Online Essay Summarizer

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❓ Why Use the Tool?
📑 Writing a Summary
✂️ Essay Summarizing Strategies
🔗 References

❓ Online Essay Summarizer: Why Using It?

A summary synthesizes the critical ideas of another person’s writing. It conveys the same idea in your own words and in a shorter form.

Throughout your school and college years, you will have to write summaries as a separate assignment or as a part of a longer academic assignment. While working on it, do your best NOT to copy the original wording and sentence structure because otherwise, it may count for plagiarism.

This online essay summarizer does the dirty work for you so that you can entirely focus on expressing your own thoughts. The tool is indispensable while working on the theoretical part of a research paper. You will also find it helpful while analyzing a piece of literature.

What Does Summarize Mean?

If your teacher asks you to summarize a text, they mean you should condense the author’s message, leaving out unnecessary details. Then, you are supposed to transmit this idea using your own language, i.e., without plagiarizing. The summary length depends on the assignment but is usually many times shorter than the original.

What Is a Plot Summary?

A plot summary does not discuss the deeper meaning, author’s opinions, or composition of the work of fiction. It only describes what happens in a book in logical order. A plot summary rarely conveys the artistic worth of literature. On the contrary, it focuses on the events in their progression.

How Long Is a Summary?

The length of a summary depends on 2 factors:

The volume and number of chapters of the original;
The purpose of the summary.

You may have noticed that some summaries fit into several paragraphs, while others take dozens of pages. The difference is only in the detailing level. A summary is usually 1.5 - 2 times shorter than the original.

What Is the Best Summarizing Tool?

Today’s market offers hundreds of summarizing tools, from the simplest and cheapest to professional downloadable software (usually quite expensive). Our essay summary generator is the best solution for academic purposes since it is online, intuitive, and free. Besides, its vocabulary and grammar are tailored to students’ needs.

📑 Writing an Essay Summary: The Steps

Step #1: Familiarize Yourself with the Original

Read it to enjoy	Don’t take any notes now. The first impression is the most lasting one, so don’t underestimate it. You’ll figure out the author’s intentions while writing the work at this stage. Meanwhile, your reading should not be superficial. Re-read a sentence or paragraph if it does not make sense to you from the first try.
Write down the most significant events	Doing so will help you single out the gist. Details often overtake our minds, and then the summary turns into paraphrasing. You don’t need that.
Read again and take the notes	You already know the author’s message and the plot-forming events. Note the essential details that will make your summary easier to read and understand. If the assignment provides for using quotations, mark them in the text for future reference.

Step #2: Write the Summary

Who wrote what?	Each summary should start with the author’s name and the book’s title. Respect your reader and never ignore this point. A sentence or two will do for the purpose.
Use your notes but write from memory	Following this advice will make your summary unique and plagiarism-free. When you wish to incorporate the author’s words, put them in quotation marks.
Write it as if you were the author	A summary should not include your considerations, criticism, or guesses. Retain the author’s point of view, tone, and mood. Pay attention to the moments when the author highlights something using various literary devices. It will help you avoid unnecessary details.
Use the appropriate linking words	Feel free to introduce appropriate language to refer to someone else’s writing. For example, “the author examines” or “the article confirms.”

Step #3: Revise the Draft Version

Read the result	Compare it to your notes and the original text. Correct the logical and factual mistakes, which are inevitable when writing from memory.
Check the chronology	It does not apply only to lengthy summaries of fictional books, particularly when written chapter-wise. In all the other cases, edit your writing according to the chronological sequence of events. It works even if the original doesn’t follow this rule.
Delete the repetitions	Some authors adore repeating the same thing to make their point clearer to the reader. Don’t follow their example in your summary. Besides, it will help you condense the text and make it more informative.
Add transitions	Before now, you have been recalling the facts of the original rather than focusing on the beauty of writing. Some paragraphs may seem abrupt or incomplete. You will surely notice such places at this point. Add some transitional words and phrases there to smooth out the text.
Check the grammar, spelling, and length	This step is usually called “proofreading.” It would be best to ask someone to read your writing, but if there’s no such possibility, do it yourself. Don’t read for the meaning now; only check the correctness.

✂️ Essay Summarizing Strategies with Examples

Strategy #1: First Then Finally

Choose this strategy when your primary purpose is to present the facts in chronological order. If you summarize a fictional book, the three components can stand for the typical plot elements: exposition (+ rising action), climax (+ falling action), and resolution.

First: How do you meet the protagonists, and what are they doing?
Then: What happens to them afterward, and how does it change the plot line?
Finally: What is the result?

For example:

First: Three Little Pigs built three houses.
Then: The Wolf came to each of them and ruined two houses.
Finally: Only the third house withstood Wolf’s attack because it was built of stone.

Strategy #2: SAAC

This most general strategy works well for fictional and academic texts. Each letter of the SAAC acronym represents one of the textual elements:

State: the title of the summarized work;
Assign: the author’s name;
Action: what the author does with the text (answers the question, narrates, etc.);
Complete: finish the summary with important details.

An example of a well-known story’s summary would look as follows:

State: In The Sleeping Beauty,
Assign: The Brothers Grimm,
Action: narrate,
Complete: how a prince found a princess and removed the curse, which made her sleep for many years.

Strategy #3: Somebody Wanted but So Then

This strategy is the best for short stories or books with a linear plot. Each element represents the essential part of the text:

Somebody: Who is the protagonist?
Wanted: What were their plans?
But: What undermined the intentions?
So: How did the protagonist resolve the problem?
Then: How did it finish?

Here’s an example of the strategy in action:

Somebody: Once, there was a poor girl whose widowed father married for the second time.
Wanted: She wanted to go to the ball.
But: Her stepmother didn’t allow her.
So: A fairy Godmother help her to get to the ball.
Then: The girl found her prince. They fell in love at first sight.

Strategy #4: 5 W’s, 1 H

This strategy relies on the question words and allows to point out the protagonist, the main idea, and the necessary details. Choose this approach if you wonder how to summarize a lengthy and complex text.

Who is the protagonist?
What did they do?
When did their actions take place?
Where does the plot unfold?
Why did the characters act so?
How did the characters perform their actions?

For an example, let’s recall The Little Mermaid:

Who: The Little Mermaid;
What: Saved a prince;
When: After ship wreckage;
Where: She found him on the shore;
Why: She loved him at first sight;
How: He woke up from her beautiful singing.

We hope that this article, as well as the essay summarizer, was useful for you. Check the other writing instruments we offer: word reducer, title generator, and hook creator.