range of conversations happening on the topic it covers. This opposing point, though, isn’t the main point of the article, so just summarizing this one opposing example would not be an accurate representation of the ideas and points in that text.

Concluding a Summary

For writing in which summary is the sole purpose, here are some ideas for your conclusion.

• Now that we’ve gotten a little more information about the main ideas of this piece, are there any connections or loose ends to tie up that will help your reader fully understand the points being made in this text? This is the place to put those.
• This is also a good place to state (or restate) the things that are most important for your readers to remember after reading your summary.
• Depending on your assignment, rather than providing a formal concluding paragraph where you restate the main points and make connections between them, you may want to simply paraphrase the author’s concluding section or final main idea. Check your assignment sheet to see what kind of conclusion your instructor is asking for.

When your writing has a primary goal other than summary, your conclusion should

• discuss the summary you’ve just presented. How does it support, illustrate, or give new information about the point you are making in your writing? Connect it to your own main point for that paragraph so readers understand clearly why it deserves the space it takes up in your work. (Note that this is still not giving your opinion on the material you’ve summarized, just making connections between it and your own main points.)

Summary Template

Here is a basic summary template for use with any text (article, video, chapter, textbook, etc.) that you are reading and need to briefly summarize in your own words for yourself or for your readers. Use the tips when inserting information from the article that you have read into the template to make filling in the blanks much easier. Feel free to change any wording that you think needs modifying or that sounds ineffective in your final version. The summary essay rubric that follows is correlated to this template so that you can use it as a checklist.

In “Title of Article,” a (state year) adaptation/excerpt/chapter/article from Publication where it appeared , Author (first and last name) argues/explains/describes/ outlines/highlights that Thesis (main point of article) in your own words. First, he/she/ they claim(s) first supporting point. For instance, specific example from the text to illustrate this point (can be paraphrase or quote). Next, he/she/they examine(s) second supporting point. For example, specific example from the text to illustrate this point (can be paraphrase or quote). Third, he/she/they suggest(s) third supporting point. For instance, specific example from the text to illustrate this point (can be paraphrase or quote). To conclude he/she/they state(s) sum up the conclusion (may be a solution, a forecast for the future, etc.)

Sample Summary Essay Rubric

This chapter is adapted from A Guide to Rhetoric , Chapter 5.1, “ Writing Summaries, ” by Melanie Gagich, CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Write What Matters Copyright © 2020 by Liza Long; Amy Minervini; and Joel Gladd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Write a Summary (Examples Included)

Ashley Shaw

Have you ever recommended a book to someone and given them a quick overview? Then you’ve created a summary before!

Summarizing is a common part of everyday communication. It feels easy when you’re recounting what happened on your favorite show, but what do you do when the information gets a little more complex?

Written summaries come with their own set of challenges. You might ask yourself:

• What details are unnecessary?
• How do you put this in your own words without changing the meaning?
• How close can you get to the original without plagiarizing it?
• How long should it be?

The answers to these questions depend on the type of summary you are doing and why you are doing it.

A summary in an academic setting is different to a professional summary—and both of those are very different to summarizing a funny story you want to tell your friends.

One thing they all have in common is that you need to relay information in the clearest way possible to help your reader understand. We’ll look at some different forms of summary, and give you some tips on each.

Let’s get started!

What Is a Summary?

How do you write a summary, how do you write an academic summary, what are the four types of academic summaries, how do i write a professional summary, writing or telling a summary in personal situations, summarizing summaries.

A summary is a shorter version of a larger work. Summaries are used at some level in almost every writing task, from formal documents to personal messages.

When you write a summary, you have an audience that doesn’t know every single thing you know.

When you want them to understand your argument, topic, or stance, you may need to explain some things to catch them up.

Instead of having them read the article or hear every single detail of the story or event, you instead give them a brief overview of what they need to know.

Academic, professional, and personal summaries each require you to consider different things, but there are some key rules they all have in common.

Let’s go over a few general guides to writing a summary first.

1. A summary should always be shorter than the original work, usually considerably.

Even if your summary is the length of a full paper, you are likely summarizing a book or other significantly longer work.

2. A summary should tell the reader the highlights of what they need to know without giving them unnecessary details.

3. It should also include enough details to give a clear and honest picture.

For example, if you summarize an article that says “ The Office is the greatest television show of all time,” but don’t mention that they are specifically referring to sitcoms, then you changed the meaning of the article. That’s a problem! Similarly, if you write a summary of your job history and say you volunteered at a hospital for the last three years, but you don’t add that you only went twice in that time, it becomes a little dishonest.

4. Summaries shouldn’t contain personal opinion.

While in the longer work you are creating you might use opinion, within the summary itself, you should avoid all personal opinion. A summary is different than a review. In this moment, you aren’t saying what you think of the work you are summarizing, you are just giving your audience enough information to know what the work says or did.

Now that we have a good idea of what summaries are in general, let’s talk about some specific types of summary you will likely have to do at some point in your writing life.

An academic summary is one you will create for a class or in other academic writing. The exact elements you will need to include depend on the assignment itself.

However, when you’re asked for an academic summary, this usually this means one of five things, all of which are pretty similar:

• You need to do a presentation in which you talk about an article, book, or report.
• You write a summary paper in which the entire paper is a summary of a specific work.
• You summarize a class discussion, lesson, or reading in the form of personal notes or a discussion board post.
• You do something like an annotated bibliography where you write short summaries of multiple works in preparation of a longer assignment.
• You write quick summaries within the body of another assignment . For example, in an argumentative essay, you will likely need to have short summaries of the sources you use to explain their argument before getting into how the source helps you prove your point.

Regardless of what type of summary you are doing, though, there are a few steps you should always follow:

• Skim the work you are summarizing before you read it. Notice what stands out to you.
• Next, read it in depth . Do the same things stand out?
• Put the full text away and write in a few sentences what the main idea or point was.
• Go back and compare to make sure you didn’t forget anything.
• Expand on this to write and then edit your summary.

Each type of academic summary requires slightly different things. Let’s get down to details.

How Do I Write a Summary Paper?

Sometimes teachers assign something called a summary paper . In this, the entire thing is a summary of one article, book, story, or report.

To understand how to write this paper, let’s talk a little bit about the purpose of such an assignment.

A summary paper is usually given to help a teacher see how well a student understands a reading assignment, but also to help the student digest the reading. Sometimes, it can be difficult to understand things we read right away.

However, a good way to process the information is to put it in our own words. That is the point of a summary paper.

A summary paper is:

• A way to explain in our own words what happened in a paper, book, etc.
• A time to think about what was important in the paper, etc.
• A time to think about the meaning and purpose behind the paper, etc.

Here are some things that a summary paper is not:

• A review. Your thoughts and opinions on the thing you are summarizing don’t need to be here unless otherwise specified.
• A comparison. A comparison paper has a lot of summary in it, but it is different than a summary paper. In this, you are just saying what happened, but you aren’t saying places it could have been done differently.
• A paraphrase (though you might have a little paraphrasing in there). In the section on using summary in longer papers, I talk more about the difference between summaries, paraphrases, and quotes.

Because a summary paper is usually longer than other forms of summary, you will be able to chose more detail. However, it still needs to focus on the important events. Summary papers are usually shorter papers.

Let’s say you are writing a 3–4 page summary. You are likely summarizing a full book or an article or short story, which will be much longer than 3–4 pages.

Imagine that you are the author of the work, and your editor comes to you and says they love what you wrote, but they need it to be 3–4 pages instead.

How would you tell that story (argument, idea, etc.) in that length without losing the heart or intent behind it? That is what belongs in a summary paper.

How Do I Write Useful Academic Notes?

Sometimes, you need to write a summary for yourself in the form of notes or for your classmates in the form of a discussion post.

You might not think you need a specific approach for this. After all, only you are going to see it.

However, summarizing for yourself can sometimes be the most difficult type of summary. If you try to write down everything your teacher says, your hand will cramp and you’ll likely miss a lot.

Yet, transcribing doesn’t work because studies show that writing things down (not typing them) actually helps you remember them better.

So how do you find the balance between summarizing the lessons without leaving out important points?

There are some tips for this:

• If your professor writes it on the board, it is probably important.
• What points do your textbooks include when summarizing information? Use these as a guide.
• Write the highlight of every X amount of time, with X being the time you can go without missing anything or getting tired. This could be one point per minute, or three per five minutes, etc.

How Do I Create an Annotated Biography?

An annotated bibliography requires a very specific style of writing. Often, you will write these before a longer research paper . They will ask you to find a certain amount of articles and write a short annotation for each of them.

While an annotation is more than just a summary, it usually starts with a summary of the work. This will be about 2–3 sentences long. Because you don’t have a lot of room, you really have to think about what the most important thing the work says is.

This will basically ask you to explain the point of the article in these couple of sentences, so you should focus on the main point when expressing it.

Here is an example of a summary section within an annotation about this post:

“In this post, the author explains how to write a summary in different types of settings. She walks through academic, professional, and personal summaries. Ultimately, she claims that summaries should be short explanations that get the audience caught up on the topic without leaving out details that would change the meaning.”

Can I Write a Summary Within an Essay?

Perhaps the most common type of summary you will ever do is a short summary within a longer paper.

For example, if you have to write an argumentative essay, you will likely need to use sources to help support your argument.

However, there is a good chance that your readers won’t have read those same sources.

So, you need to give them enough detail to understand your topic without spending too much time explaining and not enough making your argument.

While this depends on exactly how you are using summary in your paper, often, a good amount of summary is the same amount you would put in an annotation.

Just a few sentences will allow the reader to get an idea of the work before moving on to specific parts of it that might help your argument.

What’s the Difference Between Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Using Quotes?

One important thing to recognize when using summaries in academic settings is that summaries are different than paraphrases or quotes.

A summary is broader and more general. A paraphrase, on the other hand, puts specific parts into your own words. A quote uses the exact words of the original. All of them, however, need to be cited.

Let’s look at an example:

Take these words by Thomas J. Watson:

”Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t as all. You can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.”

Let’s say I was told to write a summary, a paraphrase, and a quote about this statement. This is what it might look like:

Summary: Thomas J. Watson said that the key to success is actually to fail more often. (This is broad and doesn’t go into details about what he says, but it still gives him credit.)

Paraphrase: Thomas J. Watson, on asking if people would like his formula for success, said that the secret was to fail twice as much. He claimed that when you decide to learn from your mistakes instead of being disappointed by them, and when you start making a lot of them, you will actually find more success. (This includes most of the details, but it is in my own words, while still crediting the source.)

Quote: Thomas J. Watson said, ”Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.” (This is the exact words of the original with quotation marks and credit given.)

Avoiding Plagiarism

One of the hardest parts about summarizing someone else’s writing is avoiding plagiarism .

That’s why I have a few rules/tips for you when summarizing anything:

1. Always cite.

If you are talking about someone else’s work in any means, cite your source. If you are summarizing the entire work, all you probably need to do (depending on style guidelines) is say the author’s name. However, if you are summarizing a specific chapter or section, you should state that specifically. Finally, you should make sure to include it in your Work Cited or Reference page.

2. Change the wording.

Sometimes when people are summarizing or paraphrasing a work, they get too close to the original, and actually use the exact words. Unless you use quotation marks, this is plagiarism. However, a good way to avoid this is to hide the article while you are summarizing it. If you don’t have it in front of you, you are less likely to accidentally use the exact words. (However, after you are done, double check that you didn’t miss anything important or give wrong details.)

3. Use a plagiarism checker.

Of course, when you are writing any summary, especially academic summaries, it can be easy to cross the line into plagiarism. If this is a place where you struggle, then ProWritingAid can help.

Just use our Plagiarism Report . It’ll highlight any unoriginal text in your document so you can make sure you are citing everything correctly and summarizing in your own words.

Find out more about ProWritingAid plagiarism bundles.

Along with academic summaries, you might sometimes need to write professional summaries. Often, this means writing a summary about yourself that shows why you are qualified for a position or organization.

In this section, let’s talk about two types of professional summaries: a LinkedIn summary and a summary section within a resume.

How Do I Write My LinkedIn Bio?

LinkedIn is all about professional networking. It offers you a chance to share a brief glimpse of your professional qualifications in a paragraph or two.

This can then be sent to professional connections, or even found by them without you having to reach out. This can help you get a job or build your network.

Your summary is one of the first things a future employer might see about you, and how you write yours can make you stand out from the competition.

Here are some tips on writing a LinkedIn summary :

• Before you write it, think about what you want it to do . If you are looking for a job, what kind of job? What have you done in your past that would stand out to someone hiring for that position? That is what you will want to focus on in your summary.
• Be professional . Unlike many social media platforms, LinkedIn has a reputation for being more formal. Your summary should reflect that to some extent.
• Use keywords . Your summary is searchable, so using keywords that a recruiter might be searching for can help them find you.
• Focus on the start . LinkedIn shows the first 300 characters automatically, and then offers the viewer a chance to read more. Make that start so good that everyone wants to keep reading.
• Focus on accomplishments . Think of your life like a series of albums, and this is your speciality “Greatest Hits” album. What “songs” are you putting on it?

How Do I Summarize My Experience on a Resume?

Writing a professional summary for a resume is different than any other type of summary that you may have to do.

Recruiters go through a lot of resumes every day. They don’t have time to spend ages reading yours, which means you have to wow them quickly.

To do that, you might include a section at the top of your resume that acts almost as an elevator pitch: That one thing you might say to a recruiter to get them to want to talk to you if you only had a 30-second elevator ride.

If you don’t have a lot of experience, though, you might want to skip this section entirely and focus on playing up the experience you do have.

Outside of academic and personal summaries, you use summary a lot in your day-to-day life.

Whether it is telling a good piece of trivia you just learned or a funny story that happened to you, or even setting the stage in creative writing, you summarize all the time.

How you use summary can be an important consideration in whether people want to read your work (or listen to you talk).

Here are some things to think about when telling a story:

• Pick interesting details . Too many and your point will be lost. Not enough, and you didn’t paint the scene or give them a complete idea about what happened.
• Play into the emotions . When telling a story, you want more information than the bare minimum. You want your reader to get the emotion of the story. That requires a little bit more work to accomplish.
• Focus. A summary of one story can lead to another can lead to another. Think about storytellers that you know that go off on a tangent. They never seem to finish one story without telling 100 others!

To wrap up (and to demonstrate everything I just talked about), let’s summarize this post into its most essential parts:

A summary is a great way to quickly give your audience the information they need to understand the topic you are discussing without having to know every detail.

How you write a summary is different depending on what type of summary you are doing:

• An academic summary usually gets to the heart of an article, book, or journal, and it should highlight the main points in your own words. How long it should be depends on the type of assignment it is.
• A professional summary highlights you and your professional, academic, and volunteer history. It shows people in your professional network who you are and why they should hire you, work with you, use your talents, etc.

Being able to tell a good story is another form of summary. You want to tell engaging anecdotes and facts without boring your listeners. This is a skill that is developed over time.

Take your writing to the next level:

20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers

Whether you are writing a novel, essay, article, or email, good writing is an essential part of communicating your ideas., this guide contains the 20 most important writing tips and techniques from a wide range of professional writers..

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Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

Ashley Shaw is a former editor and marketer/current PhD student and teacher. When she isn't studying con artists for her dissertation, she's thinking of new ways to help college students better understand and love the writing process. You can follow her on Twitter, or, if you prefer animal accounts, follow her rabbits, Audrey Hopbun and Fredra StaHare, on Instagram.

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Gen ed writes, writing across the disciplines at harvard college, what it is and why it's useful.

Summary asks writers to identify and restate in their own words the most important elements of another writer's text and, in doing do, capture the relative importance of different moments in that text as well as their logical relationship to one another. In many contexts summary is a formative assignment that's a step in a larger essay or project; in other contexts, though, it might be its own standalone assignment. 

For a scholarly article, summary might mean stating the source's central claim and reconstructing the general features of its argument, using key terms and concepts. For a novel or film, it might mean unpacking plot into the linear sequence of events in a "story" and introducing the most important figures, turning points, or literary-critical concepts. The specific approach any summary exercise takes will differ based on what you're trying to do with it in your class, but it can be a really useful point of departure (or reset) at almost any point in a writing assignment. Summary is really useful for a few reasons:

It helps students test—and often improve—their understanding of a text

Being able to clearly and accurately capture a writer’s argument in your own words is always a good, if not necessary, step before engaging in analysis of it

In classes with a research essay component, summary offers good practice for generating annotated bibliographies. 

Typical learning objectives for summary: identify central claims and key terms, demonstrate understanding of argument, demonstrate understanding of narrative sequences, identifying roles of evidence, paraphrase, concision, use of strong verbs

Common types of summary and related types: synopsis, argument reconstruction, abstracts, annotated bibliography

How to Teach It: Framing + Practice

While it's often a point of departure for other kinds of writing, summary itself needs framing and practice in order to make it the reliable foundation those other kinds of writing are going to build off of.

When asking students to summarize a text they've read, make it clear what the goals of the exercise will be. Is the goal to make sure everyone is on the same page about the basic outlines of a reading before discussing it in class? Is the goal to highlight the complexities of a seemingly straightforward argument? Will students be using elements of the summary in an upcoming essay or project? (See "Why It's Useful" above for ideas on framing the possible roles of summary as an exercise).

Summary can be something writers practice with or without a lot of "teaching" on the front end. Allowing students to try their hand at a summary before introducing principles can be a low-stakes way to find out where their intuitions are at with the skill. Or you can introduce the principles at the start—it's productive in both directions. Once students have drafted summaries, it can be a simple in-class exercise to have them compare their drafts with one another in groups: What were elements everyone included, or only one person, etc.? What are probably the elements any summary would include, versus the elements certain kinds of summary might focus more on? Does everyone agree on what the central claim or most important examples/evidence are? Or the order of logical development or events? Or maybe substantive differences will emerge about the nature of the source's main ideas. Getting all of these questions (and where reasonable areas of convergence and divergence lie) sorted out early in the process can bake in a lot of success to any subsequent steps of a writing assignment.

Sample Exercises and Links to Other Resources

• The in-class workshop on summary that's also posted under "Formative Writing Assignments" 
• A summary and paraphrase exercise with sample text (aimed more at Humanities audiences)
• A summary prompt (that's also pointing beyond summary to the beginning of more analytical kinds of writing)
• Common Pitfalls
• Advice on Timing
• In addition to giving students the chance to work through complex sources, summary exercises can also be a great, low-stakes way to practice citation norms and styles.
• Summaries tend not to include much direct quote, but they do offer a place to practice using quick moments of quotation, e.g., with key terms, where it's important to make it clear what terms or ideas are being drawn from the source (and perhaps, in an analytical paper, directly analyzed).
• Having students summarize a source at different scales (150 words, then 50, then 1 or 2 sentences) is a great way to get them thinking about what the central ideas and most important elements of a source actually are.
• When summary is "the assignment" (and not just a step in a larger process), it's important to make that sure students know they're NOT supposed to be making an argument. Otherwise, many students might reasonably think that adding some argument is either a) fine or b) implicitly what the "best" student would move ahead with.
• Summary in general lends itself to shorter timeframes, ranging from "read source x and try summarizing it for next class" to "after we talk about source x in class you'll work on summarizing it for next week" to "now that we've talked about source x, let's take 20 minutes in small groups to sketch out what would be in a summary of it."
• These approaches can work separately or together, so timing things can work with different timelines and be adapted based on what students need.

What It Can Build Up To

• DIY Guides for Analytical Writing Assignments

• Types of Assignments
• Unpacking the Elements of Writing Prompts
• Formative Writing Assignments
• Single-Source Analysis
• Comparative Analysis
• Research Essays
• Multi-Modal or Creative Projects
• Giving Feedback to Students

Assignment Decoder

Florida wildfires force hundreds to evacuate their homes

Experts say dry conditions and shredded trees left over from a 2018 hurricane in the US state are to blame for the blazes.

Hundreds of residents in the US state of Florida were evacuated from their homes after a rash of wildfires that ignited dead vegetation swept through the area.

The blazes across Florida’s Panhandle on Monday scorched 4,800 hectares (12,000 acres) of land and were 10 percent contained as the fire burned near communities east of Panama City, Florida Forest Service spokesperson Joe Zwierzchowski said.

Keep reading

Us coast guard says 38 missing after boat capsizes off florida, four more bodies found off florida coast where boat capsized, florida investigates gofundme over canada trucker donations.

“We have another day of pretty steady winds pushing fire toward these communities,” he said during a news conference. “Increased cloud cover, increased humidity should help tap down some of the fire behaviour we have seen.”

No injuries or fatalities have been reported.

There are currently wild fires in my home town of Panama City, Florida. If you could, please keep those folks in your thoughts and prayers. pic.twitter.com/mToFmXE6V9 — Sam Peebles (@SPeeblesSports) March 5, 2022

The wildfires come amid rising concerns over the effects of droughts and climate change in many parts of the United States. Experts believe the latest blazes were fuelled by dead vegetation and timber left behind from Hurricane Michael , which struck the Panhandle in 2018.

The Category 5 storm left behind some 72 million tonnes of thick vegetation, which has been dried by drought-like conditions in the area.

“We have been bracing for this,” said Zwierzchowski, noting that the roughly 965km (600 miles) of fire line have been installed to prevent the spread of wildfires. “Our worst-case scenarios have come to fruition.”

Michael was the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the US since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and only the fourth on record, when it tore through Mexico Beach and Tyndall Air Force Base in October 2018. The hurricane was directly responsible for 16 deaths and about $25bn in damage in the US, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

It also left behind tonnes of shredded and uprooted trees in the Florida Panhandle, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried said at the news conference.

“Hurricane Michael left an additional threat to our communities — wildfires,” Fried said. “Wildfires are never easy control. This added fuel and dense pockets of vegetation from Hurricane Michael will increase the intensity of wildfires.”

So far, the fires have forced the evacuation of about 700 homes. A 120-bed veteran’s nursing home in Panama City was also evacuated due to the smoke, officials said.

More than 200 firefighters and emergency workers from around the Panhandle worked overnight to strengthen containment lines and protect homes.

Dry conditions in Florida have created elevated fire dangers, with 148 active wildfires burning across the state this year, including the 1,214-hectare (3,000-acre) Bertha Swamp Fire in neighbouring Gulf County, according to the Florida Forest Service.

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Common Assignments: Summary

For each source listed, you will begin with a summary of the information you found in that specific source. The summary section gives your reader an overview of the important information from that source. Remember that you are focusing on a source's method and results, not paraphrasing the article's argument or evidence.

The questions below can help you produce an appropriate, scholarly summary:

• What is the topic of the source?
• What actions did the author perform within the study and why?
• What were the methods of the author?
• What was the theoretical basis for the study?
• What were the conclusions of the study?

Remember, a summary should be similar to an abstract of a source and written in past tense (e.g. "The authors found that…" or "The studies showed…"), but it should not be the source's abstract. Each summary should be written in your own words.

Summarizing Video Playlist

Note that these videos were created while APA 6 was the style guide edition in use. There may be some examples of writing that have not been updated to APA 7 guidelines.

Related Resources

Didn't find what you need? Email us at [email protected] .

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Quickly Teach How to Write a Summary With Clear Examples and Stems

How to write a summary with clear examples, a template, and a formula to help you teach summary writing to your elementary students.  

It’s the first day of school. You’ve given your students the classic summary writing assignment : “What I Did Over Summer Break.”

One student dives in and begins writing a personal narrative to rival War and Peace.

Another (maybe more than one) groans and lays their head down in despair.

You’ve seen this, right?

This summer vacation prompt might be one of the most difficult assignments we can give some of your elementary students. For others students, it might be the easiest.

You can listen to this post on the TeacherWriter Talks podcast.

Table of Contents

The Summary Writing Assignment From Days of Yore

This year, instead of giving the typical summary writing assignment, perhaps you could read an interesting article or story together, and have your students write a summary about that.

Now, in all honesty, and with full disclosure, I have to admit this assignment isn’t always the best choice either. Why? It’s because at the beginning of the year, students are out of practice with writing, and some may not have learned how to write a summary yet.

This blog will help you with a simple system to teach summary writing with ease, using templates, graphic organizers and a step-by-step plan.

How to Start Teaching How to Write a Summary at the Beginning of the School Year

First of all, define what a summary is for your students. Next, define what it isn’t. Last, don’t let them start writing until you’ve modeled the process and done a think aloud with them.

Teaching how to write a summary isn’t a one and done lesson. You’ll be revisiting pieces and parts of the summary time after time. You’ll know when your students finally have it, because they’ll be able to write a summary in just a few minutes.

How Fast Can a Student Write a One Page Summary?

It was the beginning of the year. My student cried and laid his head in his hands. He struggled with writing, didn’t like it, and gave some push back with every assignment.

Gradually, with accommodations, scaffolding, and several meetings in small group writer’s workshops, his writing began to emerge. His eyes sparkled every time he showed me how much his writing had improved.

One day, I gave an assignment, and this student turned it in inside of Google Classroom in about ten minutes.

I said, “Hey, I don’t think you could have done a stellar job so quickly.”

The student assured me, “Yes, I did my best, I edited and revised it, and I think it’s perfect.”

Not wanting to seem curmudgeonly, I pulled up the document and read it out loud with the student. I was so surprised and pleased because it was absolutely the best summary they had turned in that year. Wow!

At that moment, I knew the student understood how to write a summary that sparkled!

Things to Include in a Summary

• Main idea of the article in one sentence. 
• One or two important details.
• Transition words.

The students must read the article, once, twice, possibly three times before writing the summary. It all depends on the text complexity and the reading level of the student. You can read it with students, too. 

If you choose to read it with them, read it once to get the overall ideas. Read it a second time to annotate important points. Read it a third time to clarify any doubts and to really get to the understanding of the text.

What NOT to Include in a Summary

• Thoughts or reflections about the content.
• Conclusion statements are optional.

It’s important to make sure your students understand that summary writing and opinion writing are two different things. I use the acronym, JTFF.

Just the Facts, Friend!

If a student starts writing includes opinions, reminiscences, comparisons with their own experiences, etc., all you need to say is,

Grading tip: If a student adds opinions or personal thoughts to a summary, simply write the letters JTFF over that part of their writing. They’ll know what you mean.

Using a Template or Formula to Teach Summary Writing

• Graphic organizer to use while reading.
• Sentence stems for the introduction.
• Format to follow like a step-by-step guide
• Use scaffolds

This is where we get to the meaty part of the lesson. I’m going to lay out the parts of my simple system for teaching summary writing. You want to simplify writing a summary as much as possible, and this is how you can do it. It’s not a bad thing to use a template or formula.

In addition, have an entire blog post dedicated to some of the most effect Scaffolds for Teaching Writing  to help you differentiate the writing lessons for your students. You don’t need anything special to use them. You can incorporate them into your teaching today.

• Read the article to get the overall ideas.
• Read the article again using a graphic organizer. My suggestion is that you use the same graphic organizer for summaries every time. This prevents students from having to learn how to navigate a graphic organizer while they’re trying to learn to write a summary.
• Students annotate the text and make notes of important ideas in the graphic organizer.
• Use a sentence stem for the introduction. Include the article title, the author’s name, a verb such as “tells”, “reports,” “defines,” etc., and the main idea.
• Write the important points about the main idea in the summary, usually in the present tense.

Examples of Writing a Summary Sentence Introduction

The summary sentence template looks like this:

The article (or story) —Title of Article— by —Author’s Name— tells —Main Idea—.

For example:

The story The First Day Jitters, by Julie Danneberg tells about what happens when Sarah Jane Hartwell is afraid to go to her new school.

Another example: 

The blog article “Preventing Summer Slide”, by Suzanne Pitner gives several ideas to keep children entertained and learning during the summer break.

Yet another example:

According to the blog post “Santa Claus Tracking”, by Suzanne Pitner, NORAD has been tracking Santa since 1955 as he makes his annual trip around the world.

A great way to practice this is to have your students write a one sentence summary starter about their favorite books, or books they read over the summer. Practice this all the time in every context of summary writing.

The Body of the Summary

For young learners, and for English learners, having a format or a template to follow is similar to having a recipe on hand. In the same way you follow a recipe step by step, students can follow a template step by step.

• First, write the opening summary sentence. (See the template above.)
• Next, add one or two important facts or details about the article or book.
• Finally, include transition words, or linking words.

Did you notice the simple yet obvious transition words I used in this template? That’s perfect for teaching elementary students how to write. Let them master the obvious transition words first. Later they can learn how to write more subtle, nuanced transitions.

Transition Words for Writing Summaries in Elementary School

These are a few ideas of transitions appropriate for younger grades. Your textbook, if you have one, may have more transitions and examples of linking words. I found these to be the simplest to implement in classes of 8 to 11 year-old learners.

• First, next, last
• First, second, third
• One thing, another thing, finally
• In the beginning, in the middle, in the end
• To begin, to continue, in the end

These summaries help them organize their thoughts in a sequential order that makes sense for the writing task at hand.

Summary Tool in Google Docs (TM)

Google Docs (™) has a tool to use to help teach summaries. Depending on the article, it may or may not provide a simple, one or two sentence summary. 

You can use this to identify key points to include while summary writing. It’s also a great way to get a classroom conversation going about the following questions:

• Is this an adequate summary?
• Did it give enough information to make the reader want to read the article?
• Is anything missing from this summary?

Please note that my impression of this tool is that it’s designed for web writing and short articles. It’s not a replacement for the actual summary you’ll be teaching your students to write.

Here’s how to access the Summary Tool in Google Docs (™).

• In your top bar, click on “View.”
• Click on “Show Outline.”
• Click on the “plus” sign next to the word Summary.

If you found this article helpful in teaching summary writing in your classroom, please consider signing up to receive my free handbook, Building Strong Writers With Simple Systems. You’ll be added to my email list so you won’t ever miss a post about teaching writing. Thanks, friend!

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• Fire Engineering Training

Writing Your Structure Fire Report Narrative

Report writing is an essential part of success in the fire service. For example, using the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) supported by the United States Fire Administration (USFA) and accurately documenting the incident by putting in the correct data will assist you in acquiring funding through grants and other sources.

BY FRANK VISCUSO

Report writing is an essential part of success in the fire service. For example, using the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) supported by the United States Fire Administration (USFA) and accurately documenting the incident by putting in the correct data will assist you in acquiring funding through grants and other sources. These data assist in critical decision making at all levels of government, and all department members who use this system should be trained in it.

The tips below assist the report writer in drafting a narrative for the written report’s “Remarks” section after an incident—specifically, a structure fire. Take a moment to consider this: Once you create and submit a report, you are locked into that document for the rest of your career. Attempting to change what you have submitted or contradicting a report can be considered highly suspicious. Detailed fire reports have always been vitally important; however, many departments have placed little emphasis on this area and have often downplayed the importance of a well-crafted narrative until, of course, they find themselves in trouble.

Incidents are documented for many reasons, but the paramount one is the threat of civil litigation. If a property owner decides to take legal action and you, as the incident commander or first-arriving company officer, are subpoenaed to appear in a court of law to provide testimony, the opposing attorney will not take your word for what happened at the fire based on your memory. That lawyer will stress the fact that it has been several years since the incident and you could not possibly remember every last detail. You’ll try to argue your point, but when the attorney asks you to tell the court what you had for dinner the past seven nights and you struggle to recall, he will win the argument right there. If you anticipated that question in advance and provided the court with your shopping list, you now have the upper hand. This is the same advantage you will have with a detailed and thorough narrative.

Report writing can be tedious, but it’s necessary if you intend to fully protect yourself and your department. In today’s litigious society, more than ever, it is essential that firefighters write accurate and comprehensive fire reports. When it comes to report writing, the bottom line is, “If you didn’t write it down, it didn’t happen.”

Here are a few quick tips to consider before we talk about formatting the narrative.

• The best time to write your report is when the incident is fresh in your mind.
• Spell out commonly abbreviated phrases such as rapid intervention crew (RIC) and company officer (CO). Use the abbreviation if the expression is used later in the report.
• Use a format but not a template. It’s smart to have a guideline to follow such as the one outlined below, but make sure you write what you did—and exactly how you did it.
• This format applies to writing a narrative in a fire report such as NFIRS. It is not designed for effective fire investigation reporting.
• Compose your narrative in a text document so you can more easily review and edit it. When you are satisfied with it, you can easily paste the final document into your reporting system.
• Use a spell checker once your report is completed, and have someone else proofread it for grammatical errors.

REPORT FORMAT FOR STRUCTURE FIRES

You can use the 11 main categories as headings for each part (or paragraph) of your narrative. They are En Route, Establish Command, Size-Up Factors, Initial Radio Report, Resources Requested, Incident Command System (ICS), Strategy and Tactics, Problems Encountered, Under Control, Transfer or Termination of Command, and Additional Information. For me, the most effective way to write my report is to list these 11 categories and work my way down, addressing each in sequence. This guarantees that you won’t miss an important section and end up excluding valuable information from your narrative.

Let’s look at each category, the information to include, and a hypothetical narrative text.

1 En Route. Explain the actions taken from the moment the call came in until your arrival on scene. This information may include the following:

• Reviewed preplans.
• Monitored radio reports.
• Reviewed hydrant map.
• Surveyed the building with a multisided view.

While en route, I reviewed the structure preplans, monitored radio reports, and surveyed three sides of the fire building prior to positioning my vehicle on the A/C side of the fire structure.

2 Establish Command. Explain in what manner you took command at the fire scene (i.e., you established, transferred, or assumed command). If there was a transfer of command, describe how it took place.

On arrival, I met the Engine 3 officer (Captain MacArthur), the initial incident commander, for a face-to-face briefing that included the conditions he found on arrival, the actions taken, and the resources ordered. I then reassigned Captain MacArthur as the interior division commander and assumed command of the incident.

3 Size-Up Factors. Discuss which size-up factors influenced your decision-making process at this fire.

Among the more pertinent size-up factors were construction (balloon frame), occupancy (multiple-family, occupied), location of fire (basement), water supply (the closest hydrant was out of service), and time of day (3:20 a.m.).

4 Initial Radio Report. Describe the information you provided in your initial radio report, including the following:

• Designated tactical radio frequency.
• Structure description.
• Conditions on arrival.
• Command post name and location.
• Additional alarms and resources called.

I provided my initial radio report, which included a description of the structure and conditions on arrival (heavy smoke condition, fire showing from division 2, Side A). I then established command on air, announced the location of the command post, and called for a second alarm.

5 Resources Requested. Provide a list of all resources that you requested at the beginning of, during, and after the fire, and explain why they were called. These may include the following:

• Second or third alarms.
• Utility companies.
• Law enforcement.
• Emergency medical services (basic and advance life support).
• Rapid intervention crew.
• Safety officer.
• Accountability officer.
• Water department.
• Rehab unit.
• Department of public works.
• U.S. Coast Guard.
• Hazardous materials team.
• Urban search and rescue team.
• Office of emergency management.
• Health department.
• Technical specialists.
• Investigation unit.

At this fire, the following resources were requested: a second alarm for additional staffing, law enforcement for pedestrian and traffic control, EMS for patient treatment and firefighter rehab, a safety officer for overall scene safety, the Red Cross for victim relocation, and so on.

6 Incident Command System. Describe the full extent of your implementation of the ICS. Include Incident Commander, Safety Officer, Information Officer, Accountability Officer, and Liaison Officer. In addition, include Finance, Logistic, Operations, and Planning Sections. Include any Branches, Divisions, or Groups that were assigned. Although most structure fires will not use all of these ICS elements, it is important to mention the ones that are used.

We implemented the ICS with Deputy Chief Frank Viscuso assigned as the incident commander, Captain Thomas Maher as the safety officer, and Lieutenant Richard Henry as the accountability officer. Engine 2 personnel were assigned as the rapid intervention crew, and Battalion Chief Michael Credico was assigned as operations chief.

7 Strategy and Tactics. Include your declaration of strategy and assignment of tasks to specific companies. If your department requires each company officer to write a company report, describe the first-arriving engine and ladder companies’ initial assignments, but you need not go into great detail. However, if your department does not require individual company run reports, be sure to cover this information with as much detail as possible.

We immediately engaged in an offensive attack and remained in that operational mode until the victims were safely removed from the structure and the fire was under control. Engine 1 secured a hydrant and provided the water supply to Engine 2. Engine 2 crew stretched a 1¾-inch hoseline to Division 1 to locate, confine, and extinguish the fire and protect life. Ladder 5 forced entry to the structure and conducted a primary search of Division 1, venting as they searched, in coordination with Engine 2. Ladder 5 personnel found and safely removed two occupants through a window on side B. Companies operating at this fire stretched backup lines, conducted secondary searches, protected exposures, shut off utilities, and performed salvage and overhaul operations. For detailed information, see individual company reports.

Be sure to review each company report to ensure accurate and complete information has been documented. Remember, if it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.

8 Problems Encountered. List any problems that were encountered at the scene. This includes anything from blocked hydrants to firefighter injuries.

Two dogs barking inside the structure delayed entry. We solved this problem by opening a rear door and removing the dogs to the fenced-in backyard, isolating them from the firefighters working at the scene.

9 Under Control. Describe the actions taken after declaring this fire under control. This section may include such things as the following:

• Completed secondary searches.
• Conducted salvage and overhaul.
• Removed residual smoke from the building.
• Conducted a personnel accountability roll call (PAR).
• Began to demobilize the incident.
• Placed companies back in service.
• Secured the building.
• Checked carbon monoxide levels.

At 0400 hours, this fire was reported under control. At this point, we completed a thorough secondary search of the entire structure and performed overhaul by making inspection holes in two walls (Division 2 bedroom, sides A and C). We used the positive-pressure fan to remove all residual smoke from the building. I then called for a personnel accountability roll call to account for all members and began demobilizing the incident and placing companies (available at the scene) back in service as we began to clean up our equipment and repack hose. The building was secured, and carbon monoxide levels were within normal limits prior to leaving the scene.

10 Transfer or Termination of Command. Explain whether and to whom you transferred command or terminated command. Describe the actions you took immediately after, such as the following:

• Turned building over to owner/occupant.
• Conducted an incident debriefing.
• Scheduled a postincident analysis.
• Offered critical incident stress debriefing.

After we completed extinguishment and accomplished our incident objectives, the building and command were turned over to the fire inspector. We conducted an incident debriefing and scheduled a postincident analysis on our next working day. Critical incident stress debriefing was offered to all members.

11 Additional Information. In the final paragraph, provide any additional details that must be documented. In this section, you can include the names and the number of people involved in the incident, both civilians and responders. Document any important statements emergency personnel or civilians made to you regarding the incident. If they were not mentioned earlier, be sure to document them here. (Example: On arrival, a neighbor named Kelly Anderson approached me and told me there were two adults missing in the building.)

I formulated and followed an incident action plan and revised it throughout the incident to ensure that we were consistently meeting our goals of life safety, incident stabilization, and property conservation. Each company officer provided a progress report every 10 minutes, and we conducted personnel accountability roll calls every 30 minutes. Prior to leaving the scene, we provided the homeowners with a copy of “After the Fire.”

Let’s face it, report writing can be tedious and sometimes even dreadful. As firefighters, we love to jump on the rig, arrive on the scene, get in there, and get our hands dirty, but when it comes to documenting that same fire, most of us have the “deer in the headlights” look. I’m hopeful that you will find the tips and format outlined here as useful as my friends in the fire service and I have.

FRANK VISCUSO , a 20-year veteran of the fire service, is a deputy chief with the Kearny (NJ) Fire Department. He is a certified New Jersey fire instructor, co-founder of FireOpsOnline.com, and co-author of the book Fireground Operational Guides (Fire Engineering, 2011).

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ELA Common Core Lesson Plans

• Create Characters Lesson Plan
• Creative Writing Lesson Plan: Using Details
• How to Write a Cause and Effect Essay
• How to Write a Conclusion for an Essay Lesson Plan
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• How to Write an Introduction to an Essay
• How to Write a Problem Solution Essay
• Lesson Plan: Effective Sentence Structure
• Lesson Plan: Improve Writing Style with Improved Sentence Structure
• Logical Fallacies Lesson Plan with Summary & Examples
• Teaching Active and Passive Voice
• Teaching How to Revise a Rough Draft
• Teaching Instructional Articles: How to Write Instructions
• Teaching Word Choice: Using Strong Verbs
• Using Imagery Lesson Plan
• Writing for Audience and Purpose
• Writing Transitions Lesson
• Analyzing Humor in Literature Lesson Plan
• Analyzing Shakespeare Strategies
• Fun Reading Lesson Plan
• How to Write a Literary Analysis.
• How to Annotate and Analyze a Poem
• Lesson Plan for Teaching Annotation
• Literary Terms Lesson Plan
• Literature Exemplars – Grades-9-10
• Teaching Short Story Elements
• Using Short Stories to Teach Elements of Literature
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• Comma Rules: How to Use Commas
• Difference between Denotation and Connotation
• Effective Word Choice Lesson Plan
• Fun Grammar Review Game or Vocabulary & Language Arts
• Lesson Plans for Substitute Teachers and Busy English Teachers
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• 4.08 – Lesson Plan: Using Semicolons Correctly
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• Teacher Guide Central

Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” Lesson Plans, Summary, Analysis and More

To build a lesson plan.

Day had broken cold and grey, exceedingly cold and grey, when the man turned aside from the main office hallway and climbed the portable stairs. It was a steep climb, and he paused for breath at the top, excusing the act to himself by looking at his watch. It was seven o’clock. There was no “To Build a Fire” lesson plans nor hint of “To Build a Fire” lesson plans, though he was supposed to teach Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” 1st period. There seemed an intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark, and that was due to the absence of even a “To Build A Fire” summary or analysis. This fact did not worry the man. He was used to not having lesson plans. It had been days since he had any, and he knew that it would be a few more days before that uncheerful orb, the principal, would just peep into the room for an observation. So as the principal popped his head in at 7:15 that very day, this teacher needed lesson plans and he needed them fast.

There’s really nothing we can do for him, but there is something we can do for you.

“To Build a Fire” Summary

The old-timer knows how cold 75 degrees below zero is. In fact, he warned the man not to travel when it’s 75 degrees below zero. Did I mention it’s 75 freaking degrees below zero?  The old-timer also mentioned the stupidity of traveling alone in the Yukon when it’s 75 degrees below zero. The man didn’t listen, but he’s listening now.

You see, 75 degrees below zero causes spit to freeze before it hits the ground. 75 degrees below zero causes fingers to go numb in 15 seconds. This is how the man begins to learn just how cold 75 degrees below zero is. He finishes his learning after coming across a hot spring that has partially melted the ice that the man steps on.

When a man steps on partially unfrozen ice, it breaks. And when the ice breaks, man gets wet. And when a man gets wet when it’s 75 degrees below zero, he must build a fire. And build a fire the man does. Unfortunately, that fire is built below a Spruce tree. The heat from the fire affects the snow that’s been sitting on the Spruce tree branches. The snow from the Spruce tree branches falls and puts out the fire.

If the man’s mouth hadn’t been frozen shut, he would have probably sworn. Instead, he tried to rebuild the fire. He doesn’t succeed and freezes to death.

“To Build a Fire” Analysis

You’ll find a bevy of great stuff on this page. If that’s all you need then don’t buy this “To Build a Fire” Teaching Guide. It pretty much gives you a week’s worth of lessons, handouts, assignments, graphic organizers, and notes. It’s all ready to use. Just print out the pdf file and make copies. Boom! It’s a teaching breakthrough and I’m not talking about breaking through ice. Oh, it also includes rubrics and a 15 question multiple choice quiz. See, I told you all you have to do is make copies and let your expertise take care of the rest.

I read “To Build a Fire” again about 12 minutes ago. It’s even better than I remember. Here are some topics for discussion.

• Naturalism . Any teacher or student of literature needs to familiarize himself with Jack London. This informative page on Naturalism will help. If there’s anything in this story that needs pointed out, it’s the indifference of nature–the hostility of nature–a major tenet of Naturalism.
• Suspense . There’s really only one character in “To Build a Fire” and the entire story takes place in one basic location. Doesn’t sound very intense. But it is. Discuss and analyze how the masters create suspense and then observe how Jack London does it.
• Sensory Details . London himself makes the point that it’s impossible to describe what 75 degrees below zero feels like. That being said, London uses sensory details to describe the harsh setting, and he does it masterfully.
• Character Analysis . Many of the themes in “To Build a Fire” revolve around the hostility of the Yukon wilderness. But there’s more to it than the 75 degrees below zero. Notwithstanding the man’s foolishness, folly, and “lack of imagination,” his determination to survive the journey and his decision to face death with dignity proves somewhat redemptive in a Hemingway kind of way.
• Style and Tone . London’s direct and dispassionate style reflects the harsh setting of the Yukon. Remember: Form reflects content.
• The Hero’s Journey . According to the hero’s journey , the hero goes on a journey by leaving the ordinary world and facing trials. According to the hero’s journey, the hero dies or nearly dies but overcomes his trials in the end and returns to the normal world. A good topic for discussion is how our hero’s journey deviates from the norm. Does the man finally overcome his pride and foolishness by dying with dignity? Or does he simply fail?

Lesson Ideas

A story as great as “To Build a Fire” deserves more than a cursory read the story and answer the questions lesson plan. Here are some ideas. You’ll notice it mirrors the analysis section.

• Analysis Lesson Plan . It’s one thing to define Naturalism. Take it to the next level by identifying elements of Naturalism. And then take it to the next level by analyzing the significance of the examples to the overall theme of the story. This assignment is most easily accomplished with a 3-column chart.
• Suspense Analysis Chart . I’m a big fan of suspense. I’m a big fan of charts. I’m a really big fan of charts that analyze suspense. If you’re interested in a suspense analysis lesson plan, check out this suspense in “The Black Cat” lesson plan and apply it to “To Build a Fire.”
• Sensory Details Lesson Plan . London’s setting takes on a life of its own. How does London do it? Sensory details, my friend. Identify imagery/sensory details and analyze the details’ effects. This could also serve as inspiration for a using imagery writing assignment or a springboard for a revising horrible, crappy essays writing assignment.
• Themes . OK, I’m not even going to pretend that every single lesson plan I create doesn’t involve a graphic organizer of some type. I’ll also own up to using graphic organizers to trick students into thinking analytically. And I’ll also fess up to teaching students how to write analysis using the graphic organizers they complete. Guilty as charged. There are many themes in “To Build a Fire.” Find evidence for each one by (you guessed it) creating a two column chart instructing students to find evidence to support various themes in the story.

 Guess I’ll throw you some ELA Common Core Standards

• RL.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
• RL.9-10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
• RL.9-10.5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
• W.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
• RL.11-12.9 Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
• RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.

Last Updated on July 13, 2021 by Trenton Lorcher

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To Build A Fire

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Words on Fire

52 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-12

Chapters 13-18

Chapters 19-26

Chapter 27-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Words on Fire is a middle-grade novel written by Jennifer Nielsen. Like many of Nielsen’s other standalone works, this novel is a historical fiction piece that follows young protagonists learning how to survive under oppression. The title of the novel, Words on Fire , refers to the press ban of 1865 in Russia-occupied Lithuania when it was illegal for reading materials to be published in the Lithuanian language. As depicted in the novel, illegal books that were discovered were often burned to destroy the materials and discourage further reading. First published by Scholastic Press in 2019, this study guide refers to the Scholastic Press 2019 eBook edition. 

Content Warning: The source material and this guide mention acts of violence, including whipping, beating, forced labor, torture, arson, and murder. 

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Plot Summary

The story begins as a flashback to the summer of 1893 in Russian-occupied Lithuania. The protagonist , 12-year-old Audra Zikaris , is excited to attend her village’s midsummer festivities with her parents, Henri and Lina. Until now, they have forbidden her from doing most things outside their small family farm to keep her safe. Henri is a traveling magician, but Audra suspects her parents participate in other secret work after overhearing some private conversations. On the night of the summer solstice, a group of Russian soldiers arrives at the Zikaris farm to arrest Lina and Henri. Audra manages to escape and hide in the nearby forest with instructions to deliver a package to a woman named Milda Sabiene . 

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On her journey to Venska, where Milda lives, Audra gets lost and meets a boy named Lukas . He helps her to Milda’s house, where Milda and Lukas explain that they, along with Henri and Lina, are part of a secret organization of book smugglers. Milda has an underground library and school, and Lukas helps deliver books as Henri did. Audra does not initially understand the significance of the book her parents wanted her to deliver, but with time, she begins to understand the power of language and the necessity of books for the Lithuanian resistance.

With some practice, Audra begins to deliver books herself, and her quick instincts and creative thinking make her an excellent book carrier. Audra soon meets Ben, a gruff older smuggler who does not condone children getting involved. During a smuggling mission, Audra is recognized by Officer Rusakov , the soldier who arrested her parents. He makes her an offer to cancel her parents’ deportation orders in exchange for information about her fellow smugglers. She agrees to meet him in two days with information but feels torn about her choices.

The group delivers a wagon full of books to a church, which Audra learns is a major sponsor of the illegal book printing. Lukas gives Audra an alphabet book, and she eventually teaches herself to read. Audra, Lukas, and Ben are warned of a search in the middle of the night and must split up to avoid detection. On their way to Šiluva, Audra’s hometown, Audra witnesses a soldier whip Lukas when he gets caught with the books. Audra saves him by distracting the soldiers, and the two eventually make it to Šiluva, where many young people eagerly await the new books.

Ben brings Audra back to Milda’s to stay safe and does not hear from either Ben or Lukas for months. Sitting in on Milda’s classes, Audra develops a love for reading and writing, and Milda encourages her storytelling. Audra finally reunites with Lukas at a local wedding, where she is dropping off a secret book. Soldiers, including Rusakov, interrupt the wedding for a search and set the barn on fire when no one confesses who brought the book. Lukas and Audra spend the night warning the villagers of the impending search, taking as many books as they can find to hide in the forest. They watch the soldiers set many houses on fire as punishment for hidden books, and the found books are all burned publicly in the town square. To try and help Milda from getting arrested, Lukas hurries to empty out her library while Audra distracts the soldiers with magic tricks. 

Though she is initially successful, she runs into Rusakov, who blames her for the night’s events and brings her to prison for further interrogation. Rusakov gives her one more chance to save herself if she shares information about her friends, but the only person she identifies as a criminal is Rusakov. He orders her deported to Siberia like her parents, but Audra escapes the prison wagon on the way to the train station and reunites with Lukas in Venska. 

Together, they journey across the border to Prussia to pick up a new order of books, and Audra’s creative thinking helps them smuggle the load of books back to Lithuania without getting caught. They eventually reunite with Milda and Ben, who, despite Audra’s protests, agree that Audra should move to Prussia with Milda, where it will be safer. Ben becomes too ill to travel, which is why he lets Audra complete one more border mission for him. On the way back from Lithuania the second time, Audra and Lukas are ambushed by a couple who recognize Lukas and want to trade him to the Russians in exchange for their son. Audra and Lukas escape, and in a plot twist, Lukas reveals that Rusakov is his father.

They arrive at the church in Kražiai, where the villagers, including Ben, are preparing to defend it from being destroyed by soldiers. As the violence escalates, Lukas and Audra direct some people to safety with the help of a homemade smoke bomb. A soldier captures Audra and tries to drown her but is thwarted when Rusakov comes to Audra’s defense. Rusakov suffers a gunshot wound, so Audra and Lukas help him to the safety of a barn where many hide overnight. Ben does not survive the fight.

In the morning, Lukas shows Audra her parents’ book that she had smuggled to Milda’s house months ago, and the family records in it—in another plot twist—reveal that Ben was her grandfather. Finally understanding that she needs to keep herself safe to continue resisting the occupation, Audra returns to Milda in Prussia, where the two continue to facilitate smuggling operations for many years. Even when Milda’s health declines and she eventually dies, Audra pushes through moments of doubt and continues filling book orders and writing newspaper articles. On the anniversary of Milda’s death, in 1903, Lukas surprises her in Prussia with news of the press ban being lifted and by reuniting Audra with her parents, whom Lukas helped return from Siberia. In the present moment, Audra and Lukas are married and telling bedtime stories to their children, who often ask them to share tales of their book-smuggling adventures.

In Words on Fire , Nielsen explores a dark historical period with brave characters who learn important lessons about family, justice, and themselves. All of the book carriers, but especially Audra, experience each of the main types of conflict: They battle nature as they brave the elements during smuggling missions; they battle the Russian soldiers; they battle society by continuing to resist the occupation, even though the easier choice would be to assimilate; and they battle their own self-doubts. By utilizing foreshadowing and descriptive language, Nielsen creates a suspenseful environment that mimics the suspense the book carriers feel. Through Audra’s eyes, readers learn about Lithuanian history and geography but also see what it feels like to undergo a transformation when a child gains the self-confidence and courage to stand up for a worthy cause.

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