Summarizing a piece of writing means writing a shorter version that still provides the same meaning except with less information and by only mentioning the important parts. There are three types of summaries: informative summaries, descriptive summaries, and executive summaries. 

Informative summary

Informative summaries focus on the text’s context and what it is conveying. It focuses more on the information provided and summarizes it by gathering the important texts and giving the same conclusion except in a shorter piece of writing. Informative summaries are usually used on abstracts, synopsis, and outlines. 

How to write an informative summary? 

Before starting on your summary, you must first read the article thoroughly more than once to fully understand the ideas expressed. Read the piece twice, the first time just focus on understanding the passage and seeing the full picture. In the second time, underline and highlight the important information that you will be including in your summary. Another thing you should identify and start your summary with is the author of the passage, the title of the passage, and passage type. Your summary has to be concise and to the point, and should not include any irrelevant or additional details that do not make a difference to the main point. You should also not include your opinion at all, your tone should be neutral and unbiased by any means.
Moreover, make sure you do not add any statistics or numbers to your summary unless it makes a really important point and must be added, otherwise, express the effect that these numbers make in words, such as “increased”, “decreased”, “significantly affected”, or “by almost half”. 

Descriptive summary 

Descriptive summaries portray the original text instead of discussing and including the points in the actual text. Descriptive summaries are usually used to briefly give a description of a movie, novel, or a fictional/literary piece of work, their main purpose is to give an overall view on the writing rather than the writing’s context. 

To write a descriptive summary, follow the same guidelines as that of informative summaries, except that instead of discussing the actual points made in the writing, just write an outline and briefly mention what the main topic that the writing revolves around is, without diving into the context itself.  

Executive summary 

Lastly, executive summaries are used in business plans to give a brief overall view of your business plan. An executive summary should give an introduction about who you are, what’s your business and what is its vision, who is the target market, and its financial highlights. This type of summary is usually used when admitting a business plan to a bank for an investment or a loan, or to other companies for a business proposal. Why is it essential? The executive summary is the first thing that the reader reads about you, your proposal can simply be rejected if your summary is not catchy, or worst, if there isn’t one at all. This is why it is important to write a short and to the point summary that contains everything the reader needs to know to urge him/her to continue reading your business plan. 

How to write an executive summary?

The most important thing in your summary is to make it as simple as possible, it should not be longer than two pages. Start by introducing yourself and your business, it is critical that you mention your company’s name, location, and contact number. Next, you should write about what your business offers and what makes it stand out. This has to be interesting and should give a reason to the reader to consider your proposal. Consecutively, explain what your proposal is, what is your goal? Why are you writing this executive summary? Remember to make it short but convey all the important parts, do not give away too much information because that is what you will discuss further in your business plan, but write enough to give an overall idea of what your goal is. Lastly, make sure to include who your target audience is, the size of your company/ establishment, and any major details such as partnerships, sponsorships, etc,. 

Tip: write your executive summary after writing your business plan. This will make writing your summary so much easier because you will already know everything you need to include and will know exactly how to communicate it. You will also have written about all the major ideas so the excitement of getting your idea on paper will already have been satisfied.

How to Summarize: Types of Summaries

How to Summarize: Types of Summaries

There are different ways to summarize different types of writings. Click here to see the types of summaries and how to write them. Summarizing a piece of writing means writing a shorter version that still provides the same meaning except with less information and by only mentioning the important parts. There are three types of summaries: informative summaries, descriptive summaries, and executive summaries. Informative summaryInformative summaries focus on the text’s context and what it is conveying. It focuses more on the information provided and summarizes it by gathering the important texts and giving the same conclusion except in a shorter piece of writing. Informative summaries are usually used on abstracts, synopsis, and outlines. How to write an informative summary? Before starting on your summary, you must first read the article thoroughly more than once to fully understand the ideas expressed. Read the piece twice, the first time just focus on understanding the passage and seeing the full picture. In the second time, underline and highlight the important information that you will be including in your summary. Another thing you should identify and start your summary with is the author of the passage, the title of the passage, and passage type. Your summary has to be concise and to the point, and should not include any irrelevant or additional details that do not make a difference to the main point. You should also not include your opinion at all, your tone should be neutral and unbiased by any means. Moreover, make sure you do not add any statistics or numbers to your summary unless it makes a really important point and must be added, otherwise, express the effect that these numbers make in words, such as “increased”, “decreased”, “significantly affected”, or “by almost half”. Descriptive summary Descriptive summaries portray the original text instead of discussing and including the points in the actual text. Descriptive summaries are usually used to briefly give a description of a movie, novel, or a fictional/literary piece of work, their main purpose is to give an overall view on the writing rather than the writing’s context. To write a descriptive summary, follow the same guidelines as that of informative summaries, except that instead of discussing the actual points made in the writing, just write an outline and briefly mention what the main topic that the writing revolves around is, without diving into the context itself.  Executive summary Lastly, executive summaries are used in business plans to give a brief overall view of your business plan. An executive summary should give an introduction about who you are, what’s your business and what is its vision, who is the target market, and its financial highlights. This type of summary is usually used when admitting a business plan to a bank for an investment or a loan, or to other companies for a business proposal. Why is it essential? The executive summary is the first thing that the reader reads about you, your proposal can simply be rejected if your summary is not catchy, or worst, if there isn’t one at all. This is why it is important to write a short and to the point summary that contains everything the reader needs to know to urge him/her to continue reading your business plan. How to write an executive summary?The most important thing in your summary is to make it as simple as possible, it should not be longer than two pages. Start by introducing yourself and your business, it is critical that you mention your company’s name, location, and contact number. Next, you should write about what your business offers and what makes it stand out. This has to be interesting and should give a reason to the reader to consider your proposal. Consecutively, explain what your proposal is, what is your goal? Why are you writing this executive summary? Remember to make it short but convey all the important parts, do not give away too much information because that is what you will discuss further in your business plan, but write enough to give an overall idea of what your goal is. Lastly, make sure to include who your target audience is, the size of your company/ establishment, and any major details such as partnerships, sponsorships, etc,. Tip: write your executive summary after writing your business plan. This will make writing your summary so much easier because you will already know everything you need to include and will know exactly how to communicate it. You will also have written about all the major ideas so the excitement of getting your idea on paper will already have been satisfied.